The Rookie just fired one of its newest cops, but could this create a new foe for Chen and the team?
Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for The Rookie Season 7 Episode 10
Throughout Season 7 of The Rookie, Chen (Melissa O'Neill) has had her issues with her new rookie patrolman, Seth Ridley (Patrick Keleher). At first, he seemed like a nice guy wanting to do well, maybe rather green but well-meaning. He shared he was driven by the death of a girlfriend from a drug overdose, and Chen felt for the guy, especially when he revealed he was recovering from cancer.
However, Chen became suspicious Ridley wasn't quite on the up and up. It started when she heard him tell a different story about his girlfriend's death, with him claiming he had two girlfriends meeting sudden ends. She then checked with one of his teachers to discover neither woman was his girlfriend, just someone he knew briefly.
Chen got more suspicious of Ridley's behavior, although she couldn't bring her suspicions to Grey as Ridley claimed his cancer had returned. He did pop up when wildfires threatened the city, assigned to desk duty. He told Tim and Lucy to take a road, only for them to nearly get burned alive.
Ridley realized he'd written down a note on the road being unsafe but tore it up and lied to Chen and Tim about how he'd been given the wrong information. That just made Chen more suspicious to build to a boiling point.
What happened to Ridley in The Rookie season 7?
In "Chaos Agent," the squad was handling a variety of emergencies, from three young girls being stabbed to a cyberattack crippling the LAPD systems to a prisoner breakout to a raccoon causing a mess in the station.
Chen and Ridley were assigned to the hospital to watch over the girls. Ridley ran into his former oncologist, mentioning his cancer had returned. He said he couldn't see her due to the LAPD changing insurance coverage and seeing another doctor.
Chen cornered Grey's wife, Luna, who related that the doctor Ridley was seeing was known to be shady and the type who, for the right price, would give out any diagnosis someone wanted…such as, say, cancer returning.
That was enough for Chen to finally bring this to Grey. He confronted Ridley and point-blank ordered him to submit to a blood test to determine if he was sick or not. Ridley refused and threatened to sue with Grey firing him on the spot. He made Ridley hand over his badge and gun with a warning that if he went near the station, he'd be arrested.
For fans, this may be a joyful occasion to see Ridley gone, but is this leading to a bigger enemy?
Is Ridley the show's new villain?
It seems a bit sudden to get rid of Ridley after building him up in the first half of the season. It's likely he'll follow through on his threat to sue the LAPD. The issue is that it would mean having to prove he does, in fact, have cancer, and if he's lying about that, his lawsuit is dead.
The key is that we still don't know why Ridley has been lying about so much in his life. Is he just a pathological liar? Has he been trying too hard to impress Chen and others and gain sympathy? Or is he somehow mentally unbalanced and going too far to be a "hero" cop?
This seems to be setting up Ridley to be a recurring threat to Chen and Bradford for a while. It's easy to imagine him stalking Chen, maybe quiet at first before it escalates. That will have Chen doing a more in-depth investigation into Ridley to finally uncover what's driving him. For all we know, everything in his bio is a lie and he had a more sinister agenda for joining the LAPD.
So while Ridley may no longer be a cop, it's probably not the last we see of him as The Rookie may have gained a new foe.
The Rookie Season 7 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on ABC.