ABC’s The Rookie Season 7 has been delivering on several fronts this season, with engrossing storylines, well-crafted character arcs, and some much-needed romance along the way. The procedural’s March 25 episode, titled “Speed,” followed how John (Nathan Fillion) and Celina (Lisseth Chavez) were in a hostage situation, while the rest of the station worked to assist despite having other fires to put out. The episode has been confirmed as having drawn in the procedural’s largest audience of the season — in several seasons, in fact. With three days of cross-platform viewing, the episode hit season highs in both total viewers (8.25 million) and adults 18-49 (2.24 million).
The performance of the episode, Speed, is not one to be sniffed at, as it returns the show to hits it hasn’t attained in quite some time. The episode’s total of 8.25 million viewers is the most the show has amassed after three days since January 2023, during its fifth season. Speed’s performance in the adult demographic, at 2.24 million viewers, is the most the procedural has attained since the penultimate episode of season two in May 2020. The Rookie’s performance is one that is replicated across other ABC shows which air on Tuesday nights, which include High Potential and Will Trent, with all three shows averaging more than 10 million viewers after five weeks of multiplatform viewing.
The well-received Speed episode is an adrenaline ride which was inspired by the 1994 action thriller Speed. In the episode, while undercover, John and Celina are sucked into a hostage situation that threathens public safety. The episode also saw Angela (Alyssa Diaz) and Nyla (Mekia Cox) investigate the suspects, while Tim (Eric Winter) challenges Lucy’s (Melissa O’Neil) decision-making.
The ‘Speed’ Episode Brought This Character Back
Besides paying homage to an iconic movie, the episode also saw the return of a slightly despised character in The Rookie universe. Monica (Bridget Regan), ADA Wesley’s (Shawn Ashmore) ex and competently vicious villain, returned to the show. It is not an arrival that series star, Richard T. Jones, who plays Lieutenant Grey, envisaged. “It was a surprise. Dealing with Alexi [Hawley], you never know exactly where he’s going with scripts, where we’re going when we’re reading it,” Jones said. The actor goes on to add, “So it was always kind of a cliffhanger. When you think of this particular script, the Speed episode, I was very kind of nervous because I’m a big fan of the movie Speed. So I was like, man, what are we doing? But then after reading the episode, I was very pleased and it was kind of a shock that Monica was involved.”
