It’s the end of one of the most notable sagas in the show’s history.
Rosalind Dyer met her maker on The Rookie Season 5 Episode 4, and while it wasn’t at John’s hand the way she intended, it’s still a shocking development for everyone to wrap their head around.
And Bailey joins the ranks of the other survivors whose lives are forever changed because of Rosalind.
They brought out all the stops with this installment. It was lots of action, explosions, and everything about it gave the impression that it was a midseason finale.
The series brought that type of quality and energy to this installment, and it also utilized nearly all the characters so well and had you cheering them on from the opening credits to the end ones.
Rosalind could’ve been doing literally anything else in the world after she escaped. The world was her oyster; she could’ve gone on another killing spree on an island somewhere, and no one would’ve been the wiser.
But she chose to return to Los Angeles and wreak havoc on Nolan’s life because she got a kick out of it and cast him as co-lead in her story. And that’s about the only thing you can probably glean from Rosalind’s attachment to John.
I’m a psychopath; you should know that by now.
Rosalind
He’s the noble, good-hearted protagonist to her antagonist. In her way, she believed that coexisted. Every “great” villain has their foil.
You could tell Rosalind got off on that idea, and it mattered to her that she had her opposite side of the coin in John. It’s also why she needed him to kill her.
Rosalind was probably sick of herself, but damn if she didn’t want to take him down and ruin him further when she did. It was an elaborate plan to get her way, though.
How could she anticipate Bailey falling into that hole? What are the odds that the camera would function when the generator got knocked out?
What guarantees would Bailey survive if Nolan did as Rosalind wished? What exactly kept Nolan from killing Rosalind in the first place? Would he stop being his usual boy scout if he killed the serial killer holding him hostage and endangering the lives of others?
Would Nolan have lost some part of himself if he had shot her there?
The series dictates that Nolan has to play this role. Perhaps the flexibility of morality is easier to consider for some more than others because it didn’t seem like Nolan would lose any piece of himself, nor would his colleagues or the audience view him differently if he went ahead and killed her.
He had to go beyond what he felt comfortable with when she contacted him, from stealing cars to assaulting a civilian. Although, it was clever that he left his card to tip off the others.
Chen: It doesn’t seem real.
Grey: It is, she’s done.
But even in the end, someone else shot Rosalind in the head. He would’ve carted her back to prison, where she could’ve started this whole thing all over again.
Rosalind’s death is surreal for people like Lucy, who never envisioned that this could be over. And the sad part is that Rosalind fans will always be willing to do things in her name. We also know that she has an acolyte out there, likely one of many, but definitely one that’s close.
But now we have to wonder who is behind her death. And that’s likely where the crossover with The Rookie: Feds will come in, especially since they have to track down the man who made the tank Bailey was in.
He’s the same man who did that to a woman in Colorado and murdered whoever that was Thorsen found.
Speaking of Thorsen, they’re doing a bang-up job of putting him to use, and he’s been such a lovely addition to the series. The trio of Thorsen, Harper, and Lopez was absolutely the best!
They all work so well together, each bringing something to the table in their efforts to find leads to save Bailey. And the three of them working with Laura and Brandon only made it that much better.
It’s a winning team and a dynamic that they can play around with more in future episodes, as it genuinely does work.
But Chen, Bradford, and Juarez were a fantastic trio, too. Celina has mellowed out a bit from her introduction. She’s still caught up in astrology and things like that, but she’s good at what she does and a natural.
They all were great with keeping Bailey calm and trying to find a solution and way out before it was too late. Of course, Lucy couldn’t lie to Bailey outright, so she was the one to break the news about Nolan going to Rosalind to save Bailey.
While we haven’t had any deep Chenford discussions to unpack everything that happened with their undercover mission and beyond, they still serve up some delicious crumbs to keep things going.
Tim refused to let Lucy go down into that hold because it was too dangerous, but he went down there without a second thought, the two of them sharing a meaningful look as he did.
And Bailey’s predicament was triggering for both of them in different ways. You could tell it transported Lucy back to her time in that oil drum, and it took Bradford back to that time, too, and the desperate attempts they made to save her before she ran out of air.
I came back because I missed you.
Rosalind
It’s a good thing that Bailey is Bailey. They kept up with their running theme of her having many different gifts and skill sets.
She used to be a competitive diver, giving her a full advantage while fighting for her life in that tank. She’d have died before they got that generator off if she didn’t have that going.
The fire breaking out in the water was nerve-wracking too, and while there was little doubt that Bailey wouldn’t survive the ordeal, it didn’t make it any less intense the entire time.
Some of the parallels to what happened to Lucy were too much. It would’ve been devastating if Nolan lost the woman he loved in such an awful way. He never would’ve recovered.
Something notable was that Lucy got to be the one to perform CPR on Bailey and bring her back to life.
She experienced what it was like on the other side of this, and it interestingly brought things full circle that maybe, hopefully, could help Lucy’s healing after what Rosalind did to her.
Lucy survived, and because she did, she was there to save Bailey and help her survive too. Out of everyone, the lingering effects all of this, including Rosalind’s death, will have on Lucy is something that could be compelling to explore down the road.
Nolan, no doubt, will fight his own demons from experience, maybe, but it’s Lucy and Bailey who know what it was like to be slowly dying at this woman’s hands.
It would also be nice to see Bailey and Lucy bond over this, too.
For now, Bailey is content that she’s alive and Nolan is okay, but an interesting arc would be exploring the aftermath of what she endured and how she and Nolan navigate that together.
Over to you, Rookie Fanatics.
Are you shocked by Rosalind’s death? Did you like the mini-crossover? Sound off below.
You can watch The Rookie online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.