For a Halloween installment, it had some amusing and fun moments, but there were some tense ones, too.
Ironically, The Rookie Season 5 Episode 6 wasn’t as fun of an hour as one would’ve imagined for this show combined with Halloween. Most of the humor came from the familial vibes of Nolan and Bailey with their adopted kid of sorts, Celina, and the Chenford scavenger hunt.
After craving some storylines for Angela and Wesley, we got what we asked for — or did we?
The Chenford scavenger hunt had its sweet and amusing moments. It was certainly some breadcrumbs to hold fans of the ship over, and there was some meaningful content in there.
Whereas on the surface, with some of the intense and more serious things going on, the notion that Lucy had the time to use most of her day pulling Bradford’s leg and sending him on the haunt for his radio felt superfluous.
It was a gag that ran a bit too long, undoubtedly offering some levity to the hour. But at some point, even as someone who could appreciate the emotions behind it, it felt like overkill. It also felt similar to those frustrating moments in The Rookie Season 4 when Lucy came across as childish and unprofessional.
The message from this ordeal is that no one knows Tim better than Lucy, so he needed a fun distraction from his breakup with Ashley and coming back to work after that surgery.
The scavenger hunt took his mind off things, especially when he realized that the clues were things that mattered to him, his favorite coffee spot or the lot of his favorite film. It took no time at all to figure out who was behind it.
It would have been a genuinely sweet and romantic gesture if the context were different and we were still stuck in this slow-burn mode for these two.
Lucy seized the opportunity to poke fun at how he treated her in the early days while also attempting to get what was bothering him out of him.
In the end, it worked. He opened up to her about Ashley breaking up with him, and they shared their meaningful moment of the hour — the major breadcrumb. And added into the mix, the pining, lingering looks they shared; even Chris led Lucy away, telling stories without a single word uttered.
Bradford: Ashley and I broke up. I guess technically she broke up with me.
Chen: I’m sorry.
Bradford: Thanks. And just so you know, I did appreciate your radio gag a little. It took my mind off things.
It’s the Chenford quality content that they’ve been dropping left and right. Even if the running gag with the radio lasted too long, at least some of the results were good.
And Thorsen’s presence in all of that made things more entertaining. Thorsen remains a gift in this series, especially now that they’re utilizing him more.
Thorsen, paired with Bradford, is a comedic goldmine. Valentino and Winter have such fun, different chemistry, and you could probably watch an entire installment of just them getting into shenanigans together.
And who knew that Celina added into the mix with Bailey and Nolan would be such a good time?
Wesley: I would never cheat on you.
Angela: I know because you’re afraid of me.
Wesley: Because I’m in love with you.
Can we just go ahead and say that Nolan and Bailey have officially adopted a child together, and she’s a quirky rookie? The family vibes they gave off every time they shared the screen were some of the most entertaining we’ve ever gotten from this couple.
Celina’s little smile was reminiscent of a child bemused by her adoring parents when she’d walked away from those two bickerings. Even the framing of the scenes gave off that vibe.
It was adorable that she showed up at Nolan’s house unannounced, as grown kids tend to do, and promptly fell asleep on their couch while they debated how best to help her.
It’s an unexpected but fun trio, and it’s great that Celina continues to carve out her space in the series and grow on people despite how unusual of a character she is.
I also appreciate how Nolan continues to adapt to Celina’s quirks and helps her put her senses to good use in logical ways that they can properly utilize to get results.
Celina was on the whole installment about the cursed money, and Nolan could’ve dismissed her whole thing with the dream, but he knows that’s how she processes things and gets them to results.
Even her intuition about the DEA agent, played by the always amazing J. August Richards, was spot on. They gave us a lot of background for a character that was probably meant to be a one-off.
I hope we’d spend more time with him, as he is intriguing. You especially felt for him when he spoke about his partner and how much he loved him but had to keep things lowkey because of how the force was back then.
The case wasn’t all that compelling and not something that got your undivided attention as much as the personal elements happening to everyone.
One of the biggest issues was Wesley dealing with the deposition for Elijah’s case. For some reason, I thought we were done with Elijah altogether, but that’s far from the case.
As much as I genuinely adore Brandon Jay McLaren, I can’t say Elijah’s return enthuses me. We’re fresh from Rosalind Dyer’s reappearance wreaking havoc on everyone, and now they’re throwing another established previous villain at us again.
It’s too soon to dip into that well and recycle these storylines. At this rate, a La Fiera-inspired storyline will probably pop up by the midseason finale.
Yes, we were due for some storylines for Angela and Wesley, both together and apart. Still, the idea of Elijah potentially terrorizing their family again isn’t what a girl had in mind.
Through this deposition, we learned some more background on Wesley; frankly, it felt like a stranger. We discovered that Elijah’s new lawyer, Monica, is Wesley’s ex-fiancee.
They have a borderline toxic relationship that is just passionate enough to make you feel as if there are still feelings lingering between the two, and they broke up because Wesley cheated on her.
And Angela didn’t know any of these things. Sure, her faith in her husband was rock solid, and they had some sweet moments, including when he explained that he was a different person back then and too afraid and too in love to ever cheat on Angela. It’s genuinely concerning that he never ever shared any of this with Angela.
Wesley: I would never cheat on you.
Angela: I know because you’re afraid of me.
Wesley: Because I’m in love with you.
It wasn’t the smartest idea that Wesley went for drinks with Monica to plead for her to drop out of things with Elijah when he was supposed to be on a date night with Angela, and he still hadn’t told her who Monica was or what was happening.
We can’t pretend like this information, and the appearance of Monica isn’t enough to make you look at Wesley differently. And as rock solid as Wopez tend to be, it’s doubtful they’d introduce all of this if it’s not meant to cause some issues for them down the road.
It’s no way on earth that Angela can handwave these important things Wesley omitted. They may have bigger problems on the horizon, but that doesn’t disappear.
Monica is awful. What redheaded woman hurt somebody in the writer’s room? How did we just get rid of Rosalind, and now we have this flame-haired spitfire who gets her jollies from getting under Wesley and Angela’s skin?
She’s a shark, which makes her an effective lawyer. And thanks to that deposition and how well she did, she convinced Del Monte that he didn’t have a strong enough case and let Elijah go.
In what world wouldn’t they have risked it all and taken that to trial? Del Monte is in his feelings about the Rosalind situation, and now he’s struggling with every call he makes. Or, he’s somehow the person the serial killer teased about, but we’ll have to see.
Wesley went through all that grief and risked everything to put Elijah in prison for good, and now it was all in vain. It’s terrifying, though.
Elijah couldn’t wait to rub it in, and it’s scary to think of what he may do to Wesley and his family next. It already sounds like Wesley may be out of his job at the D.A.’s office. It only gets worse from here.
Wesley Evers, attorney at law. I told you, I always win.
Elijah
Other fun bits from the hour included Harper and James dealing with awful neighbors in a fun way and a Jake Tapper appearance. You got to love it.
Over to you, Rookie Fanatics? Did you appreciate the radio shenanigans and Celina’s sleep deprivation? How do you feel about Elijah’s return? Sound off below.
You can watch The Rookie online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.