With the shocking departure of fan-favorite character Aaron Thorsen, The Rookie introduced two new characters. Miles Penn is a veteran police officer from Texas who — despite his struggles — is fitting into the job. His fellow new recruit, Seth Ridley, is not so lucky. Despite being a police procedural, The Rookie tries to be a “feel good” series. More often than not, the characters face adversity and triumph when it counts.
The characters are similarly often shown to be good, moral people dedicated to protecting and serving. This doesn’t mean they do everything right. Many characters, including protagonist John Nolan, have made big mistakes. What makes Seth Ridley such a liability for the LAPD is that he fails to take responsibility for his failures, covering them up with lies. At the halfway point in Season 7, the rookie’s dishonesty may finally cost him his job.
Seth Ridley Is Lucy Chen’s First Trainee in The Rookie
From the Beginning, He Made Mistakes and Lacked Confidence
Despite focusing on undercover work for most of the series’ run, Lucy Chen became a training officer in Season 7. The precinct was shorthanded, and she’d proven herself to be a capable and efficient officer. Lucy’s compassionate nature also makes her the perfect T.O. for a rookie as unsure of himself as Seth Ridley. On his first day, encountering his first dead body, Ridley threw up on the crime scene. He told Lucy he was overcome because his high school girlfriend died the same way.
Celina Juarez identified Seth as a Pisces, which according to some astrology adherents is a sign known for lying and appearing like a victim to avoid trouble.
Ridley has also had some wins. During a hostage situation in a home, he and Penn broke protocol and went inside. Ridley pretended to be her son, allowing Penn to get the drop on the hostage taker. They got in trouble, but their rescue went viral. Later, Ridley posed as Lucy’s friend Tamara Collins’ boyfriend in an undercover drug buy. Yet, he asked to meet the supplier and almost ended up captured and discovered.
Unfortunately, Ridley’s mistakes outweigh his victories. In “The Watcher,” Ridley loses his gear while chasing a shooting suspect. Even though a suspect’s car almost hits him, he was unable to identify the license plate number, the model or even the make of the car. He was also late to roll call, but he had a decent excuse. He told Lucy he was a cancer survivor, and he was at the doctor because he feared it was back. In “‘Til Death,” he revealed that his cancer was back. Still, his ineptitude isn’t Seth’s worst problem.
Seth Ridley Has an Almost Pathological Habit of Lying
Ridley’s Supposed Cancer Diagnosis Saved Him from Being Fired
In “Darkness Falling,” Lucy overhears Seth telling other officers that his high school girlfriend died in a car wreck. He had told her it was a drug overdose. Suspicious, she investigated his background to find out that while there were women who died both ways, neither of them were in a relationship with Seth. Unfortunately, so long as his reports and official statements are truthful, lying about his past isn’t technically an offense that warrants dismissal. Nonetheless, she confronted him.
“What if I told you I was ashamed of what I did? And that I have struggled in the past using these half-truths to get me out of trouble? I swore to myself I wasn’t going to be this guy anymore.” — Seth Ridley to Lucy Chen in “‘Til Death.”
Despite their breakup in Season 6, Lucy is still close to Tim Bradford, and she sought his advice. He told her there was a difference between “lying on the job” and “lying about the job.” Bradford advised patience, given the expense of training new recruits, his heroic rescue of the hostage and the recent loss of corrupt officers. As Ridley’s T.O., it was up to Lucy to correct his unethical behavior. Nonetheless, he supported Lucy when she decided to cut him.
Lucy is a great cop because of her compassion and her instincts, so that should have been the end of Ridley’s police career. Yet, in perfect TV show fashion, just as she and Bradford go to Grey to inform him, Ridley is already there. He told the lieutenant his cancer was back, and Grey promised the precinct would have his back. While it may threaten his life, the diagnosis saved his career. Fans are definitely supposed to think it shouldn’t have. Ridley isn’t earnest or eager to be a police officer like Penn or the rookies before him. Rather, he seems desperate, which is troubling beyond mere incompetence.
One of Seth Ridley’s Lies Could Finally Cost Him His Job
Lucy and Tim Almost Died, and He Awkwardly Lied About It
In “The Mickey,” Ridley revealed he signed away his medical privacy after Lucy asks specific questions about his treatment and side-effects. She said she didn’t believe he’d lie about cancer, but she also said she might check his records just the same. Ridley said he wanted to rebuild the trust that was broken, but his latest mistake almost got Lucy and Tim killed. In “Wildfire,” he was assigned to coordinate communications with all the departments as the fire raged. It was a hectic job, and even a practiced officer could have made a mistake. At one point, Ridley got a call noting Eagle Rock Road was in the path of the fire, but he forgot to update the other officers. Tim and Lucy ended up trapped there, with no way for help to reach them.
They only survived because they took cover under a portable “fire shelter” as the blaze burned everything around them, including their vehicle. At the hospital, Ridley showed up to check on them and spun an obvious lie that he was never updated that the fire changed direction. He went on about excoriating the National Weather Service and even said someone should be fired over it. Tim agreed, and he promised to personally follow up on that.
He and Lucy then exchanged a glance that made it clear they suspected Ridley was lying again. Only this time, instead of lying about his girlfriends or even his health, he lied about the job. Instead of embarrassment, this mistake almost cost two colleagues their lives. Fans of The Rookie likely wonder why Seth Ridley has not been fired already, especially given all the things that almost cost Chen, Nolan and others their jobs.
Despite his cancer diagnosis, Lucy was right that his behavior was unethical. If he was excellent on the job, perhaps that would change things. Yet, his problem is more than a lack of confidence. Ridley is the first rookie on the show who seems truly inept. The real liability, however is his pathological dishonesty. Neither Chen nor Bradford thought their near-death experience was his or anyone’s fault. The first was fast-moving, and they were driving into it. It was only because he told such a bold-faced and desperate lie that their suspicions were raised. Thus, it would be fitting if this was the lie that ended his career.
