Life is oftentimes about taking a hit, soaking up the pain, and landing your own punch in some form of retaliation. The key to it is never staying down when you get smacked in the face. The Rookie’s Lucy Chen, played by Melissa O’Neil, seems to have taken this message to heart. Having hit a bump in her quest to become a detective, Lucy found her career path somewhat altered as she was laden with the task of being a training officer. A major quest for her is making a proper officer out of rookie Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher), one of two new rookies at the LAPD Mid-Wilshire branch.
While it might not be where she had hoped to be, it has showcased a part of her character we didn’t know was there. “I have always felt that Lucy was a person who, perpetually, to a fault, gave people the benefit of the doubt and was always giving them chance after chance after chance,” O’Neil tells TV Insider in an interview. However, given that Seth has proven himself to be somewhat of a persistent liar, it’s interesting to see that her trusting nature gave way to her being able to catch the young rookie in his lies.
The decision to have Lucy question Seth’s stories is a testament to the growth of her character, and O’Neil goes on to expand on Lucy’s professional arc going forward. “I feel like she might believe him to a fault. I feel like that might be her fallibility as far as being a training officer, but I really appreciated that they actually decided to lean into her intuition and the strength of her intuition in this way and allowing that to kind of unfold with that,” she says. “She has a nose for it. I like that instead of leaning into this kindness that she has, we opted to lean into the fact that she’s actually really good at her job and sniffing out something instinctively that is amiss.”
There Can Be Growth in Adversity on ‘The Rookie’
Seth is a sly one, and his decision to use a string of fake tragedies to mask his decision not to put in enough effort is as brilliant as it is despicable. Taking advantage of Lucy’s kindness to help further his own course does not have a good look to it, and credit to Lucy for sniffing the falsehood out. Navigating the delicate situation puts into context her growth. “She feels like he’s lying, but how do you accuse someone of lying about having cancer without looking like an absolute off-the-rocker or insensitive human being? So it’s a wonderfully impossible situation, especially for a character like Lucy,” she explains. But somehow, Lucy finds a way to hold Seth accountable. She’s coming for that detective role soon enough.
