In its five episodes so far, Season 7 of The Rookie has not been without its share of villains. This week’s episode balances between two explosive plotlines: one featuring a new serial killer and one showing the return and death of Jason Wyler (Steve Kazee). The least scary and strangest antagonist of the season is Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher), one of two new rookies at the LAPD Mid-Wilshire branch. Last week’s episode revealed that there was something off about Seth, as his latest tragic backstory turned out to be a little too unbelievable.
In this week’s episode, Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) does some investigating into Seth’s past, and she learns that he was lying about both of his “girlfriends.” Seth is nowhere near gone yet, and it is unclear just how nefarious his intentions are. As it stands, though, while it’s disappointing to see Lucy’s first Teaching Officer experience turn out this way, this is a really important and necessary storyline for her. It pushes her to decide the type of T.O. that she wants to be, and it also shows how far Lucy has come since she first started out at the LAPD as a rookie.
In ‘The Rookie’s Latest Episode, Lucy Listens to Her Gut
After talking out her concerns with Tim (Eric Winter) in the previous episode, Lucy could have decided to just wait for now and try to move past it in the meantime. Instead, though, Lucy follows her instincts, and this week’s episode starts with her taking a visit to Seth’s high school. Lucy meets with the school counselor, Mrs. Richards (Monnae Michaell), to ask her questions about Seth’s high school experience and to compare and contrast her answers against the stories that Seth told her. Lucy learns that neither of the girls that died were Seth’s girlfriends and that he has a pattern of lying about tragedies to gain sympathy and to get out of difficult situations.
When Lucy confronts Seth, she tells him that she doesn’t know how she is going to handle the situation yet. Now that she has all the facts, she has to weigh what she wants to do about them, and it’s also her first major decision as a T.O. Ultimately, Lucy comes to the decision all on her own. As she tells Tim later in the episode, Lucy decides to recommend that Seth be cut from the program because the stakes of their jobs are too high to let something like this go. Unfortunately, Seth is already several steps ahead of Lucy, and has gone to Sergeant Grey (Richard T. Jones) and told him that his cancer has come back. Lucy has no choice but to let Seth stick around, but she and Tim share a weighted look that shows that they both suspect this is a lie as well.
‘The Rookie’ Season 7 Uses Seth as a Foil to Lucy
Becoming a T.O. was never a part of Lucy’s plan, but all of her plans fell apart in the last two seasons, from her detective dream to her relationship with Tim. Nevertheless, Lucy embraces being a T.O. after Sergeant Grey asks her, and she even starts off by having a fun and flirty bet over it with Tim. Although she respects Tim’s methods, Lucy wants to be a different type of T.O. from him. She wanted to be nicer and gentler and to leave room for her rookie to ask questions and make mistakes. Seth took advantage of that kindness by using Lucy’s empathy against her so that he could get out of any mistakes that he might make on the job.
As a rookie, Lucy had to work twice as hard to be taken as seriously as her fellow rookies due to being a woman. She fought to keep her emotions in check, give her all to the job, and do everything as correctly as possible. Seth, on the other hand, is sort of the anti-Lucy. On the surface, he seems to be a sweet underdog, but underneath, he coasts along, not putting in enough effort, then blaming his mistakes on a string of fake tragedies. It’s unclear how much truth there is to the story of his history with cancer, but it’s obvious that his claims now are just a ploy to get ahead of the situation before Lucy turns him in.
Lucy’s Handling of the Seth Situation in ‘The Rookie’ Season 7 Shows Her Growth
Lucy has grown a lot since she started out as a rookie. She is confident in her abilities to do her job, but she is also aware of her blind spots and when she needs to ask for help. The biggest change is that Lucy is willing to trust her instincts enough to make important decisions as she sees fit. Being kidnapped and buried alive by Caleb (Michael Cassidy) in Season 2 is a trauma that Lucy continues to carry with her. After it happened, for a long time, Lucy blamed herself and doubted her instincts. Now, though, she’s gotten to the point where she can listen to her gut again and make the hard choices.
Even though the investigation at Seth’s high school is risky and unconventional, Lucy still does it, and she even goes on her own. Later, when Lucy brings up Seth to Tim at the end of this episode, he seems to be expecting her to ask him for advice. Instead, she tells him her decision and why she made it without needing to ask for validation. Lucy has been going through a lot of difficult changes the last few seasons, from failing the detective exam to being dumped by Tim, to watching Tamara (Dylan Conrique) move out, to now having her first rookie turn out to be a pathological liar.
Lucy may have gotten repeatedly knocked down, but she is taking things in stride, and that’s particularly clear with her actions this season. She has developed a new friendship and working relationship with Tim, embraces Celina (Lisseth Chavez) and now Rachel (Jasmine Mathews) as her roommates, and works to be an excellent T.O. Now, instead of waiting for more evidence or doubting her instincts, Lucy makes the tough choice — and the right choice — all on her own.
