Officers Chen and West moved up to P2 status and shed their rookie roles on The Rookie Season 3 Episode 10, leaving Officer Nolan behind.
Will the show have to change its name once Nolan finally kicks his rookie status? Unlikely, but does someone always need to be the designated rookie to have the title make sense?
Thanks to Nolan’s extra 30-day punishment, there’s still time to ponder that conundrum, and in the meantime, it’s onwards and upwards for Jackson and Lucy.
And while Jackson’s entire family took him out for a celebratory dinner to praise his accomplishments, Lucy’s mom showed up to share her disappointment and attempt to bully Lucy into changing careers.
Lucy, your father and I will always love you, but you are risking your life on a thankless job, and we can not be supportive of it any longer.
Vanessa Chen
This was a big day for Lucy and her mother ruined it.
It was both infuriating and heartbreaking to watch Lucy stand there and listen to her mother’s litany of ways that she hasn’t lived up to her parents’ expectations.
It was clear that Vanessa was more concerned about how the world sees her daughter than how her daughter feels about herself. I’m not even sure learning her daughter received a commendation for saving a child’s life would change Vanessa’s point of view.
Sadly, Lucy’s parents have no idea what a strong, powerful, amazing woman she is and how much good she brings to the world. Lucy will likely have to accept her parents’ criticism without letting it crush her.
I was proud of Jackson for standing up for Lucy and then showing her that she has people in her life that do see her, care about her, and are proud of her. She needed to know that.
Vanessa wasn’t the only parent having a problem accepting their child’s choices. Nolan was shocked to hear that Henry was quitting college, and I can understand why.
Nolan felt he had to bail on getting his degree when his ex became pregnant with Henry. Nolan spent the next 20 years working a job he didn’t love to provide for his family.
As happy as I was to see Currie Graham back as Ben, I could understand why Nolan wasn’t pleased that his friend was a big part of the reason Henry was dropping out of school.
But it did seem that Ben had no idea Henry hadn’t spoken to his father about this. Ben was right; a college degree isn’t the golden ticket it used to be. Not to mention that a six-figure salary and world travel would be hard for anyone to turn down, never mind a 20-year-old.
Still, it was hard for Nolan to swallow that not only was his son ditching school when he would have loved to have gotten his degree, but Henry was also about to make more money than Nolan ever had.
Thankfully, Nolan was better at accepting Henry’s choices than Vanessa was of Lucy’s. Of course, I don’t think Nolan could have reacted worse than Vanessa, even if he tried.
Nolan is a good guy at heart, which was evident when he didn’t hesitate to let Nyla borrow all of his camping gear.
You get to go to my house to pick up camping gear so you can spend the night in the great outdoors with a bunch of second graders and a man who may or may not hate you because you blew him off.
Nolan
I wish we could have seen Harper interacting more with Lilah and her friends on the camping trip, but I’m sure that the amount of kids they can have on set is probably limited, thanks to Covid.
That Harper and Alonzo both had to cancel their previous dates and then each interpreted that as the other didn’t care wasn’t surprising, and I’m glad they were able to sort that out.
I’m not sure what to think of Alonzo.
We haven’t seen enough of him to really determine if he’s the right guy for Nyla, but since he’s the first person she’s dated since her divorce, he’s probably more of a transitional relationship than a long-term one.
And I was a little taken aback that he snuck beer along on a camping trip where he was supposed to be chaperoning a group of second graders, although Nyla appeared to take it in stride.
Finally, we get to the best pairing of this installment and perhaps the entire season!
Tim: You text me 911 on my day off to ask me if that dress makes you look fat.
Angela: Does it?
Tim: Yes, because you’re pregnant. Are you ashamed of your baby?
Angela: Of course not.
Tim: Okay, then who cares what your stupid friends think. Show off that baby belly!
That Angela chose Tim to help her pick out her wedding gown was a charming and unexpected twist made all the better by how thoroughly Bradford threw himself into the role.
Tim never questioned, he never balked, he just dove headfirst into planning the perfect wedding for his friend.
He even agreed to fire Gretchen, Angela’s Maid of Honor. Not even hearing Gretchen’s horror stories of dealing with Patrice could deter Tim from his assigned task, further proving that Angela had chosen the right man for the job.
Tim ditched the binder and the phone, but I look forward to having him come face to face with Patrice before the end of the season.
And if all of that wasn’t enough to make us fall further in love with Tim Bradford, we also got to see him playing with his dog in the park.
Now it’s your turn, TV Fanatics…
- Were you happy with Ben’s return?
- Should Nolan try to talk Henry out of quitting school?
- Did Angela pick out the right wedding gown?
- Should Lucy have done a better job of standing up to her mother?
- And did anyone else wish we hadn’t lost Capt. Zoe Anderson after watching that video?
Hit that big, blue, SHOW COMMENTS button down below to tell us what you think, and then check back in for our next review of The Rookie. And don’t forget, you can watch The Rookie online here at TV Fanatic.
C. Orlando is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.