The Rookie

This series started off strong but the writers of season 3 seems to want shove every PC issue into every episode. There's just too much baggage to make you care about any of it.

That is basically the gist of it. Like in any police series, way too many things happen in one episode and the rookies experience more shootings and heavy crime than most police in many life times.

The bad writing is mostly about how the leave of people from the show is dealt with. They might get a short farewell, but then they are gone and nobody thinks about them anymore for more than one episode. That lacks. Also the writers make quite many characters spill deep wisdom out of the blue that usually takes a life-time to acquire and therefore the only one who doesn't look silly doing it, is the Sergeant. Also it is not credible that the receiving end always follows this advise given. Also it is silly how the relationships that end in the show never have a fall-out.

Before you write this off as some hater, know that I'm a person of color. I appreciate the attempt at bringing real life issues into the show, but that does not forgive bad writing or a shove-it-down-your-throat attitude. Season 3 has so far been only about 2 things. Women suffering from men and people of color suffering from bad cops. There's no longer policing, there's no longer "The Rookie". This is another show, and it's the wrong show.

This used to be a goody-two-shoes comic relief police show with just enough drama to make us invested. That doesn't go with this. If you want to talk about these issues that deeply then make another show dedicated to them.

And if you wanted to simply give them an appearance in "The Rookie", then you could have done it more subtly and without simply pulling us out of the story and environment we were used to. For example, Officer Smitty would have been a good character to involve in the racism issues. He's a slacker, comic-relief, but what if we show him when he feels endangered, because of a person of color who doesn't show any cause for danger? That could have been a good tip of the hat towards the issue, and showing it through a character we're familiar with.

One other thing is the death of logic in this third season.

SPOILERS IN THE NEXT LINE. (Check below for Spoiler end and start reading there to avoid season 3 spoilers)

The fact that Jackson's TO would be this stupid when he has the IA commander's son as a boot just doesn't make sense. And if he's as smart and cautious about his racism as they make him out to be, he'd have actually acted like a goody-two-shoes in front of Jackson, which the latter could have noticed and created another plotline about that, but we're past that now.

SPOILER END.

At the moment, I'm conflicted about even finish season 3, I'm at episode 5, and frankly I don't want to watch it. I just want this whole mess over with and for us to get back to the story of The Rookie.

The first two seasons of The Rookie were probably among the best bits of televisison content I have seen in a while. Very fun, entertaining and enjoyable. The only issue I have had from the beginning is that the rookies participate in high risk situations from the very start. I find that bothering as it seems not very realistic. Overall I would still easily give S1-2 an 8 star rating.

With Season 3 the series started to decline. Too much drama, too many high risk missions, officers with little experience participating in SWAT raids and undercover missions and even going on an unsanctioned mission abroad. I find that all to be a bit too much.

This continued for S4 and S5 with the latter having very weak stories and character developement, leaning too heavily on action and seamingly tragic events. The season finales in particular are dissapointing as they continue to descent into unrealistic storytelling.

As of March 24, I have high hopes for S6 which so far is looking good.

Overall, I rate this series 7/10 as it does not uphold the quality of the first two seasons but 6/10 seems a bit harsh since it is still somewhat binge-worthy even in the later seasons.

The Rookie is one of the better cop shows on tv right now. Nathan Fillion leads a really good cast who all do a good job making this a show worth watching. Anyone who's seen Fillion in a show knows he never disappoints. This show does good job balancing drama, action, suspense and humor. It also shows how tough it is to be a police officer both at work and at home. Some of the negative reviews are from people that don't like that they take real world problems of today and apply them to the show. Everyone knows there are a thousand police shows to choose from but if you're looking for an exciting and original show then give The Rookie a try.