Summary
The Rookie Episode 17, “The Shake Up”, was a step down from the dramatics of last week’s episode, as the series resorts back to the run-of-the-mill cop drama.
This recap of The Rookie Season 1, Episode 17, “The Shake Up”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.
It appears despite the tragic circumstances involving John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) in the last episode that this has barely phased him. At the start of Episode 17, “The Shake Up”, he is briefly reminded of the death of Captain Andersen after passing her grave while chasing a suspect. But that was is it; despite the emotional trauma you’d expect to occur after such an event, John is relatively fine.
The Rookie universe continues, where trouble is afoot, and new situations are facing the police squad. As part of “The Shake Up” John is partnered with Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) to do a protection mission; their assignment is Brad Hayes. He has a target on his head. Meanwhile, Lucy Chen (Melissa O’Neil) has a personal journey experience to deal with as her father is in hospital after an attack and Sergeant Wade Grey (Richard T. Jones) has to deal with a micro-managing new Captain who seems inadequate and out-of-depth.
“The Shake Up” gives us the opportunity to see John and Tim work together, after weeks witnessing the Training Officer heckle and bully Lucy. Their protection detail Brad is a game player, trying to weave into the minds of the pair as they survey the house he is residing in. He brings up the death of Captain Andersen to John, but again he appears unnerved. In a random turn of events, there is an earthquake, and Brad knocks out John.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire is befitting for this situation, as Brad apologizes for his random act of violence – Tim and John have to be quick on their feet, taking Brad away from the property as they believe they have been compromised. It turns out they have, but by Brad who is wanting to be rescued. He has a tracker in his shoe. This sets off a gun-fight on the beach.
Lucy is finding it hard to tend to her father in the hospital, knowing that he is disappointed in her, and she is also determined to arrest the man who committed the assault. Her father is proud, though he doesn’t show it at the moment he feels it. When Lucy confronts him about her career choices, she makes him aware that being part of the police force makes her happy, and despite the problems against minorities, change can only be made from within. As she makes her emotional plea, the man who attacked her father turns up and apologizes. She makes a swift arrest despite her father’s claim that he has mental health issues.
In the end, after much back and forth in “The Shake Up” Sergeant Grey manages to get rid of the new Captain by offering plenty of praise to the management above, falsely complimenting his services as a captain, persuading them to promote him to a higher position. Tim and John deal with the protection scenario, successfully de-escalating the situation. In the end, John gets super paranoid about his adequacy with his new girlfriend, believing that her strength in character is diminished by her dating a rookie. She denies the theory and squashes it.
“The Shake Up” was a bit of a slump in comparison to last week.
