The Rookie: Why didn’t Bradford really accept a promotion?

Tim Bradford learned he passed the Sergeants exam. That means a potential promotion, but he turned it down in The Rookie Season 2, Episode 13. Why was that?

Since Lucy Chen was saved in The Rookie Season 2’s winter premiere, we’ve wondered if it meant Chenford would get a chance. That seems all the more possible with the recent development with Tim Bradford. Why did he really turn down the promotion in Episode 13?

Throughout the episode, Bradford worried about not passing the Sergeant’s exam. This fear gave us another side to the character, and it should have been great news when he found out he passed. However, he learned that the promotion he could take was with another precinct. That meant away from Lucy.

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And you can tell that it was Lucy he was thinking of. Even Lucy was disappointed that while the promotion was a good thing, she’d lose her training officer. Chen and Bradford have come a long way since the pilot episode. She’s encouraged him to let down some of those walls and he’s helped her become a good cop.

So, while Bradford claims that Chen still has some training, you just know there’s more to this. He doesn’t want to leave the trainee that he’s come to respect and care for. We saw it when Lucy was missing. Bradford didn’t just take it hard as a training officer. There were more feelings thrown in.

Harper took over as Chen’s T.O. for the episode after, but you could tell that Bradford wasn’t happy. This wasn’t just that he thought he could do better (he understood why Harper might have felt she’d be a better T.O. for the first shift back) but that he didn’t really want to let his trainee out of his sights. He cares deeply for her, more like someone he has personal feelings for.

I get the feeling that The Rookie writers really are getting us ready for a relationship between Chen and Bradford. Of course, this is going to open all sorts of cans of worms. A T.O dating his trainee? Lucy dating Nolan was bad enough!

What do you think about the idea of Chen and Bradford together? Is that the real reason Bradford refused the promotion? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The Rookie airs Sundays at 10/9c on ABC. Catch up on the season with Hulu.