In this week’s episode of The Rookie, fans were treated to the kind of cops-versus-criminals action they have become accustomed to over the show’s six seasons. More importantly, “Punch Card (Season 6, Episode 8)” was a return to form in a number of ways compared to the last weeks’ episode, and even previous seasons. Along with the thrilling crime-of-the-week, this episode also moved a number of ongoing storylines forward.
One advantage The Rookie has over other police procedurals is that, since its protagonists are mostly beat cops rather than members of special divisions, they don’t have to follow the weekly investigative format. Viewers get to see parts of case work they don’t usually see on TV, while other aspects that have since become police procedural clichés happen off-screen. Ever since Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) and Nyla Harper (Mekia Cox) became detectives, the show has become a bit more traditional in its narrative approach. Overarching plots and cases became more common, while self-contained stories and characters’ intimate dramas took a backseat.
With this week’s focal case being an impromptu gang war and a botched police raid, this episode recaptured The Rookie’s classic piecemeal approach to storytelling. Set almost entirely in a hospital, all the characters could do was react to the chaos happening around them rather than drive an investigation or join the fray. The episode made good use of the whole ensemble, much like it did in last week’s experimental episode. But instead of strange camera tricks, “Punch Card” was basically a bottle episode that followed the action in the hospital. However, in bringing back a recurring antagonist, The Rookie made a common police procedural mistake it used to avoid.
Monica Stevens Is an Interesting Villain, but “Punch Card” Made Her Nonsensical
Since Wesley Evers Is a Prosecutor, The Rookie Vilified Defense Attorneys
One of the great things about Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) was that he was a principled defense attorney in a police procedural. By Season 5, he was promoted to Assistant District Attorney. But in order to make him look more heroic than he already was, The Rookie demonized the cast’s other lawyer. Case in point, Monica Stevens (Bridget Regan). Monica was a defense lawyer introduced in Season 5 and a former flame of Wesley’s. In this episode, she was the victim of a violent attack. While Regan’s performance is perfect for an antagonistic figure, “Punch Card” unnecessarily dirtied her character.
After she was attacked in her home, Monica was well within her rights to shoot the home invader. Even the second shot she fired at his foot is easily explainable as self-defense, and in no way can be construed as attempted murder. Yet, Monica hits herself in the head with her gun to make her injuries appear worse. This doesn’t dissuade Lopez or Harper from treating her as a suspect, not a victim. Instead of declaring herself her assassin’s attorney — which would have given her privileged conversations with him and thus get useful information — she murders him using the old “syringe filled with air” gag that hospital intrigue shows love so much.
The episode also revealed that she’s connected to Dr. Blair London (Danielle Campbell), the corrupt psychologist who treated Aaron Thorsen (Tru Valentino) after his shooting and Tim Bradford (Eric Winter). The Rookie’s approach to Monica is reminiscent of Jesse Pinkman’s famous description of Saul Goodman in the modern crime classic Breaking Bad. They [the show’s writers] don’t want Monica to be a “criminal-defense attorney,” they want her to be a “criminal defense-attorney.”
While The Rookie suffers with Wesley as a prosecutor, Monica could be a formidable antagonist without her falling into overt criminality and murder. These developments feel as if they were included in the story not to elevate the threat Monica poses, but to ensure that none of the audience accidentally sympathizes with her. It’s also worth noting that typically, in cop dramas, defense attorneys (along with Internal Affairs, judges or anyone else interested in the rights of the accused) are portrayed, at best, as impediments to the police’s heroics. By eliminating Monica’s nuance, The Rookie fell for one of its genre’s biggest pitfalls after dodging it for so long.
“Punch Card” Revealed That Metro Has a Mole, & It Led to Death & Disaster
Mad Dog’s Confession to Tim Bradford Means Trouble Is Coming
If the previous episode centered on the emotional fallout of Bradford’s breakup with Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neill), “Punch Card” dealt with the professional consequences. Despite his skills as a tactical officer, Bradford and Thorsen are left on simple surveillance duty before Bradford’s old Metro squad takes down a group of drug dealers. Worse, the unpredictable cop Mad Dog (Nick Gomez) returns after his last appearance in “Death Sentence (Season 5, Episode 14).”
Thanks to what’s implied to be blackmail at the hands of Dr. London (via Monica Stevens), Mad Dog leaks the details of the operation and walks his men into an ambush. The scene in which Bradford saw Mad Dog in the elevator talking to Dr. London was a clue, as was his reaction to Bradford’s critique of his operations plan. Since he expected the building to be empty, Mad Dog didn’t bother adding extra layers of security to his plan. Instead, he made it easier for the drug operation’s perpetrators to set up the explosive device meant to kill his team.
Additionally, in the recap at the episode’s beginning, audiences were reminded that, in “Training Day (Season 6, Episode 4),” Dr. London recorded Thorsen’s session without his consent. “Punch Card” also revealed that she likely records all the sessions she does with cops to use as leverage for Monica. These developments set up what will likely be a larger arc for the rest of The Rookie Season 6. After watching his friend take his own life, it’s unlikely that Bradford will let this go so easily.
Ironically, the therapist he just started seeing to help with his mental troubles and trauma is at the root of this conspiracy. There may seemingly be no secrets or skeletons left in Bradford’s closest for her to use against him, but her threat is still ever-present. Complicating matters is Thorsen’s clear crush on Dr. London. This was also the second episode in a row where he was paired with Bradford, thus establishing them as a team. Emotional conflict between the two caused by Dr. London could perhaps be introduced later.
“Punch Card” Gives Bailey & John’s Plans a Surprising Turn
Fans Expected Jenna Dewan’s Real-Life Pregnancy to Be Written In
When Bailey Nune (Jenna Dewan) and John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) started talking about babies, fans assumed it was a way to write Dewan’s real-life pregnancy into the show. However, “Punch Card” revealed that Bailey’s best hope to have a child is through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Since this was a trying and expensive process, the episode sadly ends with Nolan and Nune deciding to abandon their hopes to start a family.
Of course, she could still become pregnant in a later episode. Conversely, they might adopt a child, since the idea of raising one started when the couple fostered a child in “The Vow (Season 6, Episode 5).” Having Bailey and John stay in the hospital for a while was a great way to put all The Rookie characters in one place, while still focusing on their relationship and family plans.
Similarly, Lucy Chen partnered up with Celina Juarez (Lisseth Chavez) as an “Acting Training Officer” in advance of their becoming roommates. Thankfully, the episode’s storytellers decided to keep their relationship undramatic for now. The Rookie is doing a good job pairing up the characters with each other, while keeping the ensemble involved in the larger narratives. For example, since Monica was on the phone with Wesley when she was attacked, he was even able to make it to where the action was for the episode.
The previous episode was also heavily focused on character relationships, while the case the team worked on wasn’t so engaging. After a quieter episode, The Rookie got back to its over-the-top cops-and-robbers action with a full-on shootout in the hospital. This is the kind of thing that makes almost no sense in any way. However, the gang war that brought the criminals to the hospital was a good, easy way to set up this kind of action. At worst, viewers may have to suspend their disbelief to buy the idea that seasoned mobsters would open fire and break cover in a hospital full of cops. Then again, they already did that with Monica’s apparent penchant for murder.
“Punch Card” Foreshadows Looming Dangers for the Cast
While Seemingly a Case-Of-The-Week, This Episode Will Affect the Rest of The Rookie Season 6
A common approach that network procedurals use in their seasonal storytelling, at least ever since The X-Files popularized it, was combining the standalone case-of-the-week and “mythology episodes” that are more focused on larger arcs into one. While The Rookie doesn’t have a government-bacled alien conspiracy (yet), the Monica and Dr. London’s insidious plots suggests this episode will have ramifications beyond just a good old-fashioned shootout between Team Mid-Wilshire and Team Criminal.
The mystery of what the lawyer and the psychiatrist are up to is only just beginning. Similarly, who wants Monica dead is an open question, and one that may even be tied to the gang war. “Punch Card” is an excellent example of how to do a “mythology” episode without leaving casual viewers in the dark. The characters’ relationships are easily understood thanks to context clues and the selected recap scenes at the beginning. The episode’s central story is straightforward, allowing the audience to focus on the characters’ present dynamics and problems.
For all the gunfights and investigations on The Rookie, it’s the characters’ relationships that keep viewers tuning in week-to-week. They even threw ChenFord fans a bone in this episode, with Tim using Kojo to drop off a birthday card for Lucy. They aren’t close to getting back together, but “Punch Card” made it clear that their feelings for each other were just as strong as ever.
