The Rookie wrapped up its seventh season with “The Good, The Bad and The Oscar,” a finale that had its highs (Lucy in charge! Miles’ chaos date!) and definite lows (Oscar… again? And don’t even get us started on Monica). The episode had the energy of a finale, but it also showed the weight of a show starting to circle the same tired tracks.
Let’s start off with the stand-out: Lucy finally stepping into her sergeant role brought both comedy and consequence. Watching her night shift team treat the job like a sleepover until she snapped them to attention was both funny and satisfying. She’s sharp, she’s ready, and she’s not here for games. The sequence where she whipped her team into shape to save Miles during a shootout showed exactly why Lucy earned her stripes—and why she’s going to wear them well.
Miles had one of his best storylines yet. What started as an awkward first date quickly turned into a dangerous setup tied to a gang, and it gave him room to be more than comic relief. Celina playing intel support and Lucy swooping in to save the day? Chef’s kiss. Honestly, that subplot had more tension and payoff than the so-called main event.
Which brings us to… Oscar. Again.
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Oscar showing up (yet again) to mess with Nolan felt more like déjà vu than drama. The severed arm map, the diamonds in the desert, the villain monologue—it was all so familiar, so overly dramatized, that it landed with a thud. There’s no real fear here anymore, just fatigue. Nolan’s in a trunk, then digging, then saved by a drone? It’s hard to feel any stakes when we’ve seen all these moves before. If this storyline was meant to bring closure, it instead just dragged things out past their expiration date.
And just when you think the retread is over, Monica’s back. Because of course she is. Somehow, despite faking her death, committing multiple felonies, and exhausting the audience’s patience, Monica returns with an immunity deal that forces our core team into her orbit once again. It feels like a plot pulled out of the recycling bin—been there, done that. With so many compelling new villains and directions the show could take, bringing Monica back feels like the weakest possible play. She’s not dangerous anymore; she’s just dull.
Another disappointment was Angela’s storyline this episode, which involved interrogating a lovesick bank robber catfished into a fake relationship by his own wife, was yet another example of how underused she’s been all season. The case itself wasn’t bad, but it felt like filler, disconnected from the main arcs driving the finale. This has become a pattern with Angela. Instead of being woven into the central narrative or given meaningful development, she’s been sidelined into standalone cases that barely register. For a character with such strong presence and history, it’s disappointing to see the writers continually give her scraps while other storylines, however tired, get the spotlight. Angela deserves more than being the “side quest” of every episode.
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| “The Good, The Bad and The Oscar” – THE ROOKIE. Pictured: Eric Winter as Tim Bradford and Melissa O’Neil as Lucy Chen. Mike Taing/ Disney ©2025 Network. All Rights Reserved. |
Tim finally opens his heart to Lucy with the most sincere confession we’ve ever gotten from him. He’s gone to therapy, he’s grown, he’s ready—and Lucy? Dead asleep on the couch. It would’ve been funny if it weren’t so infuriating. After a full season of emotional tension and stalling, fans were finally owed a real conversation. Instead, we’re given a rug-pull gag. Again. Yes, we get it. Lucy’s tired. Night shift. But fans have been emotionally invested in this relationship for seasons, and the chain of command excuse has officially expired. At this point, it’s not tension—it’s just cruelty. And not in a fun, slow-burn way. In a “do the writers even want them together?” way. The showrunner continues to mishandle Chenford, giving every other couple timely resolutions while dragging them through emotional purgatory.
Lucy’s rise, Miles’ chaos, and some standout character beats saved this finale from falling flat. But the recycled Oscar plot and the forced Monica twist dragged it down. And as for Chenford, if they don’t stop baiting us and start writing them, fans might not be as patient next season. Season 8 has a lot to fix and first on the list should be delivering instead of dodging.