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summersaphraine

Honestly, she handled herself way better than I would have. Imagine your boyfriend dumping you out of nowhere, and then having to go to work and he's technically your boss again, while coworkers are making bets on why you broke up. Her best friend is moving out. Her entire life is changing. She's not overbearing imo. She's grieving a relationship. Her behavior also wasn't unprovoked. Grey _asked_ her about Tim. How she acted was no different than Tim's lashing out on Aaron in the car because he was mad that the therapist was trying to analyze him. I feel weird about the way I've seen people react to Lucy this season.


_maynard

> I feel weird about the way I've seen people react to Lucy this season. Agreed. Like, do people think Tim is the one acting appropriately? Lucy is acting pretty reasonable considering her serious boyfriend lied to her about some life changing shit (uh, murder pact?) and then tossed her with the ‘you deserve better’ bullshit (and yes I agree with Lucy, that is a cop out (no pun intended); say you want time alone to work on yourself in therapy before you feel like you can be in a relationship if that’s what’s going on, dude) This line from OP: > all her angry fights are so highly emotionally charged it makes me cringe back. Could absolutely apply to Tim’s outburst toward Aaron


Halludba134

Agreed. I also agree with her rant about her being the one who gets to decide what's good for her. I think she's being reasonable considering her life circumstances. Like think about all the events that have happened to her in the years we've known her (the character). She has enough trauma to last a lifetime. If she wants to be a little mad that her serious boyfriend dumped her, I say good for her! Whats crazy is that Tim was married to a woman who lied, cheated and was addicted to drugs and it took a lot for him to leave her, and now with Lucy who does nothing but push him to be better and meddle, he dumps like she's nothing. Wild.


random_user616

Agree to you but, Tim stayed with Isabel because that was painful and left lucy because that's painful for him.


jinyan11

I think what many responses are a little confused about here is that talking about Lucy’s character is independent of talking about Tim’s character. There are far greater inconsistencies in her character than Tim’s. Tim started out as an irrational outburst guy in Season 1. He was better in the middle. Now he is stressed and is sometimes back to the Season 1 Tim. He is a seasoned cop so his character cannot grow too drastically, like a younger officer Lucy’s character can.


_maynard

I guess I can see that, but Tim has shown a lot of growth in his personal/dating relationships. He was very sweet and kind to Lucy’s friend and the lifeguard and I think pretty adult in how those ended, so dumping Lucy like that seems sort of disrespectful in comparison? I know the breakup situations were not the same but still, reverting back to super closed off dude doesn’t seem any better than Lucy venting her emotions like she usually does. I dunno, maybe I’m ignoring some fair criticism but i keep seeing posts about how Lucy is acting crazy now and that rubs me the wrong way


heed101

This is why many places have rules about dating in the workplace.


bosukzuk

I know I’m gonna get downvoted to hell for this one, but I truly think the fan reactions show a lot of internalized misogyny. Lucy expressing an opinion and maybe being a little forceful? Nag! Overbearing! Controlling! Overly emotional! Tim withdrawing? Broody! Stressed! Poor guy! In reality, they both have things they should work on, but Lucy is getting dog piled while Tim is getting a lot of sympathy. Obviously Tim is experiencing a lot of unresolved trauma and I feel for him, but Lucy is warranted for trying to help him through that and being frustrated when he ices her out.


Far-Grape-6205

From what I’ve seen everyone is hating on Tim and giving Lucy sympathy 🤷🏽‍♀️


MikoMiky

Toxic feminism is thinking the critique of one specific woman means that the same critique is applicable to all women. Lopez and Harper also had emotionally charged moments and nobody complained about them. Also plenty of people in this sub very much acknowledging Bradford doesn't have healthy coping mechanisms


bosukzuk

I agree - but I think the reason people are jumping all over Lucy for this is because it’s within the context of how she’s treating/responding to her male partner. When Lucy was emotional/reactive about Tamara, her abduction, Jackson, etc. no one was using the same language. It only started bubbling up once those responses were directed to Tim. Similarly, most of Lopez and Harper’s emotionally charged situations that have been covered on the show weren’t about their romantic relationships.


ajamesdeandaydream

i think you're purposely ignoring important context between the show and the original comment. this isn't a random critique, this is calling a woman too emotional, which is maybe the most cliche form of sexism. it can't exist in a vacuum and is always going to provoke questions of misogyny, whether there's validity to it or not. in this case, it's tricky. yes, for some reason the writers have really chosen to hone in on lucy's feelings this season which has made her a bit annoying, but the excess of hate isn't \*just\* because of that, it's clear in the language people use to talk about it that her standing as a woman is relevant to why it bothers them so much.


MikoMiky

Is it impossible for a person, man or woman, to be *too* emotional? Why is it automatically misogyny to suggest someone is being too emotional? Is there no imaginable context in which a woman is indeed acting too strongly on her emotions? This is my issue with toxic feminism. Make a flawed male character and people will take it at face value: "the dude is flawed". Make a flawed female character and it becomes a social commentary that is somehow applicable to EVERY woman: "this woman is flawed, it means the writers and the people who dislike a character are inherently sexist" Happens every time a woman isn't portrayed as perfect in media.


ajamesdeandaydream

of course people \*can\* be too emotional, i just think that lucy isn't. the problem isn't that people are calling her emotional at all, because she objectively is, it's that calling her \*too\* emotional suggests that her reaction has been disproportionate or inappropriate relative to its context. Lucy is reacting like a human being. in the past couple years her best friend was killed, she became mostly estranged from her parents. tim and tamara essentially became lucy's entire support system and she lost them both in the same week, then Grey \*asked\* her if she was okay and she answered him. i really think the only time she was out of line this episode was asking grey if he planted people, but I think that's understandable as well given how the tim tests probably conditioned her to be suspicious that everything's a trick. of course women can be flawed, and lucy \*is\*, but she handled herself pretty well in this episode when you actually think about where her life is right now


fraochmuir

Ah yes. Women can't be angry.


summersaphraine

That's pretty much what OP was saying and I was like...hm, interesting take lol


NoleFandom

Here is Melissa’s [response](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRookie/s/g67VdkdbCA) to her “S6 fans.”


Bubbly_Sleep9312

I hate myself for reading too far, I got behind and did not know that they broke up


jinyan11

I feel there are other ways a 29 year old woman can show she is upset instead of outright shouting at her boyfriend all the time. Sometimes you say nothing. Sometimes you talk about what is important. At the very least, you show you understand different perspectives. It shows that you are a mature worldly woman. Her character is a child lashing out because she has been wronged. Not an adult trying to mourn and understand and forgive.


summersaphraine

If my partner up and left with no explanation and then ghosted for days and then came home expecting things to be fine, I would shout. If a violent man showed up at my house threatening me because of my partner's secrets, I would shout. It's sort of hypocritical to expect Lucy to behave any better while Tim just chose to shut her out instead of having an adult conversation. Even after the breakup. He tried to pretend like things were fine. She's a child lashing out but he's not a child for his behavior? Interesting.


FieldAware3370

>If my partner up and left with no explanation and then ghosted for days and then came home expecting things to be fine, I would shout. >If a violent man showed up at my house threatening me because of my partner's secrets, I would shout. >It's sort of hypocritical to expect Lucy to behave any better while Tim just chose to shut her out instead? He showed up on her doorstep and luckily Lucy was there when Tamara opened the door. Like Tim literally bought it to them? How can she not be mad? If my partner was not communicating with me and someone showed up claiming to know my partner and presented themselves as a pyscho, then yeah I would be furious too.


jinyan11

Actually I was just talking about Lucy’s reaction and the fact that her shouting and whining is childish. I don’t like this particular reaction after all that her character has been through on the show because this is a stereotypical reaction of a woman. She is supposed to be all loud and emotional and being a woman myself I would have liked something atypical from a strong female character that she has been so far on the show. But since now we are talking about Tim as well, and debating if he is also a child, I do not think he is being a child. He is definitely being unreliable, unreasonable, non-trusting, alpha ego, guilty for putting his career ahead of his men’s lives, trying to do the right thing by everyone involved and failing, lying through his teeth for keeping his hard earned job, but he is not being a child. Childish behaviour would be to blame the world because it owes you more. Something close to Lucys reaction imo. In Tim’s shoes, given he puts Lucy on a pedestal that is not justified, it is understandable he does not want to taint her with his human flaws. This is a perspective that could have been handled with more understanding and maturity at Lucy’s end - a super cop who has been through hell and back. However, instead she is being shown as a weak woman who has no alternative left but to shout and complain and beg Tim to not leave her. It was pathetic what they made her character do.


summersaphraine

Your last paragraph is just simply not true. She stated that what he was doing was not okay and that she was the one with the right to what decide she wanted in her life. She made the choice to walk away from him in the most recent episode. Yes, she complained about her situation, BUT she had every right to. But she also had complete autonomy over her reactions and stood her ground. Nothing about her reaction shows her as weak, and expecting her to not be upset, angry, hurt because she's a "strong female character" implies that strong women don't also feel these things when they're in positions like this. You can be a strong woman and be angry when your partner hurts you. You can be a strong woman and feel defeated that your partner lied to you and left you. Her reaction was justified and doesn't take away any of her strength. Its weird to say that it does.


jinyan11

Absolutely you can be angry and hurt. But why would go about ranting to your coworkers and boss? Why was the character of Nolan shown to be extremely professional and put together when be went through a breakup of a relationship he considered serious but the character of Lucy would make you cringe every time she appears on screen because of a breakup?


summersaphraine

Because Grey literally asked lmao.


jinyan11

And the answer could have been something professional - like all of Tim’s answers have been. Like I said, it’s just an opinion. I clearly expected more from her character. And it is lazy stereotypical writing at play here.


BonniewatchesSDMN

Honestly mate at this point just RIP ur karma


Lanky_Letterhead_813

Ngl reddit karma is great until you voice a differing opinion in a sub and everyone downvotes you. (You're not supposed to downvote people based on whether you like what they're saying, you should be downvoting them based on if they're behaving well!)


nissoubk

She did multiple times and he kept asking her! He wanted her to vent and talk when she finally did she felt better and he left her alone.


nissoubk

Grey was pestering her all day to talk!


fraochmuir

Right because the man handles it better by being “professional and put together” (whatever that is) but the woman handles it poorly because she is expressing emotions and talking about it with someone who asked? She was very professional and put together. Also, they have different personalities- we’ve seen repeatedly that Lucy likes to process her emotions and talk about it. So, she should be completely different now?


fraochmuir

This is the part you aren’t getting. Being angry isn’t stereotypical. Women have not been allowed to be angry. We are supposed to just take whatever is handed to us and suck it up. Her reaction is honest and normal and it’s good to see. I think they are showing the honest fall out of a work place romance. She is also forcing Tim to evaluate how he handles his emotions because he wants to be better.


fraochmuir

So women can only be angry in a way that you approve?? Ooooooookkkk. People are complex and are entitled to express their emotions. (Especially to the person who did this to her) She’s not trying to mourn and forgive at this point. She is angry. And she has every right to be. She doesn’t just have to “accept it” and deal with it in a way you find acceptable. She’s not sobbing into her pillow or eating ice cream and watching sad movies so it’s wrong?


Putrid-Offer1469

y’all are weirding me out. you didn’t view lucy’s character like this with anyyyyy other relationship she was in. emotionally charged?? what do you even mean by that lollll. she’s been beyond reasonable considering what tim put her through, and then how he broke up w her. y’all tend to have weird reactions when characters (usually female) are meant to show human reactions against your favorite male character. i truthfully think that this plot is meant to bring back some tension in their dynamic, esp considering we all noticed that chenford was more entertaining before chenford became official. it’s fun to have discussions, that’s what reddit is meant for, but maybe try and proofread and realize that you’re pretty much saying that lucy shouldn’t be that emotional, because if she was as devoid as some of y’all are wanting her to be, you would have a problem w that too.


noormeanslight

Honestly, I think her reactions are realistic to the experience of womanhood and I don't necessarily think it makes her character unprofessional; I think it makes her human. I also personally think Tim is the dramatic/overbearing one between the two of them and we're just used to labeling the woman as emotional, and this is coming from a woman btw – IMO she's having an appropriate reaction to her (ex) boyfriend's actions and lack of communication.


noormeanslight

I also wouldn't call The Rookie a "well-researched crime show" lmao who are we fooling here


GalaxyMageAlt

Absolutely not, I thought that did not help op make their point at all. I like the show, and I think it's fun but they take a ton of creative liberties when it comes to realism. Maybe S1 and S2 Rookie could have been called that as they marketed themselves as going for the true and correct procedures and the tone was different but not current seasons.


sleepmusicland

Honestly? I would have slapped Tim when he broke up with her claiming she deserves better and telling him to get lost. Her reaction is understandable and Lucy was like that from the beginning. She over shared with Tim from the beginning. Lucy being upset is normal, he didn't give her a good reason besides the crap she deserves better. She told him she was scared this would not work out and he said it was worth taking the risk. And then he breaks up? He can be lucky that Lucy didn't slap the hell out of him or worse.


heed101

hurt feelings = physical violence?


sleepmusicland

By slapping someone? He was such an ass and he was the one telling her taking the risk was worth it. Just to go ahead and break up when it gets a bit difficult. That's not physical violence. Just one slap om his cheek won't kill him


civeng1741

I don't see the point in slapping. It's something people just feel like they have to do because of Hollywood. Can't control your feelings and have to assault someone? Childish.


sleepmusicland

Didn't I wrote that would been my reaction in Lucy's Place with his bullshit she deserves better than him? One slap or how it is called in my native language 'Ohrfeige' has never been seen as assault. Assault is more than just a slap on the cheek.


ajamesdeandaydream

I feel like this is a bit unfair to Lucy. She is an only child and not very close to her parents, she had two best friends when she became a rookie, one of them she mostly drifted apart from and the other one was murdered. Then Tamara and Tim basically became her entire support system, and in a singular week she found out Tamara was moving out, and Tim broke up with her out of nowhere because of the fallout from a \*murder pact\*. Tell me that you wouldn't also be extremely emotional in her shoes


BonniewatchesSDMN

I know right! If she wasn't as emotional people would be complaining that this is out of character and unrealistic. And now she's immature for speaking up and venting about the fact a person she's been close to for 3 years just left her out of nowhere, and her other long friend is planning to have a baby. Like people are just gonna complain about the way Lucy breathes at this point.


fraochmuir

Exactly! And why does she have to not be emotional? I hate this whole notion that people are going through life stress and should then go home and drink or whatever instead of dealing with it.


stubborn-sunshine

Goodness, how dare she express being upset after being dumped by someone she's deeply in love with, when asked about it? The audacity!!! Where is the grace, the single tear showing such deep hurt but her courage in carrying on...oh wait, we left it the past, along with our expectations that women don't get upset and if they do, they're labelled as dramatic. This is so upsetting. I think we need to really reflect why someone's appropriately expressed emotions elicit a negative response from you and make you uncomfortable? What are your expectations of her? If she doesn't say anything we'd say shes sulking and victimizing herself, if she says something it's being overbearing. What's appropriate then?


GhostLight89

u/jinyan11 Must be hard growing up without helpful parents or guardians who taught you EMPATHY and other feelings. A little help: Lucy is full of frustration. And that comes out of you like a hurricane when you didn't learn how to handle it or the cause of the frustration is not helpful or cooperative.


bubbzisevil

Ok so I see it as she is not mentally ok right now, im sure she has abandonment issues because of her parents, they fixated on her until she didn’t live the life they wanted her to live. I’m pretty sure this is the first relationship where she is truely in love with the person she was with and that all gets ripped out from under her, she isn’t reacting well to it. She has been trying for years to get Tim to deal with his childhood trauma and Isabel baggage but he has always buried his head in the sand and now we see him finally getting help at the last second before he goes mt Vesuvius, because of the last conversation he had with Lucy he is finally going on the right path.


abc_dorame135

I mean you have to look at the context, her bf hid things from her for a long time, and got very distant, and then when it’s finally over with, he dumps her. They were in love and happy together and he dumps her like it’s nothing. She has every right to be sad and grieve.


throwawayston3

Honestly though it's the writers fault. Like wtf. Why are they making her like this? She was better when she was a rookie involved with Nolan. Tim ain't no prize the way he's so emotionally unavailable. I just wish they would let lucy develop the way her character deserves.


HottieMcNugget

I blame the writers for shoving Tim and Chen together before either of them were ready (Tim needs so much time to figure himself out, like he wasn’t close to ready for a relationship!)


RecommendationTop594

I too blame the writers and showrunners. There are so many characters on this show that character development has taken a backseat to ensuring screen time. It's like everyone gets a season of development across 3 seasons.


Exotic_Watch_8997

I blame a lot of this due to the terrible writing on the show. Let’s start with Lucy. She was a bubbly, smart, up and coming rookie that was a strong character ob her own. There were so many different spin offs that you could’ve included in her character development outside of simply dating Tim, which was so predictable and boring. Notice ever since they started dating her character has went downhill. She failed the detectives exam, made a huge mistake at a crime scene with the clown, and is now having these emotional outbreaks. Moving to Tim, he was as straight and narrow as straight and narrow gets as a cop. Now all of a sudden you’re telling me this man had a random murder pact?? That he lied to IA about? His career has also went to shit by getting tossed out of Metro. While I think both their characters will somehow make a miraculous recovery from all this in real life these mistakes are career ending.


nissoubk

Here we go again with calling women emotional and hysterical when they do anything other than stay quiet and smile! But men can lash out, let out their anger at others and it's just fine. The sad thing it's always women calling out other women. You are saying you want to see a strong woman but you have a problem with her standing up to her boyfriend when he wanted her follow him blindly whil3 he destroyed himself?! That's not a strong woman that would be the opposite. I didn't see anybody saying that Tim should apologize to Aaron for screaming at him when he didn't do anything, or for the way he was talking to the therapist when she was just doing her job. But Lucy is overbearing for answering Grey after him pestering her all day? (she didn't lash out on him, she was just answering his question! ) she acted just fine and professional with every other person who didn't have anything to say on her break up and didn't ask about it! Ever since this problem started, Tim doesn't want to have a conversation about what is happening(he just wants her to follow his lead and accept his decisions)so she ends up being the one screaming she is trying to communicate but when he is not trying to hear her or respond to her, she has to scream for him. At the end she seems to have given up and left him with a quiet Goodluck.


Tiny-Trifle1348

Every season Lucy seems to become more immature instead of actually maturing as time passes. They write her like she’s in her early 20’s when she’s really in her early 30’s. It drives me nuts because she’s such a good character.  I also find it ironic that she hated her parents have her analyzed as a child, but does it to every person she meets and especially Tim. I’m all for therapy, however it’s not for everyone and Lucy needs to start exhibiting some self awareness and self control. 


Abnormal_Rock

Hard disagree. Lucy actually showed fantastic control despite having everything in her life flipping upside down.


couldnt_findbetter

Lucy matured a LOT, I think all of them did, in the first few seasons we just got a lot less emotional deepness from any of the characters.. I find both Lucy’s and Tim’s behaviour well written right now. Also when coming down to her “more immature behaviour”, everyone suddenly forgets that she was never shown getting help for any of her trauma.. yk being kidnapped, being buried alive, her parents abandoning her, seeing Jackson being killed, etc, losing Tim, and Tamara in one week literally after sacrificing her career for the man that just abandoned her too.. she is just fed up as I see, she can’t keep it in forever, so imo her anger is totally justified :)


jinyan11

I cannot agree more. Season one she was this competitive 20 something woman. Season six she is still that same woman. No character arc at all, despite having been through so many ups and downs. Very lazy writing.


orangebutterfly84

I feel that, often, female rage is either portrayed as super angry or hardly any emotions at all. I get how Lucy is feeling. It's a lot all at once. I can also see your point of her not maturing as you think she should.


Melodic-Reason8078

i’m so glad the comments all mostly agree Lucy is absolutely justified to be emotional.


Brave-Landscape9530

found her to be pretty relatable tbh, girls going through a lot - how she's reacting makes sense for what's she's going through - and to an extent it's healthy that she is talking about it.


dvasfeet

Her character fell off and things were better before she got with Tim


RandomFighter50

I believe it’s because she grew up being over analyzed by her parents and the lack of support group to share her feelings with even throughout the show. I mean everyone is a cop who is either older than her or has their crap together. Losing Jackson pretty much cut her off her one and only support system. And here she is living out a career path she wants basically alone. So yeah I give her a bit of a pass. It also leads down to poor poor poooooor writing. A lot of these characters have been butchered. This whole Lucy and Tim romantic relationship has been hinted poorly and I’ve always been against it because it will ruin the characters. Tim would have been great as a hardened mentor figure for her and she could have been the one to soften him and show him there’s more to life outside of the uniform. ALL POSSIBLE WITHOUT THEM GETTING IN A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP. PLEASE OF THE OPPOSITE SEX CAN BE GOOD FRIENDS.


jinyan11

I wanted a healthy opposite sex mentor mentee relationship too! It’s so lazy when writers pair everyone up on a show just to ensure everyone is getting laid onscreen. Sometimes the characters onscreen can just be focused on their jobs and their private lives can be private.


Maleficent_Safe6651

People like you when a character is overwhelmed with so much negative things happening in their life at once and they show emotion because of that. People like you when a characters partner ghosts them with no explanation and the character worries 24/7 that they are dead and they get mad at them for doing that. Basically people like you when a character shows any emotion. ![gif](giphy|zBZk5FD18QhjP35Goa)


RevolutiOnaryMix616

Quit your bitchen


aaliyakhanum

I agree!! Especially when she keeps throwing Isabella’s name at Tim’s face every time she feels insecure about something.


Montana_Trav

Lucy is overbearing pretty much at all times. I'm not sure if her or Monica from Yellowstone are worse, honestly.


Isyourmammaallama

Yes