‘The Rookie’ Season 2, Episode 4 ‘Warriors and Guardians’ Review: Golden Ticket

Weeks after his successful exam, The Rookie experiences a series of surprises. This time, he finds himself paired with a no-nonsense former undercover detective. On the other hand, we have a man who recently opened himself up to dating once more. Elsewhere, an incident on the field triggers a bad memory that one kept for so long, impeding with how she handles the case.

On Sunday’s episode of The Rookie, Officer John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) meets his new training officer, Detective Nyla Harper (Mekia Cox). Meanwhile, Officer Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) helps Officer Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) with picking a birthday gift for his new girlfriend, Rachel Hall (Jasmine Matthews). On the field, Officer Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) and Officer Jackson West (Titus Makin Jr.) take on a case that reopens Angela’s wounds from the past.

Years in Despair

We see a different side of Angela when they encounter the homeless lady, Alice Sheldon (Samantha Sloyan). Some teenagers terrorized the poor lady. As they made their usual route, Angela and Jackson drove past two teenagers with paintball guns shooting at the homeless person’s tent. Angela decided to dig deeper, finding out that Alice used to be a chemistry professor whose career ended mysteriously. It turns out that Alice did a hit-and-run, paralyzing a lady named Katrin Arnoux (Margo Gignac).

During her high school years, Angela experienced a similar situation: her drunk ex-boyfriend got into a car accident after an argument. Watching Angela arrest Alice, who lost all hope along with her dignity, felt heavy. Also, her reaction to the situation mirrors how tough it is for a cop to keep personal feelings out of work, especially when a case hits too close to home. Thankfully, their story has a realistic resolution without being overdramatized.

For the Birthday Girl

Kelsey McNeal/ABC

Tim being out there dating, is an idea that most viewers likely find odd, but it works. Tim himself probably finds it weird to be dating again, given his last relationship. Throughout the episode, Lucy helps Tim come up with gift ideas for his new girlfriend, Rachel, who was also Lucy’s friend. Adding the hilarious social media influencers plot made Tim’s story even funnier, emphasizing how new he is to the dating scene once again.

Lucy happily turned down each of Tim’s ideas, not because she had revenge [although that was admittedly fun], but because his pitches did not include anything Rachel would enjoy. Tim made the right choice in the end, though. True enough, Rachel liked her gift: a scale model of Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1. Taking an unconventional route when it comes to dating worked well for Tim. Not only did Rachel like the gift, but the entire ordeal was also cute. It seems cool to build a scale model with someone you are dating — geeky, sure, but also intimately creative. Gentlemen, take notes.

Ends Justify the Means Vibe

Kelsey McNeal/ABC

The amount of culture-shock on John’s face is too damn high in the photo, arguably throughout the episode. Detective Harper was an undercover cop in the LAPD-DEA, an undercover drug smuggler. At first, the plot hinted at how Harper likely behaved the way she did because of her transition back to being in uniform. That did seem likely, especially given her actions. Harper requested an AR-15 instead of the shotguns, and she only wished to stop on Felony charges or higher. The detective did indeed love her intense fieldwork.

At the end of the episode, we see the real reason behind Harper’s decision. Harper lost custody of her daughter, Lila (Carsyn Rose). She watches as Donovan (Enver Gjokaj) dropped Lila off at school. Harper’s absence because of her undercover job became enough grounds for Donovan to take to the courts, hence their current situation. However, thanks to her 5% pay bump, Harper can not only pay for the divorce settlement but also apply for joint custody of Lila. Harper’s character is a different take on the lives of police officers. Much like the premise of John’s back story, Harper is a rare case. We often do not hear of police officers whose motivations were as complicated as Harper’s. Still, her situation makes her more relatable and exciting for viewers to watch.

‘The Rookie’ Season 2, Episode 4 ‘Warriors and Guardians’ Final Verdict

The Rookie brings yet another intriguing new character to its roster. Also, it brings to light the stories behind some of the previously established characters, notably Angela. Soon, we are likely to see an episode mainly about her, seeing that he did have one about Tim as well as John’s former training officer, Talia Bishop (Afton Williamson). Indeed, the motivation behind donning the uniform varies from officer-to-officer, and the show does an excellent job of telling these stories.

The Rookie continues Sunday, October 27th, with ‘Tough Love’ at 10/9c on ABC.