It’s a terribly relevant episode of The Rookie as the series sets a story in the middle of a Los Angeles wildfire. It began with a placard stating the episode was filmed before the devastating real-life fires in L.A., and it ended with a message directing viewers to support the American Red Cross efforts for survivors. Despite this bad timing, The Rookie delivered another excellent episode that expertly balanced the police work and the character drama fans love.
The suspected serial killer Liam Glasser (another Arrowverse crossover on the show) takes center stage as the fire erupts around Los Angeles. The ensemble cast has to race to help evacuate people and staff a relief shelter, but Nyla Harper (Mekia Cox) is fixated on ensuring he doesn’t get the chance to kill again. Meanwhile, James Murray (Arjay Smith) tries to help a friend named Kylie with what may turn out to be deadly consequences. While there is a fun side story with Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) trying to balance three young children while remotely appearing in court, “Wildfire” is all serious business. Perhaps the best proof of the strange balance this episode struck was that Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) and Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) almost died, and “Chenford” fans will love it. As Season 7 nears the halfway point, the series has definitely hit its stride and continues to improve over past seasons.
Nyla Harper Is Fixated on Liam Glasser, and She Catches Him in the Act
John Nolan Is Almost His Next Victim as the Two Fight It Out
As part of the Season 7 “pivot” showrunner Alexi Hawley talked about, The Rookie has spent less time on larger, “mythology”-style cases. Liam Glasser was introduced a few episodes ago, and rather than drag out his story over the entire season, it gets mostly wrapped in “Wildfire.” In fact, Nyla, Lucy and newly-minted P2 Celina Juarez (Lisseth Chavez) are hiking in Runyon Canyon trailing Liam when they spot the fire. Even as the city burns, Nyla and Liam only have eyes on each other.
Glasser to Nyla Harper: Do you show the killer inside you to your husband? Your two lovely children? How many has it been? Two men murdered in the line of duty, or is it three? Do you dream about them? Do you relive the moments you ended each of their lives?
When Liam breaks away, Nyla confronts his wife, Miranda, in a pretty intense scene. She is convinced the Los Angeles Police are harassing her husband, an innocent man. Yet, John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) talks to his son (despite it being illegal to question a minor) and finds out that Liam told the boy to lie to police about a “brown van” to throw them off his trail. This is all the evidence Miranda needs to give up her husband’s likely killing ground: an empty house in her family name. It’s a great way to process the case while keeping the emotions high and tied to the characters.
Harper, Nolan, Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) and new rookie Miles Penn (Deric Augustine) track down Liam at the house. Miles rescues his victim, hanging in the shower with hypodermic needles sticking out of his chest. Nolan crashes through a weak floor and into a fight to the death with Liam. It’s a fight that Nolan actually loses, until Harper and Lopez burst into the room, guns drawn. Liam is arrested and locked away, allowing Nyla to take “all [her] vacation days” after putting in extra time to hunt down the killer. It’s Harper’s victory, and it’s always good when the others “save” Nolan rather than having him be the “hero” all the time.
The Fire Relit the Chenford Spark in a Big Way Fans Will Love
A Near-Death Experience Helps Lucy and Tim Figure Out Their Future
After Chenford’s surprise breakup in Season 6, The Rookie did not waste time getting the characters on a path back towards each other. They ended the season friendly, and they actually spent the night together in the Valentine’s Day episode. While trying to back up the others as they hunted Glasser, Bradford and Chen ended up trapped by fire. They abandoned their car and huddled under a “fire shelter” as the flames raged around them. It was an intense scene, and both characters assumed they were going to die. Of course, they didn’t, but it was a meaningful moment just the same. The biggest issue, however, is with Lucy’s rookie, Seth. After being caught lying, he flubbed the warning that would have kept Tim and Lucy away from the road they were stranded on.
Bradford left Chen because of his issues, which he’s continued to work on with professionals and group therapy. In the previous episode, he told Nolan he was trying to be more “emotionally present.” Under that fire shelter, he wanted to make a dying declaration of love to Chen. She already knew. When he asked her if she loved him, she replied with a non-denial denial, confirming it. So, while they haven’t made it official, the Chenford ship is sailing the high-seas again. The moment was interrupted by Ridley, who came to check on the officers and very obviously lied about not getting a report about the fire.
Chen is a great cop on The Rookie, and she’s survived much worse than the fire. Her near-death experience made her think more about her career — specifically, taking the sergeant’s exam. Bradford points out what every fan of their romance was wondering: if she passes, he won’t be her supervisor anymore. This is the only real roadblock to their relationship. So, The Rookie has found a way to “have Chenford” but make the fans wait for it, too. It’s a great move to continue to stretch out the suspense but let the fans know the endgame is approaching. Of course, the endgame for Ridley might be approaching, too. Bradford plans to follow up on Ridley’s lie, and it could very well end his career.
The Rookie Turns an Infidelity Drama Storyline Into a Deadly Cliffhanger
James Murray Gets Brutally Shot in a Drive-By Shooting
A few seasons ago, fans thought Harper and James might die on The Rookie. While Harper seems to be fine, James is shot down by a gang member tied to Kylie, a volunteer friend of his. She witnessed a man named Cameron, who is involved in a gang, commit a murder. As James tries to help her, she kisses him. Not only that, Nolan sees it. A measure of levity in this serious episode was Nolan trying to ask for advice from his friends about what he should do with this information.
As James’s closest friend on the show, Wesley suggests Nolan tell James what he saw and give him the chance to tell Nyla. Yet, before Nolan gets the chance, Connor drives by the shelter and, with some incredible luck, sees both Kylie and James standing by an open gate. He shoots them multiple times as he passes by. Kylie and James are both in really bad shape when the episode cuts to black. The cliffhanger ending leaves more than the infidelity story up in the air; James’s life is hanging in the balance.
It seems unlikely The Rookie would let James die with a misconstrued infidelity rap hanging over his head. Still, “the kiss” is going to be serious enough that it is the title of next week’s episode. This will likely be an episode where the entire ensemble assembles on deck to help track down Connor and his gang and get justice for James. While the past two episodes have diverged somewhat from the street-level training stories The Rookie is supposed to be getting back to, the show has found a good balance thus far.
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