This article critiques the contrived dramatic tension in The Rookie Season 7, focusing on subplots involving Wesley Evers' anxieties about Detective Keith Graham and the inexplicable return of Rachel Hall. The article argues these subplots feel unnatural and hinder the show's organic narrative progression.
Since the start of The Rookie Season 7, the series has struggled with dramatic conflict and presenting tension that feels natural to the show and its main cast. Aside from the main recurring plot involving John Nolan seeking to bring Jason Wyler to justice, the show utilizes a strange ongoing subplot involving Wesley Evers and Angela Lopez .
Season 7, Episode 3,"Out of Pocket," also saw the sudden, inexplicable return of Rachel Hall , the long-MIA ex-girlfriend of Tim Bradford . Rather than providing the show with strong, organic dramatic tension, these subplots feel forced and unnatural to the show's established reality. It's time to explore the artificial drama that has been working against The Rookie Season 7. Wesley Fears Angela Lopez Might Have Some Sort of Relationship With a Detective In the Season 7 premiere,"The Shot," Wesley listens to audio logs of Dr. Blair London's patient sessions, discovering that another detective at the Mid-Wilshire Division, Detective Keith Graham , is attracted to his wife, Angela. Since the premiere, Wesley's anxiety over Graham has increased because Angela works with Graham, and he can't let the matter go. Due to the legally sensitive nature of the audio logs, Wesley avoids disclosing his anxieties to Angela. It got to the point that Wesley asked Angela if she was still happy with him. In"Out of Pocket," Wesley continues listening to Detective Graham's confessions about his attraction to Angela and stews over the situation. The subplot, unfortunately, dragged into the latest Season 7 episode,"Darkness Falling," where Wesley reveals his anxieties over Detective Graham to District Attorney Sean Del Monte , who noted that Wesley is legally prohibited from talking to Angela about Graham's audio logs and should basically get over it. Nothing about this subplot works. The Rookie has never offered a reason to ever suspect Angela would be the type of person to cheat on Wesley. The series continues to drag out the storyline for multiple episodes without any progress, and it feels like an awkward, clunky way to force tension in Wesley and Angela's marriage. It would make more sense if the writers would seed the idea that Detective Graham might be corrupt or working with Monica Stevens , similar to the other detective from Season 6, Detective Pierson . This means Wesley would have to deal with solving a mystery and potentially put his career at stake to bring down a corrupt officer. It would have been fine if the subplot was played off as a comedic one-off, similar to when Charlie Bristow served as a private security guard for Wesley and his and Angela's son, Jackson. The fact that Wesley is still concerned over Graham's confessions is beyond frustrating. The subplot isn't making a positive narrative progression for Wesley. Related ‘The Rookie’s Latest Cameo Just Tied Up Its Biggest Loose End Season 7 is the season of callbacks! Posts Rachel Hall Returns Out of Nowhere To Cause Tension for Chenford "Out of Pocket" also features the inexplicable return of Tim Bradford's ex, Rachel Hall. After five seasons, Rachel returned out of nowhere like a Randy Orton RKO. Interestingly, we wrote about this ill-fated relationship from Season 2 back in August, and how the series never provided their romance with any narrative closure. In summary, Rachel is a good friend of Lucy Chen , and Lucy was the one who set Tim up with Rachel on a blind date. Surprisingly, the two ended up hitting it off and dated for most of the season. Season 2 ends with Rachel leaving Los Angeles to pursue her dream job in New York City, but the finale concludes with the implication that Tim wants to make things work with Rachel long-distance. Then, The Rookie ran a total of five seasons without any mention of Rachel, who has returned to the show nearly five years since her last appearance. Suddenly, Rachel is back and best friends with Lucy like she never left — at a time when Lucy and Tim are both single again after their breakup in Season 6. Rather than creating closure for Tim and Rachel's relationship, Rachel's sudden appearance comes off more like a misguided attempt to develop the romantic tension between Tim and Lucy, creating suspense for the Chenford shippers on social media. It's great that the episode finally took the time to address burning questions about Tim, Rachel, and Lucy, and how Rachel viewed Lucy and Tim's relationship. However, Rachel's return doesn’t feel organic. Throughout five seasons, the writers never deemed it important to address Rachel's relationship with Tim and her friendship with Lucy. Rachel's sudden return, seemingly to drive a potential wedge or create a roadblock in the hopes of a Chenford reunion, exemplifies another case of forced dramatic conflict within the series. 'The Rookie' Needs a Better Handle on Its Romantic Pairings & Subplots Close Thus far, The Rookie Season 7's struggles with its main romantic pairings lacking an organic storytelling quality. Similarly, trouble is brewing for Detective Nyla Harper and her husband James Murray , as the series avoided addressing that Harper is an LAPD detective married to a community activist for several seasons. With fifteen episodes remaining in Season 7, hopefully, the aforementioned problems won't be a recurring issue and will diminish for the remainder of the season. New episodes of The Rookie Season 7 debut on Tuesday nights on ABC. Every episode is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S. Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Rate Now 0/10 Your comment has not been saved The Rookie TV-14 CrimeDramaComedy Release Date October 16, 2018 Network ABC Showrunner Alexi Hawley Directors Tori Garrett, Chi-Yoon Chung, Michael Goi, Sylvain White, Lisa Demaine, Lanre Olabisi, Bill Johnson, David McWhirter, Liz Friedlander, Daniel Willis, Toa Fraser, Anne Renton, Jon Huertas, Cherie Nowlan, TK Shom, Rob Seidenglanz, Valerie Weiss, Barbara Brown, Charissa Sanjarernsuithikul, SJ Main Muñoz, Nelson McCormick, Marcus Stokes, Adam Davidson, Anna Mastro Writers Corey Miller, Bill Rinier, Zoe Cheng, Mary Trahan, Ally Seibert, Liz Alper, Nick Hurwitz, Racheal Seymour, Madeleine Coghlan, David Radcliff Cast
THE ROOKIE DRAMA FORCED SUBPLOTS WESTLEY EVERS ANGELA LOPEZ TIM BRADFORD RACHEL HALL
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