Confession time: I haven’t watched Rookie Blue regularly since Season 2. Not because I didn’t like it, respect it or love all of the folks involved, but because I was writing for a magazine and website that covered both U.S. and Canadian series, I was assigned other stuff. Time passed … and here we are at Season 6.
So, as I did with Heartland fans, I’d ask veterans of Rookie Blue to be gentle with this relative newbie to the series. And though I didn’t tune in weekly, I did happen to check out a few instalments last season, including that explosive season finale. Picking up a month following the events of the cataclysmic event in the evidence lockup, the members of 15 Division were getting back on the job.
I’ve always enjoyed the relationships Rookie Blue features. Yes, it’s a cop drama with crimes and ongoing investigations, but nothing stands in the way of character growth … and the odd little roll in the hay like we were treated to via Swarek and Andy to kick off “Open Windows.” The pair have been on-again, off-again since those early days of Season 1 and I appreciate the fact RB‘s writers keep throwing up obstacles in their way without making it all seem like they’re pressing those diversions. And this year boasts one hell of a roadblock: Marlo being pregnant by Swarek. Four months into it, the next five or so promise to be rocky ones for everyone involved. Swarek will wrestle with how much he wants to be in the baby’s life, Marlo needs to figure out what she wants from him and Andy needs to fit in there somehow. It don’t know how it’s all going to shake out, but I’m definitely intrigued.
Traci being the target of a serial rapist was a curve ball I didn’t see coming. And while the Sex Crimes Unit is worried the guy has skipped town, I don’t think so. I suspect the criminal is the coffee shop guy who tried to pin the attacks on someone else. He fits the profile described—he lives with his mother, who served as his alibi during the attack on Andy at Traci’s—and knew all too much about 15’s detective.
Chloe is a character that I have quickly fallen for. Things may be over between she and Dov (He painted over their wall in white? Ouch indeed.), but I’ve got my fingers crossed she finds a new love soon. She’s quirky, kind and cute as a button. Speaking of Dov, I’m enjoying this tougher, more serious version of him. His work into the rapist storyline was impressive and it appears he and Marlo are going to make a formidable team in identifying how the bomb ended up on the evidence locker.
Meanwhile, newest member of the squad Juliet Ward (Erin Karpluk) came off like an innocent, precocious gal but clearly has an agenda of some kind. Is she a mole, sent to keep tabs on 15? Are she and Russ (Dayo Ade) members of Internal Affairs? It’s too soon to tell, but I’m looking forward to finding out the results of that, and more, this season.
Rookie Blue airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Global.
