The Rookie – Season 6 Episode 4 “Training Day” Recap & Review

Training Day

Episode 4 of The Rookie Season 6 starts with Thorsen doing a memory exercise with his therapist to help him come to terms with his attack. For the first time, his heart rate doesn’t spike during the exercise. He has finally realised that there was nothing he could have done to prevent the attack, Blair decides he is ready to return to active duty, and Thorsen is excited.

Meanwhile, Chen admits to Bradford that she is disappointed about failing the detective test but promises she is okay. No one believes she is fine, but Bradford tries to be supportive.

Upon getting to the office, Wade asks him to take Thorsen and supervise his ability to handle the stress mentally and physically. Wade is worried Thorsen will freeze in high-pressure situations.

During the ride, Bradford gives Thorsen some of his famous Tim tests. Thorsen is determined to prove he is okay. The first test includes Thorsen arresting a man, Tyson, with a history of beating cops, among other illegal activities. Thankfully, the man is injured and can’t attack Thorsen.

As they put him in the police car, Thorsen notices a strange woman lurking around. He approaches her, and as he questions her, she lashes out and slaps him. Thorsen quickly arrests her, and Bradford is impressed that he has responded quickly.

Bradford asks Thorsen to figure out why the woman tried to run and hit him. He gives him a deadline, and Thorsen nervously tries to assemble the pieces.

After digging a bit more, Thorsen thinks he figured it out. However, he doesn’t believe Stacey was paying Tyson money to protect her husband in prison. Wade advises him to take the night off and work on the case the following morning. After talking to Blair, Thorsen is more convinced he missed something since Stacey’s husband was killed even before the deadline for paying the protection money was up.

On the other hand, Nolan and Juarez are back, and he is curious about Juarez’s time with Harper. They come across a woman who found a dead body in the public toilets. They call it in and wait for the detectives. Harper and Lopez pick up the case and find the signature of the Pentagram Killer on the dead body.

The killer is wanted in various unsolved homicides in the early 2000s. Around 2009, he vanished, and Nolan thinks the killer is back because of an upcoming documentary on his victims. This is a big case, so Nolan asks Juarez to notify the watch command, and she makes the mistake of mentioning the Pentagram Killer.

Harper, Lopez, and Nolan are mortified that Juarez was not supposed to give out sensitive information on the radio. They fear that everyone on the police scanner, including the media, will start hounding the police. In turn, the public will get scared and make numerous reports that might be baseless.

Chen is the first to arrive at the scene, and the detectives ask her to stay and help secure the site. Chen finds vomit and calls it in since it might be the killer’s. She is forced to wait until the crime lab officers can check it out. Of course, Chen is frustrated with the situation.

In the meantime, Wade tears a new one into Nolan and Juarez. He orders them to verify the calls coming in about the Pentagram Killer. They sift through the calls and come across a woman claiming her fisherman husband committed the crimes. Nolan and Juarez decide to pay the woman, Opal, a visit since most victims were tied up. Nolan argues commercial fishermen are out most nights and know how to tie knots.

On the other hand, Lopez and Harper identify their victim. They reach out to her brother, but he is uncooperative. However, he is unlikely to be the killer.

At Opal’s house, Nolan and Juarez are shocked when Opal gives them the driving licenses of past victims that she found. However, her husband has been dead for seven years. The police search the house for more evidence and take Opal back to the station to answer more questions. Nolan stays back but gives Opal his number to build a rapport.

According to Opal, she only found the trophies after her husband died, but Juarez questions how Opal didn’t know she was married to a serial killer. Harper is tempted to believe Opal since her husband was never on the original suspect list. This means he was good at flying under the radar. At the same time, Wade is impressed by Nolan and Juarez’s job. He invites them to be there during the press conference.

Sadly, Chen is happy for her colleagues but feels it could have been her. She confides in Bradford that she had a crappy day, and he tries to cheer her up.

The next morning, Harper, Lopez, Nolan and Juarez continue investigating the new victim of the Pentagram Killer. It turns out she had a lot of enemies and set their sights on a man named Conrad. He antagonised the victim online and made threats against her. Before Nolan and Juarez can leave to interview Conrad, he gets a call from Opal. The media is hounding her, but unfortunately, there is nothing Nolan can do to help.

Once they get to Conrad’s house, they find the door open and a dead body inside. They issue a BOLO for Conrad as they are more confident that he is the killer.

Back at the station, Thorsen discovers that Stacey lied about paying Tyson protection money. The money was actually meant for ordering a hit on her husband in prison. They trick Stacey into thinking her husband survived the attack. She calls one of Tyson’s cronies to confront him. The whole conversation is recorded, and she is arrested and charged with her husband’s murder.

At Conrad’s house, the police identify the victim as his wife. The police continue to track Conrad and start checking in with his friends. The team is all hands on decks, chasing a possible lead. Juarez and Nolan come across a man leaving one of the locations they are checking out. They call for backup, and Chen is the first to arrive. The man is Conrad, but he is not the killer. He says someone else killed his wife, but he killed the first victim and curved the Pentagram Killer sign on her to mislead the police.

He is about to be transported to the hospital as he is injured when Nolan and Juarez leave for Opal’s house. Opal ran over a journalist. Meanwhile, Conrad is about to give Chen more details about the other killer when he is shot dead. An unknown man opens fire, and Chen calls for backup and returns fire.

Harper and Lopez are quick to arrive, but the shooter has them cornered. In the act of bravery, Chen takes a risk while the detectives cover her and rushes into an alley to cut the shooter off. For a brief moment, we fear she is shot, but thankfully, the bullet hits her radio. She then quickly hides and waits for the shooter to try to escape. She gives him several warnings to surrender, but he keeps advancing toward her. Left with no choice, she shoots the man, Jeff, who turns out to be the first victim’s brother. He wanted to take revenge against Conrad for killing his sister.

Elsewhere, Nolan and Juarez arrive at Opal’s place and try to help calm things down. Opal admits that everyone abandoned her. She also tells Nolan that she sometimes found her husband’s behaviour strange but didn’t ask because she was scared to know the truth.

Later, at the hospital, Chen is cleared, but she is worried she killed Jeff. Wade informs her that he made it alive, but Chen needs to give her statement to the DEA. If Jeff dies later from his injuries, the investigation into the shooting will continue as protocol. Bradford does his best to comfort Chen.

The Episode Review

In this episode, Chen takes a huge risk to prove herself since she feels she has to do so after failing the detective test. She managed to arrest Jeff but nearly got shot in the process. She is lucky that her radio took the bullet for her.

Chen is a great cop, and it is sad that she has to go through so many loopholes to achieve her dream because some powerful man has a grudge against her. Thankfully she has a supportive boyfriend who is always by her side through thick and thin. ChenFord continues to give us a couple of goals, and we love seeing it.

On the other hand, Thorsen is proving to be a formidable cop. He passed the Tim tests and proved he will have his partner’s back even in high-pressure situations. While he nearly died on the job, he is still passionate about working in the field and making the streets safe. He is also working on his friendship with Juarez. It is only a matter of time before we see the return of the besties. Speaking of besties, Harper and Lopez also make a great team.