Lucy Chen got abducted by a serial killer.

But that's nothing new on a police drama. Honestly, viewers have grown to expect this scenario from their crime procedurals.

But what made The Rookie Season 2 Episode 11 compelling was the quietness.

Lucy didn't scream, she didn't cry, and she didn't beg for mercy. Officer Chen used not only all of her police training but everything she'd learned from growing up with two psychologists for parents.

Best of all, she never let Caleb get to her. She never let him get into her head. Instead, she worked to get inside of his.

And she landed one hell of a punch.

Look, I know I haven’t known Lucy as long as the rest of you but I know that she is a fighter. She’s going to do everything she can to stay alive until we can save her.
Harper

Permalink: Look, I know I haven’t known Lucy as long as the rest of you but I know that she is a...

Harper was correct. She might not look it at first glance but Lucy's a fighter. The problem was that she didn't take Caleb out when she had the chance.

Lucy only knocked him down with that punch when she needed to knock him out or just kill him outright.

He's a serial killer for goodness sake. If she had bludgeoned him to death on the floor of that house I doubt anyone would have cared.

But Lucy remained calm throughout the entire ordeal. She weighed her odds at every turn from when to fight to when to get in that damn barrel because it would buy her more time compared to an immediate bullet to the head.

And whenever she had the chance, she taunted Caleb. I'm not sure if it was working on him, but it sure was fun and made for some of the best The Rookie quotes of the episode.

Caleb: You weren’t conscious for your birth but you will feel every second of your death.
Lucy: That’s some greeting card level villainy, not that psychopaths are known for being original thinkers.

Permalink: That’s some greeting card level villainy, not that psychopaths are known for being original...

I'm sure that most of the women Caleb killed were begging for their lives as he literally sealed their fate. He wouldn't get that kind of satisfaction from Lucy.

And Lucy didn't have anyone encouraging her to keep calm. Nolan had Harper who made it her mission to keep his head on straight when worry over Lucy threatened to have him spinning out of control.

Nolan: If anything’s happened to Lucy.
Harper: Don’t go there. If she is in trouble the only way you are good to her is if you are focused solely on saving her not playing worst-case scenarios.

Permalink: Don’t go there. If she is in trouble the only way you are good to her is if you are focused...

Nolan was asked to do more than help in the search; he had to go face to face with Rosalind and that's the one part of this story that irked me.

The box of chocolates in Rosalind's cell on death row was contraband. Nolan saw it and the prison guard, Officer Hernandez knew about it.

So why did Hernandez allow her to have it? Isn't it his job to make sure she doesn't get things like a box of chocolates that could contain messages from the outside?

They all knew that Rosalind was helping plan murders with an accomplice so why was Hernandez so blase about her smuggling things onto death row?

That no one ever thought to call him out on that bothered the heck out of me.

One of the best moments was when Bradford confided in Lopez about how much he blamed himself for Lucy's abduction.

He was right; she didn't want to go on that date, but he pushed her to go. Tim stood three feet from Caleb, looked him in the eye and never suspected a thing.

As Tim shared all of that with Lopez, he looked as though he were close to tears and it made me hurt for him.

Bradford has always thought of himself as a bit of a super cop, so this is going to haunt him for a long time to come.

Back to the comment that I made in the beginning about the quietness of the episode. It was an unusual and artistic decision that worked to make Lucy's most terrifying moments all the more frightening.

When Lucy was in that barrel, all we heard was her quietly singing. There was no sound of the helicopter or the officers rushing to her rescue. The audience heard what Lucy would have heard, nothing but her own voice and her own breathing.

That coupled with the visual of that dead tree looming over her burial site gave it an eerie sense of forboding.

And as all of this unfolded, Lopez was also scared that Wesley had possibly tried to commit suicide.

Wesley: I know it looks bad.
Lopez: Looks bad. I asked you if you were trying to kill yourself and you said, “I don’t know.”

Permalink: Looks bad. I asked you if you were trying to kill yourself and you said, “I don’t know.”

In an odd way, Lucy's ordeal was the best thing to happen to Wesley. It helped him get out of his head and focus on something else for a while. It reminded him that he was a part of a team.

Lopez: So what, you’re suddenly cured?
Wesley: No but helping to find Lucy gave me a serious sense of perspective, not just for what she survived but that she couldn’t have done it without all of us. And I realized that I was an idiot for trying to deal with all of these things by myself. So, I’m going to go to work, I’m going to go to therapy and if I feel panicked or sad I’m going to ask for help.

Permalink: No but helping to find Lucy gave me a serious sense of perspective, not just for what she...

Everyone had someone in this nightmarish situation. Nolan had Harper keeping him grounded. Bradford confided in Lopez. Wesley had Angela looking out for him.

And Armstrong had Sgt. Grey, even if he didn't always realize it.

Grey was absolutely right; Nick was too close to this case to see it clearly and tormenting Nick was Rosalind's favorite pastime. She got far too much pleasure out of it and he couldn't control his emotions enough to be allowed back in a room with her.

I thought there was a good chance that Nick Armstrong wouldn't make it out of this episode alive and as much as I'm grateful that he did, I still don't think he's out of danger.

And it has nothing to do with Rosalind's ominous proclomations.

Nick has no one he can turn to in his life or at least no one he will. He's stuck in his guilt and his grief and buries himself in work to quiet his demons.

Wade Grey inviting Nick over to his house for barbecue and basketball was a lifeline but I'm just not sure it's enough.

In the end, at the hospital, Bradford had stood by Lucy's bedside all night. Will this over-protective streak continue, and could it become a problem on the job?

Lucy [About the giant stuffed teddy bear]: Well, he is a she and she is going to sleep in my bed since I am clearly never going on a date again.
Grace: I’m not sure that should be the take-away.
Nolan: Oh, hang on. That’s actually pretty safe.
Jackson: Accurate.
Lucy: So is this the kind of support and understanding I can expect from now on?
Bradford: Pretty much.

Permalink: I am clearly never going on a date again.

Yeah, I think it's going to be a long time before we see Lucy go out on another date and when she does, she may end up with one or more of these guys as chaperones whether she likes it or not.

What do you think, TV Fanatics?

Will we see Rosalind again?