The Rookie does a lot of things well. From the complexities of Chenford's relationship, to John Nolan's interactions with the detectives, the character development has been outstanding for the series' entire run. That has been bolstered by an outstanding cast. But there's one thing that The Rookie can't seem to get right: the villains.
Ever since Season 3, the villain storylines on The Rookie have been incredibly redundant. This cartel boss fights against that drug kingpin, until there's a big shootout and the LAPD somehow quells the issue. Unfortunately, Season 5 is up to the series' old antics, and Season 5, Episode 15, "The Con" made that issue worse. Here's why the writers need to go in a different direction before the season ends.
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Why The Rookie's Villains Are Repetitive
Season 3 of The Rookie introduced Sandra de La Cruz. Better known as La Fiera, she was the cartel leader in Los Angeles. Because La Fiera's son was killed while Angela Lopez was pregnant, she became obsessed with the Detective — until Angela shot and killed her in the Season 4 opener. That opened a new can of worms. Wesley found his wife by consulting with a drug boss named Elijah Stone. In order to procure the information, Wesley agreed to serve as Elijah's dirty lawyer.
Elijah was the villain for all of Season 4 as the LAPD worked to get Wesley out of his clutches. Though they eventually arrested Elijah, he weaseled his way out and his been a problem ever since. In "The Con," Angela teamed up with FBI agents from The Rookie: Feds andTim Bradford's new Metro unit to try and take Elijah out once and for all. The team staged an attack on Elijah's turf by pretending to bring in Abril — La Fiera's former lieutenant and the current cartel boss. Unfortunately, the ploy fell apart and the episode ended with Elijah teaming up with Abril.
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The Rookie Is Forgetting What Makes It Successful
La Fiera, Elijah and Abril are all cartel leaders with a lot of firepower. All of them have or had a personal connection to Angela and/or Wesley, which threatens The Rookie's best relationship. It's the same story over again, and The Rookie keeps trying to make each one more dangerous by escalating the surrounding plot. That repetitive process is making The Rookie abandon the strengths of its talented ensemble cast.
The series keeps trying to set up big, dramatic stories. The Elijah plot has especially been drawn out and annoying as he's now been a problem over multiple seasons. What The Rookie is best at are regular, patrol-style episodes that focus on Nolan and his team catching one criminal. This allows for the show's more sitcom-style focus on the lives of the cops, which in turn enable The Rookie's cast to shine in various subplots.
It's clear from "The Con" that Season 5 is headed toward another massive shootout between Elijah, Abril and LAPD. If The Rookie is going to continue for another five seasons, it needs to remember that its strength is the great characters in the LAPD and spend more episodes focused on the regular issues of patrol cops. There are only so many times this group of officers can go up against massive drug cartels… and the series reached that point a while ago.
The Rookie airs Tuesdays at 8:00 pm on ABC.
