The Rookie Season 8 Finale Delivered Action, Chaos & the Perfect Proposal… Then Chose Violence

Critic’s Rating: 4.1 / 5.0

4.1

Well, The Rookie sure knows how to leave us hanging!

The season finale gave us all the action we love most about the series, and we got that satisfying proposal we’ve been waiting for.

What we couldn’t anticipate, of course, was that Everett would get his revenge on Bradford in the worst possible way. And now we have months to theorize about what comes next!

One thing about The Rookie is that it loves its villains. It doesn’t matter how many of them the series eventually lets go of (RIP Monica); there will always be one lurking in the distance, ready to wreak absolute havoc on the lives of Mid-Wilshire’s finest.

Everett was back, which we could’ve anticipated, just as his beef with Bradford over Bradford not taking his bribe was bound to come up again.

What I didn’t anticipate was how it’d become an issue.

Malcolm pulling Wesley into the fold to defend Everett was an interesting move, and initially, it felt like it would backfire.

It didn’t make much sense that, of all the charges that Everett was facing, he’d want to tackle the bribery one. But he’s driven by pure ego right now, and the thought of Bradford not bending to his will has him seeing red with a bullseye on Tim.

Chances are, he also knows about Wesley’s connection to Tim, so getting Wesley on his defense team was bound to cause a strain, which nearly did based on Bradford’s reaction when he found out.

But Malcolm is such a shady character. Seriously, this show hates lawyers who aren’t named Wesley Evers, and even he catches some “Ls” frequently. There’s no integrity to be found anywhere with most of them.

Wesley is going rogue and not telling anyone at first, by agreeing to work with Malcolm so he can find evidence on Malcolm and how dirty he is, and bury his tracks.

If Wesley doesn’t love anything else, it’s the opportunity to use his position to take down bad guys. I fear that Malcolm will eventually be onto him sooner rather than later, and it could pose a threat to Wesley or his family.

Is Malcolm poised to be the new Monica? It’s starting to feel like it.

The Everett transport situation was insane. It’s awesome to see how badass the team is when they have to pull off missions or basically fix mistakes. But it’s also incredible how all of these events make them look incompetent.

They orchestrated that whole transport plan, and all it took was for a pickup truck with a bed of nails to derail everything, and for a chopper with a giant magnet to come and carry Everett away in the prison van.

I laughed so hard at the absurdity of it all, but it was peak Rookie fun.

And of course, that wasn’t even the biggest shit show, since they also had that shooting incident at the station while all of that was going on. Again, Lucy got to be super badass, shooting a guy through the glass and jumping through a window to take on the full scene.

And Miles was great under pressure, tackling the shooter. But what dumb officers failed to properly search a person to the point where they left a loaded weapon in a cell? Like, come on, people!

Also, that poor station has been through hell this season! Explosions, shootouts, brawls, the list goes on!

The unsung heroes are those who have to clean up everything after all that.

For the station bit, it was just an okay filler story to pad the hour. It was also something for Miles to do.

But The Rookie really needs to do something with Miles next season. It’s a crying shame how poorly they’ve used this character. For most of the season, it felt like they didn’t know what to do with him.

When it felt like he was showing moments of growth, they’d knock him back down a few pegs and then shove him to the fringes of the series. Often, they had him looking incompetent, which sucked.

We didn’t really need another storyline about him possibly messing up and on the cusp of getting kicked out of the program, suspended, or whatever else. Wasn’t this like the third time this season?

It’s felt like such a waste of the dynamic Deric Augsttine by having Miles fumbling around as if he no longer knows what to do with himself. I suppose the ending was promising.

He realized that he wasn’t the one who missed the gun, so the shooting, the injuries, and one death didn’t fall on him.

And even though it wasn’t his graduation day as he suspected, Harper is putting in a good word for him, so he’ll hopefully be in his next stage, and they’ll find better use for him next season.

As for Grey, I can’t help but wonder what they intend to do with him as well. The task force is over now, so where does that leave him? Maybe something else will present after catching Everett.

The best part of the hour was the team going into stealth mode on that ship to retrieve Everett. Was it far-fetched? Absolutely! But that’s what makes The Rookie awesome.

I could not have rolled my eyes hard enough over Bailey accompanying them on a stealth mission at the last minute. But I’m not going to beat the dead horse about the show’s obsession with shoehorning Bailey into everything all of the time.

Nor will I mention how tacky it was that she and Nolan had to kiss in the middle of a stealth mission. Focus on the task at hand, dammit!

Structurally, that was the strongest part of the hour. I loved the entire sequence, popping back and forth between regular cameras and their body cams, and even how they didn’t use music and just worked in silence to drive home the “stealth” portion of the ordeal.

I loved hearing just the hum of the lights, the equipment, and everyone’s quiet breathing as they took down Everett’s henchman, bit by bit. It felt like something out of a Call of Duty video game, which was the intended effect and a great one.

Once they actually got to Everett, though, all hell started to break loose, and The Rookie had to give Nolan his signature badass, heroic, fun moment. The Smokey and the Bandit move with the car, and everything was fun.

And I loved that Nolan’s dream was a premonition that came true, right down to the bullets whizzing past him in the water. Fortunately for him, Bailey was there to save him, because of course she was.

And they got home in time to get celebratory champagne from their rent-a-teen, Dash, who spent his portion of the hour getting Nolan to write a letter of recommendation for him for college.

The gesture was sweet, even though Dash now wants to take a gap year or two, most likely so he can continue to randomly pop up at Nolan and Bailey’s house or during investigations, or perhaps he’ll be the one running the customary Mockumentary episode come next season.

But the major component of this hour was The Rookie, leading up to the highly anticipated Chenford proposal.

We had the usual shenanigans that you can expect from something like this. The second Bradford had the ring just freeballing in his pocket, I knew that it would turn up missing.

Nolan wanting a peek at the ring and deciding that Lucy would love it, and then looking at Bradford like he was a glutton for punishment when he chose the pocket over the case in his locker, which was priceless.

And he didn’t even say “I told you so” when Bradford had him looking for the ring at the scene, where there was so much glass that no one would’ve been able to find it there if that was where he lost it.

Everyone was concerned about Tim proposing soon to avoid his plans coming back to Lucy, or how he needed to do something special, which was funny. Lucy’s proposal really did become a group project!

Ultimately, it was Grey who likely gave Tim the perspective he needed, and it was a great moment for them. I love how they talk about these things in that father/son way, and Grey can bestow wisdom on him about marriage and life, even if his and Luna’s was a hot mess this season.

And Tim came through with the perfect proposal and the words to match the occasion. It genuinely is lovely to reflect on how much he’s grown. Yes, Lucy is a large part of that, her influence on him, since before they were even a possibility as a pairing.

When we met, I had come to believe the world was a really dark place, and for the last eight years, you showed me just how much light there really is. You have healed me in places I didn’t even know were broken. And I promise you, I promise to spend the rest of our lives doing everything I can to be worthy of that love. So, Lucy Chen, will you marry me? – Tim Bradford

Tim captures that well in the vows. But he himself has also just done the work he needed to get to this healthier, happier place, and it’s rewarding for the character and viewers alike.

His comment about how she healed him in places he didn’t even know needed to be healed was the line that got me the most.

And the proposal on the beach at sunset was so simple, sweet, and them. It was perfect, or should’ve been, up until Everett’s people came and injected them and blackbagged them.

We can’t ever catch a break on The Rookie, can we? The series has never let any character have a peaceful moment during life’s happiest of occasions. Weddings, childbirth, honeymoons, engagements — drama and life-or-death situations are always right around the corner!

Chenford holding hands even while they’re were slowly fading away from the drugs and getting bagged and carried away was a nice touch though. It’s about the romance, you guys! So angsty!

It’s a quintessential place for The Rookie to leave us hanging. Lucy is facing more trauma, and on her, what, third kidnapping? It’s a lot. But I’ll be back next season for more.

Over to you, The Rookie Fanatics. We have SO MUCH to discuss, so how do you feel about that cliffhanger? What are your predictions? Did you love the proposal? Is Malcom the new Monica?

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