Critic’s Rating: 4.1 / 5.0
4.1
Celina Juarez, the woman that you are!
It was a solid hour for Celina as she participated in “Plain Clothes Day” during The Rookie Season 7 Episode 2 and proved her abilities as an officer.
We’ve watched her evolve from the crystal-loving, horoscope-reading rookie who barely made it past her first shift with Nolan to a capable young officer who can hold her own.
Amid all the action throughout the hour and some of the conflicts, Celina emerges as the bright light who feels so deeply ingratiated in The Rookie that it’s hard to believe she wasn’t part of their world longer.
It sparks hope for the newbies, Miles and Seth, and what could come of them. They, too, can make something of themselves and continue this tradition of The Rookie, allowing eclectic and compelling characters to evolve and become the best cops that television has to offer.
What’s always been interesting about Celina and Nolan is how charming their paternal/sibling-type relationship has been since Celina arrived. It allowed them to have a different type of mentor/mentee relationship than we’ve seen in the series.
Nolan doesn’t play hardball when it comes to Celina, and they’ve always been two people learning the ropes together. Nolan was figuring out how to be a T.O. while Celina was learning the fundamentals of becoming a great police officer.
Their bond was built upon open communication, mutual respect, and understanding. Nolan didn’t have to resort to being too tough on Celina, hazing, or playing tricks on her.
It wasn’t his way. Subsequently, Celina pushed boundaries and has been herself beyond reproach in a way we didn’t get to see from other rookies over the years.
Plain Clothes Day was the perfect time to place Nolan and Celina and their specific dynamic to the test to see if it was effective and worthwhile.
Celina knocked it out of the park, while Nolan showed he still had some things to work on. The truth is that he’s so attached to Celina that he instinctively takes the lead and struggles to see bad things happen to her.
One of Celina’s greatest moments of the hour was when she stood up for herself and checked Nolan on taking the lead. There are so many things that Nolan doesn’t think about because he simply doesn’t have to consider them.
For Celina, she has a hard enough time making people respect her authority as a woman of color. It’s twice as difficult for her in their field because of that.
She was absolutely right about how an older gentleman like the grandfather would instinctively bush her aside in favor of Nolan. He didn’t realize how he contributed to that during that upsetting call.
Celina was beyond capable of holding her own, and the way she took down that brute attacking her was proof. She was absolutely right; she’s a definite badass, and everyone should speak to her as such.
The women of The Rookie are some of the best onscreen, and the series does a fantastic job of allowing them to be all these things while still being badass.
They can be quirky, nerdy, compassionate, snarky, and the most badass characters in the room.
Celina quietly joined the ranks of Harper and Lopez just like Lucy did before her, and the sisterhood is everything!
Of course, the new rookies still need to prove themselves and require more help and work. As personalities, they’re both genuinely fun to watch and prove their weight in gold.
Miles is such charismatic little shit. You can’t be put off by him for longer than a second or two. He’s guaranteed to make you laugh, and now that we know that there’s some vulnerability behind all that bravado, it’s even better.
He was made for community policing, although he may need to ease up on the charm and draw some boundaries. All that flirting guarantees trouble with the wrong person under the worst circumstances.
But his solution of throwing a bunch of flash bombs at the gang during the shootout was perfect, and he doesn’t shy away from giving Tim some lip about how he’s coming across as a teacher.
Was anyone else underwhelmed by how they resolved the unhoused situation?
Miles’ homeless cowboy shtick was intriguing, but the quick solution of sticking him in the mobile home lot with Shmitty was unexpected — as in, I envisioned something else entirely, like rooming with Seth or even Tim.
Seth could probably use the support with that bloodwork lingering over his head.
He’s such a sweetheart, and you easily root for him even when he makes embarrassing mistakes like vomiting at a crime scene or losing all of the contents of his belt while chasing after a suspect and still not getting pertinent information.
He gives off the same energy as Levi or George on Grey’s’ Anatomy. But that means he has a promising future when he gets it together.
Seth has quite the backstory. It was shocking to hear about his cancer, and now it’s concerning that it could be back. Nevertheless, he’s paired with the best T.O., as Lucy can provide the perfect amount of sympathy and support.
He still needs to step up his game, though, so they don’t face Grey and trouble. And it may not bode well if Grey is asking Lucy if they need to cut their losses with Seth already.
The case with the vigilante was amusing in so many ways. The general public is now more amenable to vigilantes than ever.
Here, the crime rate is too high, and the public doesn’t have full trust in the police because of the news about the bad cops caught up in the conspiracy with Monica and others, and they’re understaffed.
It was amusing when everyone was sent out into the streets to patrol on foot in their uniforms. They even roped Lopez and Harper into it.
The public mostly saw through it. The shopkeep owner pointed out that the cops only came around when it was an easy arrest or they had something they were trying to prove.
The fact that it all felt so forced speaks to how much community policing has fallen by the wayside. To have the trust and respect of the community is a relationship the cops must foster and maintain.
When it falters, retired cops masquerading as vigilantes can take over, and worse yet, copycats exacting their own type of justice can, too.
Some of this carried over into the married quad. There were amusing moments within that storyline.
I loved Angela and Nyla joking about spouse swapping and choosing each other or Wesley’s one-sided beef with the detective who dreams about having sex with Angela.
But outside of that, something is lingering with James and Nyla, and it feels worrisome. For whatever reason, conflicting beliefs about serving the community and their passion for their jobs, which brought them together, are tearing them apart.
It was totally insensitive for James to invite nearly 20 people to their house where they could bumrush Harper as soon as she walked through the door and pepper her with questions, demands, and critiques about the entire police force.
I don’t know how else he could’ve envisioned that going and how he could’ve managed the situation. Harper sneaking out of the window to avoid everyone was funny.
But the unresolved nature of this dispute between them stinks of trouble on the horizon for them. Nothing good comes from Nyla’s observation that they got married too quickly.
What do you do with that information? It’s something that hangs out there in the open and leaves you wondering what’s next.
It’s like their fundamental differences suddenly are an issue again, and they don’t know how to proceed. However, they’re too tired to figure things out and love each other too much to do anything about it.
How do you not read that as them being stuck?
Is this a rough patch for James and Nyla, or is something more serious brewing beneath the surface?
Over to you, Rookie Fanatics.
Do you love Chenford’s new competitive, friendly edge? Will Seth wash out as a rookie? How do you feel about Celina’s journey?
Let’s hear it below!
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