Critic’s Rating: 3 / 5.0
3
Admittedly, I’ve never been a fan of the true-crime documentary episodes.
I rarely found them appealing, and sadly, The Rookie Season 7 Episode 15 was no exception.
But they made a gallant effort by connecting many of the season’s cases, bringing up Glasser and others, and poking at Chenford a bit more.
The Rookie loves to bring back characters, which can be fun, but the issue is that some returning characters are either unremarkable, annoying, or nothing to write home about.
Abigail’s return was underwhelming because I had genuinely blocked out who she was and her connection to Nolan and didn’t put two and two together until they explained it.
Is she someone a viewer ever thought they wanted an update on? Doubtful. But here we were.
She was the center of the missing persons case that sparked the documentary by The Rookie’s documentarian, showrunner Alexi Hawley.
But she was also doing her own true crime piece, as it became a documentary within a documentary.
Technically, it was three, like one of those nesting dolls if you count the ghost hunters filming and investigating Westview being hunted.
To its credit, the hour connects many of the season’s cases and references various things to layer into this convoluted plot.
One wouldn’t have initially envisioned how they could connect Abigail’s disappearance to Glasser’s serial killing and working at Westview, to some big conspiracy, and also that connection to Charlotte and Zuzu.
Nevertheless, it was all very messy, and one’s eyes glazed over as they tried to draw out all these connections to have a full episode.
The hour dragged on, and it felt like they were going out of their way to stuff things in just to meet the time quota.
But at least the cast always seems to have fun filming these installments, which brightens up the experience.
Angela once again cited the perks of having a husband with a trust fund, which doesn’t get old, and her using that to bankroll Abigail’s horror movie was amusing.
It was also odd that she was so bored in the off-hours that she forgot pertinent information about Glasser and Westview.
And then that sent Abigail on a tailspin, trying to unravel the mystery around the asylum and if it was really haunted and had a demonic presence.
From there, we got various things going at once. One of them was a CIA off-the-books study that had a doctor working with the CIA and experimenting on citizens between the 50s and 70s before he checked into the asylum until his dying days.
That’s where the director of Westview got some of her ideas for disposing of the private investigator a former patient hired to investigate the place.
The storyline eventually veers into “I Care A Lot” territory for anyone who has watched how despicable Rosamund Pike was in that Netflix film.
It turned out that the asylum consisted of wealthy patients whom courts and others declared mentally unfit and in need of a conservatorship, and that’s how the director was able to make profits by exploiting them and stealing their money.
They even referenced Britney Spears.
Abigail went missing by a fluke that had her stuck in a secret room with Bob’s corpse after figuring all of this out.
And Voila, those are the two stories about Westview and how creepy the asylum is.
Sadly, Glasser, who I feel was a waste in all of this, was trying to use the whole thing about the poisoned water as a defense and still held a grudge against Harper.
And, yeah, it was complicated and messy, but that’s the gist of it.
The opening came into play when Bradford and Chen investigated the place for Abigail or new information.
It resulted in some amusing moments for the pair. While “high,” it prompted Tim to be more forthcoming about why he broke up with Lucy, and it was more than he had given her before.
He mentioned that his father was always hard on him, challenging and punishing him and that breaking up with Lucy was his way of punishing himself.
It’s the only way he knows how to function.
We have another mark in the books for the newly enlightened (but mostly offscreen) Tim, and they’re on track to rekindle things more permanently by the end of the season.
He even mentioned wanting Lucy to forgive him, or rather, feeling that he still needed to earn it, but she admitted that she already had.
They made some progress together under the influence, but that’s probably all we’ll get from them now.
Documentarian Hawley poked fun at them during the interview, especially about Tim dating Rachel, and all of that was funny, though.
Overall, it was a classic true-doc episode of the series, but they are just not my cup of tea.
But I’m curious how you guys feel about them. Over to you, Rookie Fanatics.
Did you enjoy this one? What was your favorite part? Hit the comments below.
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