We’re back! After last week’s episode, The Rookie 3×09 “Amber” reconciles me to this show and reminds me exactly why I love it. Our rookies graduate! Well, not all rookies but we’re still proud moms here and their last shifts have brought us anguish, social criticism and the occasional frustrated hope for our Chenford heart. Let’s comment on everything about “Amber”!
Here we go!
Our Chenford heart suffered greatly in this episode. But there is still room for hope. However, let’s start at the beginning. The separation between the two for Lucy’s last shift as a rookie is too real a possibility for both of them so they try to … get over it in their own way. Lucy made a list for Tim to get over it – although, actually, it was for her too – and Tim, true to his style, prefers not to think about it and pretend it’s a completely normal day.
The turning point comes when Lucy explains to Tim her plans to be an undercover agent. This brings Tim’s worst fears back to life. Isabel’s ghost is present again. She was also a good agent but undercover work … ended up destroying her. But Lucy is not Isabel. Tim knows it, however, for him, it feels too close to her … so Tim tries to demotivate her. It’s cruel, but it’s the only way he knows to avoid saying “I care about you.”
It is true that you have to have the head, and sometimes the heart, to be an undercover agent but Lucy can do it. And she knows it (and I love her for it). So she decides to pay Tim in the same coin and be a bit cruel … to him and to us because, for a moment, we thought that, after three years, it was Chenford’s turn to shine … but no.
We really believed it. You don’t do that, Lucy! However, as we deal with our anger and tears of disappointment, let’s talk a bit about Tim’s reaction. He doesn’t know what to say, he gets nervous and it seems like he’s going to reject her … does this mean that he doesn’t feel anything for her? No. It just means he’s not ready. In reality, he is not ready to accept to himself how he feels about Lucy, much less ready to tell her. The time will come … it just wasn’t now.
Does what Lucy has done mean that she has no feelings for him? No. In a good lie, there must always be some part of the truth. I think that the feelings Lucy is talking about are very real, only that she has not yet realized how real they are. Again, the time will come … it just wasn’t now.
The next quite interesting thing that we see between them is practically at the end of the episode. The moment to say goodbye has arrived and neither of them really wants to say it. Tim gives Lucy his latest assessment and what he has written to her, the way he looks at her as he reads it and smiles unconsciously, the way he looks at her … goddess, he loves her so much … he may not yet accept it but those gestures … his subconscious betrays him and is only carried away by what his heart feels. In that look and in that smile is hope.
And if I thought she couldn’t love Tim more, his next words prove that I was wrong. He overcomes his own fears and understands that Lucy is very different from Isabel and that, although he is terrified of what may happen to her, he can only be by her side and support her in the path that she decides to choose, whatever it is.
That is why he makes it clear to her that he will be there, he will be there and that she must not let anyone, including him, tell her that she cannot do something. Because she can do it. She always has. Her bravery, her resolve, her ability to face all obstacles, her courage, is one of the things he loves the most about her, one of the reasons he fell in love with her.
So yes, there is a lot of hope for the future. Chenford for the win!
“Amber” has finally returned to being what I always expect from The Rookie and that includes social criticism. Police reform is clearly in order and I love that the show has included it in its storyline. The driver of this plot has been Nolan’s teacher, since she is writing a book on the subject. And I think these moments teach us a valuable lesson. The voice of activists must be heard loud and clear because they are literally fighting for their lives.
However, they also need to collaborate with the police, with those who really want to make a difference and those who fight every day to achieve it, so that the reform brings a real improvement. It is clear that there is systemic racism in the police, but not only within the police force if not also outside, in the media, as they well say in “Amber,” the media would not pay as much attention to the Amber alert If it was a Black girl who had been kidnapped.
“Amber” makes social criticism not only of the police force but also of those complicit media, the complicit society and I love it because if we are really going to fight, if we are really going to change things, we have to change them from the root, from all aspects. And we also need to be aware of the correct way to do it for there to be real breakthrough.
In any case, I’m always fascinated by The Rookie‘s bravery in dealing with all these socially controversial issues and not hiding in doing so because when we really want to change something, we first have to make it as visible as possible. Perhaps there is hope for this society.
Perhaps.
For Angela to go back to patrol with West on his last turn as a rookie is just the right dose of nostalgia I needed to pick up the tissues and start crying. I didn’t know how much I missed them together until I saw them in “Amber.” And I have found it really interesting, because I think they have perfectly shown how the relationship between them goes beyond instructor and rookie, they are friends. West is really happy for Angela and wanted to make it clear to her that he was going to be there for whatever she needed.
In addition, West has thanked her for everything, it was really important to him. I mean, when he started the program, he thought he would find a good instructor but, apart from that, he ended up finding a great friend. And yes, we need more tissues and some ice cream. I’m so proud of both of them.
As if this were not enough, I really liked this criticism of the difficulty of reconciling professional and family life. Angela’s fears felt completely timely and real. She and Wesley have very demanding jobs and barely have time to live as a couple, what will happen when they add the baby to the mix? What’s more, what will happen to Angela and her work? At the end of the day, she will have to be on leave and she fears losing that touch during that time.
They are normal fears and so real … because this happens every day. The solution seems obvious: a babysitter. But it’s not so easy. Just thinking about bringing into life what you love the most to an almost strange person seems too … dangerous. It doesn’t feel entirely correct, and even less for someone who sees all the worst that the world can offer. Because we all know it, that is, we have an abstract idea of the evil that exists in the world but when you really see it, that makes it even worse.
And then comes the fear, the fear of everything that can happen, of everything that you will not be able to protect your baby from … and you need someone to anchor you in the here and now, so as not to panic. West is that person for Angela in “Amber.” She and Wesley are not alone, they can do it.
However, West hasn’t overlooked this, which is why I loved the moment Angela and Harper started talking about things … private in front of everyone. She is the one who can give Angela a first-hand experience and that moment was so much fun and perfect.
I loved that last moment of the episode. Lucy and West move forward together while Nolan stays behind … and that makes him feel bad. It seemed so real to me. It has happened to all of us that we have felt this way, like that others are moving forward in their lives and you are stuck in the same place.
And you are happy for your friends, of course you are, but it is a bittersweet feeling because, apart from that joy, you feel some envy, frustration and sadness with yourself. You feel like a failure. But everything comes … and that moment will also come for Nolan.
I really liked that Harper realized this and invited him to have a family dinner with her daughter, just so that he would have a friend who would make him feel less alone, less a failure, who would make him feel better, because it’s just what we need at those times. Also, I keep insisting that between them I see something that will come up in the future, is this dinner just the first of many? We’ll have to wait and see…
One last note for the defense of mental health that “Amber” has made. Everything they have said. Exactly everything they have said.
And here ends our The Rookie review. We will be back next week with a new one!
Agree? Disagree? Don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments below.
The Rookie airs Sundays at 10/9 on ABC.
