Spoilers for The Rookie Season 7, Episode 15 – “A Deadly Secret” – are ahead! To catch up, you can stream the ABC drama with a Hulu subscription. New episodes air on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
The Rookie fans were quite devastated when Eric Winter’s Tim Bradford broke things off with Melissa O’Neil’s Lucy Chen in Season 6. That was especially disheartening, given fans waited so long for them to finally get together. It’s clear that the two cops have a unique bond, and there are certainly still feelings between them, as fans have already seen amid the 2025 TV schedule. After hearing the show's EP teasing what’s next for Chenford following the characters' truth serum revelations, I'm feeling somewhat upbeat.
While on a case in Tuesday’s episode, “A Deadly Secret,” Tim and Lucy came into contact with sodium pentothal, literal truth serum. While waiting for help to arrive, they began opening up about some deep topics, including embarrassing moments. Tim also said he felt he “deserved to be punished” growing up with a dad like his. With that, he punished himself by breaking up with Lucy. Not only that, but the documentary crew that were talking to the team throughout the episode revealed that the duo talked about baby names.
As if that wasn’t enough, Lucy came to the realization that she had forgiven Tim for what he had done, not knowing when she even forgave him. Showrunner Alexi Hawley told TVLine that it’s “another good sign on the way towards where we are going with them.” Although it seems like Chenford may finally be coming back around, it might still be a while, as Hawley explained:
Obviously, there’s the obstacle of the sergeants exam, It’s very necessary for Lucy to pass that for them to get on equal footing, if they were to be together. But I do think that her finally realizing that she has forgiven him — and him having done the emotional work on himself he needed to — is a good sign.
As much as I hate the continued onslaught of obstacles, it does make sense for the creative team to wait until Lucy passes her sergeant’s exam since Tim is currently her superior. Plus, Tim told Angela in a previous episode that things could be changing once that happens. At the very least, Chenford seems to finally be heading in the right direction and, hopefully, when they do eventually get back together, it plays out in a truly beautiful way.
Whether or not the two characters get back together before the end of the season is still unknown, but it’s probably unlikely that they'll fully reconcile by that point. On the bright side, The Rookie has been renewed for Season 8, so that just means there will be another full season of Chenford moments to look forward to.
There are still a few episodes left of The Rookie Season 7, and there are still a number of unknowns within the narrative. Now that Tim and Lucy have revealed some very intense secrets, I'm especially curious to see how their dynamic continues to evolve. We'll just have to wait and see, so hold your breath until then.
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