The Rookie Shockingly Brings Back Season 7’s Most Controversial Character

Seth Ridley returns to the job in the aptly titled The Rookie Season 7, Episode 16, “The Return.” His stay is short, and the end of his career is a shocking one. Meanwhile, Lucy Chen takes a test for promotion that could mean the resurrection of her romantic relationship with Tim Bradford. Along with the character drama, there are two very different cases, with both sympathetic and unsympathetic suspects. It’s a very busy episode.

When Ridley arrived in Season 7, The Rookie showed viewers a recruit who was a genuine liability to the force. Ridley ended up caught in a number of lies, and he lost his position when he refused to submit to a blood test. Chen believed he lied about having cancer in order to make himself more difficult to fire from the force. “The Return” proves her correct, but not before Ridley does something truly selfless.

Seth Ridley Returns to The Rookie and Gets Shunned By His Fellow Cops

Seth Ridley and Miles Penn debuted in The Rookie Season 7, Episode 2. These two recruits allowed the show to return to what it does best: highlighting police officer training. It quickly became clear that Ridley was not cut out for police work — yet for every mistake he made, he explained it away by tying it to some tragedy from his past. When Chen investigated these stories, she discovered they were all lies. As his new training officer, Nolan refused to give him a clean slate.

While Ridley’s lies were mostly personal, he did eventually lie about his performance on the job. During a deadly wildfire, Chen and Bradford almost died. Instead of owning up to his part in it, Ridley blamed the National Weather Service (in a way that made Chen all but sure it was a lie). Actor Patrick Keleher’s performance helped make Ridley a truly loathsome character. This helps to justify the over-the-top moment when the entire precinct turns their back on him ahead of his first roll call.

While sometimes Nolan’s heroics are The Rookie’s weakest element, he is the only character who could give Ridley a fair shot to earn back some trust. Despite his scathing admonition of Ridley’s penchant for lying, Nolan treats his “boot” fairly throughout. He patiently instructs him on the robbery call where they met Gene, and he saves Ridley’s life during the final act shootout. Ridley returns that favor but at great personal cost. It likely means the end of the character on The Rookie, at least as a recurring member of the team.

The Rookie All But Promises a Chenford Reunion to End Season 7

After Season 6 of The Rookie broke up “Chenford,” fans of the Chen and Bradford romance expected the separation to be only temporary. In what is almost a fourth-wall-breaking moment, Bradford tells Chen that “next week” the fate of their romantic future will no longer be a mystery. If Chen passes her sergeant’s exam, she and Bradford can date without any professional obstacles in the way. While the exam could go either way, after Chen failed the detective exam earlier in the show’s run, she would seem to be a shoo-in for sergeant.

Yet even though Ridley is no longer Chen’s trainee, “The Return” suggests he could become an even bigger part of her life. When he met Tamara Collins earlier in Season 7, the two became an item. Tamara returns with Ridley, and she’s essentially engaged to him. Given how important Tamara is to Chen, this interpersonal conflict needs a little more narrative space than just two episodes. Forcing Chen to accept Ridley or risk losing Tamara is great character drama.

In Tamara’s first episode, Bradford called her Chen’s “puppy.” After Tamara stole Chen’s car, she gave it to Tamara. Then she welcomed Tamara into her home as a roommate. When the girl eventually moved out into her own place, Chen reaffirmed that they were “family.” This episode slightly rushes their reconciliation and the end of Tamara’s relationship with Ridley. Viewers could have used a few more scenes or episodes to better understand why Tamara was so infatuated with him.

The Rookie Offers up a Muddled Message About Celebrity and the Legal System

The last time The Rookie played with social media, the story was one of Season 7’s weakest. In “The Return” an influencer named Tulsa and his girlfriend Aimee livestream themselves crashing their car into the L.A. Reservoir. In trying to fight their charges, they turn their “army” of followers against Wesley Evers. Their fans even confront Angela Lopez when she’s at a park with Angela and Wesley’s child. The point of this story is not evidently clear beyond a subtle warning to viewers to not post themselves doing crime on social media.

The story about Gene Webster is a much better one that delivers the kind of commentary The Rookie can do well. Gene is a hero for his help during the robbery, but because police have to run the names of everyone they interact with, it risks ruining his life. He was erroneously released from prison early, so Nolan and Ridley are sent to arrest him. Gene built a life for himself — with a wife, a child and a home. He runs rather than willingly go back to jail.

Despite a penchant for good storytelling, one of The Rookie’s bad habits is featuring illogical criminals, such as Jose — a coyote who Gene did time with. Instead of smuggling his old prison pal to Mexico, Jose and his gang inexplicably threaten to murder him. Luckily, Nolan, Bradford, Penn and Ridley are there to save him. In this case, however, The Rookie makes up for Jose’s seemingly nonsensical turn to violence with a shocking result for Ridley.

Seth Ridley’s Story Is a Tragedy of His Own Making

When Ridley lost his job, that big character moment ended up buried under a (deliberately) chaotic episode’s many stories. The true end to his time on The Rookie is not so subtle. During the gunfight with Jose’s men, Ridley saves Nolan’s life when a suspect with a shotgun had a clear shot. Ridley shoots him, but the other man’s weapon goes off and catches him in the leg. He survives, but the doctors amputate Ridley’s left leg below the knee.

Ridley’s ending is almost enough to make viewers feel sorry for him. His days as a beat cop are over, though he will get disability benefits and possibly stay on the force in another role. Ridley also admits to Tamara he did lie about his cancer returning. She breaks off their engagement, so he loses his job and his fiancée along with his leg.

While it’s possible Ridley could return to the show for an episode or two down the line, he’s no longer going to be a regular fixture. This leaves Penn as the only rookie officer on the force, meaning a new character will likely join The Rookie in Season 8. While not a successful member of the Mid-Wilshire Division, Seth Ridley was a compelling character who got a grand, tragic ending.