The Rookie Season 8 Episode 12 Doubles Down on Villains, Silliness & Pointless Bailey Plots

Critic’s Rating: 3.3 / 5.0

3.3

OK, so that was something!

As per usual, The Rookie hasn’t met a villain it doesn’t love to bring back, and the villain-palooza continued with an Elijah Stone comeback in addition to Monica and Zuzu. Good times.

It’s hard to even discuss what this hour was or was supposed to be, but a girl can at least make a valiant effort.

Once again, The Rookie overestimates how much we give a damn about Bailey.

It’s the second time in two seasons that she’s been connected to assassins, only this time she had a team of them after her because she tugged on the wrong doorknob, prompting the secret organization of ops working under Col. Pressman to come after her.

Yeah, I don’t know. Again, it’s The Rookie begging us to care about Bailey more than most of us actually do. But it leads to a long hour of spy games, tomfoolery, and some fun, so at least there is that.

Bailey and Nolan aren’t on the verge of divorce, and she had a great ephiphany that she maybe shouldn’t have taken that job in DC after all. Gee, you think!

Also, Nolan got to express his grievance that she was working with Grey without consulting him, even though they usually go through all their hardships together after communicating.

Presumably, after all of this, those two are in a great place.

I guess Bailan isn’t bones after all, even though they should be. Whatever.

But the spy game antics at least resulted in everyone getting in on the action, and that’s literal. Miles looked super hot on the motorcycle, planting that recording device on the mirror.

Although how did they not notice that big device just sitting there?

And, of course, Tim was also hot channeling his inner Captain America by whooping some ass in an elevator. And he totally won that and looked fantastic.

Also, he and Lucy, with the dual tasing action, even though Tim would’ve wanted to go another round brawling, was great. They had some cute little domestic moments in the field and outside of it, so at least they’re going well, too.

Harper also looked great in that doctor’s jacket, giving me flashbacks to how much I used to love Mekia Cox on Chicago Med.

And then, on top of everything, Zuzu threw its hat into the ring, offering them helpful information and sending things to Elena, who is such a great addition to the show whenever she’s on.

Seriously, I love her! The Garza family is the best.

Everything with wrapping up this weird arc with Bailey has come to a natural conclusion, but it still doesn’t feel like we needed this Bailey plot in the first place. How did their case with Everett turn into something about her?

It’s frustrating how they find ways to shoehorn Bailey into things.

Also, the Zuzu plot made no sense.

Suddenly, randomly, out of the blue, they brought back the AI villain, and it just kept calling Nolan and apparently caring about Bailey’s well-being. Then it fed him information about Reagan and the other assassins.

And then it also fed Angela information about Vivian to use in the DA race—just because.

Apparently, Zuzu wanted to make up for previous mistakes, or something, but the whole thing just felt random and absurd, only for it to be destroyed somewhere in Indonesia.

Maybe it isn’t really destroyed, and it’ll somehow come back in another form down the road.

Because The Rookie never likes to let go of some of its ideas or villains.

Just look at Elijah. I was just joking about how he’s been missing from the villainpalooza, and that I’d have probably preferred him over seeing Monica for the umpteenth time.

And then, lo and behold, they dug him up for a minute-long scene in which he caused chaos for Wesley and then disappeared into his hidey-hole or cell again.

It felt like a waste of Brandon Jay McLaren.

Of all the ways they could’ve reintroduced Elijah Stone, I hate that it was like this, something so asinine. Unless he pops back up again for something bigger, they fumbled the return of an iconic villain.

And it still resulted in bringing Monica back into the fold again as Wesley and Angela wound up seeking her out in hopes that she could deny Elijah’s claims.

Once again, Vivian colluded and schemed with a criminal to destroy Wesley.

She had Elijah randomly hold a full-blown press conference on the court steps after luring Wesley there just in time, so he could announce that he had worked with Wesley and that Wesley had cheated on Angela with Monica.

I mean, it is hilarious that Wesley has a history with all these baddies, but that’s a classic The Rookie problem by now, and it also comes with his being a defense attorney.

They’re all over the place with the DA race storyline. It often feels a bit inconsistent in focus, so pushing it to the forefront was a bit jarring, but it at least made more sense than the whole Zuzu assassins plot.

Also, as much as Monica irks my spirit by now, her sit-down with Wesley was actually nice. No, Wesley didn’t cheat on Angela, and he never would, but he did cheat on Monica.

And while she’s Satan’s mistress on a good day, it doesn’t mean she wasn’t hurt by that when it happened. She used to be just a normal woman, and Wesley sort of ruined her life.

As two exes who were clearing the air, it was a solid scene. And Monica followed that up with a denial in support of Wesley and a scathing indictment against Vivian. It was badass and a great Monica moment.

But will it be enough for Wesley to get the edge over Vivian when he’s apparently been so far behind? Whose to say?

I don’t know what has the most storytelling potential: Wesley as DA or someone as corrupt as Vivian taking the spot. Probably the latter.

Shop Talk:

• I cannot describe how irritated I was when Luna was trying to talk to Grey when he explicitly said he was there working a case. Ma’am, NOW IS NOT THE TIME! Also, Grey may have forgiven her for her emotional cheating and gaslighting, but I have not. Sorry.
• Why were all the Baddies so damn hot during this episode? Just Eye Candy for days! Every single soul.
• No, but really… what was the actual reason for Elijah to be transported to the courthouse from maximum prison, just to stand on the court steps in his orange jumpsuit and lie on Wesley? Did Vivian really waste the taxpayers’ dollars for all of that?
• I just want to keep Elena forever. Also, was she flirting with Miles? I might ship it.
• Justice for that poor woman who had to leave the hospital without her wig!
• Lucy is right about Tim making the Watch Commander job his own and just doing more field work. Who needs tradition?

What did you guys think of this one, The Rookie Fanatics? Did they waste Elijah? IS the return villain thing silly? Hit the comments!

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