The Rookie Review: Life and Death (Season 4 Episode 1)
It’s never easy to write a character out of a series, especially when it seems like there is no chance for the actor’s return.
The Rookie Season 4 Episode 1, “Life and Death,” begins with the death of Jackson and ends with the birth of Jackson; a soft, yet powerful tribute to the officer who didn’t stop fighting when he and Lopez were taken for La Fiera, a nice bookend to the first episode of the new season.
The Rookie does the best it can to handle the exit gracefully and allows its tight ensemble cast to act their asses off, only further proving how special Jackson West is to this show.
Despite the high-adrenaline fight scenes of the episode, the strength comes in the small moments — ones filled with grief as the characters seek connection in the face of losing one of their own, with the possibility of losing another looming over them.
While the plot of Angela’s kidnapping is slightly contrived, the cast does a good job of making me not care. The Rookie‘s strength is its ensemble, and even with Jackson gone, the love all of these characters have for each other is obvious.
This episode focuses on the physical touches constantly, despite the type of relationships these characters have for each other.
Noland and Lucy hold hands, a reminder of their past connection and strong friendship. The Rookie also gives Lopez/Wesley a noticeable amount of physical comfort as they flee Guatemala upon completing their mission.
But most notably, “Life and Death,” takes the opportunity to use grief to bring Tim and Lucy closer together, with an eyebrow-raising offer of shelter.
Lucy is one of the more expressive characters on this show, and although Tim started as the opposite, their connection is still exciting to watch as they begin to lean on each other more and more.
Although they only focused on these characters as a pairing for a few minutes at the top of the episode, it’s clear that there’s a shift between them; one that The Rookie thoughtfully only teased for a more opportune time.
It’s the right way to go.
But throughout an episode filled with strong performances, Richard T. Jones stands out on “Life and Death.” The pain he feels and his moments of grief beautiful escalate to the scene where he arrests Jackson’s killer.
His reactions and dialogue express the conflict between remaining a leader and also reacting as any father figure should be allowed to.
It was just in Season 3 that the two bonded even deeper as Jackson faced racism within the department.
Even though Grey is still there, losing Jackson puts The Rookie in a more precarious position; losing an important perspective and leaving the cast a lot more white, and a lot more straight.
Not only was the character a great, empathetic presence on the show, but he also provided the show with a lot of experiences the characters otherwise lack.
The runner-up in performances is Alyssa Diaz as Angela Lopez, who is put through the wringer this episode. From heartbreak, to fear, to anger, to relief, Lopez went through it all and Diaz transitioned through each emotion with nuance.
The Rookie starts with a strong premiere for Season 4, showing that it can handle the most unexpected hurdles.
The cast continues to perform with passion. Their strong chemistry with each other and the departed Jackson selling the concept of this unexpected death.
What did you think of this episode of The Rookie? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Rookie airs Sundays at 10/9c on ABC.
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Amanda Reimer
In addition to working as a freelance writer, Amanda also works with animals and stage manages various live performances. She has an invested interest in the perspective and experience of fandoms as well as anything in the science-fiction genre. She also loves spoiling her cats, Drummer and Kiki.
3 comments
No, this was badly reminiscent of an A Team episode. Writers have little or no concept of ‘flying to Guatemala’ and how far it is, bad storyline and predictable script. The actors can act all they want but a bad script is obvious. At least they didn’t do handguns vs rifles…. Again.
It’s a testament to these characters I love that The Rookie gave us the the single most absurd plot-line of a TV episode I can remember. At least when Arnold invades a central American country to rescue someone you can quasi-buy it because it’s freakin’ Arnold.
The episode was absolutely terrible. Far fetched plot, bad writing and the sendoff for a main character was just glossed over. I’ll give it a few more episodes but if the first is any indication, the show has jumped the shark.
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