The Rookie Season 7, Episode 18, “The Good, The Bad, and The Oscar” Spoilers Ahead
Welcome to Chenford Chats, a column dedicated solely to highlighting Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen’s interactions during the latest episode of The Rookie.
“We need to have a serious conversation.” Have it! Only not when the poor girl is coming home from a grueling night shift, Tim. The last Chenford chat of the season being a one-sided conversation feels like a major cop-out, but I’ll try to look on the bright side. Ultimately, credit where it’s due, but there’s something deeply reassuring about how giddy, warm, and soft Tim Bradford is in this episode because it proves that he’s done the work to overcome his demons.
As a couple, Tim and Lucy are the quintessential grump and sunshine, and there’s a point in every pairing where the grump tends to soften their edges as an effortless means to showcase the sunshine’s effect on them. For an entire season, we’ve watched Tim break himself inside out because all his fears have been taking over his life in an overwhelming manner. In jeopardizing his relationship by not trusting her, he gave himself more wounds he didn’t know how to deal with, and in attempting to figure things out, they bounced around way too much. Still, with all the jokes and easy banter, he let himself get the help he needed in order to finally be the man who’ll protect her heart, not break it.
In The Rookie Season 7, Episode 18, “The Good, The Bad, and The Oscar,” Tim’s gestures are the physical manifestation of the work he’s done to ensure their relationship is a safe space for her. He’s learned to trust himself, but, more importantly, he’s accepted the fact that in spite of his flaws, he can be more than enough for Lucy. He can earn and deserve her trust. He can be the very person she needs to come home to at the end of every night. And in many ways, that’s what we’re seeing in the episode from Lucy’s end, because no matter how exhausted a person is, falling asleep when we have our guards up is near-impossible. But Lucy is no longer wearing armor around Tim. In truth, even though they aren’t together, he’s still her fortress, so it’s the fact that she feels safe enough to fall asleep in his presence is concrete proof of how she trusts him profoundly. He’s home. He’s always been home.
It’s also lovely that the show’s playing on the slow burn/second chance one more time before getting them back together, because while parts of this season were deeply frustrating for their arc, this one last moment before they get back together isn’t. It’s tender, sweet, and vulnerable. Understandably, there’s still a lot happening behind the scenes that I wish we were able to see as audience members, but it’s also partly understandable that the series has to fill us in with words as opposed to actions.
More than anything, the ease we’re now fully back into is what guarantees that they’ll work for good this time. I also hope that we’ll at least get one more throwaway line about how Lucy knows she can trust Tim this time around, because that’s crucial to show us her side of the relationship as well. We know she’s open to everything he’s doing because Melissa O’Neil shows it to us through her performances, but words, in this case, matter, too. We need her eventual declaration as much as we got his, and even if he has to repeat it when the conversation continues, it’ll be lovely to see how this time apart has changed them.
In acknowledging that the series has zig-zagged with the couple, The Rookie’s Season 7 finale essentially promises it won’t be pulling these stunts in later seasons as well. The show would be too messy if it did, and also, neither Lucy nor Tim are those people. They aren’t characters who change their minds easily, and so much of what’s happened this season has forced them into small instances that have felt a bit out of character. Still, we’re back to a place where everything makes sense again, and this hopefully marks the end of a frustrating journey.
Now streaming on Hulu: What are your thoughts on Chenford’s scenes in The Rookie Season 7, Episode 18, “The Good, The Bad, and The Oscar?” Let us know in the comments below.
First Featured Image Credit: ABC