The Rookie Season 2’s winter premiere delivered an intense episode. Now there’s some hope that Chenford can finally happen.
Caution: There are spoilers from The Rookie Season 2’s winter premiere in this post.
Just by the title, you’ll now know how The Rookie‘s Season 2 winter premiere ended. But it wasn’t really that surprising was it? Of course the team was going to find Lucy Chen and she was going to survive. The show can’t handle another female loss right now.
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I won’t tell you exactly how the team finds Lucy. What I will tell you is that Bradford felt some of the guilt for Chen getting abducted. He was the one that encouraged Chen to go for a drink with Caleb in the first place, despite Chen clearly feeling like something was off. Throughout the episode, he felt like he should have been able to tell that Caleb was off and should have protected Chen.
This was more than him just being a cop, though. There are deeper feelings that Bradford is clearly trying to push down. The character who was closed off and seemed like the worst training officer to have has turned out to be the biggest softy on The Rookie.
Could Chenford finally happen?
This isn’t the first time there’s been something between Chen and Bradford on The Rookie. Our sister site, Hidden Remote, has pointed out that there’s been chemistry between Melissa O’Neil and Eric Winter from the earlier days. At that point, we were just waiting for the two characters to be single.
Something that will hold them back is that Bradford is Chen’s training officer. But when has that stopped other shows seeing characters hook up? We just have to look at all the relationships that have happened in Grey’s Anatomy to know that a relationship between two different ranks doesn’t have to affect someone’s career.
Bradford has spent a lot of time making Chen the officer she is today. While I still think Chen would have been better off with a female officer to start with (someone who could train her to take on assailants despite her size), I’ve loved seeing Chenford’s dynamic grow. They’ve been the yin to each other’s yang, helping each other develop personally.
The way Bradford reacted to Chen being abducted wasn’t just a usual training officer’s reaction. It wasn’t even a best friend’s reaction. Other characters showed how friends would react. Even Nolan didn’t go completely over the top when tracking down assailants. This makes it clear there’s much more to Bradford’s feelings.
Now isn’t the time for Chen
Granted, there’s no way that this is the right time for Chen to think of a relationship. Everything that happened to her started because she went for a drink with a guy. She is going to want to step back and deal with the trauma from being buried alive and almost dying.
However, that doesn’t mean she’s going to want to stay single forever. Eventually, she’s going to want to open up and date again. She’ll want someone she can trust, which brings us back to Bradford. What isn’t there to like about him?
Do you think Chenford should happen on The Rookie? What did you think of Bradford’s reaction to Chen’s abduction? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The Rookie airs Sundays at 10/9c on ABC.