Summary
In a surprisingly balanced episode 11, “Redwood” sheds light on different problems facing each character, providing an essential chapter in The Rookie.
This recap of The Rookie Season 1, Episode 11, “Redwood”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
The Rookie never fails to surprise me. Episode 11 starts with a “hand in your gun” initiative; John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) is chirping away to an elderly lady trying to hand in her late husband’s war weapons. John excitedly reveals that she could get a lot of money for this, only to be unwrapping an unstable landmine. As his colleagues call in the bomb squad – you can hear an explosion outside. This is the kind of madness this series subjects itself too – maybe the story should be set in Florida, not LA. Regardless, Episode 11, “Redwood” was particularly well-balanced regarding recognising each character.
The Vice-President is in town, which means the police force have to use most of their valuable resources to ensure the well-guarded politician is safe. You can almost taste the detest of this day from the Training Officers. Strangely enough, you never actually see the Vice-President in “Redwood” – The Rookie chooses to concentrate on the daily lives of the character, and everything else remains in the background.
The most interesting plot surrounds Lucy (Melissa O’Neil) – while on duty moving homeless people from their spot due to the Vice-President entourage running through, she ends up in a struggle with one of the people. As she stands up Tim (Eric Winter) tells her she has a rogue injection jabbed into her leg. Lucy spends the rest of “Redwood” waiting for a blood test, and rummaging through all possibilities on WebMD – this was relatable to me, I always Google-diagnose everything, but I can only imagine the horror Lucy finds herself in. Luckily, she had a minor infection, so a few antibiotics and she was on her way.
As for John and Talia Bishop (Afton Williamson), they find themselves in the usual scuffles while on their VP objectives. Talia is trying to be positive after her therapist advises she needs a new outlook in life. Unfortunately, it is hard for Talia to be confident when it comes to people’s lives. In one of their police skirmishes, a woman is accidentally shot by a shotgun and bleeds to death very quickly. John spends most of “Redwood” being John, helpful and kind, but also worrying about his old house that he said he built, but his ex-wife is trying to sell it. Due to all the memories he had in this house, he wants to buy it off his ex but realises it would stretch his savings a bit too much. Oh, to be middle class.
Perhaps the most surprising and random moments came from Jackson West (Titus Makin Jr.) who was concerned about answering the phone to his mother; it turns out that when he joined the Academy, his brother needed a kidney transplant, and only Jackson could provide a kidney at the time, but his sibling assured him it was not that serious. It turns out it was severe, but Jackson had already started his new job, and luckily they found another donor. His mother refuses to have a relationship with him, and Jackson is desperate to reconcile.
So as you can tell, the main premise of Epidode 11, “Redwood” was not specifically addressed at all; the main premise was all the characters with their different scenarios. A strange approach, but it worked.
