#Tim and Lucy are complex

[makeitastrength]

One thing I'm noticing in some of the fandom reactions to this breakup and the aftermath is that the characters have been put on a pedestal and are being judged against some pretty unrealistic standards. They get raked over the coals for every single mistake. I've seen it with both characters but recently I've seen it the most with Tim.

Don't get me wrong, in no way am I condoning his current behavior. He's made multiple mistakes and he's broken Lucy's trust and her heart. He absolutely needs to be held accountable for all of these things and he owes her an apology and that adult conversation and a whole lot more if they're gonna be able to be together again.

But what he's doing right now, his imperfect actions as he navigates this period of his life... it's very human. This is a man who is at rock bottom, and when you're drowning in the weight of your own trauma like he is, you often don't have the strength to see beyond that and understand how your actions are impacting the people around you. He's not being cruel (which, by the way, implies intentionality to one's actions) by breaking up with her or denying her that conversation. He's drowning.

He truly can't see that she's *not* better off without him. He can't see how much he's hurt her, and that he continues to hurt her with his actions. I don't even think he could answer her questions right now about why he did what he did, because he doesn't fully understand it himself. He can't see anything beyond his own lack of self-worth. Right now, expecting him to be able to fully comprehend what he's done and why is completely unrealistic.

Now, does this excuse his behavior? Absolutely not. But it does explain it.

And the thing that's bothering me the most is the posts saying Tim doesn't deserve Lucy's forgiveness. This is a man who has completely fallen apart but is finally taking the first steps toward healing. Shouldn't he be given a chance at redemption before being written off as unforgivable? And shouldn't Lucy be the one to decide whether to forgive him?

Again, I'm not defending his actions. He has a lot of work to do on himself and he has a lot of work to do to gain back Lucy's trust. It's not going to be easy. But to say he doesn't deserve forgiveness without even giving him a chance? That's pretty harsh. He doesn't deserve to spend the rest of his life being defined by his worst moments. No one does.

[summerongrand]

Lucy Chen is SO pocket-sized mei-mei when she's being cute.

But this post is not about Lucy Chen. It's about Tumeric.

Tumeric is a 47 year old actor masquerading as an early 40something year old Metro Sergeant masquerading as an age-defying 30something year old with the softest, most endearing smile. This ranks up there with my favorite Tumeric smiles. There's something about his positioning that's flirty in an "I'm all in" kind of way. He's been like this with Rachel and Ashley but we've never seen him behave in this way with Lucy. I mean, sure he's flirted. But this is a different kind of charm he's putting on and I need more of it.

[dylanconrique]

guys i had the craziest chenford dream last night, i'm gonna turn it into a wip.

[idk-i-just-really-like-tsc]

tims new rookie and lucy being so jealous is CRAZY i am losing my mind

[effieandtim]

during my rewatch of ep 6 today i realised so many things that make a lot of sense after watching the 1957 storyline

like the fact that tim was always pushing hawk away to go be with his family or watching them from afar - it made sense when the ep came out but the added context and complexity makes those moments all the more beautiful and heartbreaking

he had decided once he saw jackson (the representation of everything he could not have with hawk) that he would keep his distance and he always acted on it thereafter. it was always hawk who approached him in 1968, 1979 and 1986 and its now clear why

but those scenes with jackson where he couldnt help but be attached to him in some way were some of my favourite in the show

another thing i loved to see and which also broke my heart was tim not knowing that lucy had burnt hawk’s letter where tim had confessed his feelings. so up until that point tim thought hawk knew he loved him and i think that was partly why he was so devastated in 1957 when hawk reported him

it continued in 1968 when tim said that ‘in the past i held two truths - my love for you and my love for god’. he thought hawk already knew of his feelings and had still hurt him, which is also possibly why he called it a fantasy

so at the end when he discovered what lucy had done, there werent any words left to say but it all probably clicked in his head and you could see it so clearly. but eleven years had passed and there wasnt anything else to be done - he probably didnt think it mattered anyway

[silverskull]

"Stop trying to protect me, Tim!"

"I can't. I won't. Please just steer clear of this - for me."

Tim's been the Fierce Protector™️ his whole life. Of Genny (and mom?), of his squad, of his wife, of his rookies; He can't turn it off.

But... it hasn't been working.

He lost two soldiers to Ray. He lost Isabel to addiction. His attempt to protect Lucy actually PUT her - and Tamara - in danger. And this isn't even the first time he's done that!

Compound that with his cover-up to his military superiors and his lies to his LAPD superiors, and who even IS Tim Bradford anymore?? I don't want to be an apologist for his self-centered-ness, but I'm slowly working to see where he's coming from.

His protectiveness is telling him to send Lucy away so she's SAFE. For all the 'incredible' women that surround him, he's failing to see how Lucy is Worth. Fighting. FOR. Fighting AGAINST his own protective instincts.

(gif credit | chenfordsource)

If his love for her is blinding him to that (and we got those hints with the Teska case and the lie-detector test), then they need to address that to build a solid relationship. He's going about it ass-backwards (MEN) but it's all caught up to him now and hit him like a tonne of bricks.

Again: it's unfair that Lucy has to be the clear-headed one here. But she IS. We've seen her mature in her romantic relationships over the years to the point that she IS the sensible one. The one who sees they need to TALK.

We were insulted when Isabel and Tim had a giggle over Lucy's suggestion that Tim meditate after a fatal shooting. But! Of the three of them, who adjusted best to life after trauma? Ms I-Survived-That-Chen! That's who. 🏆

They're going to work this out. They're going to survive. Writers don't build seasons of subtle and complex moments and toss it all away on a whim. Chenford are the most important people in each other's lives.

They're going to get through this. ❤️‍🩹

[wheelsupin-azarathmetrionzinthos]

The Rookie and allowing women to fuck up

So what I genuinely love about The Rookie, is that in a show where you’d expect the opposite our female characters are diverse, complex, and extremely human. Each one of our main three have their different strengths, weaknesses, triumphs and honestly what is the most important to me, their fuck ups. 

Starting with Lucy Chen (the character I relate to the most): Lucy is such a good character to me because her strength has always been presented as her empathy, her ability to put herself in anyone’s shoes is what makes so good. Her traditionally feminine trait is seen as a strength by everyone who knows her. BUT Lucy also fucks up, she makes mistakes. She’ll overthink things to the point of paralysis. She was fully prepared to, and was willing to cheat on Chris with Tim, and then stayed with him for months out of guilt and fear. Lucy fucks up! She makes huge mistakes. Which is what makes her such a good character. Lucy will make impulsive choices, she’ll try and solve things without consulting others (Metro), and she’ll think she was right. Lucy will read things incorrectly and she’ll react badly, but she’s the most empathetic, kind, adorable person.  She’s human as hell.  Next: the one, the only Nyla Harper: Nyla is such a good flawed character, because she also thrives at some of the same things Lucy does. Nyla is a rockstar UC detective, Lucy also thrives at UC, but holy shit these two women are not the same. Nyla’s skills and strength do not come from her sense of empathy. Nyla’s skill at UC come with her ruthlessness. Her ability to create a shell around her so impenetrable that people just don’t know the real her. Nyla is so professional, and so competent, and her personal life is a goddamn mess, for a while. She’s bad at opening up. She did choose UC over her family and had to fight tooth and nail to get her daughter back. When she finally did, and her life calmed down, she dated two guys cause she wanted the attention! She was cruel to Aaron because it was for his own good (she thought she knew best). She used Penelope’s past against her, which was an objectively fucked up thing to do, but it was human and it was a *mother’s* move.  Next: Angelaaaaaa Loooopeezzzz Angela is such a good character y’all. She’s someone we’ve seen put on so many different hats. Her TO’ing was different than Tim’s, Talia’s, or Nyla’s, she was Jackson’s older sister. She taught him, she didn’t wash Jackson out on his first day. She looked out for this kid. But also Angela wanted desperately to make detective, her failed tip trading scheme was her going too big. She was overconfident, and it cost her. But she was a badass, she just kept trying. But also we’ve seen Angela be insecure, in her relationship with Wesley, with her mother, and as a mother. Angela Lopez is a badass, but she is so so so soft sometimes. And she’s not perfect, her single minded devotion to catching Elijah, her need to *the* person protecting her family. So many fuck ups there. So many better ways to handle it. But she didn’t, and that’s what makes her Angela. and OH a woman on television being allowed to have realistic views on having another kid. Angela was allowed to be hesistant and not excited about being pregnant again, and no one thought she was being a villain or being terrible. She was scared about her life changing *again* and that was okay. She’s So Human.

[chenfordsbee]

If you don't love me at me worst, you don't deserve me at my best and this is how I feel with the fandom in their views of Tim right now or chenford. 😇

This is insane because the show said to us with words, we don't have to guess. He feel awful about himself, the breakup, he think lucy deserve better, he is mad at himself and he want to get better yet if you only read some tweets or posts you'd think he walk away from Lucy because he was tired of playing the perfect couple and wanted to hit the club and have some fun. He didn't cheat or betray her.. I know some peoples hate him now but it made me love him even more tbh. He is so real. I love good complex characters and when things aren't easy otherwise it's boring. Nolan is right here if fans want things easy and perfect. Yet they hate him because he is boring so ?? I don't care about Nolan but just saying.

I’m truly surprised at how fast some people seem to have given up on Chenford because of the breakup. I’m actually interested in seeing these characters grow and evolve and try to deal with their issues. And we know that Tim has a lot of trauma, from his past, and I always wanted them to really dig deep into it.

And to see a grown man actually seeking help, and realizing that he needs some kind of therapy is SO important. I want to see that. Rather than the “always and perfect and easy��� stuff!

Of course, it doesn’t change the fact that it hurts to see both Lucy and Tim like that, but that’s realistic, and it makes you want to root for them (both individually and as a couple) even more in my opinion.

We do need more complex characters on tv, especially ones that are actually trying to work on themselves for the better.

[buddieisgoingcanon2024]

"I'm one of those who say that to have a future Buddie a Bucktommy is necessary, I think that everything is very planned basically because Eddie's possible coming out of the closet is going to be complex due to three reasons: his parents, his religious beliefs and his military past. Tim knows absolutely all this and I suppose he's aware that such a complex plot can't be developed in several episodes but requires time.

This season proves that they have nothing planned. It was Lucy who was supposed to come back, but the actress couldn't. Tommy was first planned for Eddie, but ended up with Buck. Bucktommy is literally accidental because the original plan fell through. In the original plan (eddietommy) Tim didn't give a shit that a romcom coming out in one episode didn't suit Eddie (parents, religious beliefs, military past). It was Ryan who said it didn't make sense for Eddie, so they passed it over to Buck. I really hope Eddie will have a coming out and we will have buddie. But I also see that they don't have anything planned and kinda go with the flow. And I think they need to hurry if they want to make buddie. Will Tim stay for s8? Or will he pass the show over to KR again and go back to Lonestar? In that case we can kiss a coming out for Eddie and buddie goodbye. My only hope is that something shifts in 710, both need to be single and a sign in the direction of buddie needs to happen. Otherwise we could end up with a missed opportunity 2.0 like the shooting, a repetition of s5 with unnecessary Tommy stuck for a whole second season like Taylor and KR in charge. Nightmare scenario.

I have a good feeling something WILL happen in 710 because of what Maddie said during Bucks coming out scene (to her)…

Maddie: “I don’t think you’re a fraud. I just think that maybe you’re not sure of your own feelings yet. And if there’s something you need to tell Eddie, you will. Just in your own time.”

There has to be a reason Tim wrote that for Maddie to say to Buck.

[laylawatermelon]

Please please read this and give it some love but I had an inkling of this feeling but never mentioned it cause I thought it was absurd.

Basically its a tweet of a reddit post (inception ik) basically of how Tim is basically rewriting the characters back to the way they were.

More below 👇🏾

Everyone's been mentioning how the characters have been more in character and the actors are happy and that makes sense.

He's been making them more in character than they ever were.

And with the Buddie situation (yes not everything is about them but i am a buddie fan who happened to find and grow to love this show because of it) it makes the most sense.

Now that Oliver mentioned the love story and everyone assumed it was the shooting and being in live it made the most sense.

Who else was he going to be falling in love woth at the time? It surely wasn't Taylor. Their romantic relationship was always doomed to fail and it was a great friendship they had (ehhh sideye for Bobby situation and Jonah eventually) that lasted if they weren't too persnally involved in each others lives.

She'd have been a perfect friend for him to gossip about the drama at the 118 (not work cause you know she'd make a story). That relationship wasn't going to work. He's too honest and she's too opportunisic.

If it hadn't been Jonah it'd be something else and he'd feel the same sense of betrayal (also Buck kissing Lucy was betrayal but that also felt a lil like assult cause she got him reallllly drunk and if the roles were reversed people wouldn't be that enthusiastic about it).

The only other love story that's been written logically as a will they won't they tragic and emotionally complex story is Buck and Eddie's.

Season 2 he replaced his love intrest! Like come on!

But in all seriousness, the Ana breakup and ll the vague dollow your heart is basically being rehashed.

I remember someone mentioning that Marisol is just another Ana (whoever you are if you see this send me hit I'll put it in here) and that's actually true.

Yay Marisol no last name haters your time has arrived cause it's official she's done!

There's no worry because we're getting a conclusion on the fact that was supposed to happen years ago.

She's not a permanent structure.

This storyline can go two ways.

One Buddie confirmed season 8.

Or two, Eddie realizes what his family could look like and its a single parent home with a support system from work (and Buck but we're gonna just gloss over that for now).

Meta linked above I just talked about Eddie and its coming to fruition (hire me abc im getting better at screenwriting!).

For the first one it's juicy storytelling.

For the other it makes sense as development for Eddie becoming comfortable with himself apart from his identity as a husband/widower, son, Catholic, and father.

He'll learn to bebhimself which he hadn't had the opportunity to do as he had fell into adulthood with his kid and then added on having a child with a disability that needs a lot of monetary support he ended up losing the chance to figure out who he is without all of that.

Even if it's not romantic (😔) it's great for him to realize he doesn't really need to be with anyone or fulfill a role he's not ready or willing to fill due to duty.

He can just be a father and work it iut that way.

Chris only wants his dad happy and I sense he knows his dad isn't happy at times or even worse he's not happy but is pretending so that his dad can be happy as he feels he has to give him that space/approval.

Chris is getting a storyline and he's always been observant so he'll most likely either explode in his feelings and tell his dad or tell him in a misunderstanding (he is getting to be a moody teen after all it's not going to be an adult reaction).

He's been close to death, heard his dad lose it and loat his mom. He's more mature than people give him credit for but the story hadn't included him much recently so we'll just have to see.

[makeitastrength]

Here’s the thing. Obviously everyone is allowed to have whatever opinions and interpretations of the characters and share those on their own page. We’re all entitled to our feelings.

But here’s the other thing. Many of us are here because we relate to these characters in some way. Personally, I relate very strongly to certain aspects of Tim and I also relate very strongly to certain aspects of Lucy. I share a lot of both of their traumas and I’ve made my fair share of decisions and mistakes in my life because of that trauma.

(I’m not saying what I did was okay. It wasn’t. But it happened.)

So when I see posts or comments about how awful Tim is right now or how he deserves to be miserable, one of the main things I’m taking away from that isn’t your opinion of Tim. It’s the realization that if you ever got to know me, you’d probably have the same thoughts. It’s that if I made a similar mistake, this is the kind of reaction I can expect from you. It’s that you’re probably not someone I would want to build any kind of relationship with, given your apparent lack of effort to try to understand the nuance and complexities of human behavior and trauma.

Again, we’re all entitled to our own opinions. I’m not invalidating anyone’s feelings and I’m not saying we can’t have respectful disagreements. My point is, when you say hateful things, or when you say things in a hateful way, you need to understand the unintentional messages you’ll be sending and the fact that you very well may be alienating some of the people around you.

[rookieoneil]

Can you do a jealous Tim fic?? Chris comes back to ask for a second chance and Tim gets jealous

I made a combination fic with this prompt and some inspiration from @she-ismysun-archive I hope you both enjoy this, it’s a little different than what you asked but it’s still got Jealous / Drunk Tim + bestie Angela

Drunken Calls

Preview

Tim is a creature of habit, finding solace in the predictability of his daily routine. He thrives on stability and hates any form of uncertainty or confusion. For Tim, the comfort of knowing what will happen next brings a sense of control and security to his life. This is why he very much finds the situation that he finds himself in to be tiring and extremely annoying.

Tim's current situation with Lucy introduces a whole new layer of confusion and complexity to his life. Her mere presence has an undeniable impact on him, effortlessly capturing his attention and stirring emotions he's not accustomed to. Tim struggles to understand how someone like Lucy can have such a profound effect on him, disrupting the carefully constructed order he's maintained in his life.

The way Lucy effortlessly controls his attention and makes his heart skip a beat perplexes Tim, leaving him feeling out of control and vulnerable. He hates it. Despite him hating this confusion, the one thing he hates the most is his jealousy of Lucy and Chris.

[shaunashipman]

People love to focus on the fact that Eddie and Kim didn't kiss, so they don't have to call it cheating -- conveniently forgetting that Eddie was lying to everyone. He lied to Kim by not telling her he was in an established relationship. He was lying to Marisol about going on dates with another woman. He was using Marisol and Buck as babysitters, dragging them into his mess, as he lied and dated another woman behind his girlfriend's back like. It's fucked up. How do people not see that it's fucked up? Do they not love drama? Mess? Complex characters and motivations?

i think if you ask people who have been just "emotionally cheated" on they'll pretty much agree it was fucking cheating.

(and i can't help but notice many of these people who insist it was only "emotional cheating" are the same ones who insist it would be fine and great if a certain couple got together via cheating because "this is tv")

let him be fucked up!!

look, i'll be the first to admit i hated the buck/lucy cheating thing, but i insist it was an out-of-character thing that was only done to increase drama and give an artificial tension in his relationship with taylor, which was unneeded because there was ready-baked conflict in the relationship, that was then badly used to facilitate a break-up that had nothing to do with the cheating.

this ain't that. this isn't an attempt at injecting drama into a story, this IS the story. he needs to reckon with what he was willing to do, and tim needs to commit to the level of fucked up he wrote.

[zadien]

Six Sentence Saturday

Movement in the doorway had Lucy swallowing a yelp and she nearly toppled from her chair.

Tim, kitted out in his usual navy Mid-Wilshire t-shirt and a pair of well-worn jeans, raised a brow, humour brightening his face as he clocked the clumsy way she righted herself. With a good-natured roll of her eyes she waved him in, even as that familiar giddiness bubbled through her veins. Tim strolled into the office, his presence swallowing up the space, and suddenly, her skin felt itchy and hot under the rust coloured cardigan she’d pulled on to combat the temperature that rarely climbed above 50F in the complex. Noah’s voice faded to a buzz as she watched Tim move to the wall decorated with her achievements: her psychology degree, the news clipping from her first headline in a major newspaper, a photo of Team USA with their gold medals, one of Lucy and her parents at her graduation, the last time they’d explicitly shown their approval. Moments captured and framed, all indelible highlights that meant the world to her, but now she wondered how he saw them. More importantly, why did it matter?

[felloweeper]

different anon here - it's so interesting that you pointed out that tim has a lot of jealousy around the idea of hawk with other men in the book, because I feel like in the show tim is never really shown to be *jealous* of hawk with other men? he obviously cares, like when marcus mentions that hawk was at the cozy corner, and him bringing up hawk going hunting, but he never seemed particularly angry about it. if anything, hawk is the one who gets the possessive/jealous moment in 1x03 after tim tells him that he kissed another man and could have gone to bed with him, leading to the delicious "I belong to hawkins fuller" scene.

tim's jealousy in the show seems mostly reserved for lucy and hawk's family, which makes sense, because they represent a whole other life he can never have with hawk, and in many ways hawk did choose lucy over tim (even though it's more complicated than that). knowing that tim struggles with jealousy also makes his interactions with jackson even more complex/nuanced.

*minor book spoilers* I wonder what made the showrunner/writers decide to write in a second child for lucy and hawk, specifically a son, given that in the book tim is explicitly relieved that they had a daughter instead so he could pretend that hawk's daughter was all lucy (a scene which made me utter 'ohhhh boy' out loud)

exactly! the shift of who is more possessive of the other makes this dynamic so much more interesting. 100% agree w/ what you've said, anon. tim's relationship with jackson was something i never would've predicted but i was pleasantly surprised. i'm curious as to what the line of thinking was there and if there are any cut scenes/lines of dialogue that they couldn't add to the final cut of the show -- i'm super invested in their dynamic.

that change from the book also made me a bit curious, but i wonder if it's to show a reflection of hawk's own self-hatred. it could be an expansion of their daughter being all-lucy with jackson being all-hawk. i believe that could be why hawk was so hard on him for so long and why tim grew to admire him and want to care for him.

[sisterofficerlucychen]

now that i saw you (i can never look away)

Her heart drops and she’s afraid to look up. She’s spiraled to the point of knowing she can’t actually face him. Not right now, not when she’s working through so many feelings that she doesn’t know what to do with any of them. Avoidance seemed like the right answer but how can she do that if he ultimately ends up finding her? “Lucy.” His voice is softer this time, almost a plea and she knows she can’t avoid him. Not when he says her name like that. There’s a soft warmth that creeps onto her cheeks as she tries to shove down everything she just uncovered in order to face him but is reminded about what it means and how she feels as she does. Reluctantly she lifts her head as she meets his gaze, his expression a mix of worry and relief, as if both emotions are battling it out and Tim’s not quite sure which to land on. “Are you ok—" “—I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to worry anyone.” While she unintentionally cuts him off, there’s a desperation that runs through her veins at the utter need to stop him from finishing the question because no, she’s most definitely not okay nor is there much she can say to explain what’s wrong, at least to him. This seems to only further the complexity of what he’s feeling as a new emotion joins the party and she catches how his brow furrows at her explanation. He doesn’t say anything, instead he motions at her to continue and she presses her lips together while nodding as she tries to search for the right words to say. “I—um,” she stumbles. The problem with finding the right words is that not only does Lucy have no words right now but she’s not sure she'd even recognize what the right words are if she’d be able to find any. “I’m—“