We’re back! The Rookie Season 8 Episode 9 ‘Fun and Games’ broke our hearts with Grey & Luna while Miles & Nyla adjust to patrolling together and Celina & Nolan encounter some chaotic and hilarious witnesses. Ready?
Here we go!
Unexpected Feelings in The Rookie Season 8 Episode 9 ‘Fun and Games’
The Rookie Season 8 Episode 9 ‘Fun and Games’ broke our hearts. Grey and Luna didn’t deserve this. And we have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, Luna and Grey have always been a solid couple, loving each other above all else, and we don’t think it’s in Luna’s character to feel something for someone else and pretend not to until she absolutely has to. So we think Luna is acting out of character.
On the other hand, we can understand the feeling of finding something you’re passionate about, experiencing new things, meeting new people, and having someone catch your eye. That’s normal. Suddenly, that admiration, that good vibe, turns into attraction, into something real, something tangible… so much so that you can’t deny feeling it when your husband asks you directly. That’s human.
You can’t control what you feel, only what you do about it. And Luna, as she makes clear in The Rookie Season 8 Episode 9 ‘Fun and Games,’ did nothing to take things further. She fought against it because she loves her husband, she loves him madly. The problem? The fact that nothing physical happened between Luna and that guy doesn’t change anything for Grey. His wife has feelings for someone else, and that devastates him. He loves her and can’t even imagine feeling something for someone else, for her to do so… it breaks his heart.
And, despite everything, Grey was willing to fight through this, to get over it. But when Luna can’t deny that she still has feelings for that guy, Grey’s heart breaks even more. And, as hard as it is, he’s not sure they can get through this. But they have to, because they love each other too much to let go. They just need some space.
Luna needs to experience what it would be like to lose Grey to realize that what she feels for that guy is nothing compared to the love she has for her husband, and that it’s not worth losing him over something like that. And Grey needs time to understand and forgive, to trust Luna and their marriage again. So we’re keeping our fingers crossed that they make it.
MORE: The Rookie Season 8, Episode 8 Review: ‘Grand Theft Aircraft’
Back to Basics
Nyla and Miles end up patrolling together, much to their misfortune, in The Rookie Season 8 Episode 9 ‘Fun and Games.’ Nyla thinks he should be kicked off the program, and he knows Nyla is pretty tough on her rookies. So he plans to play it safe. But that’s not what Nyla needs him to do. Nyla needs him to prove he has good instincts, that he’ll be a good cop. In short, that he’s worth her time. So she changes the game so Miles can show what he’s made of and that he’ll never make an impulsive decision again.
Things aren’t going perfectly. But Miles is doing his best. And, honestly, we like Nyla’s teaching method. The only way to learn something is to do it. Practice makes perfect. And we think Miles learned more in one shift than in all the time he’s been patrolling with Nolan. We said what we said. That’s why we’re glad Miles manages to prove he has real talent and deserves Nyla’s time and effort.
That said, we feel bad for Nyla in The Rookie Season 8 Episode 9 ‘Fun and Games.’ She had to go back to wearing that uniform and being a TO, and she’s brilliant at it. She has a method for training her rookies, and if they don’t measure up, Nyla doesn’t hesitate to recommend they be fired. That’s why the rookies she’s trained are among the best. So it’s easy for Nyla to go back to her old method. The problem is, she can’t.
As Angela reminds her, Miles isn’t the only one being tested. Nyla is too. She can pressure Miles all she wants, but at the end of the day, she can’t recommend he be fired. Nyla has to keep a low profile. And that reminder of her precarious situation, while necessary, hits a nerve. Nyla is no longer the officer who arrived with a golden pass; now she must fight to keep her position.
MORE: The Rookie Season 8, Episode 7 Review: ‘Baja’
Other Stuff in The Rookie Season 8 Episode 9 ‘Fun and Games’
- We love seeing Chenford’s banter and cuddles, and we love that Lucy doesn’t hold back when she has to call Tim out.
- He was being deliberately obtuse about his mother’s situation. But, of course, ignoring her doesn’t make her disappear or change the fact that they need to talk.
- Luckily, in the end, they do. But it’s something we needed to see on our screens. It was too important to happen off-screen.
- How could Tim tell his mother to stop talking to Lucy? Men!
- Angry Lucy and Chenford “talking” through the glass. MY PARENTS!
- Lucy is in a group with Genny and her mother-in-law! We love it!
- Tim talked to his mother about Lucy…another reason to have watched that conversation!
- Lucy is happy and proud of Tim and his mom. And so are we!
- Our Game Changer guest stars were so much fun! And truly chaotic. We’d love for them to visit us again in the future. Although Celina and Nolan probably wouldn’t agree.
- We weren’t expecting to see Bailey. Hello, I guess. We find this whole thing ridiculous because she and Nolan can’t be like this forever. Either he leaves—something we’ve already established won’t happen—or she comes back, either because something happens that makes her return or because she decides to. There are no other options.
- Angela, Wesley, and James throwing Nyla a first-day party was super cute! And she needed it.
- We love how Nyla shuts Tim up like it’s nothing. Mother is mothering!
The Rookie Season 8 airs Mondays at 10 pm on ABC.
That episode is one of the worst they’ve done. Those game show/improv people were not funny at all and wasted too much valuable episode time. In a sentence I never thought I’d ever hear coming out of my mouth, I would have preferred Skip Tracer Randy to whatever that was suppposed to be.
Loved Nyla and Penn’s dynamic, I don’t like what they are doing to Grey and Luna, the Chenford moments were cute, and Nyla’s party was nice. Celina and Nolan partnered up felt normal and natural with good banter. My final gripe is Bailey. I don’t like her character, never have, and feels like filler.