**SPOILERS AHEAD**
Tonight’s episode was an adrenaline rush that led to the team finally catching Celina’s sister's killer. The case tonight was one of the best in a while. It is difficult for cops to suspect one of their own, so to have the murderer turn out to be a police officer who has committed serial kidnappings and murders for years go completely unnoticed, was definitely tough to swallow. Crooked cops are a sad reality and this was a bold move for the writers to take. The episode itself was also one of the best so far this season. It was well balanced, with everyone working the same case making it easy to follow and much more enjoyable.
Lucy is prepared to move into the next phase of her career, and has received the tap from Nyla and Angela to take the detectives exam. Working as a detective will allow her to get into undercover work, which actually makes very little sense since she has been on three True Crime documentaries, the last one featuring herself as the UC cop. Nevertheless, Tim is already feeling the late hours of working on the Metro team and if Lucy becomes a detective, that will mean less time spent together. Lucy has another hurdle to overcome on her career path, when Smitty informs her that one of the detectives has it out for her and likely won’t pass her on the oral part of the exam. It doesn’t put Lucy at ease at all when Smitty volunteers to find out who the detective is. This is Smitty, after all. Lucy wouldn’t count on him to get her coffee order right, much less entrust him with her career. Unfortunately, it seems that Lucy’s 5 player trade to get Tim into Metro has come with even more consequences. Smitty finds out that it is Prim who was rubbed the wrong way by Lucy’s move, and he may stand in her way of becoming a detective.
Watching Angela and Nyla work cases is always enjoyable. They are badass women who are great at their jobs and it is awesome to see them read the riot act to men without even flinching. They were the perfect team to work Celina’s sister's case. They have experience, understand the implications and see things through an objective lens. As important as it is for Celina to find her sister's murderer, it felt inappropriate for her to be assisting with the case. She is too invested and could have easily compromised the investigation.
When another 6 year old girl goes missing on the anniversary of Blanca’s murder, Celina is convinced it is the same guy. Lopez has found similar cases where 6 year old girls have been taken and their parents have a history of substance abuse. Although the details may suggest that it was the same guy, as a police officer you can’t lock yourself into one thought process or you could miss so many clues that lead down a very different path.
An officer named Joel that worked Blanca’s murder when it first happened, comes onto the scene and recognizes Celina. She doesn’t notice anything concerning him but Nolan does. Joel has a vested interest in the case and also had a 6 year old daughter taken from him in a custody battle. Nolan fills Celina in on his suspicions, which set her off on a tangent. She refuses to believe that the man who inspired her to become a police officer was the one who murdered her sister. At first, it appears that they have found the suspect and it is not Joel. However, Nyla’s killer instinct has her suspecting that he is still the right suspect, and she doesn’t back down. Tim and the Metro team attempt surveillance but end up losing him. It shouldn’t have surprised Tim, Grey and Nolan when Celina approached them with hostility and accused them of letting the suspect go. Thankfully Nolan is calm and level-headed and managed to diffuse the situation.
Leave it to bad ass future detective Lucy Chen, with Aaron’s help, to find a clue that leads straight to where Joel has the missing child. Tim attempts to negotiate with Joel, but Celina grabs the phone and takes over. Shockingly, she manages to appeal to Joel and he lets Olivia go. In an unfortunate situation, Joel raises his gun at Tim, forcing Tim’s hand and he shoots. An IA investigation is now pending and Tim will need to be cleared to return to active duty. It was clear that shooting a man affected Tim deeply. Hopefully he will realize he had no choice, and that if he hadn’t done what he did, it could have been him dead from a bullet wound. Lucy was the perfect devoted girlfriend, wanting to help Tim in any way she can during this difficult time. The parallel with Tim offering to help her study for the detective’s exam, just like she did for his Sergeants exam, was an absolute perfect touch by the writers.
This was a difficult case to watch, which was to be expected. Any case involving children is hard. The only good thing is that Celina and her mom finally got closure for Blanca. Although getting the answers you’ve been desperately searching for is helpful, it doesn’t take away the pain and hurt of losing the person you loved in such a brutal fashion. Hopefully now both Celina and her mom can at least begin to heal.
Meanwhile, in another classic move by the writers to force Bailey onto viewers without a legitimate storyline, they had her on the scene of the case volunteering to help out on her day off. Don’t get me wrong, Bailey and Nolan are cute together, it would just be much more meaningful and realistic for the writers to at least give her a role with a purpose.
Over to you, Rookie fans: How will the IA investigation impact Tim? Will Lucy becoming detective put a strain on her relationship with Tim? Will Celina’s mom finally be able to overcome her social anxiety, now that Blanca’s murderer has been brought to justice? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment below and follow me on Twitter @MiddleofCanada.
