Viewers are still waiting for answers to the relationship in “The Rookie”
As the wait continues for the seventh season of ABC’s The Rookie, it’s a good time to go back and re-examine some of the show’s earlier seasons. Throughout the show’s run, fans were extremely invested in the characters of Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) and Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) getting together. In Season 5, Lucy and Tim finally did become a couple, but that ended in Season 6 when Tim broke things off with Lucy after the incident involving Ray Watkins (David Dastmalchian). However, earlier in the show, during Season 2, Tim dated another character, Rachel Hall (Jasmine Mathews). The relationship grew serious before Rachel disappeared from the show, never to be heard from again.
Rachel Hall Has a Recurring Role in Season 2 of ‘The Rookie’
Rachel Hall made her series debut in the Season 2 episode, “The Bet.” She is introduced as Lucy’s college friend, and Lucy sets Tim up with Rachel on a blind date. At the time, Lucy was still a rookie officer-in-training, with Tim acting as her training officer. Rachel is a Los Angeles social worker, and although she and Tim seem incompatible at first, the two end up in an opposites-attract relationship. The blind date between Tim and Rachel arose from a bet devised by Lucy. If the date goes well, Lucy gets to wear short sleeves on patrol. If it doesn’t, Lucy has to continue wearing long sleeves and execute 50 push-ups after every call. Fortunately, Lucy later visits Rachel’s home and sees Tim there, revealing the date went very well.
This marks the beginning of a multi-episode arc for Rachel in Season 2. Things start to get serious for Rachel and Tim in the Season 2 episode, “Hand-Off,” when Rachel introduces Tim to her father, Colin Hall (Tom Wright). During the episode, it’s revealed that Rachel’s father fears she might have genetically inherited Huntington’s disease from him. Although Rachel’s father doesn’t have Huntington’s disease, he has the gene that causes it, which may have been passed down to his daughter. Rachel hasn’t shown symptoms yet, and she doesn’t want to get tested since there’s no cure for the disease, and treatment can only slow the symptoms. Ultimately, the episode ends with Tim reaffirming his relationship with Rachel, despite her fears of carrying Huntington’s disease. However, in the Season 2 finale, “Under the Gun,” Rachel reveals she’s been offered her dream job, requiring her to move to New York.
Rachel and Tim Never Formally Broke Up in Season 2
A major problem that arose from Rachel’s exit is that she never formally broke things off with Tim when she was written out of the show. Things were getting serious between Rachel and Tim before she left Los Angeles to pursue her career goals. It’s not unusual for a character to be written out of a television show in this way. At the same time, the series gives her this ceremonious exit, with Tim giving her a grand gesture and finding her before she leaves town. Throughout the episode, there were hints that Tim and Rachel were going to have a gentle break-up, since her new job was taking her out of state, and they were going to end things amicably. Instead, Tim finds her car on the way to the airport, stopping her with a romantic gesture before she leaves town forever. Tim reveals that although he originally thought he was going to say goodbye to Rachel, he’s not ready to end their relationship. The ending scene between Tim and Rachel in no way comes off like a break-up scene!
Season 2 ends with the impression that Tim and Rachel are staying together. He verbally says in the episode, “Look, Rach, I don’t know what happens next, but I think we should find out.” Rachel smiles and the two share a romantic kiss. It seems to imply they plan to stay together despite how things in their lives are changing, and Rachel changing jobs out of state. Rather than a clean break, leaving Tim single in Season 3, Season 2 ends with the idea that Tim and Rachel are still a couple.
Rachel Is Never Seen Again After Season 2
It’s odd that despite Season 2’s ending with Tim and Rachel attempting to maintain a long-distance relationship, Rachel is unceremoniously dropped from the show and never referenced again. Rachel’s disappearance from the show is strange because she was close friends with Lucy. The Rookie never even offers a token line about Rachel, explaining that she and Tim perhaps broke things off amicably while she was off-screen, which at least could have added a better transition to Tim’s single status in Season 3. A text, letter, email, or something from Rachel would have established for the audience that Tim and Rachel formally broke up, without requiring Jasmine Mathews to once again appear onscreen.
The other problematic aspect of the offscreen breakup is Lucy’s friendship with Rachel. Lucy began dating Tim in Season 5. Throughout that entire time, Lucy never gave Rachel a second thought. It’s significant that Lucy would start dating the ex-boyfriend of one of her close friends without the series ever addressing the matter. They are initially shown to be such close friends that Lucy thinks it’s a good idea to set up Rachel and Tim on a date. Not to mention, Lucy is incredibly happy when she realizes Tim and Rachel spent the night together. Instead, following Season 2, The Rookie acts like Rachel Hall never existed.
A Return for Rachel in ‘The Rookie’ Would Offer Closure to Her Relationship With Tim
The Rookie did not handle the ending of Rachel and Tim’s relationship gracefully, especially considering the ceremonious sendoff by Tim in the Season 2 finale. Not to mention, the episode ended by giving viewers the impression that Tim and Rachel were staying together and attempting to make their relationship work, despite her moving out of state. Currently, Tim is single after breaking things off with Lucy in Season 6. Granted, fans want Tim and Lucy to eventually reconcile. Since the first season, Tim and Lucy came off as the show’s endgame couple. That said, it would be nice to see Rachel make another appearance in Season 7.
Another appearance for Rachel would offer proper closure for the character, which she was never afforded in Season 2 or later. A flashback or sequence offering insight into when Tim and Rachel finally break things off would be appropriate, since such a scene had never previously occurred during the show. It would also be nice to know if Rachel ever found out about Tim dating Lucy and what she thinks of the matter. Would she be upset about the revelation, or perhaps happy, giving her approval to Tim and Lucy? Another possibility for a Season 7 episode could find Tim in New York in a case or incident involving him coming into contact with Rachel again. Stranger things have happened, especially in The Rookie.
