Bradford: You got something to say, Chen?
Chen: Uh, yeah, I do. I… Why are you being so nice to her? My first few days on the job, you kicked me out of the car, tormented me. A month later, you — you — you stole my duty belt while I had to go pee. You called me “Boot” so many times, I get triggered when I go shoe shopping.
Bradford: Look, Officer Barnes has other issues.
Chen: Like what? Like, she’s fit and beautiful and smart —
Bradford: She won’t wear perfume.
Chen: W-What does that have to do with anything? What?
Bradford: Look, I teach my recruits according to what they need. Officer Barnes won’t wear perfume because she’s still worried it will give away her position. A part of her is still waging a war in Afghanistan, and if she’s gonna be a cop, that has to go. You are a kind and insightful person. You see the good in people. So much so that I had to show you the world can be a scary place. Officer Barnes only sees a scary place, and she needs to know that not everyone’s out to hurt her.
Chen: Is she gonna be okay?
Bradford: I think so. And who knows — one day… she might even be as good as you.
Eric Winter and Melissa O’Neill in the popular cop show The Rookie (2018 – ). The show tells of a man in his mid-forties who decides to be a cop after witnessing first hand a dramatic bank heist foiled by law enforcement. Across the six seasons, we see how he and the other (younger) rookies learn to change their insincts to better serve the community and deal with conflict.
Alex Raphael 