The Rookie isn’t about to devastate Nyla (Mekia Cox) just after she caught the serial killer, is it? Glasser (Seth Gabel), who she’d been keeping an eye on for a few episodes, is finally dealt with, but now, her husband James’ (Arjay Smith) life is hanging in the balance.
The Rookie is not new on March 4 (due to Donald Trump’s address), meaning fans are left with the cliffhanger from Season 7 Episode 8 for another week. Episode 9, titled “The Kiss,” will air on March 11. Episode 8 left off with a major cliffhanger.
During a wildfire (the episode was filmed before the California wildfires), James organized and ran the shelter for those who had to evacuate their homes. Kylie (Maria Zhang) came in to volunteer and shared that she hadn’t been at the center lately because she’d been going through a lot. James then intervened when he saw a guy, Connor (Levi Meaden), speaking with Kylie and grabbing for her. Connor left, and Kylie admitted to James that there was a shooting involving rival gangs outside where she works, but she didn’t want him to get involved because it was too dangerous. If she was involved, he was, he said, and she kissed him. Nolan (Nathan Fillion) saw and walked away before he saw James pull back and stress, “I absolutely love my wife.”
Nolan then, while being vague, tried to get advice about what he saw. Bailey (Jenna Dewan) was busy, and Angela (Alyssa Diaz) said she’d be a wealthy, glamorous widow if Wesley (Shawn Ashmore) kissed another woman. Nolan, however, told Wesley about seeing James kissing another woman and asked if he had to tell Nyla. Wesley suggests giving James a chance to come clean first, and Nolan tries to get him to talk to his friend. Wesley refused, though he pointed out the position he was now in, having to keep it from his wife Angela.
But then the episode ended with, as Nyla looked forward to taking her vacation days with Glasser in custody, Connor shooting James and Kylie outside the shelter. By the time Celina (Lisseth Chavez) got outside, it wasn’t looking good for either of them. Uh-oh!
The logline for Episode 9 reads as follows: “The team mobilizes to locate a suspect after a deadly series of events affects one of their own. Meanwhile, Celina takes on her first case with Bailey’s help.”
While James’ injuries didn’t look good at the end of Episode 8, they didn’t seem life-threatening necessarily either, so we have a feeling he’ll survive to deal with the fallout of that kiss with Kylie as well as the other issues between him and Nyla from earlier in the season about policing and their relationship.
Earlier this season, after Episode 5, TV Insider spoke with Cox about Nyla and James’ conflicts, including her admitting that she worried they got married too fast. “I think Nyla reacts. She reacts and she reacts harshly sometimes, but it is definitely a reaction to the conflict and it’s her fault. She’s the one who said, let’s get married,” she said as part of our Booked: The Rookie Aftershow. “But I think she’s questioning everything in that moment and she’s frustrated and she knows that he’s frustrated as well. And there’s been a lot of that I think recently for them and she doesn’t know what to do about it. So she’s grasping for straws. She’s trying to figure out what the best thing is to do.”
When she looked ahead at the time, Cox teased, “You see their relationship as a real relationship. You see that though there is love there, there is conflict there. I think you see Nyla become vulnerable in a way that you haven’t really seen in a long time. And yeah, I think that you just see that they’re tested. They’re tested a lot in these next few episodes.” That could have easily been referring to the events of Episode 8.
Considering there’s the aftermath of James and Kylie’s kiss to explore, with Nyla bound to find out at the worst possible moment (and unsure how to react if Kylie dies), something tells us that this will instead be used to continue to, as Cox put it, test the couple. Nyla could have to deal with the complicated feelings of James being alive and upset about the kiss and the fact that he didn’t call her after the initial conversation with Kylie about Connor. We could see this leading to more issues in their relationship and even a (temporary) separation at some point (after he recovers).
But what do you think will happen to James? Do you think he’ll live or die? Let us know in the comments section below.
