The Rookie

Starting life afresh at the age of 40 is not an easy decision but this show is all about Jon Nolan who is going through serious midlife crisis, divorce and trying to start all over and become a cop at this stage in his life. So basically what we get is the struggles he faces, the doubts he has to face and the stigma attached to his dream of becoming a cop at this stage of his life from his friends, fellow trainees and already established cops and finally the system in general.

The first season of the show is almost coming to an end and Its a good time to talk about what we have seen so far. We have gotten 9 episodes and I think we have 11 episodes left.

Generally it's been a while that we have gotten a police procedural that is new, refreshing, and totally new concept rather than the basic force procedurals that are quite in excess on TV.

So the rookie really comes off as quiet a breathe of fresh air and this immediately makes it a good sale to the general audience at large and we can see from the good reviews it's been getting that a mistake was not made with this one at least so far.

Let me just talk about what I like about the show.
It's a show with a simple plot and storyline. The plot of the show is not twisted or complicated rather it is straightforward and thus it makes it easy for characters to gradually develop around the central theme of the series. So far in the series each character is being gradually developed alongside the major plot of the series and the main character Jon Nolan and this is quite commendable as it would have been easy to actually forget all the other characters and just focus on Jon Nolan as its quite common with police procedurals.

Another thing that's impressive is the casting of Nathan fillion as Jon Nolan, he is naturally a very likeable character and this is quite obvious in the role he plays in this show, it's almost effortless when you watch him,  you just can't help but to love him and so far he has been a shining light in an otherwise okay performance from the cast of the series. Let's hope that the other characters pick up as the show progresses.

The resolution of conflict and the progression of one episode directly leading into the next episodes, it's a common attribute in police procedurals for each episode to be a story on its own and once it concludes that's the end of that arch in the show and this can be annoying as it doesn't lead to suspense or anticipation of the next episode, there is lack of intrigue. Rather this is the reverse in this show as each episode tends to lead to the next and when taken as a whole they are all leading to the building and development of the main plot of the show.

 Again it's a show that we can all relate with, it deals with the everyday cop and not the normal special unit we are used to getting rather it focuses on the beat cops who really do most of the work we see.

I can't think of much to critique so far except the fact that we do need to see much more action and yes they must not solve all cases if we are to be real about what police work entails.

Let's just hope that the show continues at the pace that it has been on and we will get ourselves a great show.

Cast
Nathan fillion
Alyssa diaz
Richard T Jones
Titus makin
Mercedes Mason
Eric winter
 
The show is an ABC Network production.