#tim bradford is a big softie change my mind

[applesbloominthefield]

the rookie thoughts (kinda controversial)

tw: topics of police brutality

first of all i have to say, i am an international viewer, and i just found out about the rookie a couple of weeks ago through youtube shorts, and knew i had to watch it when i saw clips of chenford.

i stand with the term ACAB through and through, and i am all for defunding the police, because unfortunately i have had my own terrible experiences with cops, even if not within the US. but come on, social media has proven once again, no matter which country or nation ALL COPS ARE BASTARDS.

so i when i found out the rookie was a cop show, i was very wary. i hate copaganda and no show or no media would ever be able to change my mind about cops being good people (still is true). but then i keep seeing these clips of chenford and i just fell in love with them. i don't know why and what about their dynamic is so attractive to me, maybe the slowburn, the black cat and golden retriever, the cold and sunshine, the yapper and the listener, the broody guy outside but a big softie on the inside and the hopeless romantic girlie?? so i decided to start watching it for the sake of Lucy Chen and Tim Bradford. let me tell you, i fell into a rabbit hole. i have never felt this way about a ship ever since middle school when i shipped dramione and sterek (both unattainable ships and not cannon btw) so imagine the euphoria of knowing chenford is canon. i truly fell in love with them, and i forgot how much happy hormones fangirling over your favorite character gives you.

i was in a bad place, and chenford and the rookie had my back, honestly.

i have to applaud the writers because they're able to make us - or me, at the very least- be invested into the lives of the ensemble of characters. let me tell you, i have been an avid series watcher ever since middle school, when my coping mechanism to weird thoughts and ideations (if you get what im saying) was to enjoy shows and hyperfixate on them so my brain gets distracted from the realities of life, and there are always characters i don't like, or characters i don't care about, or i skip over because i think they're a waste of my time, but the rookie truly made me care for and love each of the character. and i think that's a really tough thing to do.

now im new to the fandom (and honestly i dont plan to invest much time into being in the fandom anyways because being in a fandom is very exhausting and time consuming to me and i don't know if i've got that kind of energy like i had when i ran harry potter and teen wolf accounts when i was in middle school. i think i prefer to just be a fan of the show and just watch the fandom from afar but occasionally will have a couple of inputs or rants), so im familiar with people saying they hate nolan and why is the show focused too much on nolan (which... i mean the show did start out being centered around him) etc etc, which i felt the same way too when i watched s1, but truly, i have even grown fond of nolan too... and that's miracle work done by the writers, baby

i think my favorites are season 2-3 even if season 3 unfortunately got rushed by the circumstances back then (pandemic) s1 was good too in terms of plot, but my chenford heart couldn't take seeing nolan and lucy ewww. and of course i loved s5 bcs of chenford but the plot could have been better.

so those are a couple of things i think the showrunners/writers should be applauded for, now for constructive criticism... i feel the show never truly acknowledges that most if not all cops are bad (even if they insist that there are always good ones), they always scratch the surface or barely spend enough time to go deep within this topic, which i think is crucial as a cop show rather than just doing it for the sake of "woke agenda" (which i felt was their goal in s3)

you know when women say "i hate men" and men always say "not all men" and we as women would say "sure not all men, but it's always a man" i feel like it's always that kind of back and forth with The Rookie. if you are not or have never been the one being assaulted by the police, if you are not or have never been a victim of the corrupt law enforcement, if you have never felt the corruption and unfairness of law enforcement, who are you to say otherwise?

when i say and think ACAB, i mean it. even the most noble of cops for example tim bradford has been corrupted by the system due to work politics (S6) or maybe even when he was blatantly being prejudice in the pilot episode towards hispanic men (S1)??

i also think just putting poc with tragic backgrounds for main characters, to show why they want to do police work to be on the good side of things is NOT enough! that's like not even the bare minimum...

i honestly think the Professor Fiona arc was getting good, and they almost went somewhere with it, until it didn't continue in season 4 and never was even acknowledged again.

they barely scratched the surface, and im sure if the George Floyd case (may his soul rest in peace) hadn't been exposed, they woud have never even graze the topic of crooked cops

with that being said, the writers did a great job with doug stanton, because i truly wanted to punch him in the face repeatedly whenever he came on.

so what's the conclusion? i think the rookie is great when it comes to the main characters and their respective plots or character developments! but still really terrible at showing the reality of cops! because ACAB!

but i think i do understand that in the end all of this is fictional, and is a sort of getaway, but no matter how fictional, because of the coverage and platform the rookie has as a network tv show, that's also on hulu, it's important to dive deep into the realities that cops are bastards and how it has affected the lives of millions of innocent people. i think it would be the least they could do.

for me, i fully am aware that my stance on cops contradicts my love for the characters. but that's the thing, two things can be true. i still hate the police, but i love the rookie esp chenford as a ship! i guess in a sense, the rookie is a sort of guilty pleasure, and i really do hope the writers/showrunners do better on this topic so i wont feel ashamed when someone asks me what is my current fav show and i say it's a cop show.

anyways, ACAB! DEFUND THE POLICE! BLACK LIVES MATTER!

[gooseberryfox]

okay i just rewatched the scene where tim finds lucy's burial site and all i hear him whisper to her when she regains consciousness is

"hey, hey."

"shh, youre okay, youre okay, i got you, youre safe now."

and now im crying

[fandomsandwritings]

Kind of Friends

Show: The Rookie

Lucy Chen x Tim Bradford, aka Chenford

Summary: If Tim had come over after Lucy’s mom left during 3x10

A/N: I binged The Rookie in like a week and now I’m in love with Tim Bradford and I love him and Lucy together! This is my first time writing in this fandom feel free to leave constructive criticism! 

This is mostly just fluff, just Tim and Lucy caring about each other but not admitting they like each other. 

Word Count: 695

Lucy had been sitting alone in her apartment since her mom left. The food was still sitting out, albeit cold now. It had been a couple hours and she couldn’t stop thinking about what her mom said. She really thought that both of her parents would have changed their minds now that she was a P2. At the very least she thought that they would actively stop trying to make her quit, but damn was she wrong.

A knock on her door broke Lucy out of her thoughts. She half hoped it was her mom coming back to apologize but when she opened the door it was her TO, or her ex-TO, staring at her.

“Oh, hey.” Was her greeting to him as he stood at her door with a small box in his hand.

“Well don’t act so excited Chen,” He scoffed a little before continuing, “I don’t want to interrupt your dinner with your parents, but Lopez wanted me to drop off some of her extra cake testing pieces. She said that she was, and I quote, ‘big enough as it is’ and didn’t need the extra cake.”  He finished his little story with one of his smirks before offering Lucy the box.

Lucy grabbed the box and backed into her apartment, leaving the door open as an invitation for Tim to follow her. And he did. “I’ll make sure to tell Angela thank you but, as you can see, the only thing you’re interrupting is my pity party.”

Tim gave her a questioning look, so she began to explain.

“Just the same shit, my parents being disappointed in my career choice and trying to convince me to quit. You know my dad didn’t even come? Yeah, just my mom did and not even two minutes after she walked through the door, she told me that she and my father were embarrassed of me. I wasn’t expecting a parade, but a ‘good job’ would have been nice…” she trailed off “and you probably don’t care, sorry. Tonight, has just been really frustrating.”                    

“Hey, I care, I’m not a total robot.” His response makes a laugh bubble out of her, “and hey we are kind of friends, I guess.” He finishes with an easy smile

“Ha so you admit it!” Lucy exclaims while her first real smile of the night spreads across her face.

He knew it would make her smile, and while he’d never say it out loud, he would do anything to see that smile on her face. Especially if it was directed at him.          

“Remember when I said to not let anyone ever tell you that you can’t do something?” he waited for her to nod and then waited another minute until she looked up at him, and then held eye contact with her, “sometimes that includes our parents, and believe me, I know what wanting parents to be proud of you feels like.” He takes a deep breath before continuing, not used to being this open with his former rookie, “But just know that I am proud of you, you are going to do so many good things in your career Lucy and your parents may never approve of this life, but I will always be one call away and I’ll tell you how incredibly proud of you I am every time you need to hear it.”

Now that may not have been the most Tim Bradford thing to say, but something about this small but strong brunette in front of him had changed him into a softy.

Lucy just stood there staring at him and he saw her chin begin to tremble and her eyes begin to water.

“Thank you” was all she said as silent tears began to fall.

He immediately pulled her into his arms, and they just stood in the middle her apartment embracing each other for a few minutes. Neither of them wanting to let go but neither of them ready to admit why.

When they finally pulled away from each other, Lucy wiped away her tears and Tim broke the silence.

“Cake?”

And Lucy laughed as she began to look at her cake options.     

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Thank you for reading! This is my only The Rookie one shot at the moment but feel free to check out some of my other stuff!

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