With a new episode on tonight, let’s do a recap of the show’s outing last week.
The episode picks up quite a few days after Lucy’s kidnapping. She has been cleared to get back to work, though it's obvious (and understandable) by the way she’s using concealer to cover up her DoD tattoo and the way she declares she doesn’t want the whole applause thing when she walks into roll call she’s still rather shook. Jackson and Nolan are trying to get her mind of things (mainly how long it will be before she can have the tattoo removal) and ease her into the day with a strong breakfast and some nice casual talk, where we learn Henry and Abigail are in town to look up wedding venues. By his general reaction and reminiscing, John is still sorta struggling with the whole “Henry’s getting married” thing.
Back at the precinct Harper asks Tim what his plan to get Lucy back into work is and disagrees with his “get back on the saddle again” approach. After a jab over him not knowing better (sidenote: I do need her to stop dissing Tim at every turn. He HAS been training Rookies for a long time after all... maybe he does know some stuff and it isn't JUST about his ego as she likes to imply...) she suggests another approach. Perhaps a female officer, who knows what Chen has been through, might be more useful in this case. Tim wanting what’s best for Lucy agrees to let Harper ride with her for the week. Lucy doesn’t seem too hopped up on the idea, especially as Harper tries a bit too hard and comes off as a tad dismissive of Lucy’s desire to just move past everything.
She continues trying to “push” Lucy in her own way, but fails even more when forcing her to go on a speed date thing goes awry. It’s only after this that she apologizes for mishandling the situation, and opens up about her own experience of being sexually assaulted by her case officer. And the two finally find some common ground, as Harper explains that even though the circumstances were different she knows not dealing with things isn’t healthy. They’ll just come back to haunt you in other ways.
While they’re visiting Abigail asks to go on a ride along with John because she’s considering a career in law enforcement. She’s super excited but Henry asks John to do whatever possible to discourage his fiancé from becoming a cop. Kid can’t handle the pressure of having to worry about her on top of having to worry about his dad. While Nolan doesn’t exactly agree with Henry, he does concede to be honest enough about the job’s realities to scare her off if need be, and gets extra lucky when he gets paired up with Tim in the T.O. exchange. After all, there is no one better to discourage people from a career in law enforcement than Tim. 
Too bad Abigail doesn’t falter under Officer Bradford’s attitude and impresses him enough during the investigation of what appears to be a jumper but turns into a murder case. He’s disappointed to hear that she’s got priors and has no chance of getting accepted into the academy. This news seems to delight Henry, which is what finally pushes Nolan to call out his son for not being supportive of the girl he’s decided to spend the rest of his life with, or even honest with her about it. It takes his father dressing him down and a brush with danger while trying to help the murder victim’s family, that makes Henry admit to Abigail that he wasn’t being supportive.
Speaking of being supportive, (and admittedly maybe having put on my shipper goggles) Tim goes the complete opposite way from Henry throughout the episode where Lucy is concerned. While he agreed to let Harper take the lead in her re-integration into work, he keeps tabs on her asking everyone from Nolan to Angela how she’s doing, while never getting in the way or coddling her, and also letting Lucy know he’s still got her back. He ends the episode with giving her some “hard won perspective” on how he sees her situation and the tattoo that's haunting her: it's only proof she’s a surviror. His parting gesture is to return the ring she left in her burial site that helped him find her. For someone who according to Harper would handle this wrong, he seems to be the only person to make Lucy feel better and act more like herself every time they interact.
Jackson spends the majority of the episode carrying the lighter plot for the hour. When a red carpet outing with his new TV star boyfriend, Sterling, gets him in some hot water with Grey, Angela has to explain to him that that kind of exposure isn’t good for the department or him and his career. A bunch of fangirls getting in the way during the pursuit of a suspect, drives the point home. Jackson frets on how to handle the situation, especially when it seems that Sterling and he can’t find common ground on how to move forward: Jackson needs to keep things private, and Sterling’s job requires him to be in the spotlight. A huge fight ensues during one of their dates, which leads to a breakup... only to be revealed that it was all staged, and now they can continue with their relationship so long as they keep their public appearances on the DL. Dare i say these two crazy kids might make it?
That’s that for last week’s episode. Tune in tonight for a brand new instalment of The Rookie!
