Pilot

I watched hoping I would at least like the pilot episode and thankfully I did. I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn't comparing John Nolan with Richard Castle. I will keep watching.

The Pilot episode of The Rookie stars the always-terrific Nathan Fillion. His blend of masculine soft-snark, charm, and heart make for a solid and engaging center for the new series about a 40-ish year old man who seeks a new purpose in his life as a rookie officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. The initial outing is funny, fast-moving, and crammed full of character introductions with hints at a multitude backstories. The music is fresh, the camera work interesting, and there is some ubiquitous sex and violence (apparently to be sure and remind the audience that this is a cop show...). Not a perfect offering to be sure: while the supporting cast is solid, several of the character setups felt forced and telegraphed (far too loudly) what we should expect to see unfold in the follow-on episodes. In the end though is was entertaining. The Pilot episode of The Rookie was fun (albeit a bit scattershot in presentation) and earned its sophomore episode a reason to tune in.

I was not impressed with this first episode. The bad writing sunk it. It's clear which characters we're supposed to like and which ones we're not -- because they are written as villains. Sadly, I didn't care about any of the characters as they were all stereotypes. The behavior of most of these officers would get them fired for countless violations of employment law.

I guess it was tough to detail the boring daily work of LAPD. The one thing that bothered me was why the sergeant had a goatee? Was it another exception for black actor? LAPD only allowed mustache for patrol officers and detectives.

This show is about serious subject matters, such as crime, violence, racism, and the dangers of being a cop. However, in this first episode they bring up all of these themes, but in such a lazy way that it feels condescending. There's a real lack of identity and personality to this first episode. At times it feels like I'm not supposed to take any of it seriously, but at other times it feels like the show takes itself really seriously. The presentation is way off the mark, and makes for a slightly confusing watch. The music choice doesn't jive with me, personally, as I feel like it is a massive factor in the tone of the show being all over the place (no pun intended).