Tonight’s The Rookie was jam-packed with action. First, there was the mysterious stabbing case involving three teenage girls that John (Nathan Fillion), Lucy (Melissa O’Neil) and Angela (Alyssa Diaz) investigated, only to discover there was an evil force behind it that was utilizing AI.
Then, the Mid-Wilshire Station lost power and experienced technical difficulties. It was all hands on deck, including newly-promoted P2 Celina Juarez (Lisseth Chavez), who, in addition to wrangling prisoners transferred from the downtown jail, also showed off her special skills in wrangling a wild raccoon after a fellow rookie cop failed!
“That was so funny, how Miles [Deric Augustine] was struggling to capture that raccoon,” Chavex tells Parade in an exclusive interview. “And then here comes Celina; all she needs to do is just call the raccoon, and it listens. Celina is spiritual, and animals love her. That’s what she says, and I feel like she proved it by luring the raccoon into the cage.”
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But the showstopper of the night came at the end when Sgt. Grey (Richard T. Jones) fired rookie Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher) after Seth and Lucy accidentally ran into Seth’s oncologist while at the hospital on a case, and she realized that he is most likely lying about his cancer recurrence.
Disney/Carlos Lopez-Calleja
It’s an event that Rookie fans have been waiting for. Even as we applauded Lucy for being cautious as a first-time training officer, wanting to make sure she didn’t unnecessarily cost Seth his job, though she had caught him in several lies that he had squirmed his way out of.
“A part of me wanted to believe that he was being honest. But the more we kept getting new scripts, I was like, ‘No, okay,’” Chavez, whose character Celina is roommates with Lucy and just graduated from rookie status, says.
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“I see my roommate trying to prove to herself that she can train and turn him into a good cop. And this happens,” Chavez continues. “So, I feel like that’s a weird situation that she’s in. I’m not sure [the audience gets] to see that, but that’s something that I’m [involved in].”
But there’s another side of it for Celina. She knows how hard she worked to make it through the police academy and then the one-on-one training with her TO John Nolan. So there’s a personal aspect to it as well.
“You have an opportunity to make the city feel safe. And [for Seth] to get caught in the lies and not be a trustworthy person, for Celina, it can be disappointing,” she says.
Disney/Mike Taing
That said, the episode ended on a happy note for Celina, who was able to put her police training to good work and track down the items that had been stolen from her newly minted boyfriend, Rodge (Zander Hawley). Rodge is the lead singer of the garage band that Celina and John have had a couple of encounters with on the series. John sees Rodge as a nemesis, as he dislikes the song “Daddy Cop” that Rodge has written about him. But there’s an attraction for Celina, which adds some comedy to the story.
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“It’s his quirkiness,” Chavez explains of Celina’s attraction to Rodge. “It’s the way he sings. I think it’s in the voice. Right off the bat, she really liked his music. I feel like she understood him, and she didn’t really take it too seriously. She really loved ‘Daddy Cop.’ And right off the bat, both times, she danced to his songs. She was even singing to his music, even while working.”
Disney/Mike Taing
The other happy news for fans of the Celina-John relationship is that now that she’s a P2 and John’s no longer her training officer, they will still be working together. In fact, John and Celina are going undercover together for the next episode!
“I love having John as my partner,” Chavez says. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to graduate. That means I’m not going to be partnered with you.’ I was terrified. What is Celina without having her partner that she gets to banter with? I really love their dynamic. But now, as a P2, she makes her own calls. There are times where she is going to ride solo, and it gives her more opportunity to grow and to continue to trust herself. But it doesn’t mean that she’s not going to be paired with other people. It’s not the end of Celina and John.”
The Rookie airs Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Streams next day on Hulu.
Next, Will There Be a Second Spinoff of The Rookie?
