The Rookie (2×03) The Bet Review

For our review of last episode, click here.

“The Bet”starts off with Nolan and Lopez pulling someone over who starts to threaten them with sending his bees after them. He quickly races off leaving them to forget about the weird bee guy. The next morning, Nolan and Russo are talking about his plans for the house and she jokingly throws in their living arrangement and there is some obvious tension. Meanwhile, Wes and Lopez are having a spat of their own over him hiding her from his mother. At roll call, Grey is telling them that today’s job is to hit some places with felonious activity and West is paired up with Officer Smitty.

On patrol, Chen bugs Bradford about his dating life and he quickly shuts it down threatening to be a hard CO to her again. She brings it up again at the precinct offering to set him up on a date. They decide to make a wager, if she can find someone for him then she can wear short sleeves, but if not then she is going to have to go through a rigorous training regime. Later that day she runs into her friend Rachel Hall (Jasmine Matthews) and convinces her to go on a date with Bradford to help win the bet. Chen brings West to do a stakeout on Rachel and Bradford’s date where he reveals the bet to her. Rachel turns the tables and convinces Bradford to get her a meeting with his commander. All she has to do is slap him and help Bradford win the bet.

Lopez and Nolan both open up about their relationship problems before stopping at an odd corner. Turns out it is a place well known for drug deals and so they decide to bust the buyer Chaz Bachman (Seamus Dever). Turns out he is the right hand of Councilwoman Langston and tries to persuade them to let him go for some friends in high places. Nolan sees his bluff and calls the councilwoman’s office causing Bachman to break and give himself up. They continue to discuss their relationship problems with Russo ducking his calls and Lopez scared of meeting Wes’ mom. They chase a yellow vehicle down the road, but find it empty and abandoned. Suddenly a body falls onto it causing them to rush to the hospital. With Grace working on the patient, Russo arrives looking to interrogate him. Turns out the man, Meija (Jon Huertas), is an undercover agent and things might have gone south for him.

With Meija awake, Nolan questions him about the situation. He learns that Meija jumped from the bridge and that the men know something far worse than his identity. However, he goes back unconscious and as Russo plans to come by the hospital, Nolan reveals his relationship to Grace. During their talk they discover that Meija was not supposed to be moved though and that someone took him. He manages to chase them through the hospital and subdues the nurse in the basement. He follows Meija’s blood to the morgue where he is being tortured for information. He stops him, but the torturer turns out the lights and manages to hide. Nolan gives Meija his side-arm for protection and they are able to catch the guy.

West and Smitty pull up to a problem spot and he decides that they are going to sit their until end of shift which frustrates West. He forces them to go confront the guys and West decides to frisk them all for breaking their parole. One of the guys runs causing West to chase after him. He loses the suspect momentarily, but manages to hide and trick him into revealing himself. West is able to quickly catch up and grab him, but he has bullets with no gun. Suddenly he hears a woman screaming down the street where her young son is waving the gun around. West tries to convince the boy to give it to him, but he fires and hits his mom. With EMTs at the scene, West goes to the felon and blames him for this.

Smitty comes to a startled West who wishes he took the bullet himself, but Smitty reassures him he did the right thing. Unfortunately, the guy goes free with not enough evidence linking him to the gun, but they decide it is their job to find that link. West is confronted by Grey who informs him that the gun was used in an unsolved murder and their suspect, Gleason Dunn, isn’t in the system. Problem is that when they go to lockup to grab him, they find out he was already released. When West is writing up his report, Smitty tries to convince him to lie about seeing the gun, but West feels strongly against that. He learns through a phone call that the woman died from her injuries.

West decides to do some off-duty police work and grabs one of Gleason’s buddies from earlier, threatening to make his life a living hell. With this threat, West and Chen are able to get Gleason and pull him off the street from destroying another family.  Meanwhile, Wes reveals to Lopez that his family is filthy rich and he was ashamed of it. However, Lopez is able to instantly bond with his mother over Wes’ dislike of their powerful personalities. Over late night food, Chen gives West a pep talk about his decision making. At the hospital, Nolan apologizes for how he reacted to the living situation discussion with Russo and she accepts his apology. Grace overhears it and commends him on doing the right thing. He offers a double date with Grace and her husband, but she reveals they have been separated for a year. The episode ends with Chen going by her friend Rachel’s house to apologize for the date. However, she discovers that Bradford spent the night and that she in fact won the bet.

Captain’s Log

• Will Nolan end up with Russo or Grace?
• Will West melt down?
• Will Chen re-earn Bradford’s respect?
• Who will be Nolan’s new CO?

What did you think of “The Bet”? Let me know in the comments below!

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Dylan Phillips