The Rookie – Season 5 Episode 2 “Labor Day” Recap & Review

Labor Day

Episode 2 of The Rookie Season 5 starts with Lucy returning home with her boyfriend Chris, who luckily is alive after Rosalind sliced his arms and left him for dead on Lucy’s couch. Before they even get a chance to settle in, a teacher from Undercover Academy shows up to recruit her for the academy. Lucy says she will need time to deal with some things in her personal life. She feels guilty about what happened to Chris and there are unsettled feelings she has for Bradford but won’t admit it.

Chris is worried that Lucy might turn down the offer because she blames herself for what happened to him. He calls Bradford and asks him to convince Lucy to take the opportunity. Bradford visits Lucy and advises her to take the opportunity because it will be good for her career.

Meanwhile, Bradford’s sister is in town to get their childhood home ready for the open house. Bradford is ready to put his traumatized childhood behind him after selling the house. His sister is going through a divorce and is happy to get the money to help set off her litigation bills.

Wesley reports for his first day as a prosecutor at the D.A office. It is not going as well as he had hoped it would. His boss wants him to stop trying to give everyone a free pass and choose a case he will take to trial. His day is salvaged by Lopez who calls him to ask for help in their corrupt police case.

Nolan is given a chance to do a trial run as a training officer by stepping up while Harper is on maternity leave to train Officer Thorsen. He is excited to get the chance and by the end of the episode, Thorsen declares him the best training officer he has had so far. I think Nolan will make a great training officer, he is easy to approach and seasoned with life experiences.

Nolan and Thorsen respond to a welfare check call and find a cop has seemingly committed suicide. A quick preliminary exam indicates that the police officer was murdered. Lopez and Bradford take point on the case and clues lead them to a corrupt gang of police officers.

Harper, on the other hand is in pre-labor and she and James are moving into their new home and getting ready for a home birth. Harper is weary of giving birth at the hospital given her last experience. They have a plan and if complications arise the hospital is only four minutes away. James believes he has everything under control but he is in for a big surprise when Harper takes interest in their new noisy neighbors.

As it turns out, their new neighbors are not the law-abiding kind of neighbors. It started when they were playing loud music and Harper was forced to have a talk with them. It was followed by gunshots but Smitty showed up when she called the police. Obviously, Smitty being the lazy cop that he is, believed the neighbors when they said they were watching Dirt Harry. I am surprised Smitty has been able to keep his job for this long.

Harper doesn’t buy their lame excuse and keeps watching them from her house. She sees them put something that looks like a human body in the boot of their car. She calls Sergeant Wade and asks him to run a background check on her neighbors. The neighbors decide to break into their home and attack them, but clearly they didn’t know who they were dealing with.

Harper miraculously shoots the trespasser and gives birth at the same time. I know this scene was supposed to show she is a badass but it was so unrealistic it ended up being funny!

The Episode Review

Lucy and Bradford need to decide whether they will be honest to themselves, each other, and their partners. This back and forth is getting annoyingly messy. Chris and Ashley will end up getting hurt if this uncertainty goes on.

I am excited to see Nolan as a training officer though. He has wanted this for so long and has worked so hard for it.

At the same time, I think Wesley is being delusional , it is great that he is trying to change the system from within but not every case deserves a slap on the wrist. There needs to be a balance and I hope he finds it soon.

James and Harper are a really cute couple and I hope we will still get to see them this season!