Spoilers ahead for the Season 6 premiere of The Rookie, called "Strike Back."
The Rookie is back for Season 6 in the 2024 TV schedule, but without The Rookie: Feds after the spinoff's cancellation. The original show had plenty to do in the premiere, as there was a major cliffhanger from May 2023 to resolve as well as crumbs to drop for Chenford fans who have been waiting months for more of Lucy Chen and Tim Bradford. "Strike Back" delivered on both of those fronts, but the length of the time jump left me with questions and potential problems as Season 6 continues.
The somewhat confusing cliffhanger from Season 5 turned out to be an elaborate heist to rob the Federal Reserve. The premiere picked up shortly after that episode left off back in the spring, and damage was done before John Nolan and Co. connected the dots and interrupted the bad guys' plans. As fans may remember, Lucy and Tim had teamed up in the Season 5 finale in a potentially deadly situation, but survived thanks to some serious teamwork. The Season 6 premiere kept continuity with that incident (which you can find streaming via Hulu subscription), as they were worse for the wear when the episode started.
And then came the time jump. After skipping ahead just six weeks, the Mid-Wilshire crew seemed to have the mastermind of the heist behind bars and it was just a matter of time before justice could be served. But the people he worked for couldn't run the risk of him accepting a plea deal and talking. So, he was sniped and killed while being transported to prison, because no way was The Rookie going to answer all questions just one episode into the season! Is anybody surprised that Monica Stevens is wrapped up in the whole mess?
On the Chenford front, Lucy and Tim set fans up for some potential cuteness when she asked to ride with him for the day so he could help her prep for the detectives exam. They weren't at their cutest in "Strike Back," however, when Lucy interpreted Tim saying that she could delay taking the test if she wanted as Tim saying that he didn't think she could pass, but he protested that's not what he meant at all. (For the record, I'm on Tim's side on this one.)
The argument turned into a genuine fight by the end of the episode, when she asked if he undermined her because he's scared she'll make detective and implied that it was because of his trauma from Isabel. For his part, Tim was upset that she'd even think that he would deliberately (or even subconsciously) undermine her, and the fight seemed on the verge of escalating into some words that couldn't be taken back until he thought better of it. He suggested that they "take the night off" from each other because he was tired and she needed to study, and he walked away.
And while none of the Chenford issues can be blamed on the time jump of six weeks, I can't help but suspect that the jump is going to cause some problems for watching The Rookie. Many other shows are including much longer jumps to account for the WGA writers strike and SAG-AFTRA actors strike delays, and six weeks isn't much at all. Plus, the promo for the next episode reveals that it's going to be set at least partly during Nolan and Bailey's wedding, which means no big time jump between the Season 6 premiere and the second episode. That will also be the milestone 100th episode of the show.
The problem now is that The Rookie really can't skip far ahead now that this conflict has been introduced for Chenford; otherwise, the resolution seems bound to either drag out for months off screen or just fizzle out. And if The Rookie doesn't skip far ahead, then it's going to be set well behind the present day.
Admittedly, while The Rookie has many strong points, keeping track of its own timeline isn't one of them, so the best approach might be to just not sweat the details about what's happening when. Still, I was hoping for a bigger time jump this time around to account for how long the show has been off the air, but the events of the premiere pretty much guarantee that a time jump would do more harm than good if it happens now.
All of this said, I'm optimistic about the sixth season on the whole, and the promo for the 100th episode looks like it'll be a lot of fun. Take a look:
Tune in to ABC on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET for new episodes of The Rookie, starting with the 100th on February 27. It airs as part of ABC's tweaked Tuesday night lineup for 2024, starting with Will Trent Season 2 at 8 p.m. ET and ending with The Good Doctor in its final season at 10 p.m. ET.