Abhiroop Das
Created by Alexi Hawley, ABC’s ‘The Rookie’ follows rookies John Nolan and Lucy Chen as they go from complete beginners in the LAPD to two of the most valuable officers the city has to offer. While the journey itself is far from easy, each episode of this crime procedural series introduces a challenge for them to overcome, both on the physical and psychological level, turning them into better cops along the way. However, the dynamic is a bit different when it comes to recurring antagonists, and they either improve at the same pace as Nolan and Chen, or, in some more complex cases, never change at all.
The character of Oscar Hutchinson, whom we first meet in season 1, firmly falls in the latter category of hard-boiled criminals, and all of his reappearances in the show double as checkpoints in Nolan’s journey of battling crime. Season 8, as such, adds yet another layer to their elaborate, series-spanning game of chess. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Oscar Has No Plans to Return to Prison After Tasting Freedom in Season 8
Season 8 episode 8 of ‘The Rookie’ centers around a patchwork of arrested criminals masterminds who find themselves aboard a plane with Nolan, and among those troublemakers is none other than Oscar Hutchinson, his mortal enemy. Fittingly, the scene is reminiscent of when Oscar and Nolan first crossed paths, all the way back in season 1 episode 15, titled ‘Manhunt.’ Back then, Oscar was being transported by bus when a crash allowed him to escape, and here, a similar, but much deadlier plot unfolds. Oscar, alongside four other criminals, makes his grand escape when the plane is intercepted by a gang of mercenaries who are out to free their boss. While the rest are eventually captured by the end of the episode, Oscar manages to outsmart both Nolan and Tim and escapes by hiding inside a car.
Towards the end of the episode, Nolan receives a call on his phone, and it turns out to be none other than Oscar, teasing the cop for his failure and laughing the entire way. With both characters’ fates intertwined in one way or another, Nolan realizes that the only way he can sever the cord is by bringing Oscar down for good. That, however, can prove to be much harder than he believes, as Oscar’s parting monologue reveals that he, too, has evolved. Having been in and out of prisons and narratives this entire time, Oscar had almost forgotten what freedom feels like. Now unshackled at last, he asserts that he will be playing the game with much more cunning from now on, which means that he might emerge as the dark horse of the show’s rogues’ gallery.
Matthew Glave is Set to Return as The Rookie’s Most Resilient Villain
With Oscar promising to stir up more trouble in the future for Nolan and company, it is very likely that the actor Matthew Glave is making a comeback to the world of ‘The Rookie.’ While he has made brief and major appearances in every season of the show thus far, season 8 has the opportunity to expand his character arc even more. Season 4 marks the time he is humanized the most, and while it almost seems that he is set for a redemption arc, the subsequent turns of the story prove otherwise. The last time we see him in the seventh season finale, ‘The Good, The Bad, And The Oscar,’ is when he escapes on a chopper, but without the diamonds that could have set him for life. As such, it makes sense that he returned to committing petty crimes and was caught along the way.
In the latest arc of the story, however, Oscar promises to be much more careful with his moves, meaning that Glave might be much more involved in the plot than before. Season 8 is, in many ways, the arc of big returns, with characters like Monica Stevens and Seth Ridley rejoining the show with brand new trajectories. For Oscar, who has too deep a rivalry with Nolan, this means that he will have ample opportunities to strike back across the remaining episodes. In his conversation with Parade, Nathan Fillion joked about Nolan and Oscar’s rivalry, saying that life can be challenging as “Matty (Glave) is incredibly charming. He’s not charming.” As such, whatever direction Glave and Fillion choose for one of television’s most iconic rivalries can easily make for some of the show’s dramatic peaks.
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