The Rookie Season 1 Episode 13 Review: Heartbreak
Christine Orlando
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It's Valentine's Day on The Rookie Season 1 Episode 13. Who knew it was the most dangerous day of the year?
So much so that Sgt. Grey chooses to take his wife out on Valentine's Eve, and his reasoning made perfect sense. They were able to have a romantic evening without the crowds or overpriced, price-fixed menu.
It should have been perfect, but Nolan ended up playing hero and interrupting their date.
Breakups and broken hearts, jealousy, and revenge all make for a perfect storm of heightened emotion and dangerous situations. Hell, sometimes violence can find you minding your own business at dinner.
Sgt. Grey
Officer John Nolan has a hero complex, and in some ways, that makes him a great cop. Taking chances for other people comes naturally to him.
But some days it comes back to bite him as it did with Denise.
I sympathized with Denise's plight much the way Nolan did, but whereas dropping off a muffin basket was straddling the line between oddly sweet and slightly stalkerish, placing a fake 911 call was a definite cry for help.
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The moment Ben said he'd met a woman on his way to get the wine, I knew it was Denise. The woman was certainly persistent, but then again most stalkers are.
Hopefully, the suicide attempt will get Denise the helps she needs, and I'll be surprised if we see her in future episodes. Her role here was twofold, to highlight how the depths of loneliness can spiral out of control, and to point out that John and Lucy still have obvious feelings for one another.
I just hope you see the irony of me spending Valentine’s Day with your stalker.
Lucy
Talia Bishop was a latecomer to Nolan's party, and she missed out on all the drama, but we did finally find out a little more about her personal life, even if it wasn't what I was expecting.
I would never have thought that Talia would be dating a married man, but it happens. No wonder she wasn't feeling the Valentine's holiday.
Valentine’s Day is a manufactured holiday that does nothing but make those alone feel lonelier and those who are in relationships feel disappointed because life isn’t a fairy tale.
Bishop
It's difficult to enjoy the fairy tale when your significant other is off romancing his wife.
I was cheering Lopez on when she came down so emphatically against Talia's relationship because she deserves better.
And was I the only one who thought there was a bit of a spark between Bishop and Ben, or was that just wishful thinking?
Of course, Lopez had her own relationship issues.
I almost didn't blame her for checking Wesley's phone. Yes, it was a violation of his privacy, but when the guy you just slept with tells you he made plans on Valentine's day, it's difficult not to wonder if he's seeing someone else, especially when one of your best friends is dating a married man.
As much as Wesley had the right to be upset, I have little doubt these two will work it out.
Elsewhere, Bradford actually took a personal day, and there was no doubt that it must have been for Isabel.
Isabel looked wonderful. Healthy, beautiful, and best of all, sober.
Where some would use the horror of getting shot as an excuse to continue using, Isabel turned it into a chance to get clean.
But rehab isn't easy, and neither was trying to make amends with Tim, as we saw in this The Rookie quote:
Isabel: Things are so black and white with you. It’s so…
Tim: Comforting?
Isabel: Maddening.
Isabel spent at least a year on the street as a junkie, but Tim never gave up hope, and he never gave up on their marriage.
But now they've come to realize that he will never fully trust her again. He'll always see her as an addict, and he'll always worry, and Isabel will always feel the shame that comes with knowing that he's watched her hit rock bottom.
Perhaps they are right, and they both need a fresh start, but it's still sad to see this couple end just when they could have a new beginning.
Finally, we get to Officers Lopez and West, who proved that solving cases comes from listening to the details.
At first, I thought Kevin Scott was exactly what he seemed to be -- a victim of a crime suffering from the early stages of dementia -- but then his symptoms didn't seem consistent.
I was a little disappointed that Jackson didn't pick up on Scott's slip up the way Lopez did. They'd only told him there was another victim, not that it was a woman.
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I guess even serial killers get old and I'm still wondering if Scott forgot that he had attacked that woman or if he was using his dementia diagnosis to hide what he'd done from the start.
Kevin Scott's victim wasn't kidding when she said her attacker was strong. Scott managed to take down two young men to get away and put up one heck of a fight with Lopez, but I'll put my money on Lopez any day; she's a scrapper.
The part of this story that made me smile was realizing that Jackson West is gay. When the orderly hit on him, it struck me that we knew nothing about his personal life beyond his relationship with his parents.
I hope their take-out dinner as a pre-date goes well because these two were too cute for words and I want to see more!
So what did you think, TV Fanatics?
Are Bradford and Isabel really over?
Will this be the last time we see Denise?
Is there a future for Ben and Bishop?
Will Wesley forgive Angela?
And most of all, would you like to see Lucy and Nolan get back together?
Check back for my review of The Rookie Season 1 Episode 12, and until then, you can watch The Rookie online here at TV Fanatic.
C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
