The Rookie brought back a former rookie of Lucy’s who caused friction in the station considering his past behavior. Seth had lied about having cancer, in addition to other lies he told, and this meant the department couldn’t trust him. But now he was back after suing to work again. Did he regain the trust of his fellow officers?
Lucy, who was in the midst of preparing for the sergeant’s exam, didn’t want to train him, but it was actually Nolan who would ride with him. Everyone was geared to see how many infractions he would get so that he could be pushed out in a way that showed he wasn’t up to the job.
Seth was eager to prove himself to Nolan, but still made small mistakes, such as not calling in their status after they stopped a convenience store robbery. While the job was done, they did soon learn their witness who stopped the robbery actually had been released earlier from prison than he should have.
When they went to take him into custody, he escaped while Seth was watching him, leading to everyone being on the look out. They learned that the man’s wife had taken money out of their account soon after, and Seth did some digging to find out Seth had a friend from prison who also had been released. It was likely he was trying to flee the country.
Along with backup, they discovered where their suspect and his wife were, but they got involved in a shootout that ended when Seth saw a man about to shoot Nolan from behind. He got the guy’s attention and was shot in the leg for his efforts.
Seth suffers a serious injury on the job
Seth ended up having the lower part of his leg amputated, and Nolan told him this didn’t have to prevent him from going back to work. However, does this mean Seth believes it himself? This led Seth to being honest with his fiance, Tamera, who was hurt that he lied when she tried to defend him to Lucy. She left her ring on his bedside tray table before leaving.
While it’s unclear if we’ll see Seth again, especially since he does have the option of going on disability, it was a heroic deed for him to save Nolan. Hopefully he will learn to grow and stop lying so he can earn the trust back of others.
Elsewhere in the episode, the officers also contended with an influencer named Tulsa, who did dangerous stunts for attention alongside his girlfriend. Because his following kept livestreaming and goading people, this led to a confrontation between a group of fans and Angela due to his antics after he was Wesley’s office. Angela had her little boy with her and struggled to protect him until Lucy could arrive to put a stop to the confrontation.
Eventually, they learn that Tulsa’s girlfriend was actually preparing for his downfall and uploaded a video of him insulting his followers before announcing her own skincare line. Social media definitely got its spotlight in many ways this episode.
Whether or not Seth reappears this season remains to be seen, but fans are excited to see what will happen down the line. New episodes air Tuesdays on ABC at 9/8c. Make sure to watch previous episodes available on Hulu.