Season 7, Episode 11: How ‘The Rookie’ Masterfully Reintroduces a Fan-Favorite Antagonist

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The Rookie Season 7, Episode 11, “Speed,” makes clear what it’s about. Just like the famed Keanu Reeves movie, there’s a bus, a bomb and no stopping for anything. Keanu even gets a name-check during the episode. The plan in the ABC drama isn’t as neat as the one in the movie, but it does bring back a villain fans of the series have been waiting all season to see.

The episode cleverly ties into the central premise of the series, too. Celina Juarez is sent onto the bus with John Nolan, her former training officer, because the mayor wants to do something about bus crime. They are the first two plainclothes officers meant to ride the bus all day and catch pickpockets, fare jumpers and other sorts of petty criminals. Yet this is The Rookie, so a pair of brothers board the bus to hold it hostage with a homemade bomb. Engaging almost the entire ensemble, “Speed” is a thrill ride that doesn’t ignore character moments either.

The Rookie Successfully Goes Over theTop With Its Action Storyline

The Episode’s Take on a Hit Movie Is Inspired

 

The best episodes of The Rookie have a small scope, focusing on how the beat cops help ordinary people. When the show goes for spectacle, with big action and bigger threats, it doesn’t always work. “Speed” is a case where it does. Trying to maintain their covers, Nolan and Juarez help ensure the rest of the Los Angeles Police Department is on the case almost immediately. Information gets doled out at a dramatically interesting clip — faster than real life, but not so fast that the tension gets undercut. The background actors on the bus do a great job of convincingly being terrified.

Guest star Jacob Pitts also does a great job portraying the hapless and slightly disturbed hijacker, Joe Hauser. He’s a patsy for a larger player, demanding $100 million from some arms dealer’s crypto wallet, but he doesn’t know it. Some viewers may feel that both Juarez and Nolan take down their respective suspects a bit too easily when the time comes. But the real fun of the episode comes from the slow drip of details during the investigation, including discovering that pregnant bystander Cassie is actually Denise Summers, and she appears to be the mastermind. It’s a fun thriller that seems wrapped up neatly — until Denise contacts a familiar face fans will recognize.

The Rookie Brings Back an Old Villain to Resume Their Story

Season 7, Episode 11 Shows Monica Stevens Hasn’t Missed a Step

One of the last truly “shark jumping” episodes of The Rookie came at the end of Season 6, when Nolan and Nyla Harper went on an international chase to capture Monica Stevens. While her accomplice was arrested, Monica herself remained in the wind until “Speed.” Denise video calls her in this episode, revealing the true nature of the hijacking plot. Monica is was a government worker’s ID card to data mine it for sensitive information. Whatever Monica took from Dave seems like it will be some part of a future episode — perhaps one that will build up to or near the finale.

Reagan chews up what little scenery there is at her café table in her brief scene announcing Monica’s return, and there’s reason to be excited about it. The character is a good one who, arguably, would have better served the show as a foil to Wesley Evers — especially since they were partners once. What Monica’s scene in “Speed” tells audiences is that she’s still about that “international criminal life,” and she will reenter the show to make Wesley’s and everyone else’s lives more difficult at some point in the rest of Season 7.

The Rookie Brings the Return of Chenford One Step Closer

Is the Reunion of Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen Too Clearly Foreshadowed?

Lost in the rush of the episode is a big moment for Lucy Chen, who decides to take the Sergeant’s exam. Since she failed to qualify to be a detective, this is another path for the ambitious officer to move her career forward. It also has the not-so-coincidental effect of removing Tim Bradford from her chain of command. This means the fan-favorite couple — who broke up in Season 6 — would have no professional conflicts should they reunite.

Lucy Chen (to Tim): You know, I still haven’t totally forgiven you yet… but when I do, maybe you can come and help me study.

All season long, the relationship between Chen and Bradford has been so obviously romantic that it feels wrong to even call their interactions in this episode a “tease.” Chenford, as they are known, is the show’s most popular couple. But even though Lucy tells Tim she’s still harboring hurt feelings from their breakup, that doesn’t really show. The sergeant’s exam allows the series to keep them apart, thus keeping the “will they, won’t they” tension alive, while assuring The Rookie shippers that it’s going to happen. But by so clearly showing the characters eager to reunite, fans may wonder if there isn’t some other shoe about to drop.

If The Rookie can figure out how to tell its stories with the two as a couple, that would be the best of both worlds. However, it seems as if the couple’s popularity is almost working against their happily ever “now” during the series’ run. Breaking them up might be great from a dramatic standpoint, but it’s not great for either Chen or Bradford.

The Rookie’s Last New Officer Has a Bigger Problem

Is The Rookie Missing an Opportunity With Miles Penn?

Miles Penn is the last of the new officers on The Rookie, who spends this episode working with Lieutenant Wade Grey, to little fanfare. Penn is useful, doesn’t talk too much and seems to do a good job. The episode even ends with the two bonding over which of them has the best barbecue recipe. (Being from Texas, it feels like Penn has the advantage.) However, Penn’s mini-arc in this episode starts on a down note, with a summons. It isn’t for something he did on the job, nor is it related to his former academy partner, Seth Ridley — who was fired in the previous episode.

Rather, it’s from his former fiancée’s father, who loaned him $10,000. To raise enough money and to repay the debt — without being washed out of the LAPD for being open to financial corruption — Penn chooses to sell his college football championship ring. This is meant to show his commitment to policing, but it’s another missed opportunity for the show.

Even with that loan, Penn is effectively homeless, living out of his car in a parking lot where some officers — including Quigley Smitty — stay because of Los Angeles rent prices. The Rookie is missing a story about how police officers, at least the rookies, aren’t paid enough to survive. Penn’s story stands in contrast to Nolan and Bailey Nune’s subplot about the tens of thousands of dollars it costs to adopt a child. They are shaken by the amount, but they seem to have it to spend. Perhaps a future episode will unpack this, but for now Penn’s choice to sell his ring isn’t as feel-good as The Rookie wants it to be. “Speed” is a nearly perfect episode, but it’s still lacking in one place.

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