Melissa O’Neil and Eric Winter always knew that fans of “Chenford” — the beloved relationship between their characters, Lucy Chen and Tim Bradford — would not be pleased about Bradford’s decision to break things off suddenly with Chen in the midseason finale of The Rookie. But in retrospect, the actors both underestimated just how upset their fans would become and just how long they would voice their discontentment on social media.
“I think it just speaks to the passion of this fandom and what they feel they’ve earned, and the stake they’ve put into the development of this relationship,” Winter tells TV Guide in a joint interview with O’Neil. “There are so many happy relationships on our show, and that’s just not a perfect reflection of life. I feel like we are the one relationship where there is enough baggage and trauma that led into this relationship that would warrant it not to be so smooth.”
Since splitting up, Chen and Bradford have woven in and out of each other’s lives, but Tuesday’s season finale reaffirms that these two partners-in-fighting-crime work better together than apart. After Lucy learns during her latest undercover stint that criminal lawyer Monica Stevens (Bridget Regan) has ordered a hit on a local laundromat where a gang is waiting to collect $2 million in exchange for her life, the LAPD camp out at the venue and get into a shootout with the hit men and other gang members.
During the confrontation, Bradford jumps into the back of a pickup truck that one of the hit men uses to get away from the crime scene, and the two wrestle in the front seat. Following in close pursuit, Chen and Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) get close enough to the pickup truck for Chen to jump into the trunk herself. From there, she is able to physically restrain the driver enough for Bradford to hit the brakes and stop the car. On their way out of the station together, Tim thanks Lucy for saving his life and declares that he will spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to her in whatever small doses she will allow. It’s certainly a step forward for the exes on their path to reconciliation.
