The Rookie has become a wildly successful show because the team behind the police procedural series have done a lot right. For example, ABC’s drama series has introduced many beloved characters, hired several extremely talented actors, featured a lot of compelling storylines, and more.
Sadly, however, there also is no denying that The Rookie’s creative team has made some major missteps. After all, the show featured a character death that shouldn’t have happened, and I have to admit that I have a major pet peeve with the show. More recently, The Rookie season 7 completely mishandled a character in a way that other showrunners really should learn from.
How The Rookie season 7 ruined Rodge Bronson
During season 5 of The Rookie, a throwaway scene took place that quickly became a hit with fans. During season 5, episode 13, “Daddy Cop,” John Nolan and Celina Juarez were working near a band whose members were rehearsing in a garage. The band then began performing a song that labeled Nolan a “Daddy Cop” and made a specific request of the show’s main character. “Arrest me, but make it sexy.”
Since the moment was so memorable, largely due to the simple, funny, and undeniably catchy song, The Rookie’s producers clearly wanted to try to recreate the magic. As such, season 6, episode 2, “The Hammer,” brought Zander Hawley back as the band’s lead singer, Rodge Bronson. That was fine since Rodge only reappeared during one episode that season, and it was fun seeing the character who annoyed Nolan return.
However, the involvement of Rodge went totally awry during season 7 of The Rookie. Brought back yet again, Rodge became the boyfriend of one of the show’s main characters, Nolan’s partner Celina. While it had been fun to see Rodge briefly show up and try to annoy people, that got old very, very quickly during season 7. The fact that Rodge appeared during five season 7 episodes proved that there can be too much of something that used to be a good thing.
There are three main reasons why Rodge was hateable during The Rookie season 7. First off, Rodge was written as a wildly inconsiderate character who didn’t seem to have even a basic understanding of why many of the things he did were selfish and inconsiderate. Secondly, it would be an understatement to say that Rodge and Celina don’t have any chemistry as characters. Thirdly, since fans like The Rookie’s character, seeing someone annoy several of them throughout many scenes became frustrating over time.
Other showrunners need to learn from the mistake that The Rookie made with Rodge during season 7. Even if a character catches lightning in a bottle during one scene, it doesn’t mean that they should become a staple of a show if their attributes would annoy fans if given in greater quantities. At the very least, if a showrunner is going to bring a hit one-time character back, they should alter them in ways to make them more palatable.
