Summary
The Rookie surprises this week with “The Hawke”, providing the most engaging episode so far, making one wonder if this dire TV series is taking a turn.
This recap of The Rookie Season 1, Episode 6, “The Hawke”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
I can’t believe I am saying this diabolical statement, but the latest episode of The Rookie is good cop-busting TV, so much so that my cup of tea went frustratingly cold as I completely forgot I had a brew lined up. The overdramatisation of cop life and the objective of episode 6, “The Hawke”, somehow worked, making me wonder if this guilty-pleasure TV soaked in melted cheese is moving its sorry arse in the world.
John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) never fails to surprise me. Not only is this character wholly unrealistic to comical levels, but he has no lifestyle that I can attribute to him. The last episode John revelled in his rich social life, whining about his broken down relationship with his other middle-class friend. In “The Hawke”, he finds himself in a dingy bar, shotting anything with alcohol, discussing his career with his ex-academy mentor Hawke (Shawn Christian), who has been blocked from serving the streets due to receiving 20-plus public complaints.
Hawke is also hung up about his soon-to-be wife, who has sent the divorce papers to the broken man but then got caught getting hot and sweaty with a new man, forcing him to lose his head. His wife reports this to the police but the night shift colleagues did not manage to get to the scene before sunrise, meaning John Nolan has to approach someone he admires tentatively. “The Hawke” is a real test of John’s personality, as he has to track someone down he ultimately respects.
What follows is a series of scenes where they respect Hawke as if he was a rogue Ethan Hunt. The police force describes his set of skills, his covert missions and his ability to take on squads. The other stories did not matter. “The Hawke” becomes a thrilling game of cat and mouse as half of the rookies figure out how to stop this man from causing more damage.
Eventually, Hawke is cornered, but because John Nolan and Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) want to prove something to their mentor, they engage in a brawl. The Rookie brought the best scene so far where Hawke declares he knows their skills inside out, and he immediately gives a swift body shot to John who collapses to the ground and Tim, well, he is also helpless.
Of course, Hawke is captured eventually. I only wish that The Rookie continued with these type of episodes where they embrace the stupidity of it all and gave us ludicrous stories so we can at least enjoy the ride. The rogue cop was the best move of the series so far.
