Miles Is Finally Putting Down Roots, and I’m Here for It!
Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Rookie Season 7, Episode 13.In the latest episode of The Rookie, several characters move towards making a better future for themselves. John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and Bailey Nune (Jenna Dewan) make progress in their quest to adopt, and Celina Juarez (Lisseth Chavez) and her new troubadour boyfriend, Rodge (Zander Hawley), take the next step in their blossoming relationship. But this episode revolves mostly around brand-new rookie, Miles Penn (Deric Augustine), who is still struggling to make Los Angeles his true home. When a party invitation gives him a peek into what his life could have looked like had he played professional football, Miles finally figures out that he has to go all in with the future he actually has access to.
Nolan and Bailey Are Ready To Pursue Adoption in ‘The Rookie’
In one of the sadder storylines this season, Nolan and Bailey have discovered that having children might not be in the cards for them. After meeting with a social worker, their chances of adopting end up being pretty non-existent. She questions them about their heroic experiences (their violent honeymoon, recent hostage situation on a bus, etc.), and determines that no agency would ever let them adopt. It’s obvious that Nolan and Bailey lead very exciting, but very dangerous lives, and it wouldn’t exactly be fair to place a child in a home where one or both parents might not survive.
I actually suspected this might happen since this was also a storyline on a recent episode of 9-1-1: Lone Star with another first-responder couple, but it seems like Nolan and Bailey will still come out of this okay. By the end of the episode, Bailey decides to accept their situation and the amazing lives they’ve already carved out for themselves. I feel like they’re somehow going to end up being parents through a convenient twist of fate, but if not, the series still explored the issue of infertility that many people in the real world experience.
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‘The Rookie’s Celina and Lucy Show Up for Their Friends in Season 7, Episode 13
Episode 13 features my favorite thing: a badass woman taking down criminals. Celina has her first day riding as a solo officer, and she nabs so many bad guys that they hardly fit in her shop. Aside from kicking butt on her own, she allows Rodge to (temporarily) move in with her and Lucy while his place gets exterminated. I’m not sure where The Rookie writers are going with this relationship, since Rodge actually seems a bit too cheesy for Celina, but it’s sweet that she’s able to show up for him when he needs help. The theme of friendship is also evident with Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) trying to reach out to her pal, Rachel Hall (Jasmine Mathews).
It has kind of bugged me that Rachel was brought back this season without a whole lot to do, but her drunken, out-of-control behavior in this episode finally reaches a point where Lucy can reconnect with her. Rachel confesses that her father passed away a few months ago, and that her prior caregiving role for him while he was dying is now taking a toll on her. Lucy and Rachel’s heart-to-heart is a meaningful way to show that Lucy can still be there for her friends despite all of her Chenford drama.
In between being a support system for the people in their lives, Celina and Lucy end up involved in a case where a grenade is thrown into a vehicle, killing the person inside. The wife of the victim is then found grievously wounded in her home. She had been tortured for information but is still alive. After the assailant escapes, it seems like the trail has gone cold until the case intersects with Miles later on in the episode.
I’ve been advocating for Miles to become a permanent part of the Mid-Wilshire precinct since the beginning of the season, so I’m glad he’s featured more in this episode. After we see that he has still been living in his car, Miles runs into a former friend and teammate of his named AJ Knox, who is currently playing football for the Chargers. AJ invites Miles to his mansion for a party. While at the party, Miles discovers that AJ’s right-hand man, Sean, is actually stealing from him and that Sean is wrapped up in a heist scheme with the grenade-thrower. It feels a little too convenient that these two storylines just happen to converge perfectly (like what are the odds in the gigantic Los Angeles area that these two crimes are connected?) but Miles ends up being the hero I already knew he was, and takes down Sean and his minions.
AJ is impressed with Miles and offers him a $300,000 salary to be his private security. At first, Miles considers it, because he sees the lavish lifestyle that could have been his if he hadn’t gotten injured. He goes to Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) for guidance about whether he should take the gig, and Tim actually compliments him, saying, “You’re a good cop, Texas.” Tim gives solid advice that Miles knows is true: if he went with AJ, he would just be a paid friend (and wouldn’t be doing good in the world like he would if he was a police officer). Miles turns down the offer, which is fantastic news for the LAPD (and for viewers like me who think Miles adds a lot to the show).
‘The Rookie’s Terrifying Serial Killer Resurfaces in an Odd Way in Season 7, Episode 13
Several billboards and bus ads pop up in this episode that at first seem like some lighthearted fun. They say things like “Is John Nolan a Dirty Cop?” and “Can You Trust These Cops?” with pictures of Nyla Harper (Mekia Cox) and Angela Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) on them. Nyla holds a meeting at her house, offering an update on the police reform group she started in Episode 7, and to help gather information about the billboards. Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) is eventually able to determine who paid for these ads, and shockingly, the answer is serial killer Liam Glasser (Seth Gabel). I was hoping we hadn’t seen the last of this uber-creepy villain, so this reveal is a great one in my mind. I don’t know exactly what Glasser has up his sleeve as he prepares for his upcoming trial, but he’s definitely a worthy opponent for the Mid-Wilshire gang.
Although I’m disappointed that we still don’t have any updates on Monica Stevens (Bridget Regan) popping back up again, there is a nice callback to the departed Aaron Thorsen (Tru Valentino) during the police reform meeting. I’m still hopeful that he’ll make an appearance in a future episode, but for now, I’m just happy that Miles got a stand-alone storyline that shows how much he’s grown since he started as a rookie. He might still be camping out next to Smitty (Brent Huff) for the time being, but at least he’s now realized that his true purpose is making it as a successful police officer.
New episodes of The Rookie air Tuesday nights on ABC, with episodes available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
