Love — or lack thereof? — is in the air on The Rookie. In this week’s episode of the ABC police procedural drama, fittingly titled “The Gala,” the officers of the Mid-Wilshire Division are tasked with working on Valentine’s Day and attending a charity gala fundraiser hosted by Lieutenant Grey’s (Richard T. Jones) wife, Luna (Angel Parker).
Multiple relationships will come to a head at the gala. John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) will confront his wife, Bailey Nune (Jenna Dewan), over her decision to communicate with the hit man who ultimately killed her abusive ex, Jason Wyler (Steve Kazee), in the previous episode. Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) will continue to deal with the uncomfortable knowledge that Det. Graham (Ivan Hernandez) admitted to having the hots for Wesley’s wife, Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz), in his confidential therapy sessions with disgraced therapist Blair London. And after his first love Camilla (Tyra Joy Smith) decided to uproot her life in Texas to join him in Los Angeles, new rookie Miles Penn (Deric Augustine) will be forced to navigate his conflicting feelings over having his past collide directly with his future.
At the heart of the hour, however, will be the fan-favorite relationship between Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) and Tim Bradford (Eric Winter). Following Tim’s shocking decision to break up with Lucy in the middle of Season 6, the exes have been navigating how to move forward in their professional working relationship after having crossed the line between platonic and romantic in Season 5.
At the end of the Season 6 finale, Tim thanked Lucy for saving his life and declared that he would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to her in whatever “small doses” she would allow, clearly feeling remorse for orchestrating their split. But in the Season 7 premiere, the exes seemed to be back on good terms, even agreeing to make a playful bet about who could train the better rookie. If you were wondering what happened to this relationship between seasons, you aren’t alone.
“I also was like, ‘What’s going on? Help me understand, because I feel confused, especially when we were moving through that first episode, and [showrunner] Alexi [Hawley] really wanted us to kind of bring in that old ‘Chenford’ banter, experience, joy, playfulness,” O’Neil told TV Guide in an in-depth interview last week. (The full interview will be posted after the episode airs.) “I won’t speak for Eric, but I remember being like, ‘I don’t understand. Aren’t I mad at him? Did I receive flowers I’m unaware of? I’m confused!'”
In the end, O’Neil said she realized that moving on from the break-up was ultimately designed to “get us back to that place where [the ‘Chenford’ dynamic] is fun” and to “underline that these guys are professionals, and yes, their dynamic got a little bit messy, but they’re here and they can do this.”
That line between personal and professional becomes increasingly blurred when Grey decides to give Chen and Bradford the unromantic assignment of running a “Turn In Your Ex” stand outside the precinct. In TV Guide’s exclusive sneak peek of Tuesday’s episode, Chen and Bradford can be seen listening to a woman (Kung Fu‘s Shannon Dang) who is convinced that her ex-boyfriend is the serial killer that the police have been looking for. Needless to say, the evidence does not add up.
