Sumith Prasad
The fifth season of ABC’s police procedural show ‘The Rookie’ follows an intricate chapter of Officer Lucy Chen’s life. Professionally, Lucy trains to be an undercover agent and deals with the return of Rosalind Dyer to her life. As far as her personal life is concerned, she gets conflicted about choosing between Tim Bradford and Chris Sanford, especially after the latter gets hurt by Rosalind instead of her. Still, Lucy eventually musters up the courage to break up with Chris and get together with Tim. Their union, however, paves the way for severe consequences that threaten Melissa O’Neil’s future in the show. Well, here’s everything you need to know about the same! SPOILERS AHEAD.
What Happened to Lucy Chen?
When Tim and Lucy get together, they do not seriously consider how the same will affect their professional relationship. Tim, as the superior, believes that he will be able to continue treating Lucy as his subordinate. It doesn’t take long for his belief to turn out to be wrong as Wade Grey asks them to patrol together in the twelfth episode of season 5. Tim and Lucy take a man, who runs a “traveling store” in his vehicle, into custody. While getting back his belongings, the man finds out that his two earrings aren’t with the lot, which makes him suspect that Lucy stole them.
Since Lucy has been responsible for garnering the man’s belongings, she becomes responsible for the missing earrings as well. Still, Tim decides against reporting her to the department as her superior is supposed to do. The incident makes it clear that Tim cannot remain impartial towards Lucy, which leads the latter to consider options to avoid the predicament in the future. Lucy proposes a transfer from their station so that they shouldn’t worry about Tim being biased toward her. Since there aren’t any vacancies for a sergeant in any other LAPD stations, it has to be Lucy as well. Does that mean we are seeing the last of Melissa O’Neil in the show? Let’s see.
Melissa O’Neil is Not Leaving The Rookie
Since the Mid-Wilshire station of LAPD is the prominent setting of the series, any attempts from Lucy’s side to depart from the same threatens Melissa O’Neil’s future in the show. But as of yet, neither ABC nor Melissa released a statement concerning the actress’ departure from ‘The Rookie.’ In addition, Lucy will not be leaving her current station since Tim removes himself from her chain of command by accepting a desk job in another department at the same station. Considering the sacrifice Tim makes, it is unlikely that Lucy would want to leave the station anymore since the conflict they confront as a couple gets resolved.
Furthermore, as per IMDb, Melissa is a part of the cast of the thirteenth episode of the fifth season, which makes it clear that the actress will continue featuring in the show. If Melissa was slated to depart from the series anytime soon, the writers of the series might have taken advantage of her wish to get transferred to write off Lucy. Since the same doesn’t happen, it is safe to say that Lucy will remain an integral part of the crime series’ upcoming episodes. Since Melissa hasn’t committed to any other projects recently, we can be confident about the actress’ commitment to ‘The Rookie.’
Lucy considering getting transferred from the Mid-Wilshire station can be a narrative development conceived to depict the complexities that are involved in the relationship between her and Tim, rather than an indication of Melissa’s supposed departure. In the upcoming episodes of the show, we can expect Lucy and Tim to cherish their togetherness without the fear of the same affecting their work. Although Tim will not be able to accompany her as she deals with criminals on the field, his transfer to desk duty ensures that Lucy will be with him at Mid-Wilshire and Melissa will remain a part of the show’s cast.
Read More: Did Brandon Jay McLaren’s Elijah Stone Return to The Rookie?
