The Rookie Season 8 Episode 4 Could Signal the End for Bailey & Nolan (If We’re Lucky)

Critic’s Rating: 4 / 5.0

4

Tough choices were at the forefront of this hour, and some of them have heartbreaking results.

Coming after a relatively darker turn, it initially seemed like The Rookie Season 8 Episode 4 was leaning into lighter fare to give us another dose of levity.

But with that tragic conclusion to an investigation and one of The Rookie’s couples up in the air, it just goes to show the series can shift tones on a dime.

The Rookie characters are almost as bad as those on Chicago PD when it comes to being at the wrong place at the wrong time while off-duty and suddenly getting pulled into the fray of an investigation.

This time, it was Nolan and Bailey on scene when a shooting occurred, and chaos erupted.

The case itself gains legs from that point forward, and some aspects of it reminded me of the film Four Brothers. I wouldn’t even be surprised if the writers drew some inspiration behind it.

Two mysterious men who, on paper, should have never been within orbit of each other, gunned down Fred, a seemingly perfect CPA. But nothing is ever as it seems, right?

For humor purposes, Fred being basically trash and his own wife making out with her hallway moments after learning that her husband was dead was amusing enough.

But the real action was figuring out why anyone would kill Fred and then piecing together that those people were Kingston and Rory. What resulted was heartbreaking.

Fred was an asshole who ran down an elderly woman and thought nothing of it, putting “Mama”, the neighborhood maternal figure, in the hospital after nearly killing her.

And thus, it kick-started a reunion forged by vengeance when her two foster sons joined forces to take him out. Rory was a white supremacist, but they added a fascinating background to layer that revelation.

Because how could a sweet young boy who social services placed with a loving Black woman and who grew up with aBlack boy he considered his brother end up being a white supremacist?

Well, a broken system, placement back with his mother and her Aryan boyfriend, and being surrounded by individuals where not complying could ultimately result in death.

Meanwhile, Kingston became the victim of a flawed (and racist) system as well. What he should’ve gotten for his petty crime was a slap on the wrist and some resources to get his life in order.

But what he got instead was thrown into prison, where prison culture damn near requires you to join up with certain forces just for survival.

Kingston joining a gang wasn’t by choice so much as survival (which, frankly, isn’t an uncommon story for why most people end up in gangs in the first place).

One relatively small error irreparably changed the course of his life and drove him to his death, too.

Same with Rory. Watching Rory make the leap to the other building while running away from Miles and Nolan was nerve-wracking, and it had the expected results: his death.

But what I didn’t anticipate was Kingston’s death. It was a marker of the same cycle of violence and survival. He helped police, ended up with his former gang, and then a kid not much younger than him murdered him because he wanted to survive.

If he didn’t go through with killing Kingston and still had to go away for something, the gang would kill him. So, doing their bidding, murdering Kingston, a snitch, ensured he’d have protection in prison for as long as he’s in there.

Not even the cops, a few steps away, could save him from that, and that’s horrific.

It was also used as a driving force to push Angela to reconsider her position on Wesley taking on the new DA role.

On paper, he is a great candidate, progressive enough in his views to instill meaningful, valuable change, while his marriage to a police officer and family man appeal to more traditional values, too. The best way to create change in the system is often within it.

And that entire case was evidence of a flawed system that failed two boys who became troubled men and died because of it.

Angela’s reservations about the whole ordeal were totally valid. They both have had their fair share of issues that have placed their families in jeopardy, and being in the public eye to such a degree can invite more trouble.

But their decision made sense in the end, and I loved that they reached this decision together. I also love that the Wopez/Jayla family dynamic is so strong and remains undefeated.

They gathered for dinner, talked it all out amongst themselves, and supported one another, and it was a genuinely precious scene.

Wopez are elite. They’re a couple who know how to communicate, work through their issues, and meet each other halfway.

Sure, they have their ups and downs at times, but even when that happens, it never feels like they’re in danger of falling apart, and there is a healthy respect and love there that holds them together even in their darkest periods.

I’ve never doubted their longevity as a couple.

So watching them parallel to Bailan was fascinating. Because Angela and Wesley did everything right in how they handled this career opportunity, and Bailey and Nolan were all wrong.

For someone who is rarely doing her actual job, I was mystified that Bailey had a super-fantastic offer to work in DC as part of an elite team Russ was putting together to improve first-responder medicine.

Yeah, sure, okay. The Rookie and its Bailey obsession.

Hilariously, they at least acknowledged, in an aroundabout way, that Bailey wouldn’t even be in the same standing or possess the qualifications you’d expect for this position.

But then they had Russ saying things about how that’s the point, essentially, mixing and matching.

He needs someone who doesn’t think the same way as everyone else to diversify the team or something. I don’t know. It sounded ridiculous, and my eyes glazed over by then.

Bailey had the good sense to recognize that she wasn’t qualified for this position, so she didn’t initially accept the offer. But then Russ hyped her up and told her not to decline simply because she didn’t recognize her own worth.

And next thing you know, even after Bailey laid out the rules that they’d have to both agree or disagree to reach this conclusion, she jerked Nolan around and then left him with a question mark because now she wants to go to DC, and they’re at an impasse.

It would be INSANE for Nolan’s middle-aged self to relocate to DC and start his policing career all over again, so that Bailey can add a new occupation to her belt. And, sure, objectively speaking, Bailey shouldn’t have to give up an opportunity she wants either.

But given that the whole Bailey in DC thing is ridiculous in the first place, and all I can think about is her randomly being in rooms with more qualified people trying to pretend like her being there isn’t anything other than some form of nepotism, I’m Team Nolan.

Nevertheless, despite Bailey’s own words, it seems like she wants to go, so if she does, good riddance.

Flawed systems also applied to how the evidence was processed for cases.

I laughed harder than I should have over the breakdown of how the Dropbox didn’t go down where it should, and all of these little factors contributed to mislabeled evidence.

There was so much humor in that, including Schmitty’s weaponized incompetence, Lucy’s full-day search for a machete, and the general chaos of the ordeal.

But when you take away the humor, it’s alarming that these are the kinds of things that could be happening behind the scenes in court cases. So, even this dovetailed nicely into Wesley’s DA arc.

It was also a chance to revisit how Tim is trying to find his footing as Watch Commander. He’s just so desperate to make a great impression and do right by the position. He’s trying so damn hard, and I love that Grey is around to extend empathy and advice.

But it also goes to show why sometimes climbing the ranks isn’t as glamorous as we like to think. The higher up you go in a field like that, the farther away you get from what you love most about the job.

They still find ways to keep Tim in the field, even if it comes with harrowing near-death moments.

As a random conclusion… I’m really digging Celina and Miles as roommates and besties. Hell, I’m even pushing the ship agenda. Obnoxious, insufferable Rodge can stay in Finland, thank you very much.

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