Season 5 of The Rookie has kicked off! Last season, we ended on Nolan along with Bailey and a few other familiar faces entering a gunfight and taking out a group of criminals. Additionally, Tim and Lucy entered the beginning stages of an undercover operation where they’ll be pretending to be a couple. The preparation for the operation led to a steamy practice kiss that seemed pretty real. The new season picks up from both of those events while also bringing back season 2’s Rosalind Dyer, the female serial killer that targeted Lucy.
The Golden Ticket
Following the stand-off in the finale, Nolan is awarded a “golden ticket,” a reward for a high achievement that’s rarely given out. They allow the officer that receives it to get any assignment of their choosing. When Nolan is awarded it, Grey and others assume that he’ll ask to be made a detective like he previously was aiming for but isn’t traditionally able to achieve due to a mark on his record.
He ponders what to do the whole episode before asking Grey if he can use it to take the TO exam that he was forced to miss when he was assigned to the border station where the stand-off took place. Grey praises him for his choice of wanting to give to future generations of rookies and they agree to set up the exam soon.
Rosalind’s Back
Rosalind Dyer, as previously mentioned, is back. With her trial starting, she’s out of the prison to be there but under high security. Nolan is assigned as part of her security detail and while he’s escorting her through the courthouse, she’s quick to start playing mind games. She starts mentioning that she follows many of the people in his life on social media, naming Bailey, Tamara, and Grey’s wife Luna, along with details of their lives.
Her lawyer, Beth, shows up as they escort her through and they don’t let her in at first, but when she argues that legally they have to let Rosalind wear street clothes, they comply. The two are accompanied by an officer. While the officer is undoing the cuffs around Rosalind’s ankles, Beth stabs her. The two set a fire in the room to cause a diversion while escaping through the vents. John chases them and thinks he catches Rosalind only for it to be Beth in a red wig. Rosalind slips away and gets into a car before driving away unnoticed.
Nyla is on maternity leave with the baby due any day now, but she comes into work to help. She and Nolan interrogate Beth. She doesn’t give them much information but passes along the message to Nolan that people will die and he can’t stop it from happening. The scene overall is unsettling with Beth laughing throughout it while carving Rosalind’s name into her arm with her nail. While this is going on, Rosalind has gone to Beth’s parents’ house.
Wesley has known Beth since they were younger so he brainstorms with Nyla, Nolan, Tamara, and Luna about why she’s working with Rosalind. They end up realizing that Beth is helping Rosalind because she has a bad relationship with her parents and Rosalind agreed to go after them. Nolan gets there too late though and finds the parents’ bodies. A remote with the note “play me” is sitting by the bodies. When Nolan turns on the TV, a video of Rosalind killing the parents plays.
At the DA’s office, Chris and Sean Delmonte talk about everything with Rosalind. Sean shares his guilt over the whole thing because he pushed for the trial when she was already spending her life behind bars and Chris tries to comfort him. Sean ends up telling Chris to go home and that there’s a police escort downstairs, but he stops Chris as he’s leaving and asks him to tell Lucy that he’s sorry. Chris leaves Lucy a voicemail as he walks outside and is busy on the phone when he gets into the police car, which, unknown to him, is driven by Rosalind.
The Feds find a car abandoned that Rosalind had which leads them to believe that she’s laying low out of state.
What Happens Undercover
After starting an undercover op at the end of season 4, Tim and Lucy get to dive in deep this episode as Jake and Sava, aka Dim and Juicy. The pair get a call about the operation and learn it’s taking place in Las Vegas despite what they were previously told. Angela and Aaron are able to make arrangements to fly out separately, so they decide to move forward with the operation.
In Vegas, “Jake” gets recognized by a waitress that works at the casino. She starts making waves which leads to Lucy stepping in and asserting her dominance. The guys they’re working for don’t like this though and tell her to let the girl go.
When in their hotel room, the girl comes back and knocks on the door. Tim opens it and is ambushed by the guys he’s working for. One of the guys goes to get Lucy, who is in the bathroom, while they explain to Tim that they know he’s not Jake. The girl from before explains that she just slept with Jake a few weeks ago and Tim is noticeably skinnier than him. Lucy manages to take out the guy in the bathroom and get out to the main room. Once there, she gets the other guys in cuffs and frees Tim.
Stays Undercover
In preparing for this undercover operation last season, Tim and Lucy shared a passionate kiss in the name of “practice.” The aftermath of the kiss has Lucy dreaming about it but denying to Tamara that it was anything more than for work, while Tim hesitantly talks to Angela about it. He leans into the idea of it being more for Lucy as Angela presses him about it and gives a couple of unconvincing high-pitched no’s for it being something more for him, but it ends up being nothing because they’re both dating people and he’s Lucy’s boss.
As they have to go into the field for the undercover operation, the pair begin to properly act as a couple by being wrapped up in each other, holding hands, flirting, and being all over each other. On the plane, they learn about Rosalind escaping leading to Tim grabbing her hand for comfort before lying and saying they’re going to “join the mile high club.” He immediately comforts Lucy in the bathroom and makes sure she’s okay. She insists that she can still do the operation while Tim wants to pull the plug. Before leaving the bathroom, Lucy pulls Tim into another deep kiss to make it look like they were actually hooking up. Tim is left a little stunned as she walks away before following after her.
Later when they’re at the hotel, Lucy goes to take a shower and accidentally doesn’t shut the door all the way. Tim talks to her through the door about getting room service until he turns and actually sees that the door is open and he can see her. He’s visibly shocked but can’t look away. When she gets out of the shower, Tim tries to talk about her about the kisses and how this doesn’t feel like they’re pretending to be a couple. Lucy brushes it off, as they’re playing a couple so it’s natural to feel this way.
When they return home, Tim walks Lucy to her apartment with Rosalind still on the loose. The pair flirt back and forth by complimenting each other’s undercover looks before pausing outside of her door. They talk about how they’ll be back to Tim and Lucy now and what happened undercover will be behind them before Lucy reminds Tim that they’re still undercover since they haven’t gone to the station and been debriefed. After that, they remain outside her apartment, staring at each other until Lucy asks Tim if he wants to come in. He declines at first, but when she pauses inside the door and looks at him, he caves and comes in. She offers him a drink inside but stops when she realizes Chris is on the couch. She goes to talk to him and sees that his wrists have been cut. She finds a pulse and works to stop the bleeding while Tim calls 9-1-1.
The Rookie will be back next Sunday, October 2 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. Until then, check out our other coverage of the show!