- Title: Rookie Blue – The Kids Are Not Alright
- tv.com: link
Just hours from their planned camping weekend with Epstein (Gregory Smith), Nick (Peter Mooney), and Diaz (Travis Milne), Andy (Missy Peregrym) and Peck (Charlotte Sullivan) run down a car that blows by a sobriety check point. They loose the driver but do find a traumatized young teenage lesbian living as a boy name Alex (Katy Grabstas) in the car’s trunk. Rounding up the driver puts the pair in the middle of family drama between the older brother who flipped out after finding his younger sister making out with Alex that afternoon. Feeling responsible for the trouble he caused, a suicidal Alex slips out of the hospital and disappears sending a panicked Andy and Gail after the teen.
The check point also collars a former gangbanger (Michael Mando) who had turned his life around but whose nephew was recently gunned down in a gang-related shooting. After learning the suspect’s old gang is likely responsible for the shooting, Swarek (Ben Bass) tries to convince the man to finger the shooter and not throw away his new life by taking the law into his own hands. To do so Swarke has to show the gangbanger the real reason why his nephew wanted him to return to town and why it cost him his life.
“The Kids Are Not Alright” continues to introduce Chloe (Priscilla Faia) to the rest of the squad, this time pairing her with Nick whom she picks up more than friendly feelings from when he talks to her about his undercover assignment with Andy, something she’s only to happy to share with Gail when the pair get into a fight about Chloe stalking Epstein. Meanwhile, Epstein tries his best to help Cruz (Rachael Ancheril) who returns to active duty for the first time since the shooting. Although his attempts to bond initially drive her crazy, Epstein finally finds a way to offer some words of comfort that actually help before the episode comes to an end.
The main story plays on strong themes of sexual identity, unrequited love, and a feeling of displacement, and the choice of Andy (the heart of 15 Division) to bond with Alex works really well to help champion the safety of young Alex and his/her continued struggle to, much like Andy, find his place in the world. The internal drama of the group is nicely worked into the episode as Andy continues to try and figure out how to act with Sam, Epstein’s relationship with Chloe gets no less complicated, and Diaz continues to struggle with his decision to leave. It’s nice to see Shaw (Matt Gordon), who has a far better understanding than anyone else where Diaz is coming from, clue Epstein in on what his friend is going through and stick up for a fellow father. The Nick/Andy relationship which has been teased has finally been brought into the open by the most unlikely of suspects, and it will interesting to see Gail’s reaction (or more likely overreaction) as the season continues.
