The Rookie season 7, episode 14 aired Tuesday, April 15 on ABC and revisited a number of storylines. Celina discovers that a popular true crime podcast is covering her sister’s murder, prompting her to confront the host. Meanwhile, Tim receives a threatening message, which leads to an investigation into the dark web. “Mad About Murder” also features the return of Malvado, the hitman whom Bailey tipped off about her abusive ex-husband’s location.
While Nolan and Bailey worry that Malvado will reveal her secret, he is shot and killed at the end of the episode. Showrunner Alexi Hawley confirms that the death is meant to cap off the arc, as its purpose was to help Bailey come to terms with her trauma. However, he continues on to say that the plot could be revisited in the future if the right opportunity presents itself.
Hawley Explains Why The Rookie Revisited Blanca’s Murder In Season 7, Episode 14
“It really did feel like a great story conceit to investigate Celina’s continuing coping with what happened to her [sister].”
Lucy and Celina looking at each other in The Rookie season 7, episode 14
ScreenRant: This episode readdresses the murder of Celina’s sister. What made you decide to revisit that storyline through a true crime podcast?
Alexi Hawley: It really started with conversations about the true crime podcast as a phenomenon [in general], and then obviously it felt like Celina’s story is the freshest, and the one that felt right for it. There’ve been a few articles out there about the true crime phenomenon, and they have conventions and everything, and in some way it can bring fresh light to stories.
Obviously Serial is one of the early ones that did it, but then [there’s the question of] how much of it feels exploitative versus helpful, and all that kind of stuff. So, all that said, it really did feel like a great story conceit to investigate Celina’s continuing coping with what happened to her [sister].
You also brought back Malvado this episode, who was shot and killed. Does this mean that Bailey’s secret is safe and that storyline is capped off, or is that something that might still come back later?
Alexi Hawley: In my head, unless something comes up that is interesting, I feel like it’s fairly capped off. That Malvado storyline was there to really show Bailey’s trauma with Jason on the loose and coming for her, and her having to sort of go through the retraumatization of her past relationship and ultimately come to terms with the fact that there were things that she never admitted to herself. Even back then, it felt like a device more than something that needed to play in terms of long-term stakes.
I do think that it’s mostly served its purpose, but again, we might have a moment in the writers’ room next season where we’re like, “Oh, well, we could go here with it.” But yeah, for now, what it did to her and what it did to her relationship with Nolan was the most interesting thing, to me, about it.
Hawley Wanted To Showcase The Emotional Impact Of Chenford’s Split
“What was really important to us as we launched the season was not to cheap out on the fallout from the breakup.”
Eric Winter as Tim Bradford and Melissa O’Neil as Lucy Chen in The Rookie season 7, episode 12
Lucy is taking the sergeant’s exam so she and Tim could, potentially, get back together. After everything that’s happened, are their jobs keeping them apart? Is it still because she hasn’t forgiven him? What would you say their main roadblock is at this point in time?
Alexi Hawley: I think it’s both. Honestly, what was really important to us as we launched the season was not to cheap out on the fallout from the breakup–that the damage that was done was real. [We wanted to show] the emotional impact it had on Lucy, and the realization from Tim that he hurt the person he loved most to punish himself, [which was a sign that] he had work to do, basically.
It was important to us to see him commit to actually trying to be a better man, and it was important for us to have her realize she needed to make sure that she was putting her career and her emotional health first. That’s why I think you’ve seen the ups and downs this season, which just felt very real to me.
Even the hookups feel very human. People sometimes do things because they want to [while] knowing that they might not be the smartest thing to do. But, as we’ve gone through the season now, we’ve seen them heading closer and closer together and their relationship getting healthier without them losing focus on the things that need to happen before, in theory, they get back together.
That discussion circles back to Angela and Tim’s friendship. Were they always intended to be that close, even before the pilot, or did you lean more into that as the show went on, and you saw the chemistry between the actors?
Alexi Hawley: I always thought that Lopez and Tim had a special connection in my head. They were rookies together themselves. And, when you cast a show, and you see the actors together, you’re like, “Oh yeah, let’s lean into that.” What’s funny is that we have gone through so much story over the last seven seasons that there are even things you forget.
Even him becoming her man of honor-type thing… I hadn’t forgotten it, but it wasn’t in the front of my brain. Then, when we started talking about the Lopez/Tim of it all, I’m like, “Oh, of course. They’re amazing together.” There are just so many moving pieces and so many characters on the show that sometimes it’s always exciting to rediscover that they are special together.
The Hacker Who Threatened Tim Could Return Down The Line
“That’s one of those breadcrumbs that, when the time is right, we’ll bring back around.”
Miles, Tim, and Nyla in The Rookie season 7, episode 14
They haven’t found the hacker who contacted Tim. I can’t help but feel like that’s intentional.
Alexi Hawley: Yeah. I think that’s one of those breadcrumbs that, when the time is right, we’ll bring back around. I love planting those seeds, and finding actors who come in to do a part [where] you’re like, “Oh God, we can’t lose them.” Many of our great characters over the years were [found that way.]
Oscar was just meant to be a guy during a prison bus escape, and the second you see Matthew on screen, he’s special, and you’re like, “How do we bring Oscar back?” [It was the] same thing with Monica, [and] several other characters–a some we’re still trying to find a way back to. We still love Elijah, but we just haven’t found an organic way back into his storyline. But you never know.
Are we going to see Tim’s new starring role in Behind the Badge?
Alexi Hawley: I would say at some point we will. I don’t know exactly when, but I love the idea of that, and I love the sort of Faustian bargain that Tim had to make to get Miles onto the football team. That was a really fun resolve to that. And how great was that training video? Those two actors were so much fun in that fake training video.
The football scene, as you were saying, was such a great group moment. Was it a creative choice not to have Lucy there because of what happened in the episode?
Alexi Hawley: Yeah. At the end of the day, it felt like [with] what she had gone through, having shot this woman in a horrific situation where she was about to murder an infant, it was important that she be allowed to take space and not just party afterwards with the others. Whereas for Celina, I think, as emotional as seeing the sisters reunited [was], she needed the relief in a different way, of that scene.
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John Nolan, once the oldest rookie in the LAPD, has used his life experience, determination and sense of humor to keep up with rookies 20 years his junior. Now recovering from a gunshot wound and feeling the effects of his age, John and the team welcome two new rookies and continue the hunt for two dangerous escaped prisoners who have very personal vendettas.
