Season 7 of The Rookie has been very intentional in building up to the reconciliation of Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) and Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil). It’s always been clear that their breakup was never going to be permanent, but that doesn’t make it any less difficult to see them separated. So far, this season has moved Tim and Lucy through the stages of finding their way back to each other. They first started to get back to their old dynamic by playfully competing with each other, then he helped her through the situation with Seth (Patrick Keleher), and finally, they admitted their continued feelings for each other in a near-death experience during the wildfire.
Tim and Lucy were keeping a careful distance after the fire, but last week’s conversation between the two of them broke the ice. Lucy finally told Tim that she is planning to eventually forgive him for their breakup, and, for the first time since the midseason finale, The Rookie was treating this relationship with the care that it deserves. In this week’s April Fool’s Day episode, though, The Rookie plays with this dynamic in a more casual way, and it’s a real disappointment. Ultimately, this latest development in The Rookie feels like one step forward and two steps back for Chenford.
In ‘The Rookie’s Latest Episode, Tim and Lucy Celebrate April Fool’s Day
This week’s episode of The Rookie, “April Fools,” starts with Lucy showing up to Tim’s house the night before April Fool’s Day. She’s very literal in her definition of the holiday being from midnight to midnight, and she says that they should do an April Fool’s prank where they act like a couple for the day. It doesn’t make any sense, and there is no obvious party whom they are pranking, but it’s obviously just a loophole to act like a couple without thinking about the future of their relationship. Sure enough, throughout the episode, they act all coupley, which is not even that different from how they’ve been acting all season.
The main difference, obviously, is that Lucy and Tim hook up in secret at work throughout the day. Celina (Lisseth Chavez) is onto them because they are not subtle at all. What is a little odd is that Lucy doesn’t tell Celina the truth about her and Tim. She clearly isn’t ready to get back together yet, and there is the chain of command issue, but it is odd that she hides it from her own roommate. Towards the end of the episode, Sergeant Grey (Richard T. Jones) calls Tim and Lucy into his office, where he yells at them for defying the chain of command and secretly getting back together in a scene that feels out of place. Lucy and Tim laugh and claim that they pranked him, and then he fakes a heart attack to prank them. Tim and Lucy end the episode leaving to go hook up again, and it’s suggested that they will go back to whatever their new normal is the following day.
‘The Rookie’s Latest Episode Undercuts Chenford’s Building Tension
The Rookie initially had a really strong storyline in Tim and Lucy’s breakup. It was absolutely devastating, and it led to some serious angst for the two of them. Lucy was hurt and heartbroken, feeling like Tim had abandoned her. Tim felt like he didn’t deserve Lucy and needed to work through his own issues to get to a place where he could feel like he did. After she saved his life in the Season 6 finale, this shifted, and they could act more normal with each other. The wildfire confession was exactly the moment that The Rookie had been building up to for Tim and Lucy all season, and it felt very earned. Honestly, The Rookie should have had them get back together right then at the hospital.
Instead, though, the show continues to drag out Tim and Lucy’s reconciliation. The longer it takes The Rookie to get them back together, though, the more this relationship loses both its tension and its momentum. To go from such a serious conversation as they had during the wildfire to then having them use a “prank” as an excuse to rekindle their relationship for the day feels like a disservice to this pairing. Even if Tim and Lucy can’t be together yet because of the chain of command and the lingering issues from their breakup, they could at least keep their distance and pine for each other. The April Fool’s Day “prank” minimizes what they have.
‘The Rookie’ Needs To Stick the Landing With Chenford’s Reconciliation
The Rookie spent just over four seasons building up to Tim and Lucy’s relationship, only to break them up in the following season. The show still managed to get around this by giving them some excellent angst after the breakup (that elevator scene, in particular, was just perfect). Now, though, Tim and Lucy are basically back together without being back together, and if The Rookie continues on this path, their reconciliation just won’t feel as rewarding. The Valentine’s Day hookup was one thing because it was spontaneous and confusing for both of them. On April Fool’s Day, though, they don’t consider the stakes here, and they go into it intentionally and without a second thought.
Ultimately, Chenford’s April Fool’s Day “prank” just doesn’t add anything new to their dynamic this season. They already know that the other still loves them and that the other still wants to get back together with them. They have even already backslided after the breakup, and they’ve already resumed joking around with each other this season. In this episode, the “prank” is nothing more than a themed storyline for the holiday, and a way to give Chenford another storyline that doesn’t actually bring them back together yet. For their reunion to feel earned, The Rookie needs to give Chenford some more angst and pining in the final episodes of the season.
New episodes of The Rookie air Thursday nights on ABC, and are available to stream the next day on Hulu.
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