Lucy Chen’s (Melissa O’Neil) and Tim Bradford’s (Eric Winter) will-they won’t-they relationship throughout The Rookie had a great run, and now let us collectively get over it. Through six seasons of The Rookie, members of the Los Angeles Police Department have navigated the dangerous elements of their jobs as well as the often more complicated nuances of their personal lives. Though the show ostensibly stars Nathan Fillion as John Nolan, a 45-year-old recruit for the department at the outset of the series, The Rookie features an ensemble cast who all have their share of storylines.
Lucy Chen is an ambitious rookie who starts around the same time as Nolan and has a tough time proving she’s up to the task at first. Her unimpressed training officer was none other than Tim Bradford. Clearly, something about her intrigued Bradford because Chenford became a thing soon after, with both Lucy and Tim dancing around their feelings for multiple seasons. Chen’s always been a favorite character of mine, she’s tough and speaks her mind and I always thought she and Bradford were a good fit. And they were, emphasis on the “were”.
The Chenford Relationship In The Rookie Was Great… While It Worked
Chen and Bradford spent nearly five seasons growing closer but never quite sealing the deal on their relationship. That finally changed in season 5 when Chenford became real. Granted, it would have been difficult for anyone to get over the awkward chain-of-command problems, so I can’t blame him too much for waiting so long to get up the courage to ask Lucy out. However, even after they began dating, the complexities of their professional relationship bled into their personal lives, particularly when Lucy was trying to become a detective and thought that Tim was stopping her.
Chenford was strong though, not like those cringy relationships The Rookie has plenty of, and Lucy and Bradford managed to work their way through the rocky parts of their relationship. This wasn’t some love that came out of nowhere that the writers just inserted in order to spice up the series. Lucy and Bradford’s relationship had been being built up for seasons, and it really seemed like they were always meant to be together. I didn’t know if The Rookie was going to last nine seasons or more like some hoped, but I assumed Chenford would be final.
Breaking Up Chenford In Season 6 Was Painful But Good Storytelling
Then everything blew up with The Rookie and Chenford. In season 6, Ray Watkins (David Dastmalchian), a soldier from Bradford’s past, reemerges in Los Angeles. A dangerous individual long before he appears in The Rookie, Watkins comes back to the city to cause havoc and continue his criminal activities. Bradford takes this as a personal affront and goes rogue to track down his former companion in arms. He effectively alienated both his colleagues in the department and Lucy, who was left in the dark while Bradford went on his dangerous mission.
He tells a lot of lies throughout this whole saga, and he comes to the conclusion that if he can do that so easily, then he could lie again to Lucy, and she deserves better.
Specifically, in season 6, episode 6, “Secrets and Lies”, Bradford ends up reaching a breaking point after he resolves his situation with his old comrade in arms, but at the cost of his dignity and morals. After an Internal Affairs investigation opens up on him, Bradford decides to break things off with Lucy, guilty over how he dealt with the entire situation. He tells a lot of lies throughout this whole saga, and he comes to the conclusion that if he can do that so easily, then he could lie again to Lucy, and she deserves better.
Honestly, I don’t hate it. It’s a very unexpected development and a big bummer for those of us who were happy that Lucy and Bradford finally got together in the first place. At the same time, the fact that it took so many seasons for the pair to finally date wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of their love for one another either. It’s pretty realistic that perhaps their romantic, personal, and professional feelings were all intertwined and that though they felt strongly about one another, they didn’t necessarily have to date and be together forever.
