‘The Rookie’ Season 1, Episode 8 ‘Time of Death’ Fall Finale Recap: Suspect

The Rookie‘s encounter with the media does not always mean good publicity. After responding to a silent alarm, two police careers change. However, the less fortunate police officer remains off the grid for some time. Once the investigation starts, the force braces itself as they await the results.

In this week’s episode of The Rookie, Officers John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and Talia Bishop (Afton Williamson) respond to a silent alarm in a convenience store. As this case becomes the defining point of both of their Police Careers, Officer Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) takes on a buy-bust operation involving his wife, Isabel (Mircea Monroe).

Buy Bust

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While Officer Nolan’s investigation is ongoing, Officer Bishop works with Detectives Elijah Vestri (David DeSantos) and Kevin Wolfe (Demetrius Grosse) as preparation for her upcoming Detective Promotion Examination. As soon as Bishop receives a briefing on the case, she notifies Bradford about Isabel’s involvement. Furious, Bradford heads to Capt. Zoe Anderson’s (Mercedes Mason) office, who puts him in the operation’s backup team.

Desperately trying to end the drug operation once an for all, Isabel asks the drug dealer for more heroin to sell. However, the drug dealer soon realizes that she is part of a buy-bust operation, so he takes her out. As soon as Officers Bradford and Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) mobilize, the suspects fled, taking Isabel with them.

Father and Son

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Because of the internal investigation of Officer Nolan, Commander West (Michael Beach) heads to the station to conduct the questioning. After Internal Affairs wraps it up, Officer Jackson West (Titus Makin Jr.) asks his father out to dinner with him. However, Commander West refuses, since he promised a date with his wife, Jackson’s mom. Also, Commander West disagrees with Jackson’s offer to take them both out, thinking that Jackson’s mom is not ready for situations like that yet.

Suspect

Eric McCandless/ABC

As soon as Officer Nolan pulled the trigger and killed the suspect, his life goes into disarray. He barely makes it out of the Interrogation Room with his sanity intact. Also, the emotional stress took its toll on him as he has trouble sleeping. Seeing the bodycam footage of the incident does not help him, either. Fortunately, the whole force has his back, especially his fellow rookies. Despite his opinion on Officer Nolan, Sergeant Wade Grey (Richard T. Jones) tells Nolan that he would have done the same thing if he were in the same situation.

When Officer Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) finally gets the chance to talk to John, she does her best to make him realize that he did the right thing. As the day ends, they find themselves kissing each other. After they made love, John asks her the possibility of getting back together, but she does not hear him clearly, so he changes the subject.

Downstairs, John hears someone open the glass door. As he went back up, a baseball bat hits his head. When John realizes that the assailant is the deceased suspect’s brother, he tries to talk to him, but he does not budge. Before Lucy could get out of the shower, the assailant’s gun fires.

‘The Rookie’ Season 1, Episode 8 ‘Time of Death’ Fall Finale Final Verdict

This intense episode has the most drama, and the writers did a great job at making the character’s fates a mystery. Based on what was revealed, we may get more background information on some of its major characters, such as Capt. Anderson and Officer West. More importantly, we are yet to see the fate of John Nolan, his police career, and his relationship with Lucy.

The Rookie returns Tuesday, January 8th, at 10/9c on ABC.