The Rookie has been on ABC for seven seasons now, so it makes sense that the series is sort of at risk of jumping the shark. Some of the past storylines have been pretty outlandish, and the fans are already feeling the over-dramatization of the on-again-off-again romance between Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) and Tim Bradford (Eric Winter). But there’s one more plot point coming up with the brand-new season that already has us scratching our heads. It appears as though the gang is heading over to Europe on an investigation, and this bonkers narrative makes us think that we’re already diving straight into jump-the-shark waters.
‘The Rookie’ Has Gone Overseas in the Past
It’s not like the Mid-Wilshire precinct hasn’t ever traveled outside of Los Angeles. In the Season 4 opener, the police officers went to Guatemala to rescue Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz), who had been held hostage by drug lord Sandra “La Fiera” De La Cruz (Camille Guaty). They were also trying to track down the killer of Jackson West (Titus Makin Jr.). It made sense that the LAPD were heading to a new country because they were dedicated to rescuing one of their own and avenging the death of a beloved member of their team. But this foray into international crime never felt all that authentic.
Similarly, the LAPD has had many connections to Mexican drug cartels, and while the action always made sense because of the proximity to Los Angeles, it’s never felt necessary for the cops to actually leave their home turf. John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and Bailey Nune (Jenna Dewan) also travelled to a remote island for their honeymoon, and this Season 6 episode just made viewers feel disconnected from the characters and their home base. Even in the Season 6 finale, when Nolan and Nyla Harper (Mekia Cox) teamed up with the FBI to follow Monica to Argentina, their actions didn’t feel all that plausible, but there was still a little bit of realistic storytelling thrown in. These tangential storylines are crossing even further into nonsensical territory with the upcoming Season 8 premiere.
First ‘The Rookie’ Season 8 Trailer Sends Nathan Fillion on an International Manhunt
Can he really be called “The Rookie” after 8 Seasons?
It’s Illogical To Have ‘The Rookie’ Take Place in Europe
The Season 8 trailer was recently released, and it appears that the Mid-Wilshire gang will be going international in their quest to take Monica Stevens (Bridget Regan) down for good. We don’t know exactly who has travelled overseas from the Mid-Wilshire department, but it’s clear that husband-and-wife Nolan and Bailey are on location in Prague with Monica. She’s supposedly offering them information that will help take down a much bigger criminal, but of course, she’s not to be trusted. It seems like plenty of shenanigans will occur while they attempt to keep Monica on a short leash and capture other bad guys.
The problem is that it makes zero sense for an LAPD officer (and his firefighter wife?) to take on this investigation at all, especially one that would take them overseas. Local cops would immediately hand a case like this over to the FBI, and they definitely wouldn’t be going undercover with an important informant to eliminate a larger criminal cell. Why on earth would our favorite LA-based cops be involved with this? It would make much more sense for a team like The Rookie: Feds to be handling this, but that show was cancelled. It’s understandable that The Rookie writers would want to freshen things up with a brand-new location heading into Season 8. But maybe an adjacent town to Los Angeles would have made more sense than a faraway European city. If they wanted their characters to be overseas, they could have had the cops, while on vacation, get caught up in an investigation, or something similar, but assigning them to go to Prague for Season 8 feels unrealistic.
Much of the fun of The Rookie is that we can imagine the exciting shoot-outs and fast-paced car chases happening in real life. Putting these cops in an investigation that they would never take part in makes all of the action feel a little silly. Hopefully, the Monica situation will get wrapped up quickly, and the rest of the season will take place back in Los Angeles. However, it’s definitely not a great sign for the continuation of the series if The Rookie has to rely on these stunt-type plots in the future in order to keep things interesting.
Seasons 1–7 of The Rookie are available to stream on Hulu in the U.S. Season 8 will premiere on Tuesday, January 6 on ABC.
