If you would like to read my review of last episode of The Rookie, click here.
Synopsis: Nolan and the team must help capture a cop and his former mentor from the academy after he becomes a fugitive following an assault. Meanwhile, Officer Tim Bradford needs Officer Lucy Chen to learn to predict the moves of criminals in order to capture them. (TVGuide)
Writer: Fredrick Kotto
Director: Timothy Busfield
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 43mins
Airs: Tuesdays at 10pm on CTV (Canada)/ABC (United States)
“The Hawke”starts off with Bradford and Chen’s patrol car slowly sliding down the street on its roof. At a bar, Nolan is greeted by Hawke who happened to be one of his training officers at the Academy. They discuss his wasted talents training recruits and Nolan’s assimilation into the force. The night ends with Hawke bringing up his marital problems and while Nolan offers his couch, Hawke doesn’t want to be pitied.
At roll call, Grey gives homicide witnesses to Bishop and Nolan while Bradford and Chen get a search warrant for a burglary. They arrive at the suspect’s house where Bradford warns her that this guy is a life criminal before knocking the door down. As he tries to smooth talk Chen, Bradford teaches her the dear method and where things might be hidden: deception, elusive, access and repulsive. West and Lopez arrive at a domestic disturbance where a woman explains her soon-to-be-ex-husband burst through the door the night before and attacked her date, but she doesn’t want to jeopardize his career because the man happens to be Hawke.
Nolan and Bishop arrive at the witness’ house where he has more than just a statement, but the actual murderer tied up in his trunk. As they travel to their next call, Nolan praises the mentorship of Hawke at the Academy before receiving a call from dispatch to talk directly with Grey. He puts them on the Hawke case given Nolan was the last person to see him. Upon arriving at the motel, they approach Hawke and Nolan tries to reason with him, but Hawke smashes their patrol car and drives off.
Turns out Hawke isn’t the most by-the-book cop as he has a lot of civilian complaints under his belt, hence his assignment to the Academy. Captain and Grey put patrol on the search while detectives want to interview Nolan about what he knows. Bradford and Chen arrive at the location of his phone with a mysterious RV, but the people inside say Hawke was never inside their vehicle. Bradford looks around the exterior and finds a panel where Hawke hid his phone showing the lengths he is going to in order to evade them.
At the precinct, Nolan is pulled aside by the detectives to ask about his history with Hawke and what happened at the bar. They take Bishop in for questioning while Nolan talks with Hawke’s ex-wife Meghan who is concerned about his volatility. With Bishop out, the Captain instructs them that Hawke is their top priority. On patrol, they are able to decipher Hawke’s real plan and find him; He’s able to evade at first with a smoke bomb, but they quickly catch up. The Captain advises Bishop and Nolan to hit Hawke’s car to stop him, but upon getting closer they notice that the son is in the vehicle and have to back off.
Nolan tries to reason with Hawke, but his son Logan agrees with his father’s choices and will accept the same consequences. With a route change, Nolan realizes that Hawke is planning to go into the mall with a lot of civilian cover. They enter the mall and chase him through the crowded area, but he blocks himself off in one of the stores. While Bishop goes to grab a key, Nolan berates Hawke for his actions and forces Logan to listen. He tries to reason with Hawke to be a father and do the right thing and Hawke decides to handcuff his son and run off alone.
Meanwhile, West and Lopez go to the hospital to interview a gunshot victim as he and his father get heated over the incident and the violent community they live in. West doesn’t buy the drive-by incident as the gunshot wound isn’t the right trajectory and they want to push the victim and his father for more information. They manage to separate them to try to get the truth, but nothing comes of it. That is until another young man enters the hospital and stabs the father for what happened, revealing himself to be the victim’s boyfriend. With the father in surgery, they pulled gunshot residue from his hands and learn that the victim was enraged by the constant bullying from his father, but when he tried to kill him that his father got the upperhand.
The Captain informs Meghan that Logan is safe and unharmed, but angry about the situation. She breaks down, but the Captain reassures her for trying to be happy. Back at the mall, the teams discuss where Hawke could be going when they receive a call about a gunman at a bank six blocks from their location. While Grey wants to send units, Nolan believes it’s a diversion from Hawke to open up an exit from the mall. Hawke tries to exit through the receiving dock, but Nolan and Bradford corner him.
He talks about them not having a clear line of fire and points his gun at Nolan. They talk him down and opt to turn it into a fistfight, but after he easily subdues both Nolan and Bradford, Bishop and Chen arrive and take down Hawke. The Captain and Nolan have a heart-to-heart about Hawke’s situation and its parallels to his own. The episode ends as Chen calls Bradford to reveal she stole his money clip and hopes he has a way to pay for his tab for the evening.
Captain’s Log
- Will Nolan and Chen get back together at some point?
- Will the TOs and Rookies continue to go after big fish?
- Is West cured of his stage fright?
- Will Bradford and the dispatcher end up dating down the road?
- Will Grey and Nolan become reluctant friends?
- Which rookie won’t make it the year?
Overall, this was an alright episode. The atmosphere of this one felt like it took a step-back as it felt like a prototypical police drama filler episode that had no real interesting or unique aspects to it. The relationship between Nolan and Hawke from the Academy may seem a bit different, but it just ties him personally to one of the officers involved. This in turn creates a very drawn out game of cat-and-mouse that ends quite anticlimactically. The subplot of Lopez and West’s case was the more intriguing, but was severely lacking in screen time as the focus was on cops hunting cops in derivative fashion.
Score: 6/10
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