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Spoilers below : 

The start of 7×13 is one of my favourite cold opens from this season, I’m definitely liking the growing friendship between Miles (Deric Augustine) and Celina (Lisseth Chavez), Miles really has opened up over the course of the season, from saying he didn’t need any help from Celina on his first day to going for early morning runs with her. 

The Mid-Wilshire crew are always going through something, and this episode is no different. Nolan’s (Nathan Fillion) billboard seen at the start of the episode is just the start of this episodes antics towards the LAPD.

Normally the change in title cards means a high intense episode is about to follow and this was no different. Our favourite’s having a group hang out to discuss police reform is incredibly special, one thing about the rookie is that they will never shy away from having real storylines that relate to the present day. 

Another small perfect moment in this scene was Nyla (Mekia Cox) mentioning how our very own Aaron Thorsen (Tru Valentino) is still helping the Mid-Wilshire station, even if he is over with North Hollywood.

The billboard once again coming up as a possible push back to the groups reform, however Nyla shuts it down with arguably my favourite line in the whole episode “whoever did this billboard seems they only hate you” – iconic Nyla as usual.

“Three Billboards” – The Rookie, Pictured: Alyssa Diaz, Melissa O’Neil, Nathan Fillion, Eric Winter, Shawn Ashmore. Mike Taing/Disney ©2024 Network. All Rights Reserved 

Tim (Eric Winter) and Lucy (Melissa O’Neil) had a very small interaction at the start of this episode; however I think it is highly significant in the continuum of their relationship. Lucy suggests that they both speak to Rachel (Jasmine Mathews) about missing her interview set up by Luna (Angel Parker), once again looping Tim into something he doesn’t need to be involved in, however to my surprise Tim explains it’s more of a best friend thing than an ex-boyfriend thing. It truly shows even in that small moment how much he cares for Lucy; his mind immediately goes to “I’m her ex-boyfriend that isn’t my place”. He has never done this with Lucy, he has constantly checked up on her since the break-up, showing he doesn’t just see Lucy as his ex-girlfriend (even if you take away everything that’s happened in the last couple of episodes)

I absolutely loved Celina riding on her own, we’ve been waiting a long time for her to have her first solo ride as a P2, and she absolutely smashed it. The montage of her talking to Rodge (Zander Hawley) and arresting three people on her own showed how good of a cop she is. In her own words “you have my permission to call me a badass” 

Tim (Mr no personal talk in the shop) sure has taken an interest in making sure that Miles is okay, I truly do think as much as Tim doesn’t want to admit it Lucy has softened him. 

This episode Rachel finally made a reappearance, which had Lucy once again showing how much of an amazing friend she is, not that Rachel seemed to deem that as truth by abruptly cutting Lucy off before explaining why she didn’t attend the interview opportunity that Luna got her.

We don’t even have a moment to think about Rachel’s nonresponse as Lucy and Nolan are involved in a car bombing as a motorcyclist rides by and throws a bomb into the car they have pulled over. 

The commotion causes all cops to respond, resulting in Miles meeting his former teammate A.J Knox (Justin Cornwell) who is living the high life, and the life that Miles previously would have had prior to his injury, inviting Miles to come and live the high life for one night. 

Celina and Rodge living together for a small period of time really was moving too quickly, and I’m glad she had him leave at the end of the episode just to give the pair some space, however it did bring some laughter especially with the sound system in the living room. 

This episode certainly flipped back and forth between Joy and high intensity, but going from Celina and Rodge FaceTiming to her entering a house alone was one of the quickest changes of pace.

I held my breath the entire time Celina was in there on her own, but once again she showed how good of a cop she was staying with the victim after clearing the house and having the other officers chase the suspect.

Her skills didn’t stop there either, once she is able to debrief with Nolan and Lucy after a second bomb is thrown at them, Lucy reveals that Celina stopped the bike from being able to be moved, safe to say I was very impressed. 

This episode was so fast paced that we straight away moved onto Nyla and Angela (Alyssa Diaz) having a billboard of their own, and I agree with the pair, why did they use those photos, especially when they are now both detectives. Wesley helping them try and discover who put the billboards up gave us some much-needed Wopez content. 

Miles hurrying to leave the station to get to the party embodies everyone who has something planned after work.

I have to say when I first started watching the season, I wasn’t sure how much I would like Miles, but he has slowly become one of my favourite’s and this episode cemented that. 

I truly don’t know how they manage to cram so many things into one episode but Bailey and Nolan discussing all their near-death experiences was only going to lead one way, I really feel for them, you could see how excited they were to be able to adopt a child and to be shot down because of their dream jobs is so disheartening, however I don’t think this will be the end of their adoption storyline, I could see Bailey giving up her dream job to become a stay at home parent. 

Miles’ response to the doorman wanting to pat him down gave me such Tim Bradford vibes, learning off of his TO on and off the job. 

Miles being dragged into the interview with AJ with no warning felt so wrong, you could see on his face how upsetting talking about his past was. Miles then catching AJ’s friend stealing jewellery and confronting him was the moment you could see his cop instincts kicking in, however choosing to let it go and bringing it up with AJ later was definitely the right move. 

This really was a Miles centric episode, and I am not complaining, him stopping Rachel from being hit on at the party and then ringing Lucy to ensure her safety fully showed how good of a person Miles is deep down. Although Lucy being done with Miles due to his over explaining of the situation at 4am in the morning really did make me chuckle. 

One small thing that I did notice was that Lucy still has the officer copcake poster of Tim on her pinboard. A small nod for the Chenford fans. 

Rachel seeing Lucy and Celina was incredibly comical because of how drunk she was but I would argue that them losing her was even funnier, they turned their backs for one moment and then only saw her again later with Rodge. 

Once again you had no time to think about that as Miles was notified of the crew that was going to break into AJ’s home.

This whole sequence was my absolute favourite part of the episode, Miles showed off his true cop skills when fighting in the pool of the house, the entire fight was incredible and had my breath hitched the entire time. I have to hand it to Deric Augustine as I know he did his own stunts, and he had an unblemished performance. 

“Three Billboards” – The Rookie, Pictured: Deric Augustine. Mike Taing/Disney ©2024 Network. All Rights Reserved 

Earlier I mentioned that Tim had softened a little and nothing shows that more than this end scene of him and Miles discussing if Penn would be taking the security detail that AJ had offered him, you can truly tell that therapy has helped heal multiple parts of Tim Bradford’s character. 

Liam Glasser (Seth Gabel) being revealed as the billboard culprit reminded me of my earlier suspicions that his story is not over and he will still wreak havoc with the LAPD.

The ending scene of this episode answered many questions I had when Rachel first came back to LA, and the main one being : Why didn’t she just stay with her dad rather than living with Lucy? And the answer is because her dad had died a couple months ago, I found this such a powerful scene with Lucy once again showing no matter what is going on in her personal life, she will be there for the people she cares about.

I do feel it is worth quickly mentioning the promo for the next episode, it seems we will finally have Tim leaning on his best friend Angela about his relationship with Lucy. Some happiness for the Chenford fandom may be coming next episode and maybe some consequences with Nolan and Bailey.

For me the performer of the week can only be the one and only Deric Augustine, there is absolutely no faults that I am able to give for his performance this week, everything from being upset during the interview to the pool fight scene, incredible!

What did you think of Miles this episode, has he grown on you since the start of the season?