The Rookie

I have to say I've really enjoyed The Rookie even more than I though I would. I've been a Nathan Fillan fan since Castle and he really shines here. He stars as John Nolan, a 40-something year rookie for the LAPD. After a life altering incident he chooses to pursue his dream of becoming a police officer. As the oldest rookie he has to persuade skeptics that he's cut out for the job and that this isn't some mid life crisis. These are several supporting characters in this and they all bring a sense of entertainment to the show. It's a really easy show to sit back and watch and even have on as background viewing. It's one of the better cop shows of the last few years.

At first I thought "no please, not another cop show" and I wasn't sure about Nathan Fillion as a cop. But I must say, the directing is spot on, and the writing is refreshing - especially the relationships of the rookies and their T.O's, their relationship with each other, the conflicts they have to deal with, and the use/views of the body cams. Also surprisingly, Fillion is perfect for this part and nails his role, and all other actors were perfectly cast and also are great in their roles. I especially appreciate seeing the various parts of L.A. and the different people/conflicts the LAPD has to deal with - outside and within the force. So far so good, let's hope the writing progresses as good at the pilot was throughout the season. A well deserved 8/10 from me.

EDIT: 4/2019 - upped my score from 8 to 9/10... the writing has vastly improved; more realistic (and original) drama, and much less cliched cheese. Keep it up guys!

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.

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.