'The Rookie' Season 8 Frees Its Most Terrifying Villain in a Thrilling New Episode | Review

1 hour ago 8

Published Mar 16, 2026, 11:00 PM EDT

Erin Konrad's love for everything entertainment dates back to elementary school when she became obsessed with classic Hollywood musicals. When she's not catching up on all her favorite television shows, she's advising her friends and family on what they should binge watch next.

She has her Bachelor's degree in Journalism and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Creating content for Collider gives her the opportunity to combine her writing skills with her passion for television and movies. She spends her free time trying to beat her personal record of reading 126 books in a year and cuddling with her dog, Gracie.

With some police procedurals, there isn't a chance to really dig into the characters' lives in a super deep way. The action moves fast, and in-depth character explorations go by the wayside. Last week on ABC's The Rookie, Lucy Chen (Melissa O'Neil) has a devastating experience when she kills a man in the line of duty. While this is tragic, I was excited to see how The Rookie would incorporate some of Lucy's past trauma with this new event. We do get a little bit of development into this storyline, but unless it gets picked up later on in the season, The Rookie wraps up Lucy's post-traumatic stress disorder-type symptoms in a way too neat bow in this week's episode. On the bright side, we do get to see more of one of The Rookie's best villains, which saves this hour.

'The Rookie' Allows Liam Glasser To Escape Justice

Although Liam Glasser (Seth Gabel) has been a fantastic villain for the series, our favorite characters are incredibly frustrated that their case against him is falling apart. Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) announces to the team that because of Nyla Harper's (Mekia Cox) misconduct and Ryan Dearbourne's (Patrick Stafford) testimony coming under question, the best they can do with Glasser is to offer him a plea deal for involuntary manslaughter for just one of his murders. Wesley assures everyone that they did their best, and Glasser could be off the streets for at least 10 years. The next thing they know, Harrison Novak (Noel Fisher), who buried bodies in the same place as Glasser, announces he wants to "unburden himself" by confessing to more crimes. Novak heads to the precinct and Glasser heads to the DA's office. This side-by-side scene drove me crazy because it seems highly unrealistic that these dangerous killers would travel outside the prison for these types of meetings. Novak announces that he actually committed all of Glasser's crimes too, but it's clear to the cops that he's been put up to this by Glasser or Glasser's lawyer, Malcolm (Sean Patrick Thomas).

It seems like Glasser has convinced a lot of people to help get him out of jail, even perhaps ADA Vivian Eckert (Necar Zadegan), who will do anything to sabotage Wesley's campaign for DA. A hearing takes place with Malcolm and Wesley, and Malcolm confirms that Glasser is rejecting the plea deal. By the episode's end, Wesley learns that the DA is dropping all charges against Glasser since a win at trial seems impossible. It also seems like Wesley might lose the DA race as well. But to add insult to injury, Glasser, now a free man, drops by the precinct with donuts just to taunt Nyla. She firmly claims this whole thing isn't over, but it's horrifying that this creepy serial killer is now out in the world again. Although it's a bummer for everyone, Glasser being free does set up some nice drama heading into the rest of the season.

Seth Gabel as Liam Glasser in The Rookie

Brent Huff, Melissa O'Neil, and Eric Winter in The Rookie

The episode opens with Lucy struggling to get out of bed. She is grappling with the fact that the man she killed was also a victim, since he was poisoned by toxic chemicals. Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) tries to insist that she take more time off, but she says she's well enough to return to duty. Tim has encouraged the other officers to give Lucy space (which seems a bit too overprotective to me), and decides to ride along with her for the day. He appoints Smitty (Brent Huff) as temporary Watch Commander, which makes absolutely no sense. Smitty is the least qualified, and it's clear the writers threw this in merely for a few comedic moments. Later, the victim's sister shows up to confront Lucy. Lucy wants to release the body cam footage from that day, but there are legal restrictions. After Chenford argues about the right way to handle this, Lucy agrees to talk to the sister, saying, "In order to be a good cop, I need to be a good human first." Lucy explains to the sister what happened, who states that she believes Lucy. This is a kind way to tie up the story, but it's frustrating that The Rookie writers are using this conversation to end an experience that would normally cause ongoing symptoms for an officer.

The case that Lucy works on this week is a dead body that was found at a local motel. While they research who he was, Skip Tracer Randy (Flula Borg) shows up and has a connection to the victim. Randy had been hired to track the victim, who was a con man named Charles Deacon. While a bad guy flees, he knocks out Randy, causing him to lose his German accent and develop a Southern one (in something called Foreign Accent Syndrome). This bit results in the episode having a sillier tone, despite Lucy's storyline calling for a more somber one. The case resolves when the crime is pinned on a Mafia-type family. Randy regains his accent eventually, and although I usually like this character, he sort of felt out of place in this particular episode.

Bailey Has Wiggled Her Way Into Another Perilous Situation in 'The Rookie'

Bailey, on her cellphone, in her Pentagon office in Season 8 of 'The Rookie'

John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) gets a call from Zuzu (the AI bot), warning him that Bailey Nune (Jenna Dewan) is being followed. Nolan is mad at Wade Grey (Richard T. Jones) for getting Bailey mixed up in something while she's away at the Pentagon. He assures Nolan that he'll keep Bailey safe, but it's clear that the mysterious woman from last week's episode has decided to find out exactly who Bailey is. To get more information about what's going on with this woman, Bailey sets a trap to smoke her out. We don't get anything else in this week's episode, but I'm already sort of annoyed that Bailey is involved. It still makes no sense that a firefighter is working at the Pentagon, and even less sense that Wade would be recruiting her for a dangerous mission.

There were definitely some interesting moments in this episode, but the hour would have felt more realistic with a little less humor and more of an emphasis on Lucy's mental health. It's always fun that The Rookie makes sure to include levity in its storytelling, but I would have preferred a little bit less lightheartedness in the aftermath of Lucy's attack. My wish would be that this event continues to affect Lucy in future episodes, but I fear the series will plow ahead with other narratives instead.

New episodes of The Rookie air on Monday nights on ABC, with episodes available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

Release Date October 16, 2018

Showrunner Alexi Hawley

Directors Tori Garrett, Chi-Yoon Chung, Michael Goi, Sylvain White, Lisa Demaine, Lanre Olabisi, Bill Johnson, David McWhirter, Liz Friedlander, Daniel Willis, Toa Fraser, Anne Renton, Jon Huertas, Cherie Nowlan, TK Shom, Rob Seidenglanz, Valerie Weiss, Barbara Brown, Charissa Sanjarernsuithikul, SJ Main Muñoz, Nelson McCormick, Marcus Stokes, Adam Davidson, Anna Mastro

Writers Corey Miller, Bill Rinier, Zoe Cheng, Mary Trahan, Ally Seibert, Liz Alper, Nick Hurwitz, Racheal Seymour, Madeleine Coghlan, David Radcliff

Pros & Cons

Bringing back several familiar characters feels like a fun callback to previous episodes.
The type of Chenford conflict portrayed feels fresh and relevant to their relationship.