everything’s bullying, like everything’s racism, right? you’re harder on me than you are on the person who posted the misogynistic take on a burner. even after doubling down on the misogyny in the rb, there was no witch hunt for that person.

i’m curious. what gives that person a pass from the irrelevant coke rants on your own burners where you publish certain tim defenders’ supposed personal info, simply for not liking their opinion? being an authoritarian in a wasteland that has never been used to gauge audience interest in this mid network procedural is wild work.

while i may not agree, i respect ppl who defend their man with their whole chest by writing my own posts on my main account. if you knew that was my line, then you should've also known i don't need to send anons to get my point across. that hasn’t changed in the three seasons i’ve been here. 

@tooembarrassedtoputmyname: either stand on business by putting these takes on main or remain silent. that's the tradeoff you make when looking for your tribe. making excuses to avoid taking accountability for your words and actions ain't it.

i wrote the responses below in reference to a very similar take in 2023 (!!!). although i stand by them, so much more has happened that doesn't warrant the kind of grace you're giving tim and the kind of projections you're putting onto lucy.

he has yet to acknowledge the hurt he's caused her by randomly breaking up with her for reasons unrelated to UC. he'll have no one to blame but himself if she doesn't wanna take him back after that kind of betrayal without seeing growth from him.

part of being in a relationship is letting your partner see all your sides. so yes, that includes lucy getting angry at tim for being unsupportive, but it also should've included tim staying with lucy as he worked through the embarrassment of a 'demotion' and all the events leading up to that.

your lucy projections can be conversely said for tim, too. will he leave his wife and kids in the middle of the night when another secret army thing pops up? if only what she wanted mattered, she'd be detective by now.

ftr, no consequence nolan isn't the main problem rn. he's getting so controlling; i'm siding with bailey. yes, me, the #1 bailey hater.

And to the chenford of it all, I also think you are barking up at a tree that hasn't fully developed yet. Its only been the first 2 episodes, and unfortunately at the end of the day it is the Nathan/Nolan show he is literally one of the executive producers who gets a say whats put out or not when it comes to characters having screen times and whatnots. And again, we haven't really have a full on chenford scene, like in the past or a fully chenford centric episode maybe there is back story regarding their interactions…maybe we are missing something not yet revealed to the audience….maybe Tim and Lucy are hiding something.

All will come in its time. And if it doesn’t, then shit yeah let’s complain about that sure. But for now we wait

you can wait. i’ll max out what’s left of my free speech. i don’t think the way to correct reaching so hard is to not stretch your perspective at all.

there was clear misogyny here. chenford’s banter is dependent on tim making lucy look and feel incompetent in front of their coworkers. why didn’t tim focus his discipline more on seth for disrespecting his TO by arriving late, like when miles hit on lucy?

i don’t think the ending scene was racist either, but to be clear, it’s true that racism can’t be fully divested from lucy, a WOC. i’ve mentioned before that it’s a likely factor in her professional woes bc she’s going against a system that prioritizes the promotions of white men who may not have her same achievements.

i do think it’s racist to attribute all of her challenges straight to racism, just bc she’s asian. it’s like going to webmd for a headache and convincing yourself you have a brain tumor. did you even consider more likely explanations for their bias?

in fact, calling lucy submissive in her interpersonal relationships is perpetuating more racist stereotypes than any ‘hehehaha ur so hot’ jokes thus far. if there’s one thing the show’s consistent about, it’s her going against that grain as an opinionated woman who happens to be asian. very rare to see in american media but y’all wanna tokenize her anyway? weird.

coming out of retirement inactivity to say it’s reductionistic to contextualize the current disrespect towards miss chen (in chenford) as racist. when actual racism appears on screen, it’ll be harder for those unfamiliar with dog whistles to recognize and address them because everything under the sun concerning lucy has been previously labeled as ‘racist.’

but! while racism may be an infinitesimal factor for chenford right now, internalized misogyny certainly is not. it’s disappointing, but not surprising, to see so many make excuses for tim’s head-scratching behavior towards lucy because of it. the GP will always fawn over mid white men. it’s the reason why nathan fillion stays employed playing boring as fuck nolan.

it’s insulting, though, for creatives like alexi hawley and eric winter to parrot PR talking points supplementing what isn’t actually depicted on the show. we’re not stupid. we don’t need commentary to interpret source material. we need to see what constitutes as tim ‘working on himself’ to make our own judgments about the viability of chenford’s path forward.

with the information we currently have, it would behoove lucy to cut her losses now before she gets more hurt and disrespected. wdym this man’s FORTY and still playing these mf games?! this is supposed to be the behavior of a man who’s tryna spin the block?! 

tim’s quips at lucy weren’t landing in 702 because they made him look good at her expense. the contrast is jarring between lucy giving tim lingering looks that suggest their romance isn't dead and tim opting for (maybe even relishing in?) hitting lucy where it hurts using condescension, oftentimes in front of others!

is pulling her pigtails how you rebuild a relationship you fractured after she saw and accepted your ooc baggage? after she begged you to let her in? this approach doesn’t even help the show's bottomline, i.e. keeping the show on air as long as possible by keeping its core audience engaged, when their social strategy is dependent on using chenford as clickbait.

GREATEST HITS: THE AARON THORSEN EDITION The Rookie (2018) | Season 5A

↳ BONUS

The Rookie (2018) | S03E10 "Man of Honor"

I've been saying this for weeks, but it's disappointing to see the debate about the future of Chen's career decenter her from her own narrative. The two main concerns seem to be the impact of UC work on a) the show's logistics and b) her new, but very serious relationship. Neither seem to take her own desires into consideration.

She's said with conviction and positive body language that she loves this job and working undercover, so why can't she just go for it and see what happens? It's not like she'll be this young forever, so this would be the best time to go for it. This way, she'll have no regrets about what could've been, if only she'd tried.

Although rooted in reality, this show is still very much fictional. That's why it's extra mega disappointing that of all the choices they could make, they choose to both deliberately and inadvertently double down on the institutional, cultural, and societal barriers in her way while she tries to make something out of herself. Pick a struggle.

Like many children with Asian moms, she's already had to justify her choice about choosing this specific career to her mother, possibly over and over again while they talk on the phone sometimes. And like many others, her mom's concern is not about Lucy's safety, but rather her own personal feelings about her daughter working as a police officer.

It's not entertaining to watch Lucy receive half-baked support and consideration from the people who claim to love her when she's been so selfless in giving her time, effort, and energy to everyone.

because affirming five misogynistic and racist stereotypes in just a few minutes is an atrocious record. let's take a closer look.

stereotype #1: women are socially obligated to say yes to hosting guests in their home with little to no notice.

a minute before her younger white female roommate opens the front door to their apartment, an asian woman is given a heads up by her white boyfriend that his white ex-wife is knocking on the other side.

the latter is in town to chat about an operation she was previously involved in, so he invited her to his new girlfriend’s apartment to discuss. the asian woman is visibly stunned by the surprise, but says yes to her coming in nonetheless, as she’s socially obligated to.

stereotype #2: women are socially obligated to serve all surprise guests, even though someone else invited them over.

instead of the boyfriend stepping up to host his guest, the asian woman is forced to showcase her good manners to ask the ex-wife what she would like for refreshments.

after giving the waitress her order, the ex-wife and the boyfriend then sit side-by-side on the two-person couch, without a single offer from the boyfriend to help in kitchen, even though he was just cooking.

i wasn’t looking for her to get promoted at a random moment in the season, so that’s not the issue. she’ll get promoted eventually. she has to be. otherwise, these writers will never beat the allegations, and tbh, they’re running out of time.

it’s definitely a collective decision, too, bc the writers have changed hands multiple times since that girl, ep 513. not even my fave writer could save the five-player trade storyline from the trenches. such a shame bc this ep was vintage rookie: very cohesive and exciting!

what are these allegations?

it’s 100% misogynistic for them to falsely equate lucy’s influence with manipulation to create obstacles in her life. it was annoying for them to do it personally, but now it’s downright infuriating for them to do it professionally.

because if anyone deserves a stress-free path and a fast-track to a promotion on this show, it’s lucy chen. mid-wilshire’s shooting champ endured traumatic hazing to prove her chops for UC as a rookie. as a newly minted P2, she singlehandedly dismantled two drug cartels on her first deep cover op, after meticulous preparation.

yet, she has none of the commendations that would normally go along with accomplishments of that magnitude. they moved on way too quickly from that to make chenford ride together again and assert nolan’s position as the rookie. so even though lucy has nothing left to prove, she’s been stuck fighting for leadership positions to get more points in favor of a promotion.

why does this matter?

my opinions on the juicy lucy questions below!

should lucy keep going for UC?

should lucy go for a position other than detective?

how will lucy's promotion affect chenford?

will lucy's promotion increase the bloat on the rookie?

should lucy keep going for UC?

not forever, but it's now or never.

this has been her dream for three seasons now. it would be cruel for the writers to make her do 98% of the work to get there, only for her to fail in the end. she needs a win after all the shit she's been put through: unsupportive parents, getting roofied on a date, being put in a barrel by a serial killer, having her handler fake a kidnapping to test her, watching her bff die on camera, seeing her bf ruin her couch, etc.

yes, it's easier for her to get doxxed bc of the true crime docs, but it doesn't seem like the writers are willing to go there bc it would nuke that avenue. alexi loves docs the most, so do w that what you will.

there also seems to be no indication in canon that lucy's passion for UC has waned. tim himself said that there's no quit in chen, so it wouldn't make sense for her to decline this opportunity when she's so close to seeing it through to the end. much has changed since she began her UC journey, yes, but it seems like she would regret not going all in on making the team, even if she doesn't stay there for life.

should lucy go for a position other than detective?

no, bc i don't have those handles saved detective hits the sweet spot.

this show is making it very clear that nolan is the rookie; therefore, he needs his own extra mega special storyline per ep, where he interacts solely w the bane of my existence bailey and another person who won't make him look worse. lucy getting the same TO title would weaken that, esp bc she's better than him at...well, everything.

sgt chen has a nice ring to it, but lucy's wildly under qualified rn. tim prob has 15-20 yrs of field experience, while lucy has 1/4th of that, max. pushing her a rank above harper and lopez would also undermine the seniority of our fave female detectives of color, so detective is lucy's best bet. detective ≠ being UC for infinity tho.

how will lucy's promotion affect chenford?

it should make them the power couple of our dreams. tim has been super supportive of lucy's journey ever since she proved to him that she can singlehandedly take down two drug cartels as a newly minted P2. so why would that change now that they're together?

she can take their relationship into consideration when deciding on her path, sure, but ultimately, she should pick the choice that's best for her in the long run.

tbf, i don't think the decision that's best for her is mutually exclusive from the decision that's best for them. prioritizing their careers now, while they're still young, will open doors that would give them lighter schedules when they get married and start a family.

their current problem is spending less time together. like everything meaningful in life, relationships take work and intentionality. bc they no longer have the proximity that working together brings to facilitate their close connection, they have to find another way to make it happen. you're rolling in it, timothy! ask her to move in. (irl: the set decs need to get movin on building his home set.)

will lucy's promotion increase the bloat on the rookie?

i don't think so. UC has been a mainstay since s2. based on their recent storylines, it seems like they even want to expand it to everyone going UC like oprah.

lucy's promotion to detective probably won't mean anything besides a title change tbh. she'll prob do the same thing she's been doing, except she'll be called 'detective' when addressed LOL

they don't have the budget for her to go on these ops without her mid-wilshire fam as backup, so i can't see s5 lucy being more lonely than the lucy in 4A, right after jackson died. it's most likely why episode enders place everyone at the same rendezvous point.

so many of us love patrol, but i don't think they're going back to slice of life any time soon. they seem hellbent on transforming into a procedural + dramedy, when they used to be just dramedy imo. in short, no change on the bloat so bailey's still on the chopping block for me 😈

nobody likes a person who points out problems without suggesting solutions, so i’m back with what’s gotta give on the rookie.

imo their current problems aren’t rooted so much in ‘you can’t please everyone’, but rather ‘the writers are doing the absolute most to please everyone who ever existed in ~40 min.’

what’s the difference? the former puts the blame on the audience for ‘not getting it,’ while the latter asks the writers to take accountability for the directionless quality of their work. their method of ppl pleasing rn is highly unsustainable, so they need to course correct expeditiously or risk crashing and burning spectacularly.

here are some suggestions.

decline at least one of the regulars' checks.

help everyone on feds file for unemployment.

brush up on the neuroscience of reward.

put some respect on the psychology behind miller's law.

be warned: it's a lengthy below the cut! 😈

decline at least one of the regulars' checks.

alexi oprah-ed a lil too hard when handing out the series regular contracts this szn. s5 has a whopping number of NINE regulars/main characters: bailan (nolan and bailey), chenford (tim and lucy), wopez (angela and wesley), nyla, aaron, & grey. to be clear, that’s 9 whole actors who must be featured in at least one scene per ep, even if their characters don’t fit into the featured plots.

the number isn’t the problem, as s1/s2 had 8: the rookies (jackson, lucy, nolan), the TOs (tim, angela, talia/nyla), grey, & captain andersen. the problem is the writers’ propensity to give each couple their own storyline in nearly every episode. it’s unnecessary, and we’ll come back to this later.

solution? at least one of the series regulars needs to go. my vote is for bailey. she stretches the rookie universe too wide by pulling focus away from the mid-wilshire crew with her jane-of-all-trades shtick.

imo nathan and jenna’s lack of chemistry + their characters’ mr. and mrs. perfect 'brand' is the ultimate recipe for becoming the ‘pee break’ couple. so killing bailey off and having nolan process that resulting grief would give his too perfect character the depth that he so desperately needs to be likable rn. after all, bailey is supposed to his loml, right?

help everyone on feds file for unemployment.

tldr the last point? it's cool. basically, in order for og rookie to go back to its roots, the universe has to get smaller. solution? stop tryna make feds happen! let this upcoming episode be the last time the walmart version comes onto the brand name’s.

the ‘crossovers’ are most def the rookie’s way of minimizing their losses from their investment on feds. it’s doing so poorly that it needs to be propped up by the shock and awe that chenford generates. when feds eventually gets cancelled, most of s5 will be unwatchable bc of the crossover cliffhangers. idk maybe don’t force-feed us new characters that we don’t feel emotionally connected to? or at least buy us some dinner first, gosh. 🤷🏻‍♀️

brush up on the neuroscience of reward.

if the writers are feeling butthurt that their audience has been disappointed weekly since chenford kissed in 5x12, then they need a crash course on the neuroscience of reward STAT.

chenford was interesting bc the reward of seeing them give in to the pull was always unpredictable. so every time they kiss, it’s not like a reward, it is a reward. we get an intense dopamine high that keeps us up and posting all night, work and other commitments in the morning be damned.

the human brain is naturally wired to do everything it can to recreate that positive feeling, so we come back weekly to patronize the show in anticipation that something similar might happen again. so ofc, when it doesn’t happen again after one week, we’re understanding; it just happened last time. but when it doesn’t happen for the 4th week in a row? chaos. we go feral in search of that dopamine hit that may never come again.

solution? keep the narratives tight. if you’re not gonna give the audience a big moment like that, then supplement it with smaller, but equally unexpected moments. (to be clear, they shouldn’t be dropping big moments on the reg bc neuroadaptation becomes a prob. the unpredictability is what keeps the audience coming back. capiche?)

so if you’re gonna drop crumbs? make it mean something. take angela and tim’s interaction in 5x02 before angela transformed into a morose mom. ‘so remind me what you were doing again, in lucy’s apartment, when chris was bleeding out?’

this could’ve been called back in 5x13 when tim asked angela what’s poppin at nolan’s house during the heat wave. in one line, she could’ve said ‘oh, so dropping her off is what the kids call it nowadays, huh?’ or something to confirm to both chenford and the audience that everyone’s clocked the change in their relationship.

put some respect on miller's law.

miller’s law is the theory that the working memory can only hold 7±2 ideas at once. when the ideas are as complex as storylines, that magic number maxes out at 5. the recap sequence in 5x16 alone had us recall SIX. imagine how tired and confused i was when they also threw in celina’s dead sister trauma on top of an ebola + sarin gas drone firefight.

i understand that there is prob great external pressure from ABC for og to capitalize on its success by creating an empire, especially with grey’s on its last legs. so they’ve been trying to go bigger and better by throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.

sure, every couple can have their own storyline…but not all at once in the same damn ep! sure, you can call back fan-favorite scenes…but not if the rising action takes too long, leaving no room for jesus a satisfying denouement! sure, you can give your marquee couple most of the run time…but not if their moments are the equivalent of an HS prom-posal! (leave no room for jesus here instead, i beg!)

the writing in the first three seasons of the show was more character-driven and intentional. talia kept giving lucy pointed looks until she broke up with nolan. nolan spent s2 building his house, only to tear it apart to exonerate himself. jackson spent half of s3 riding with a racist to make sure that he exposed that man’s sorry ass in front of his peers.

s4 seemed to be another attempt to expand the rookie universe by having the mid-wilshire crew follow-up on random lil cases that would be resolved in the same ep, but s5 is overdoing this formula. there are more conflicts that need to be resolved in multiple eps besides the tired elijah/abril/la fiera storyline.

the rookie is imploding at the height of its popularity bc the writers can't agree on three important things:

the number of storylines/plots to feature per episode,

the direction of each couple's arc,

and the vision for the season as a whole.

it's giving bad group project. instead of working collaboratively, it seems like the writers opted to break up the 22 episodes into a million different parts—without staying consistent about which writers get which parts.

as a result, we frequently end up with frankensteinian eps like 5x16, where the writers mean well by calling back fan-favorite scenes in rapid fire succession—but their execution falls short of expectations. i'm not asking for every episode to hit, but i am asking for every episode NOT to fail in the same manner.

striking a balance between appeasing loyal fans and appealing to the general public is tough, i understand. but as this season progresses, it becomes obvious that the show is unfavorable with both demos as they try to go bigger, but not necessarily better, every week.

popularity is very fickle. by this time next year, there could be other shows in the market that have the power to eclipse the rookie's status as ABC's #1 drama. if s6 has to be shortened bc of the looming writers' strike, this dissonance between the writers' intention and their execution could put them back in the cancellation conversation.

i don't want to lose the rookie before it meets its full potential. in our modern tv landscape, shows with less than 30 eps are getting cancelled left and right bc not enough ppl give them attention. so it makes no sense for (most likely) one of the last 100+ ep shows to stubbornly stick with a formula that doesn't work when they're so well patronized.

i respect the energy of this ask. watching the rookie is like mainlining crack rn especially when chenford hits. so it’s rly hard to go a whole 2wks w/o them + that's prob why u came into my inbox mad hot. but bullying me for having an opinion? not a very nice touch.

canceling one episode of one cop show will clearly make a statement if ur out here pushing back against it. i never claimed that it would fix systemic issues w police in the US bc that would be WAY too much to ask for from a tv show.

(maybe you're conflating this w gun ctrl? bc systemic issues w police are not US-exclusive. police worldwide do the same shit whenever protestors notice that the state actually sucks at their one job. sorry to burst ur bubble.)

anyway, i was big mad at ABC when i made that post (and i still am tbh). imagine sitting there watching the most wholesome programming ever (jeopardy!) when a news anchor suddenly gives u a 30 sec warning before showing sth so EVIL. what’s worse is that the footage POVs look SO similar to the ones used on the copaganda show u watch for the grumpy-sunshine couple.

to be clear, i didn't mean that 5x14 should stay in the vault forever. (hell, i wanna see that shit too!) 'canceling' an episode just means postponing it to the following week, out of respect for tyre nichols and his family. they're going on a mini-break anyway, so why not take a purposeful break to make a meaningful statement...again?

as someone pointed out, the rookie has already said 'police brutality bad' in s3. it got them their highest demo number before 5B. so the storyline was not only meaningful, but also profitable—which many ppl pointed out was a concern for both the show AND the network.

they're riding a ratings high rn. so what does that mean exactly? many ppl are giving them attention + they're taking away attention from other shows airing in that same timeslot.

i would think that this privilege gives ABC some freedom to take risks, given that the rookie will be on for at least another season bc they're the network's #1 drama. this status also gives the rookie a bigger platform to tell important stories.

am i asking for too much when i say that i hope my fave show, with the backing of their network, reiterates their stance against police brutality by doing the absolute least and postponing a week? yes, clearly. am i disappointed? absolutely. am i surprised? definitely not. bc what's the point of putting values over profit anyway? 🙂