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chenfordsbby · 11 months

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"The Switch"

Season 1 Episode 4: “The Switch”

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“The rookies are temporarily paired with new training officers: when Nolan and Lopez track down an escaped criminal, the discover a little kindness goes a long way. Jackson is forced to face his fears when he is partnered with Officer Bradford and Officer Chen and Nolan must face a hard truth”

Original Air Date: November 13th, 2018

Written By: Vincent Angell

Directed By: Toa Fraser

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Another new episode, another cold open led by John and Talia. It would be Talia if she wasn’t spitting official police codes and their meaning at John. Action is only one aspect of being a cop, as we forget there is the paperwork side to also being a cop and Talia does not let John forget that. He is in his training days as a rookie police officer and that also means learning every single thing there is to being a cop including all of the penal codes! I like that Talia is always quizzing and grilling John!

We enter the roll call room with all of our favorites! We learn that the rookies are at the point in their training where they switch their T.O’s for a few days. John gets paired with Angela, Jackson with Tim and Lucy with Talia. As mentioned by Angela later in the episode, this is done on purpose. The rookies can’t learn only one way how to be a cop. And as we’ve seen already, Tim, Angela and Talia all have different teaching methods and police procedurals. They were getting too comfortable with their normal T.O.’s, hence a switch-up! A glaring visible reaction we see is from Talia and Lucy when Grey announces they are going to be together for these next 2 days and its for the most obvious reason: Talia knows. How are these next 2 days going to be for Lucy? I guess we'll find out!

John and Lucy’s relationship has been a main focus for these first few episodes of this series and very heavily focused on this episode. I don’t know how television works, but I want to assume that maybe the reaction towards this relationship was not a positive one and the writers/creators of “The Rookie” picked up on it and decided to end them before they could really even start? Or I could be completely wrong and this was their trajectory for this relationship the entire time?

I am truly so sorry for my words that I spoke regarding my feelings on them because as of episode 4, I no longer feel the same way. I have no defense to take on this matter! It is hard to root for John and Lucy as a couple The older you are, age gaps in relationships don’t really matter, but in John and Lucy’s, it does, because their age gap doesn’t work. To me, and I am assuming a lot of other viewers, the age gap reflects one as of a creepy uncle and his younger niece, not one of love between two grown adults.

At the end of the episode, we finally get to the John and Lucy of it all. When John confronts Talia to tell her to back off from his personal relationship, she quickly turns it around and for lack of better words shoves it back into Johns face. John is all talk- he says he cares for Lucy and wants to be with her, but Talia is right. If John truly cares for Lucy like he says he does then why is he letting her potentially ruin her career; the second word spreads that Lucy and John are dating, it will not only put a Scarlett letter on her uniform but it will also end her barely begun career as a police officer, but for John, barely a scratch on him and he will basically get off scotch free. John knows that Lucy deserves and wants to be a cop as much as he does so why would he do that to her.

Lucy comes to see John, clearly upset and distraught. Lucy, who has been struggling with this decision to end things for weeks, is taken aback when John so very nonchalantly, at least to her, ends things first before she can end it with him. John says its because he doesn’t want to be the reason why she fails out of training, which Lucy takes offense to as she should because that reasoning alone is John protecting his self. You can clearly see the pain that is written all over Lucy’s face and how this has been an inner turmoil for her for weeks and it makes all of it kind of really sad. As much as we don’t like her and John together, she actually felt something for him and it’s killing her to end things with him.

I think it’s safe to say that John and Lucy were exactly who each other needed while in the Academy, but now as they are in their training days, their so called relationship is crumbling, and fast. Their relationship has shifted and they are trying so hard to grow together while also growing through their training, but are they actually just growing apart and at the very least, for the absolute better?

4 episodes in and this episode is the most we have gotten to see of Angela!! I immediately like her. Right off the bat, she is telling John about her personal life regarding how she was raised and how she grew up: by a single mom, the youngest of 4 siblings, all of which are boys and the only girl of the family! The first of hopefully a lot more insight into her personal life! We are slowly getting more back stories from not only Angela, but a handful of other characters as well; At this point, we know the most about John and Tim, a little about Jackson (he is a legacy) and now Angela. Hopefully we get a little more insight into Lucys personal life as she’s the only one we don’t know much about!! Not only do we get to see more of Angela but also of John interacting with someone else who isn’t Talia! It’s safe to say that John is a large part of the comedic relief of this show hence his current dilemma of his training rook book. John has been carrying it around all throughout the courthouse to study, but when he has to stop a convict from escaping he RUNS BACK TO GATHER THE SCATTERED PAGES OF THIS TRAINING BOOK-JOHN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LEAVE THE BOOK AND RUN!!! Angela is quick to tell him that this is the exact reason why this switch up happens every year. The rookies get too comfortable with their official T.O’s and need to see the perspective from a different T.O. Eventually, John and Angela find the escaped convict at his daughters quinceanera, where they let their human sides show and allow him to finish the night with her before the arrest is made. Like Angela said, they aren’t monsters. We also get even more of who Angela is as she tells John more about her family life/growing up and opens up about her dad because seeing this dad with his daughter is bringing up memories of her own dad.

Watching Jackson and Tim being paired together is like seeing a newborn giraffe trying to find their walking legs while the mom just sits back and watches. Jackson is this newborn giraffe: he has the legs but they are shaky and brand new. Jackson watches Tim and sees what he strives and hopes to be one day in his career. Jackson looks so young compared to Tim, both in age and experience. Tim knows he’s a damn good cop and every rookie he’s trained has also became a good one too, and Jackson wants to eventually get there but how long will it take him to do it and to what extents?

Jackson being oblivious to Tims training style, thinks he’s in for the beginning of an easy ride when Tim starts to talk personal with Jackson than BAM, a Tim Test- “Ive been shot boot. Where am I?” One of the more recognizable ones as well. It is the same test he did with Lucy on her first day and where as Lucy didn’t pass (at least according to Tims standards), Jackson did or at least impressed Tim a bit with all of the correct answers.

Tim and Jackson stake out the house with Tim’s fellow cop friend and in doing so they start to get shot at and yet again Jackson freezes up the instant he hears the gunfire and he becomes the shell of a person and hides within himself, so afraid. Tim is shocked to say the least and this is not a good impression for Jackson at all, so what’s going to happen?

Tim is angry to say the least and before he even gets out of his shop Angela knows why. I believe that Tim has every right to be as angry as he is. How is he properly supposed to train a rookie who wants to be a cop when at the first sight/sound of bullets and guns he runs and hides? To Tim, Jackson is asking to be killed and that is the last thing that he needs on his shoulders. He confronts Angela and to his dismay Angela knows and has covered for Jackson as well. I like how Angela tells Tim that Jackson isn’t broken because he isn’t, he just has some issues to work through. (If we are going to talk about broken people, there are essays we all can write about Tim Bradford, especially Season 1, so he just needs to push his mouth!)

I like to see that Jackson is opening up to Nolan, it’s the starting stages of the friendship between our rookies! The end of day one, Jackson goes to Tim in the locker room to stand up for himself and his actions. Tim is not Jackson’s T.O therefore, in Tim’s mind it won’t affect him whether he succeeds or fails because in the long run it won’t affect him, he harbors zero responsibility towards Jackson. This episode shows the first few signs of the serious friendship of Angela and Tim (and I know that they are best friends but again I am writing these as if I have never watched this show before and I don’t know what’s to come!) But where does Tim stand with Angela, because what happens to Jackson would directly affect Angela and after this episode, we know that they have a friendship beyond just being patrol officers together. Which is exactly why I think Tim brings Jackson to see his friend, Wallace. Wallace is a hermit of a person of who he once was and that’s no way to live and if Jackson continues down this path that he is currently on, Jackson will become just that and Tim knows and sees that. Tim was never going to turn Jackson in, but he did need to put a little fear in not only Jackson, but Angela too. This can’t happen again.

Did Wallace cure Jackson? No, but is it the first step in the right direction for helping Jackson with his fears, absolutely. Which also proves true when Jackson takes a step in the right direction in helping Tim during the quickly ill fated shoot out towards the end of the episode. He didn’t get out of the shop and start shooting, but he did take the initiative to prove to not only Tim but himself as well that he’s not scared anymore and he can be a good cop, just let him show it. I think it was a blessing in disguise that Jackson was switched to Tim for these 2 special days- in hindsight, it was exactly what he needed.

Theres tension in the shop between Talia and Lucy for the most obvious of reasons. Lucy has yet to do the one thing that Talia has told her to do: end things with John. Lucy tries to continue to talk about it but Talia doesn’t want to hear it, she has said her piece regarding it and if Lucy doesn’t want to follow it than that’s on her own conscious and it’ll be nobody but herself to blame for her own actions. Not only is Lucy breaking things off with John right for her to do in her professional life it’s also right for her to do in her personal life as well because let’s be real: Lucy! Chen! Can! Do! So! Much! Better! Hopefully we will see it happen soon. It makes you wonder if Talia has been in this situation before or if she’s known someone who’s been in a similar situation as Lucy is in.

Back at the precinct hallway, Talia is calling Lucy out regarding Lucys ignorance of arresting the wrong runaway from the car and good for Talia. As much as I like Lucy at this point, she does seem to be a little too confident (Hmm maybe Tim is rubbing off on her?!). Lucy thinks she’s one of the better rookies and there is nobody out there like her; Talia quickly shuts her down. Talia sees the potential in Lucy, but I also think that she sees the lack of commitment to being a good cop. Talia mentions she’s putting maybe 65-70% into her training days and the other 35-30% of her training/rookie days into being with John. Lucy should have 100% commitment to her training and rookie days and zero commitment to John, it should even be a question. Talia doesn’t understand why especially when it can ruin her career before it will even start. Lucy needed to hear this very tough from her- maybe it’ll whip Lucy into shape and into doing the right thing…which is inevitable ending things with John.

The amount of personal information we are getting on our favorite characters in this episode is really great! Talia shares more personal information on her childhood in that being she grew up in the foster system, I can’t wait to learn even more on that.The next day in the shop, Lucy expresses to Talia that she doesn’t want to end things with Nolan because she really likes him and it’s one of the things she’s been most serious about in a long time, the first is about becoming a cop, as we learn that entering the police academy was on a whim to anger her parents but it quickly became one of the best things that Lucy has ever done in her life. 4 episodes in, we can say its safe to assume that anything that Lucy does in her life is serious and she doesn’t take it lightly. Which is why she says that ending things with John is going to hurt her and it’s a hard decision for her to make, but at the end of the day, she knows that she has to do it. She knows this because of Talia’s words that she overheard in a interrogation room. Like Jackson being paired with Tim, I think it was a good thing for Lucy to be paired with Talia. Talia is exactly who she needed to give her the push to end things with John.

I like how all of the side scenes and storylines converge and end up with everyone back at the precinct and all working together. There is a good balance of personal storylines as well as ensemble storylines and it is handled very well. At the end of day 2, the final day of “The Switch” the rookies are getting grilled by Grey on their T.O’s personal life but in a surprising, but in a typical “The Rookie” fashion, none of them fess up and say a damn thing about their temporary T.O’s.- makes you wonder why not, when each of them clearly did learn something personal?!

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Honorable Mention: Jackson’s Dog Biscuits Hack

Episode Peak: The end of John and Lucy. Or is it?

Episode Pit: Not enough Tim and Lucy (we are all thinking it!)

Quote of the Episode: “Yo, yo, yo. You call an Uber? I’ll understand if you don’t give me a five star” ~ Wade Grey

Episode Rating: 10/10. This episode is exactly what we needed at this time. We learned so much more about a number of the characters regarding their personal lives. We got a little switch up in partners and to see how they all interact with each other was awesome! I can’t wait to see more!

Random Thoughts:

Lucy’s on duty hair was finally changed to her iconic low bun, which suits her SO much better.

With the lack of interaction between Tim and Lucy this episode, it was nice to see Lucy sticking up for Tim. They haven’t been riding together for long, but in the time that they have been together in the shop, Lucy knows well enough that Tim would never have turned Jackson in, and she was right! Our itty bitty #Chenford crumbs are showing!

I don’t care how many times I say it, Tim Bradford is so hot. I know he is a completely fictional character and we have Eric to thank for bringing him to life, but there is just something about that man.

Out of John, Jackson and Lucy, I believe that Lucy has shown the most potential about becoming one of the best cops that Mid-Wilshire will have seen!

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Oh boy! This one was a doozy and if you’re reading this than that means you stuck through all of my rambling and I truly can’t thank you enough! There was so much going on in this episode and I had a LOT to say about it!!! I hope you guys are continuing to stay with me and read my weekly episode recaps because there’s a hell of a lot more to come! Thank you again, so much! As always, I can’t wait to hear your thoughts and opinions on everything!!! I love to hear it, always!

Until next time on, “Get in The Shop”...

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