It’s time to talk about Monica Stevens (Bridget Regan), a character in the hit ABC series, The Rookie, who emerged as the series’ big bad in Season 6. In her initial appearances, Monica came off as a lawyer with dubious morals and a Machiavellian streak. However, her transformation into a full-on supervillain in Season 6 took things too far. Bridget Regan is a tremendous actress, and with Monica’s turn to the dark side, the series turned a great antagonistic character into a cartoonish villain.
Monica Stevens Didn’t Initially Have This Villainous Edge
In Season 5 of The Rookie, Monica Stevens was introduced as a defense attorney and the lawyer for another recurring villain, Elijah Stone (Brandon Jay McLaren). Monica came off as an ambitious individual with a malleable moral character. When she realized Elijah was willing to put her through a wood chipper, she enabled the Los Angeles Police Department’s Mid-Wilshire Division to finally arrest Elijah. The fact that Monica finally saw fit to turn on Elijah suggested that she had a glimmer of a conscience. Even someone of morally dubious character, such as Monica, had a limit when it came to Elijah, but perhaps she was only acting out of self-preservation. It’s plausible for Monica to represent LA’s criminal elite, but it is less realistic for Monica, as an attorney for the bad guys, to emerge as the series’ big bad.
‘The Rookie’ Season 6 Poorly Set Up Monica’s Transition Into Villainy
Season 6 shows Monica acting as a rising information broker in the criminal underworld of Los Angeles. Monica utilizes Dr. Blair London (Danielle Campbell) as her mole inside the LAPD and sells the intel from Dr. London’s sessions to the criminal underworld. The problem is that Season 6 didn’t properly build up the villainous turn for Monica. Monica always came off like someone who would work for criminals, but it always appeared there were certain boundaries she would not cross. In Season 6, Monica acts like a criminal kingpin who wants to seize the power vacuum left by Elijah Stone and Sandra de la Cruz (Camille Guaty). It’s believable for Monica to represent criminal scumbags and keep them out of jail, but her turn to criminal conspiracy against the LAPD goes too far. Monica is a well-paid defense attorney representing wealthy criminals, so why did Monica feel she needed to go into the gangster business? Perhaps the shortened Season 6 had something to do with those issues, but Monica’s path to villainy didn’t have enough room to breathe.
Monica’s Actions in Season 6 Came Off as Cartoonishly Evil
In the latter half of Season 6, Monica orchestrates a conspiracy to attempt to frame Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) for the murder of Metro PD officer Matt “Mad Dog” Dominques (Nick Gomez). After Dr. London agrees to flip on Monica, Monica has another corrupt LAPD detective who worked for her executed and kidnaps Dr. London. Monica then takes Dr. London to Argentina, attempting to trade her to the Swiss trafficker, Jakob Olmstead (Casper Andreas). Monica also participated in the torture and interrogation of one of the hitmen hired by Eric Ramsey (Neil Hopkins). Beforehand, she seemed like a smart lawyer who would not want to get her hands dirty to maintain some plausible deniability. Monica’s actions in Season 6 come off as unrealistic when she starts spying on the LAPD and actively sabotages police operations that lead to the deaths of officers in the field.
Season 7 Needs To Showcase More of Monica’s Backstory
To give the writers of The Rookie some credit, there is still time to fix the Monica problem in Season 7. Season 6 ended with Monica escaping a shootout in Argentina, so Monica will likely reappear in Season 7. The Rookie must showcase the pivotal events in Monica’s life that set her down her current path. The solution does not necessarily involve walking back Monica’s villain status, but the writers must further develop Monica’s backstory and reveal how she became so sinister and irredeemable. Maybe the writers could include some flashbacks of Monica’s life with Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) before their breakup, as well as flashback scenes showing Monica’s transformation into a ruthless individual. Perhaps starting a criminal empire provided Monica with the power and respect she never achieved as a high-powered defense attorney.
It would be exciting to see a fleshed-out version of Monica’s backstory if she continues as a major series villain. The Rookie Season 7 is scheduled for eighteen episodes, and hopefully, upcoming installments will feature new insight into Monica’s background. It would be interesting to see if the character suffers any remorse or regrets when she’s finally brought to justice.
