The Rookie wrapped up its shortened — but more serialized — sixth season with a literal bang, putting nearly all of its major players in the line of fire.
Tuesday’s thrilling conclusion brings to a head a season-long conspiracy involving Monica Stevens (Bridget Regan), the sinister lawyer who represents an untold number of criminals in Los Angeles, and Dr. Blair London (Danielle Campbell), the LAPD therapist who has been blackmailing patients and selling their confidential intel to various criminal organizations. Juarez (Lisseth Chavez) discovers that Monica and Blair first crossed paths three years ago, when Monica agreed to speak at a student-led panel that Blair was moderating. It was around that time that Blair made the mistake of asking Monica to help her get out of a charge for running someone over while under the influence — and Blair has been in her debt ever since.
Monica, as it turns out, has her work cut out for her. After discovering the identity of Eric Ramsay, the man who has been conspiring to kill her, Monica enlists inmate Oscar Hutchinson (Matthew Glave) to rough up Ramsay’s right-hand man. In exchange, she agrees to help Oscar and Jason Wyler (Steve Kazee), the ex-husband of Bailey (Jenna Dewan), break out of prison. Monica learns from Oscar that Ramsay has been sleeping with the wife of one of his biggest benefactors, and her plan is quickly set into motion: She gets money launderer Christian Bautista (Will Beinbrink) to send a hit team to the laundromat where Gundo (A Martinez) and his gang will be waiting to collect $2 million from her, and then she plans to kidnap Blair and leave on a private flight to Argentina to meet with Ramsay’s benefactor.
Using intel from Chen (Melissa O’Neil), who was working as a fake nanny for the Bautistas as part of an undercover op, the police prepare for an attack on the laundromat and get into a shootout with the hit men and other gang members. For his part, Bradford (Eric Winter) jumps into the bed of a pickup truck that one of the hit men uses to get away from the crime scene, and the two wrestle in the front seat while the criminal attempts to keep the truck on the road. Following in close pursuit, Chen and Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) get close enough to the pickup truck for Chen to jump into the truck herself. She is able to physically restrain the driver enough for Bradford, who would have otherwise been stabbed in the face, to hit the brakes and stop the car.
Meanwhile, in Argentina, Nolan (Nathan Fillion) — who was under express orders to not stop Blair from being kidnapped — and Harper (Mekia Cox) get involved in a shootout of their own in their attempt to save the naïve shrink. Although Monica manages to escape (and Nolan is shot in the side of the ass!), Nolan and Harper are able to extradite Blair back to the U.S. But in the final moments of the hour, Nolan gets some not-so-great news from Grey (Richard T. Jones): Oscar and Jason have escaped from prison.
A couple weeks after reopening the writers’ room for Season 7, which will headline ABC’s midseason schedule in January, creator and showrunner Alexi Hawley sat down with TV Guide to discuss the reasoning behind Chen and Bradford’s controversial break-up, why he chose against writing Dewan’s real-life pregnancy into the season, and where viewers can expect the show’s next chapter to pick up.
Hawley: We were laying some breadcrumbs as far back as last season, in terms of obstacles [for their relationship]. [Tim’s ex-wife] Isabel coming back was a big thing, and him sort of being reintroduced to the trauma that he felt by her undercover work, especially her deep undercover work where she was gone for months, if not a year at a time. And now, with Lucy wanting to become an undercover cop like Isabel was, could he really go through that again? That all felt really important. So we started that season with that potential trouble spot. But then we went a little sideways. At the beginning of this season, we were breaking the story, and I started to think about Ray [one of Tim’s Army buddies] and what from Tim’s past could come back that could really turn everything upside down.
Why did you feel a break-up was necessary to further complicate and develop their relationship?
Hawley: I just think that there’s no drama in stasis, and I feel like obstacles are drama and also [true to] real life. I love our audience because they’ve gone with us on this journey, and I feel like they understand that we never do anything that’s meant to be manipulative. It’s always groun
