Who is happy that the U.S. Basketball season is over – this writer! The Rookie Blue summer series on ABC can now continue uninterrupted. When we left off, Andy McNally (Missy Peregrym) had returned from her undercover stint to find that Sam Swarek (Ben Bass) had moved up – to become a detective – and moved on to a new girlfriend, Marlo Cruz (Rachael Ancheril). For a full recap of that episode, click HERE. If you recall it all and are ready to get into this week’s Rookie Blue, keep on reading!
So, I’m assuming if you’re still reading that you have either seen the Rookie Blue episode, “Different, Not Better” or are prepared to spoiled. In other words, this is your SPOILER WARNING.
The episode opens up with a weekend game of paintball. Andy is able to outsmart her former undercover partner Nick Collins (Peter Mooney) in a game of paintball and declares, “When I set my mind to something, I fight to the death, and I win.” Best friend Tracie Nash (Enuka Okuma) states the obvious point of this: Andy is planning on getting Sam back. To that end, Monday morning Andy is gathering more information on her rival. Tracie tells her that Marlo is ”Different, not better.” However, that’s also the theme of the entire episode. On so many levels, people, places and things are just that.
The entire team is put on a case to catch a six-time in two weeks mugger. However, he’s not your standard mugger. No, this guy waits for his victims to take out twenty bucks out of their ATM before striking. Then he forces them to take out the maximum amount from the ATM – eight hundred dollars – but gives them back their original twenty. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound! He’s different, but definitely not better! He’s also stupid. On his last attack he moons the security camera. Did he forget he had a giant tattoo on his butt? Detectives Noelle Williams (Melanie Nicholls-King) and Sam Swarek have narrowed the list of suspects down to ten guys, so the teams are split up into different areas of town to check on them and see if they have alibis. Then can’t ask to check for the tattoo without a warrant, but if a guy has no alibi they can bring the guy in and get one.
Earlier, while Andy was busy asking questions, Dov Epstein (Gregory Smith) got a major shock when his bathroom hookup girl from Captain Frank Best’s (Lyriq Bent) engagement party showed up at the precinct. The woman has been leaving him creepy, stalker-like messages. The shock isn’t that she found him – even though that was pretty bad. But, Chloe Price (Priscilla Faia) walks into the assignment meeting in full uniform! She’s actually a cop, and, she’s the captain’s god-daughter! That’s right, crazy tequila-girl is a cop – even though she seems more like a barista at a way-cool coffee-house where they have open-mike poetry readings. She’s as hippy as Dov’s parents probably were. It gets even worse for Dov. She tells Frank that she met Dov at the party, so Captain Best has Chloe ride with Dov and on top of that, asks Dov to keep her out of trouble because, “he loves that kid.” Great. The stalker girl is Dov’s captain’s darling daughter and he’s stuck with her all day. Should have stayed celibate, Dov…. Although, maybe not, since if you hadn’t been celibate for so long you wouldn’t have been so desperate!
It seems like everyone is set up to have the riding experience from hell – not just Dov. Olivier Shaw (Matt Gordon) is paired with Chris Diaz (Travis Milne) who keeps saying how he can’t do various things because, “he’s a dad now.” The more times he says it, the more times I have this awful feeling that his son (Christian) may not actually be his. This is just a thought, but between episode’s two and three it feels that something bad is going to happen with that kid. Of course, the way Chris is going on about what an upright citizen he has to be now that he’s a dad, the awful thing maybe that Christian loses his dad when Shaw commits a homicide.
For a while I couldn’t decide who was having a worse time – Dov with Chloe or Andy with Marlo. Yep, Frank put her with Marlo. He’d scheduled Andy with Marlo on her first day back, but Oliver pulled her out. I guess Frank wants to make sure these two can get along? I mean, he has to know about the situation, so why would he be throwing them together? Nick gave Andy some toothpicks because he knew Andy, “would need something to chew on.” It’s a cute moment, and I have to admit, I’m hoping those two get together – at least for a while…
Marlo and Andy immediately start having issues. It starts before they even get to the car! It’s a total power-play situation, and Marlo takes the round. Andy had planned to drive, but when Marlo seems affronted, Andy says, fine, then you drive. Marlo then smiles and says, “How about this? You drive.” In thirty seconds, Marlo has made it so that she’s the one in control, that it’s her decision to let Andy drive – even though it was Andy’s first call. From there, Marlo decides that they should go after a Felix Wittle that’s out of their area, because based on his profile, she’s sure that’s the mugger. Andy thinks it’s someone else, Nicky Radar – who’s within their area, but Marlo says Sam won’t care so long as they bring in the right guy. Well, Andy likes to go more by the book, but really, how can you argue with ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend claiming she knows how the guy’s going to handle something?
Of course, this backfires. While looking for Felix – in an area they aren’t assigned to, someone throws a TV out the window which lands on the windshield of their car! They race upstairs and find Wanda Starks (Jane Sowerby) and a neighbor yelling at each other. Andy has dealt with Wanda before. She’s got some kind of mental illness and has turned on all the machines in the house to drown out the noise in her head. The neighbor threw the TV out the window, so Margo deals with him while Andy deals with Wanda. She turns off the machines, has Wanda take her medication and turns on soothing music. Meanwhile, Marlo cuffs the neighbor out in the hall, where she has a strong and personal reaction when the neighbor calls Wanda a crazy bitch. She also seems to understand about the noise issue. Hmmm… When Margo returns from handing the neighbor over to be taken to the police station, she asks Andy if Wanda’s okay by herself. She’s really concerned, but Andy confidently says yes so Marlo defers to her knowledge of Wanda. (I’m sure I wasn’t the only one hearing alarm bells going off at this. The situation just screamed, “problem.”)
Once the car is replaced and the neighbor is hauled away, they continue their search for Felix. When they find his kid brother we discover that – unlike Andy – Marlo doesn’t really like children. That’s a big difference. Can you see Sam getting serious with a woman who doesn’t want kids? Exactly. This romance is clearly doomed. For the moment though, Andy is stuck in the wrong area chasing down a suspect that she doesn’t even think is the guy. She turns out to be right about that, as while they’re cuffing Felix another robbery by the same perp is called in.
When Andy and Marlo show up at the scene, Sam is there. Apparently the situation has escalated as this time the thief beat up the victim and told him, “life is beautiful.” Sam is more concerned about why Andy and Marlo are even in the area. Before Marlo can say anything, Andy takes responsibility for choosing to chase down Felix. Sam totally dresses her down about not following orders. So much for, “Sam won’t care.” Despite Andy taking the heat from Sam, it’s her score, because Marlo gets that she doesn’t know Sam as well as she thinks.
It’s an interesting moment. Marlo is a bit older, has more time on the force, and is in general more jaded, but in other ways she is similar to Andy. Andy has certainly gone out and done some things based on a hunch or gut feeling. They both are very competitive and sure of themselves when it comes to work. Sam’s new girlfriend is turning out to be not better than Andy, but also, not as different as it first seemed. Especially if Marlo has some complications involving her mental health. That would be the end of the “simple and uncomplicated” relationship he claims he has with Marlo. However, only time will tell if Marlo’s hiding any real baggage.
Getting back to Chloe and Dov, Chloe is talking non-stop about these random things that puts Dov at a complete loss. However, when she suggests they get some ice coffees and “something yummy” to talk about how this guy always knows where to hit, Dov snaps and tells her, “this is not a date.” He’s so annoyed that he tells her to stay in the car. Naturally, she does the opposite and before Dov can ask much, Chloe tells the guy he could just, “Show us your ass,” which was the thing that the Captain said they couldn’t do without a warrant. Dove is expecting trouble, because these guys know their rights.
Instead, with a glance at his basketball buddies, the guy drops his pants! There’s no tatoo. Chloe thanks him and walks, leaving Dov to make an awkward exit to go catch up with her.
When he Dov starts in on how “stupid” what she did was, out, Chloe actually has a reasonable answer. She knew this guy wouldn’t want to lose face in front of his friends, and being she’s a woman, the guy would be “flattered.” Maybe Chloe’s not a complete ditz after all? It’s hard to say since when they meet up with Andy, Marlo and Sam all she seems to be interested in is the vintage (Chloe says “antique” ) store across the street from the bank. Sam isn’t impressed, and Dov nervously tells him that Chloe is a little “unfocused.”
Chloe is unfocused, but her mental wanderings aren’t always as random as they seem. (Which is good, because that was getting annoying.) When the next robbery goes down, Chloe notices another antique store and informs Dov that their perp is staking out antique stores so when people come go out to get cash, he hits on them. She’s starting to remind me a bit of a younger version of Elsbeth Tascionion (Carrie Preston) on Good Wife. If you watch that show, you know she’s the red-headed lawyer who seems like a hyper, crazy, not all there kind of person – until she brilliantly nails the other side to the wall. They never see it coming. If Chloe evolves like that, I will be a happy camper!
Shaw had decided that before they went looking willy-nilly for the guys on their list, he and Chris should check out the tattoo parlors and see if anyone could identify the artist – who in turn could then id their guy. That idea pans out…a little. They are able to find out who the artist is, and he does give them a vague description. In particular that the guy had word tattoos all over him. As they are leaving, the tattoo guy asks Chris if he’s has any “ink.” He doesn’t, but always wanted to. However, now that he’s a dad….Oliver drags Chris out.
Once outside, Oliver starts to call in the meager clues to the mugger’s identity. However, Chris stops him, and suggests maybe they should keep it to themselves for a bit. Why? Because he’d like a shot at a commendation before leaving the 15th to impress the cops in his small town. You know, since he’s a dad now…
Finally! Olivier snaps and talks some sense into Chris’s head! (He’s more patient than I am, I was ready to smack Chris back at the darts).
“Oh yeah Diaz, you’re a dad, you’re a dad, I know. You got kids, I got kids, everybody has kids. Listen, look at me. You, are exactly the same guy that you have always been. Alright? You gotta stop freaking out about this. Or at least, you gotta stop talking about it.”
While Shaw gets that Diaz is freaked out about fatherhood, the idea that this change is one that means Chris should change who he is because being a father means you have to be better is one that really needed to be squashed. It’s different – but it doesn’t make you better.
Have you noticed anyone missing in this episode chat? Officer Gail Peck (Charlotte Sullivan) is left alone in to organize the property room and her boyfriend, Nick Collins (Peter Mooney) has desk duty. At first it seems an anomaly in the episode. Gail is doing some weird natural cleanse thing and has to drink some awful tasting concoction. She wants Nick to drink it too – to show his devotion to her since they’re kind of ”engaged-ish” and should therefore share in each other’s misery. Nick isn’t buying it. Who can blame him. It’s such a childish kind of relationship testing. Why is she so insecure?
The next random incident is that someone brings in an urn with cremated remains that was abandoned in an apartment. This gets to Gail. She’s concerned about this forgotten person, – even though she tries not to let Nick know. (He sees it though.) She names it “Erine.” I think it’s more than just being concerned about the person. I think she identifies with the idea of being alone, forgotten and unloved, being a Peck isn’t an easy thing. Just think about her mother.
When Gail finds out that whatever remaining relatives this guy has said they could just flush the ashes down the toilet, she’s visibly distraught. So after work she’s leaving the building with it tenderly tucked against her side. When Nick sees her with it he’s naturally curious. Gail is planning to sprinkle the ashes across the lake. So sweet, right? Well, don’t ever suggest to Gail that she’s being sweet! Nick did, and she snaps at him as if he’s called her something mean and dirty. I guess the way she grew up, being called sweet was an insult because a Peck is supposed to be strong, ruthless, and not have emotions? That certainly is what Gail comes across as, but little by little, there are these glimpses of it not being who she really is….
Before moving on to the lake, there’s some major action that has been going down out in the field. Marlo got the point that Andy was making to her, and tries to address some of the tension between them. Only she couches it in work, saying that she knows Andy is well-respected and she’s not trying to replace her. Unfortunately, Andy didn’t get that, so when Marlo asks if they can just move on, Andy snaps that she has moved on. Marlo meant about the list of suspects. She wants to move on to check on the guy Andy thought was likely their guy – Nicky Radar.
They don’t get the chance to do that though, because they are called back to Wanda Starks place. The machines are all on in the apartment again, and the place has been trashed. As she looks around at the mess Marlo is accusatory, “You said you knew this woman” When her eyes hit the huge blood stain with a hand print trailing along the wall to the door, she gets angry. ” Yeah, and you said she’d be fine.” Like Marlo was early, Andy can’t find anything to say. It was a bad judgement call, just like Marlo did earlier. Only Andy erred on the side of being too trusting, while Marlo did on the side of being too cynical.
In this case, Andy’s judgement call has serious consequences. Wanda lost it, stabbed another neighbor, kidnapped the boy who was always saying mean things about her and took him to the building’s basement where all the boilers and other machines that make noise are. As Wanda Starks, actress Jane Sowerby is frightfully good. The character is out of control and dangerous, yet you still get the sense there being a person behind the mental illness – even when she douses herself with gasoline so Andy can’t taze her.
I wish I had a video clip of the scene, because it’s just really good. Andy tries to talk Wanda down, but Wanda doesn’t want to go back to the hospital. She’s gets more upset at the thought, so when the kid tries to run, Wanda picks up the knife to stab him – only Marlo is there and shoots her before she can.
As the ambulance is loading Linda’s body, Andy and Marlo are squared off in a heated discussion. Andy angrily says she had it under control - but she really didn’t. She’s really angry about the day itself, a day of Marlo second-guessing her. In this case, If Marlo hadn’t been there the kid might have died. Sam arrives and tells them to get their stories straight, before SIU (Special Investigation Unit) gets there. Andy says, “There is no story, she was following protocol. She just got there first.” It’s the truth, even though in that particular moment Andy just seems angry.
While that issue was going down, Dov and Chloe are still pursuing the tattooed ATM mugger. With a process of elimination due to the information given to them by Diaz and Shaw, they are down to four suspects. Chloe takes her deduction about the vintage stores further, this guy only hits on neighborhoods that have a lot of these stores, so it’s likely he lives in an area that has a number of those stores. As such she thinks they should check on…Nicky Radar – Andy’s first choice as to who was responsible. Even though it looks like it might have been a mistake, Chloe’s wandering eyes notice the huge billboard on one of the buildings says, “Life is Beautiful.” They catch Nicky trying to leave out the back of his building. When he tries to stonewall them again, Chloe uses the butt cheek test again. Only this time, the guy won’t do it – because he’s guilty!
It’s been a long day on the job for everyone, one where thoughts about differences, being better or being worse have been echoing in all the characters lives. Andy runs into Marlo in the locker room. Marlo is seriously down about the shooting. Andy has calmed down and thanks Marlo:
“…for having my back, doing your job…. You were just doing your job.”
While is a short and simple statement, the words carry the weight of a thank you, an apology, and a reassurance that whether Wanda pulls through or not, Officer Marlo Cruz did the right thing. The thank you acknowledges that Marlo saved that kid’s life, possibly hers and certainly her career. Whatever personal feeling Marlo has, she didn’t it let her interfere with her work. Andy isn’t as sure if that’s the case for herself. She doesn’t say that, but her later action seems to indicate it. I’m saving that for last though.
After work, Dov concedes to Chloe that they did well in the field and that they made a good team. They are still vastly different though, as Chloe saw the day as him treating her like a normal cop, while it’s his most abdominal – hastily adding it wasn’t bad, just…different. However, when Chloe asks him out for a drink. he says he needs to not hear her voice for a while and besides that she’s the captain’s god-daughter. Instead of being upset Chloe laughs, which confuses Dov. (It’s a confusing reaction Dov, don’t worry.) She tells Dov that she “didn’t hear a no” in that statement.” Oh boy…this is the woman who fully admits she doesn’t take no for an answer anyway. Poor Dov. His last relationship turned out to be with the sister of the guy he shot, now a simple hook-up turns out to be the god-daughter of his boss. Is he ever gonna catch a break?
Chris goes and gets his son’s name tattooed on his arm, and Gail, with Nick beside her dumps the ashes into the lake. It’s a lot of ashes. Nick says the guy must have been big. Gail says wistfully that maybe his second wife had left instructions to have her body cremated and mixed in with her husband, so “their dust would be mingled for all eternity.” Wow. It’s such a sweet, romantic thought, and as she talks about the desire some people have to bond together I’m reminded again of adolescent dreams of love and romance – as well as the dangers of co-dependency. There’s also the more mature spiritual/religious ideas of love and relationship. Which area is Gail speaking from? I’m not sure. I doubt Nick really believes in that personally, but he does see how important it is to Gail. To that end, he drinks the awful drink because what at first seemed to be a childish test, was actually a symbol of something important for her.
How does Gail fit into the whole “different, not better” theme? Actually, she’s the piece that wrapped it up for me, because right after she says all of this, she tells Nick, she’d never ask that of their relationship. Gail wants love and connection in her life, even though most of the time it seems like she doesn’t. She seems cold and uncaring, but isn’t. Yet, she hides those parts of herself because she sees them as being a type of weakness. She appears different, she is different, but not really. Even Wanda, despite her insanity, understood and just wanted to be treated with, basic human dignity. We all have our own personalized strengths and weaknesses but no person is better than another.
Andy watches Sam and Marlo say goodnight and while it hurts, she sees Marlo as person, not a rival. She’s witnessed Marlo put aside her personal feelings on the job, and I think may even question if she’s been able to do the same. So once Marlo leaves Andy approaches Sam to tell him that Marlo “is great.” More importantly, she says that her talent is “I know when to quit. You know when the odds are against me, when to walk away.” McNally is conceding defeat. Not because Marlo is better than her, but because Marlo is a person, just like her. Of course, Sam just has to call her back when she’s walking away – because he just can’t let her walk away. No, he has to call her back to say, “See you tomorrow.” I swear, sometimes I just want to smack him! However, since I just finished writing that we all have our human weaknesses, I guess I’ll have to let Sam’s inability to accept what he really wants slide. At least I will for this week. Next week…well, heck I’m so happy that there’s a Rookie Blue next week, I’m not even going to worry about what Sam’s going to do!
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