‘The Rookie’ Season 1, Episode 2 ‘Crash Course’ Recap: Instincts

In the life of a Police Rookie, hectic first days are very ordinary. Hectic days are what they usually face. Becoming a Police Officer requires an individual to overcome their instincts. Often, cops face danger head-on, something that civilians do not usually do. Oh, and they should try to cause less damage while they are at it. The Rookie now has to struggle with this, if he wishes to continue his journey.

In this week’s episode of The Rookie, Rookie John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) struggles with overcoming his moral instincts. Meanwhile, Rookie Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) receives a new Training Officer. As this happens, Rookie Jackson West (Titus Makin Jr.) tries to live up to his previous mistake.

Street Tough

Rookie West’s day starts rough. Officer Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) covers up for West’s mistake in their first firefight, but this comes at a cost. Throughout the day, all they did was take high-risk calls. Their first case involved a disgruntled man who threw a priest out of a church window. As the first responders waited for Special Ops to arrive on the scene, West and Lopez went in. Luckily, West manages to calm and arrest the hulk-like man. The first responders look on, amused and embarrassed.

However, West’s day was not over yet. He and Lopez took on serving an arrest warrant. Unexpectedly, West encounters the man they are after, Brenner Plank (Dennis Keifer) as he went to a convenience store. West engages Plank in hand-to-hand combat, in which he eventually incapacitates Plank. At the end of their shift, Officer Lopez commends Rookie West’s work. It turns out that West is capable of taking on the streets. Still, West needed to taste more action.

Lowkey Cop

Since Rookie Chen’s training officer, Officer Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) still recuperated from his injuries, Chen got temporarily assigned to Officer Scott Wrigley (Joe Williamson). Unlike Officer Bradford, Officer Wrigley preferred to take low-risk calls, such as serving parking tickets. Also, Wrigley liked to go home to his family during lunch.

When Chen was about to have lunch, Bradford suddenly walks in the restaurant. Chen’s radio suddenly rings, and Bradford pushes her to respond on foot. Chen makes her first arrest of the day just as Wrigley arrives from home. The next day, their radio receives a backup call from Nolan. With that, Chen gave Wrigley an ultimatum: respond to Nolan’s high-risk case or be left behind. At the end of their shift, Chen finds out that Bradford had her assigned to Wrigley, and fortunately, she passed his test.

Moral Instincts

Eric McCandless/ABC

Throughout his shift, Rookie Nolan does some considerable damage on their equipment. His training officer, Officer Talia Bishop (Afton Williamson) stressed the importance of not damaging their shop. Their first pursuit involved a runaway bride (Brittany Ross). Nolan may have saved the bride’s life, but their run cost a total of $21,000 to pay in damages made.

Another issue that Nolan and Bishop dealt with was his moral instincts. On patrol, a woman hits their shop. It turns out that the woman is Christine (Ashleigh LaThrop), reported missing three weeks ago. Also,  there is another woman named Emma (Raquel Dominguez) who was with her. Nolan’s morality proceeded him as he obsessed over the case, clashing with Detectives Moya (Danny Nucci) and his partner. Despite this, Nolan and Bishop continued with solving the case.

Nolan and Bishop interviewed Christine to get some information. However, they clashed with the detectives once again. Still, they got what they needed. On their search for the suspect, Bishop triangulated Emma’s possible location with the help of Christine’s testimony. The suspect was a security guard who put up quite a fight before Nolan, Bishop, and Chen could arrest him.

Before their shift ended, Captain Zoe Andersen (Mercedes Mason) debriefed both Detective and Officer duos. After this, Captain Mason talked to Nolan alone, reminding him to control his instincts and that it is not his job to punish the suspects. Also, Sergeant Wade Grey (Richard T. Jones) commended Nolan but had his fair share of fun as he handed Nolan a massive load of paperwork. However, Officer Bishop decided to help him with it.

‘The Rookie’ Season 1, Episode 2 ‘Crash Course’ Final Verdict

Eric McCandless/ABC

Once again, The Rookie accurately shows the life of the average cop on the job. One of the show’s unique features is an informational sequence where it showcases proper police protocol. Nolan’s story indeed is an interesting one, and seeing him progress is both entertaining as it is uplifting. Also, highlighting the stories of three rookies broadens the show’s perspective, giving a different view of police work.

The Rookie continues on Tuesday, October 30th, with ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ at 10/9c on ABC.