With The Rookie episode “A Deadly Secret,” the show returns to a familiar format but sends it up as other documentarians join in. With three episodes left in Season 7, the episode was a lighthearted affair, but one that still tied up some story threads from previous episodes that viewers may not have even realized were dangling. The remaining episodes for The Rookie Season 7 are likely to be more serious, so this return to their documentary format ends up being a fun break before the curtain closes for the year.
Last deployed in Season 5’s “Double Trouble,” some fans felt the “True Crime” tradition on The Rookie should end. In both that episode and “A Deadly Secret,” the filmmaker — series showrunner Alexi Hawley — is introduced and displays familiarity with The Rookie characters. As if aware of the criticism, this latest edition has fun at the format’s expense, introducing both guest stars from the Ghost Files YouTube show and a documentary filmed by Abigail Tierney herself. Along with the humor, the episode wraps up several Season 7 stories by making the Westview Psychiatric Hospital a central, possibly haunted, location. What could have been a tired retread of a familiar format served to deliver both humor, story resolution and sly commentary on the show itself.
John Nolan’s Former Future Daughter-in-Law Returns as a Missing Person
Abigail Tierney Was the Subject of Dueling Documentaries on The Rookie
Abigail was introduced as John Nolan’s potential daughter-in-law, engaged to his son Henry. The episode reveals that since she and Henry ended their relationship, Nolan continued to help her, from taking her on a ride-along with the Los Angeles Police Department to supporting her as she tried to be a filmmaker. Both Angela Lopez and fan-favorite officer Quigley Smitty were involved in her filmmaking efforts before she disappeared in the abandoned hospital.
Zayne Emory appeared in a Season 4 and 6 episode as Henry Nolan, but Abigail wasn’t mentioned.
The episode implies that Abigail didn’t survive her disappearance, but she was ultimately found trapped in a walled-off section of the hospital. Displaying a clear break with reality, this answered a question left open since the location’s introduction in Episode 4. Two serial killers and a patient who took the blame for the murders were tied to this hospital. “A Deadly Secret” reveals that a drugged water supply is the reason patients at Westview end up worse off than when they arrive.
These drugs affected both Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen, leading to frank discussions about their relationships. The episode further makes it clear why “Chenford” broke up in Season 6, and it further signals their inevitable reunion. The episode makes great use of the entire ensemble, including the new recurring character Rodge. It’s yet another example of how The Rookie stands apart from its police procedural peers because of the way it plays with the weekly format.
With the Appearance of the ‘Ghost Files’ Guys, The Rookie Has Fun With Its Format
Multiple Documentaries Unfold In This Single Episode In a Hilarious Fashion
A third documentary crew appears in the episode with Ghost Files hosts Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara, revealed in advance of the episode. It establishes the competition between the various documentarians in the episode, which is just a purely humorous detail.
The episode bounces between various productions to tell its story. This breaks the narrative framing that “A Deadly Secret” is the documentary that Alexi Hawley’s “Interviewer” is putting together. It makes the filmmakers part of the story itself. Their competition adds characterization to these external figures, elevating the documentary format in The Rookie from a gag to a serial narrative in the mostly episodic series.
- The documentary by the crew from previous episodes.
- The Ghost Files documentary.
- Abigail’s own documentary
Long ago, The Rookie embraced its ensemble, moving the story past Nolan’s elder rookie character. Beyond opening up the storytelling potential, it also made the series more dynamic in its approach to police work. These documentary-style episodes are primarily used for humor, but they also offer a way to view the characters as they are seen in the show’s world. “A Deadly Secret” takes things further by recontextualizing these “true crime” documentaries themselves.
They have, in the past, been used to highlight outlandish cases from a distance, making what might not have been humorous as a straight narrative more so. Abigail’s disappearance and the Westview hospital plot is one such case. Yet, rather than tragedy, viewers can laugh at these antics, particularly how Coghlan brilliantly plays Abigail’s pointed looks to the camera as she films her own documentary.
This episode almost serves as a companion piece to the previous episode, “Mad About Murder,” a takedown of true crime podcasts. The competing documentaries reveal that these films are less about getting to the truth, and
more about exploiting the tragedies The Rookie characters face for profit. The most significant example is how Abigail and the “Interviewer” clash over the exclusivity of Nolan’s involvement in their projects. As he tells Abigail at the end of the episode, she suffered the trauma and deserved to tell her own story. The final scene is also a funny Ghost Files moment, where noted skeptic Shane admits to being scared of the Westview hospital, leading to his and Ryan’s terrified flight from the building.
‘A Deadly Secret’ Ties Up a Larger Season 7 Story Arc on The Rookie
The Westview Psychiatric Hospital Was a Bigger Deal Than Viewers Thought
Abigail Tierney in a hospital gown, lying in a hosptial bed from The RookieImage via ABC
After his arrest in “Wildfire,” Liam Glasser returns to the show because of his association with Westview. The episode subtly implies the revelation that Westview’s past with the MK Ultra program might help his defense.
This could mean the killer doesn’t end up behind bars, returning to create larger problems for The Rookie characters. Dr. Julius Erickson is the reason that so many of Westview’s patients get worse after checking into the facility. Yet, it’s not entirely accidental.
“In a last moment of lucidity, Erickson decided to destroy his research…. [The drugs he dumped] were potent enough to be absorbed by touch, even when diluted,” Nyla Harper to the documentary crew.
Ultimately, the various documentarians discover that the head of Westview, Dr. Meg Davidson, deliberately poisoned her patients. Using the drug-tainted water, patients would get worse and be forced to enter conservatorships. This was a scam by which Davidson and unscrupulous members of patients’ families would eliminate competition for inheritance. The episode also ties itself to another case from earlier in the season.
In “Chaos Agent,” teen girls almost kill a friend, in large part blaming an AI called “Zuzu” who claimed to be a demon. While they didn’t go to the hospital, their nanny did. It’s a loose connection, but Zuzu apparently sent Nolan a message revealing where Abigail was trapped. Again, it’s just a goof on AI, used to create another eerie element in the episode. However, it does tie “A Deadly Secret” to another Season 7 story, closing up plot holes viewers weren’t even really aware were left open. It’s clever storytelling from the writers.
Along with its connections to other Season 7 stories, “A Deadly Secret” also ties up the dangling story thread about Abigail herself. Her disappearance from Henry’s life was never addressed. It’s not as if fans needed to know what happened to her, but this episode does fill in that story.After seven seasons on the air, this episode shows that storytelling in The Rookie continues to evolve in clever ways. The writers are skilled at blending real police and character drama with humor. Even those who may have grown tired of the show’s documentary gimmick may be forced to admit “A Deadly Secret” was entertaining.
