The Rookie has never been afraid to pull off shocking character exits, and its most recent episode reminded fans again that you never know what could be coming. The episode ended with a shocking death, one that sadly brought an end to one of the show's best characters.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Rookie season 8, episode 17.
For the second consecutive year, The Rookie has written out a major character ahead of its season finale, though this one certainly stings more than the loss of Seth Ridley last season.
Episode 17 saw corrupt lawyer Monica Stevens trying to play both sides in order to get the best possible outcome for herself, one that would not only allow her to start fresh but also walk away with enough money to continue to live the comfortable lifestyle she'd become accustomed to. For Monica, the best possible option was to work with a dangerous crime lord in Aiden in order to sell out a former client who does not take kindly to snitches.
Seeing it as her only option, Monica agrees to take Cooper Johnson, her former client, off the board for Aiden. She attempts to do so with help from the task force, but it becomes apparent that going through the official channels will take much more time than the 24 hours Aiden has allotted her before he turns on her and tells Cooper she sold him out.
Things go from bad to worse when Monica realizes that the Feds have found the files she had been keeping as leverage, meaning she has no choice but to go on the run. Knowing the FBI can't help her with Cooper in the timeline she's been given, Monica calls in a fake 911 call knowing it will result in Cooper being swatted. She then calls Aiden to tell him that SWAT will be arriving at Cooper's residence in minutes and makes it clear she's ready to accept her promised exit package.
Aiden tells her a private plane will be waiting for her at LAX. After evading police custody, Monica makes a quick stop to see Wesley, confessing to him that he's the only person she wanted to say goodbye to before fleeing town and going on the run. Wesley tries to convince Monica to stay and offers her help, but she sticks to her plan of leaving town. Unfortunately, things do not go to plan.
Bridget Regan exits The Rookie as Monica is killed off in shocking fashion
After bidding farewell to Wesley, Monica heads outside, where she finds a vehicle waiting for her. Monica assumes the car is the rideshare she ordered to take her to LAX to catch her plane; however, that is not the case.
When the woman driving the car passes the LAX exit, the grave reality of the situation sets in for Monica. The driver pulls the car over and pulls out a gun with a silencer attached, hinting this is indeed a coordinated assassination. Knowing there is no way out, Monica makes one final request, asking her assailant not to shoot her in the face.
As the camera pans out, we see two flashes in the car, indicating that Monica has been shot twice. If there was any doubt that she was killed, the LAPD found her dead body disposed of on the side of the road with Monica having taken two shots to the chest.
The moment brought an end to Bridget Regan's run on the show, which began back in season 5, and sadly this was not a fakeout death. As Regan told TV Insider following the episode, The Rookie series creator Alexi Hawley wanted to make it very clear to the fans that Monica is dead.
"I was not surprised. I was thrilled that she lasted as long as she did. If you play with fire, as long as she has, eventually you’re going to get burned. And as I said to Alexi and everybody, I was like, she’s not on her ninth life. She’s on her 37th. She’s escaped multiple assassinations and prison time and being thrown in a wood chipper. When her number was finally up, I wasn’t surprised. I thought, fair enough. She’s had an amazing run, four years on this show. I’m only filled with gratitude," Regan reflected, later adding that "Alexi wanted to be like, 'She's dead, dead. She’s dead. Dead, capital D, Dead, period.'"
Sadly, this is truly the end of the road for Monica and it's truly a shame that the writers opted to kill her character off as she was one of the best characters the show had to offer.
Monica stood out on The Rookie because she brought a sharp intelligence and moral complexity that kept viewers guessing, often blurring the line between ally and adversary. Her ability to challenge the system and the characters around her made every scene she was in more unpredictable and compelling. Regan played the character brilliantly, giving us a complex character who we somehow couldn't help but root for despite all of her dastardly deeds.
Whenever Monica popped up in an episode, we knew we were in store for an amazing episode of television, and we loved that we truly never knew when to trust Monica and when she was playing her allies at the time. That's what made the character so compelling and fun. She kept things interesting and wasn't some one-dimensional villain.
It's true that Monica had more lives than a cat, but we wish the show hadn't decided to bring her arc to an end by killing the character off. The Rookie won't be the same without her, and we're going to miss seeing Monica pop up from time to time to cause a little chaos.
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