Season 7 of ‘The Rookie’ Was Overstuffed With Characters and Subplots
Looking at Season 7 as a whole, the writing team attempted to overcompensate for the shortened sixth season. Their efforts resulted in a season overstuffed with characters and subplots, lacking a major storyline or antagonist to propel the season forward. Season 7 introduced two recruits, Miles Penn (Deric Augustine) and Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher), creating two new regular cast members. Additionally, the series still has Celina Juarez (Lisseth Chavez), who completed her rookie training in Season 7, on top of focusing on the other series regulars. The main cast grew too big, and the writers struggled to juggle all the character arcs.
With the abundance of characters and subplots in Season 7, none of the storylines received the proper development to receive a fulfilling resolution. In comparison, the Elijah Stone (Brandon Jay McLaren) storyline in Season 5 received much stronger focus and development from the writing team. The lack of proper development for multiple storylines, many of which were set up in Season 6, resulted in story arcs being poorly handled throughout Season 7.
Major Storylines for Characters Lacked Exciting Resolutions
Multiple subplots throughout Season 7 were uneventfully resolved. Season 7 featured characters agonizing over emotional conflicts, which were annoyingly tossed aside later. Season 6 ended with Jason Wyler (Steve Kazee), Bailey’s (Jenna Dewan) abusive and criminal ex-husband, escaping from prison, with Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and Bailey learning of his release in an anticlimactic final scene. The early parts of Season 7 featured Nolan tirelessly working to locate Jason’s whereabouts, fearing Jason would target Bailey upon his return. After a protracted manhunt for Jason, he would only return one last time for a brief appearance in “Till Death,” where he takes Bailey captive before being unceremoniously executed by the hitman, Malvado (Jimmy Gonzales). It was a disappointing ending to a storyline after multiple episodes of buildup. The problem gets easily resolved by a brand-new character. But what about Malvado? Could he be an interesting new antagonist for the series?
The problem gets haphazardly thrown out the window with Malvado’s next and final appearance in “Mad About Murder.” Malvado reappears in an unrelated subplot regarding Bailey and Nolan, and he gets shot and killed by Detective Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz). Any threat he poses to exposing his texts with Bailey gets swept aside. Malvado’s last appearance did not showcase the same competent, skilled character who was set up earlier in the season.
The Wesley Jealousy Subplot
Elsewhere in Season 7 was the irritating subplot with Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) growing uneasy after learning that Detective Keith Graham (Ivan Hernandez) is attracted to his wife, Detective Lopez. He learns the information from audio recordings of Graham’s psychiatry sessions with Dr. Blair London (Danielle Campbell), which became evidence due to her corruption in Season 6. The subplot frustratingly drags on for multiple episodes, as Wesley agonizes over his wife working with someone who is attracted to her. It culminates in Season 7, Episode 6, with Lopez casually revealing that she was always aware of Graham’s attraction, exploiting it to use him as her “gopher.” The underwhelming resolution did not require the series to drag out the reveal for six episodes.
The Nyla and James Drama
The drama between Nyla Harper (Mekia Cox) and James Murray (Arjay Smith) throughout Season 7 looked like it was finally going somewhere interesting. After James survives getting shot by gangsters, he and Nyla seek to bring reform to the Los Angeles Police Department. Unfortunately, Harper’s plan to bring reform to the LAPD fails to find its footing. Other officers in Mid-Wilshire refuse to show up to Nyla and James’ meeting in “Three Billboards.” The only resulting outcome is rookie trainee, Officer Penn, spearheading an effort to revamp LAPD’s training videos, which are out-of-date with current police procedures. What started as a Nyla and James storyline transitions to Penn, and the subplot never draws anything in the way of interesting dramatic conflict, escalating stakes, or a satisfying resolution.
Monica Stevens Strikes Back … To Be Continued in Season 8
Looking ahead, The Rookie fans will have to wait until next year to understand the depth of Monica’s plot. The entire seventh season comes off as rushed. Many characters and subplots were introduced, but even with eighteen episodes, none received satisfying development, leading to an anticlimactic ending. Now, we have to wait eight months for a new episode!
Every episode of The Rookie is streaming now on Hulu in the U.S.
