Rookie Blue – Officer down

It seems like it was just yesterday when we last spoke of Rookie Blue; I complained about the cliffhanger, and several commenters called me out for blaming the show. Regardless of who should get the criticism – and we’ll get to that in a minute – now that Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan have brought gold home, we can get back to the business at hand, the surprising and brutal attack of my favorite Rookie Blue character, Gail Peck.

Peck’s abduction, while scary, was not the big story in “Out of Time.” It took me a long time to come around on Jerry Barber; in the beginning I found him insufferably arrogant, and a poor match for Nash. In the two-plus seasons since, my stance has softened, and I will be sad to see him go. Independent of his relationship with Nash, he is also great in his dynamic with Swarek. His best friend, left with his best-man gift, will likely take Jerry’s death as difficultly as Nash will.

Swarek will internalize his grief, lashing out at everything around him. His relationship with McNally will obviously suffer – a timely reminder of Luke Callahan stopping by was interesting – as will his work; he’s just that kind of guy. It’s more difficult to predict Nash’s reaction. Being a single mom, she’s already proven the type of independence and strength of character that will make this challenge easier to navigate; easy obviously being a relative term.

The minute Andy and Swarek focused on the bartender, it was time to toss my theory last week out the window. Sadly the drug-carrying drink-slinger was just a red herring seeded in the first episode for me to incorrectly jump on. The cab driver – correctly sussed out by commenter Kathryn – was a much more subtle suspect.

Each time a show has that lull before other characters find out what deep trouble their friends are in, I always think back to the wonderful way ER built similar tension in “All in the Family.” This episode did it twice: once as the audience awaited Swarek to find McNally and later when Nash and Noelle celebrating, unknowing of the news that awaited them.

Getting back to last week, I had some pointed complaints about the timing of the cliffhanger and the one-week, Olympics-induced hiatus. Some were subjective on my part – I truly don’t like cliffhangers – and others more objective. Several commenters took me to task, saying the producers are not responsible for the scheduling of the show, an absolutely fair point. A couple of responses: it’s my job each week provide commentary on Rookie Blue, and how it is presented. Also, comments – both positive and negative – aren’t solely for the production team; there are a few more people involved with getting the show on the air. Finally, there seems to a mindset this year that I don’t like the show. On the contrary, I like the show a great deal, or we wouldn’t be here.

Clacked by Ivey West
on Aug 09, 2012 @ 23:45 EST5EDT