ABC has sent The Rookie Season 5 on a month-long break for the holiday season. And in the meantime, fans are catching up on episodes, rewatching old favorites, and discussing the most recent “Chenford” development. But some viewers are debating the ethics of Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen’s actions and whether they should feel bad for Chris Sanford.
Lucy broke up with Chris in ‘The Rookie’ Season 5
As fans recall, The Rookie Season 5 began with Tim and Lucy going undercover as a couple. And it’s an understatement to say that the chemistry between them was intense. They made out and were all over one another, but that was a part of the job. The questionable part came at the end of the premiere when they were no longer undercover.
Tim walked Lucy back to her apartment. When they arrived, she invited him inside under the pretense that something scandalous would occur between them, and he hesitantly accepted. The only thing that stopped Tim and Lucy was discovering Chris bleeding out on her couch.
For the next few episodes, things were awkward between Tim and Lucy. She continued to stay with Chris while Tim’s girlfriend, Ashley McGrady, broke up with him. The tension came to a head when Sergeant Grey forced Tim and Lucy to ride together in The Rookie Season 5 Episode 8. They talk about how Chris wants to buy a house with Lucy while she is unsure if she even loves him.
At the end of the hour, Tim and Lucy admit they have feelings for one another. He asks her on a date, but she has to break up with Chris before accepting. In episode 9, Lucy struggles with letting Chris down easily, but she eventually does it. And ultimately, Tim and Lucy are free to go on their first date.
Fans debate whether or not Lucy and Tim crossed a line
A week after The Rookie Season 5 Episode 9 aired, one fan started a Reddit thread to express their disgust at Tim and Lucy getting together.
They wrote, “How do people support Lucy and Bradford? She’s literally in a relationship with a guy who is super nice and has basically no red flags, and he’s not toxic or anything, yet she cheats on him and breaks up with him, and moves on the same day to her boss? Like what?”
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“Kissing someone multiple times is cheating,” a Reddit user added. “We all see from the context it wasn’t ‘undercover practice.’ Also, she invites him in to have sex, and the only thing that stopped them was her dying boyfriend. That’s at the least emotional cheating.”
However, not every The Rookie fan believes that Lucy cheated on Chris. One person commented, “Lucy and Tim did not cheat. Y’all (the generic, non-specific you) keep saying this trying to make it true, but they did not. Almost cheating still is not cheating.”
“She didn’t [cheat on Chris],” someone else said. “She almost did but broke up [with him] because she wasn’t in love with him.”
Whether or not cheating — physically or emotionally — transpired between Tim and Lucy, they’re together now. And we’ll have to wait and see how the writers explore a romantic relationship between them in The Rookie Season 5.
RELATED: ‘The Rookie’ Season 5 Moves to Tuesdays in 2023 — Is It Being Canceled?
When does ‘The Rookie’ Season 5 return?
The Rookie Season 5 will move from Sundays to Tuesdays starting on Jan. 3, 2023. Its new night also calls for a new time slot, and it will air at 8 p.m. ET, directly before its spinoff. The ABC drama series will kick off the new year with an exciting and intense crossover event with The Rookie: Feds.
The Rookie Season 5 Episode 10, “The List,” will air on Jan. 3 at 8 p.m. ET. And The Rookie: Feds Season 1 Episode 10, “The Silent Prisoner,” premieres at 9 p.m. ET.
The Rookie is available to stream on Hulu.
