It's hard to watch your idols fall.

And Officer Jeremy Hawke fell hard on The Rookie Season 1 Episode 6 and he could have taken Nolan down with him.

It was a little difficult to determine why Nolan was so enamored by "The Hawke."

Nolan certainly isn't a testosterone junkie, so was it just that Jeremy saw potential in him at the Academy when no one else did? Perhaps it was that Nolan was starting a new life, was probably lonely, and Hawke was one of his first new friends.

Any guy who uses his own nickname obviously has ego and identity issues. It's funny that what Nolan saw as confidence, Bishop saw as arrogance.

I had to chuckle when Nolan seemed shocked that Bishop got a racist vibe from Hawke. It was like he never realized that he wouldn't because he was also a white guy and Hawke probably felt he was part of his club.

I have little doubt that Bishop's experience with Hawke would have been very different from Nolan's or Bradford's.

And where Nolan thought Hawke was a great instructor, West saw the man in a completely different light...

Lopez: You had Hawke at the Academy, right?
West: Yeah, between you and me, he was a lousy instructor. All he did was talk about his glory days and give us questionable advice that pretty much boiled down to be a badass.

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It was great fun seeing Shawn Christian in the role of Officer Jeremy Hawke.

After years of watching him play Dr. Daniel Jonas, a good guy of almost mythic proportions on Days of Our Lives, it was refreshing to see him playing a character that was spiraling out of control.

I can't say I was thrilled to see Detectives Motta and Page back once again. Motta comes off as nothing more than a jerk and Page seems somewhere between a mediocre detective and downright clueless. I'm not sure what their point is other than to get under Nolan's skin.

On the upside, Bishop had Nolan's back after Hawke got away and she didn't waver for a moment. I get the feeling that she likes Motta and Page about as much as I do.

The chase scene through the mall was mostly believable. Malls have lots of back hallways, multiple entrances and exits and plenty of cars to steal so it made sense for Hawke to run there and try to get lost in the crowd.

What didn't make sense was Hawke stopping to talk to Nolan after he'd closed that security gate. Why not just head for the back entrance of the store with his kid and bolt? He'd come that far, why stop for conversation now?

My only explanation is that maybe, deep down, Hawke knew that dragging his kid into this was wrong.

Nolan knew Hawke just well enough to point out that the guy needed to be the adult right now and that he was setting a lousy example for the son who idolized him.

But the truth is, Nolan didn't know Jeremy Hawke at all. He thought he did, but there were sides to the man that Nolan never saw until he completely went off the rails.

The most awesome scene of the entire episode was when Hawke knocked down Nolan and Bradford only to have Bishop come over and pepper spray him while Chen tazed him.

I literally laughed out loud and there was something about Hawke smacking his head into the side of the truck after being sprayed in the face that I found particularly humorous.

These big, macho guys with their guns wanting to prove who could give the beat down on whom, and Bishop and Chen walk up and take Hawke down without breaking a sweat using non-lethal means. It was perfect.

Officers Lopez and West had their own case to deal with, and although I liked the twist of the victim trying to kill his own father, my favorite part was West giving his take on it all in this The Rookie quote...

Maybe you’ll walk away, maybe you won’t. Either way, you need to understand that his actions don’t excuse yours. You could have asked for help or left home, instead, you might have just destroyed three lives. That’s what happens when you choose a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
West

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West showed more maturity than we've ever seen from him before, and it has me looking forward to the day when his own father shows up. I know it's coming, it's just a matter of time.

Finally, we had Officers Bradford and Chen. Apparently flipping their shop on its roof was just the start of their day.

Bradford's acronyms and advice were pretty spot-on but how did Chen not think she'd be the one gloving up to check the toilets and the sex toys? Being the "boot," that seems a given.

Chen lifting Bradford's money clip was great revenge but what I liked even better was Bradford's reaction.

He didn't get angry, he mostly seemed proud that his rookie was confident enough to get him back.

It appears the Nolan/Chen romance has been put to bed, for now. Bradford's wife is MIA, and we still know next to nothing about Bishop and Lopez outside of their work life.

Tell me TV Fanatics, do you want to see more of anyone's personal life, and if so, whose? Or do you prefer they stick to the cops' life on the streets?

Check back for my review of The Rookie Season 1 Episode 7 and until then, you can watch The Rookie online here at TV Fanatic.