The Rookie

Wow! I loved it, keep up the good writing, the good plot lines & the relationships of the characters as they settle into their roles & we've got an entertaining hour of tv!

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!

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.

As an active police officer of 25 years, I'm currently 54, it was like watching my own body cam footage from the last few months! I am hooked on this show! P. Ball