Whenever a new recurring character is introduced on The Rookie, the odds are pretty high that this person is going to turn out to be a villain. Some examples include Monica Stevens (Bridget Regan), Blair London (Danielle Campbell), and, of course, Detective Nick Armstrong (Harold Perrineau). The Armstrong twist was the best of these, as it was slowly built up over the course of Season 2, and he was previously shown to be a seemingly real friend and confidante to John Nolan (Nathan Fillion).
When The Rookie introduced its two latest rookies, Miles Penn (Deric Augustine) and Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher), in the Season 7 premiere, it looked like they would both become likable new additions to Midwilshire division. This is certainly the case for Miles, who was initially introduced as arrogant and stubborn, but has since been shown to be a more nuanced and layered character. Seth, on the other hand, has always felt like a bit of a one-dimensional character. This week’s episode of The Rookie confirms that this is intentional, and that Seth may not be who he claims to be. Through this storyline, The Rookie also seems to be bringing Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) and Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) back towards each other.
Lucy Learns That Seth Has Been Lying in ‘The Rookie’s Latest Episode
As of his first appearance on the show, Seth seemed to be nice enough, although more than a little bit underqualified for the job. Soon, though, The Rookie started to pile on his tragic backstory. It was revealed in his first episode that he’d been there when his high school girlfriend had died of an overdose, and in his next episode that he’d previously had cancer and that it might be coming back. It felt like The Rookie might be trying a little too hard to make Seth sympathetic, but as it turns out, these pieces of backstory were intentionally revealed in a suspicious way.
In this week’s episode, while investigating a multi-car wreck, Miles teases Seth for making a mistake. Seth immediately snaps back at Miles and claims that his high school girlfriend died in a car accident. Lucy catches this immediately, and she later brings this up to Seth while giving him the benefit of the doubt. Seth claims that he was referring to two separate girlfriends and that the one he’d told Lucy about had not actually died. Lucy trusts her gut, though, and her gut says that there is something off about Seth (and that his story would have been a little too much of a coincidence).
