The Rookie season 5 episode 10: More on Bradford, Chen date

After the holiday hiatus The Rookie season 5 episode 10 is set to air on ABC tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Not only that, but there will be some sort of crossover with The Rookie: Feds. One of the goals of putting these shows back-to-back in 2023 was to create more of a seamless experience. We don’t think it will be an every-episode thing, but there are so many examples across the board of franchises generating better ratings when the main show and the spin-off are airing back to back.

What we are here to discuss today, ironically, doesn’t actually have that much to do with the spin-off at all. Instead, we are pointing more firmly in the direction of Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen. It’s taken five seasons, but the two are finally going on a date! We do get the sense we will see some of this over the course of episode 10, and there is absolutely a lot wrapped into it. We do think there will be some romantic moments … but also probably a few roadblocks. Nothing is going to go perfectly, just because that’s often the way of the world when it comes to romance.

Speaking about all of this further to Entertainment Weekly, here is some of what executive producer Alexi Hawley had to say:

Ultimately it was important to get there in an organic way. He was her superior and her training officer for several years on the show. The 13 months of her rookie year were two and a half seasons of our show. We couldn’t just jump right into it. Once we started to go down that road with Dim and Juicy and the undercover work and everything, the last thing I would want to do is rush it or to do it in a way that felt surface. Audiences like romance; that’s what they want more than anything. The big Chenford fans have always seen this as romance, even when it’s not on the page, so to speak. But we’ve got to a place now where we have to keep going forward with it. There will have to be obstacles, there will have to be drama, there will have to be stuff, but never in a manipulative way. That would be really mean to the audience.

We tend to think that the progression will be fairly slow — sure, we’d love for there to be a wedding for these two at some point, but that’s probably not going to be anytime soon. For now, let’s just sit back and enjoy the journey.

Related – Be sure to check out all sorts of other news on The Rookie right now!

What do you most want to see when it comes to The Rookie season 5 episode 10, especially for Chen and Bradford?

Be sure to share right away in the comments! Once you do just that, stay tuned for more throughout the season. (Photo: ABC.)