Chenford Has Had a Very Complicated History in ‘The Rookie’
Even though Lucy and Tim have often felt like #couplegoals to me, their entire romantic history has been a complicated one. The two characters had serious chemistry right from the beginning, but it’s not like they could have acted on it. Lucy starts out as Tim’s rookie in Season 1, which meant that Tim was Lucy’s direct superior (a factor that could have led to some serious HR issues). But their connection only continued to grow. In Season 4, the couple acts on their feelings for each other, but it’s while they’re pretending to be other people on an undercover mission. They can’t go on denying how they feel about each other, though, and Chenford finally became a reality in Season 5, much to my delight.
There Are Even More Roadblocks in the Way of Chenford’s Happiness in ‘The Rookie’
In Episode 17, Lucy learns that she has finally passed her sergeant exam. I thought for sure that meant that Lucy and Tim could fix their relationship, but unfortunately, Lieutenant Wade Grey (Richard T. Jones) assigns Lucy to the night shift. Now, their schedules are completely incompatible, so Lucy barely even sees Tim at the station. They also wouldn’t ever get put together on any assignments, so how could they make this relationship work going forward? Any time Tim is off work, Lucy will be on shift or catching up on much-needed sleep. They need to be able to spend quality time together to rekindle what they used to have, but their different schedules could make this impossible.
I Just Want ‘The Rookie’s Chenford To Become a Reality Again
This season should have been about Lucy and Tim finding their way back to each other, but the finale just gives us more of the same. The nocturnal twist is so frustrating to me because not only is it putting the Chenford romance at risk, but it also isolates Lucy from the rest of the Mid-Wilshire squad. If they continue this plot point in the next season, Lucy would have fewer scenes with everyone (not just with Tim). This could lead to the series feeling a bit more disjointed and less cohesive than it does when everyone gets to work together. We’ve already seen in the finale that Lucy’s new night shift crew are kind of duds (they tend to sleep through their shift rather than actually perform their jobs), so it’s not like we’d get a lot of compelling storylines from those cops.
I’m truly hoping that Season 8, which isn’t set to premiere until 2026, will allow Lucy to switch back to the day shift with the rest of her friends. Otherwise, Chenford has no chance at reuniting for good. And if the writers want to make this fan happy, they’ll need to give me what I want: Chenford becoming a couple that stays together forever. I’m extremely tired of all these obstacles preventing them from being together, especially because no one is asking for this much of a slow-burn. Lucy and Tim no longer have to worry about that imbalance of power in the workplace anymore, and since Tim is becoming more evolved thanks to therapy, there’s no excuse not to have Chenford live happily ever after.
All episodes of The Rookie are now available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
