Last rodeo, at least for now, for this show! The Rookie: Feds 1×22 “Red One” also bets on action for the season finale and ends up being an entertaining but anticlimactic episode. Ready?
Here we go!
No Good Plot, No Party
The Rookie: Feds 1×22 “Red One” is a living example that what starts badly ends worst. The episode began by emulating another plot from The Rookie with one of the detectives being buried alive. However, it didn’t quite live up to what we saw in the mother series and that’s bad, but it’s worse when you bet everything on the action that arises from that case for the season finale.
And that’s exactly what The Rookie: Feds 1×22 “Red One” does.
Of course, the episode turns it around and seems to focus more on the philosophical aspect of saving a bad guy at the cost of good people who fell by the wayside.
We like that twist but that’s a question with no right answer in the context it’s being asked. The team was doing their duty and, sometimes that means doing things we wish we weren’t doing, it’s Jeff that’s wrong here, but the team can’t do anything to make him pay for his blame for what happened.
All this makes The Rookie: Feds 1×22 “Red One” unable to have an appropriate resolution for the viewer. And, in turn, the development of the plot doesn’t finish leaving a good taste in the mouth because we don’t feel that the resolution is fair at all. We need to feel like all the bad guys pay for what they did and we don’t exactly see that in the episode.
Underdeveloped Bonds in The Rookie: Feds 1×22 “Red One”
Honestly, the best thing about The Rookie: Feds 1×22 “Red One” was seeing Simone win in the casino and celebrate her birthday. She prepares a big party but, we don’t understand why, half the team fought not to show up to the party and our reaction was like WTF?!
We mean, maybe this would have made sense at the beginning of the show when Simone was too much for everyone. Now, she is still too much but they know her, and they are supposed to sincerely appreciate her, she is supposed to be their friend. Why the hell would they leave their friend alone on her birthday?
That’s not what friends do. Simone shouldn’t have to be convincing anyone to come to her birthday party, not even joking about it. They should go because they love her and want to share a happy moment with her.
Friends are the Family We Choose
Frankly, the only one who rose to the occasion and who we felt really appreciated Simone in The Rookie: Feds 1×22 “Red One” was Brendon. He worked hard to find the perfect gift and for Simone to be happy on her birthday. And while this aroused Antoinette’s misgivings, we’re glad to dig deeper into this wonderful friendship.
Brendon and Simone were the outcasts of the academy. They were mocked by everyone. They made fun of Brendon as if he was a joke and Simone for being too old. So the two teamed up against the world.
Simone realized that Brendon was in a dark place, and her empathy drew her closer to him. She cares. And she was the only one who really saw Brendon. She was the only one who bothered to do it. And Simone’s sparkling personality, her sense of humor, and the light that radiates from her entered Brendon’s shadow world to illuminate him.
So yeah, he’s going to do whatever he has to for Simone and he’s always going to be there for her, just like we see in The Rookie: Feds 1×22 “Red One.” We love Brendon much more for it.
That said, even Simone’s big birthday felt too anticlimactic in The Rookie: Feds 1×22 “Red One.” We felt we needed more of a choral celebration to close out the episode. They were in Vegas for God’s sake, and the show didn’t take advantage of that! We think that sums up everything there is to say about this episode.
Looking back, The Rookie: Feds 1×22 “Red One” puts the culmination of a season that is like this episode: it goes unnoticed. The show is still struggling to find a comfortable niche, a stable plot to engage with and to find its own identity. We just hope it gets a chance for a second try.
Other Stuff in The Rookie: Feds 1×22 “Red One”
- Honestly, I didn’t quite understand Antoinette’s misgivings…there was nothing there to worry about.
- We need flashbacks from the FBI Academy!
- Simone has grown a lot and I am really proud.
- This show needs to stop recycling plotlines from the Mother series.
- And it also needs to learn to be a more choral series that works on the family bond within the team.
We end The Rookie: Feds season 1 review here! Thank you so much for being there during all this time. You’re awesome! Have a good summer!
The Rookie: Feds season 1 aired Tuesdays at 9/10 on ABC.
