The Rookie: Blair London's Not-So-Surprising Heel Turn

Last night was a perfect sports night for me; those are rare, but it happened. First off, the New York Yankees obliterated the Houston Astros on national TV. Then, later in the evening, the Colorado Avalanche won Game One of the Central Division Final over the Dallas Stars in comeback fashion, trailing 3-0 and winning 4-3 in overtime! So I was already in happiness overload, but I figured there would be more to come even after all of that.

And as I watched the latest episode of The Rookie on Hulu, there it was: Dr. Blair London turned heel during last night's episode.

Regarding Blair, she debuted in the tail end of the show's Season Six opener as a psychiatrist for the LAPD, being tasked with helping Aaron Thorsen cope with being shot (in the Season Five finale) and his road to recovery and returning to the job. I'm going to be honest, it was during Blair's second appearance that my Spidey Sense about her was triggered, and it was turned up when Thorsen ran into Blair outside office hours. It was during that period that they shared a brief, almost romantic moment, and that led me to believe that Blair would become obsessed with Thorsen, or that she was already.

That theory was kiboshed during last week's episode (6.07), which actually saw Blair involved in a case. We would see her counsel Tim Bradford following his breakup with Lucy Chen, and it reaches a point where Tim actually engages in sessions with Blair. Holy cow! So with that, I no longer believed that Blair would be in stalker mode regarding Thorsen. However, I still sensed that Blair was evil somehow. I just knew that the other shoe would drop, and honestly, I had a feeling that shoe would drop in last night's episode, which centered on a gang attack, as well as the Metro office being bombed.

And then, Blair appears with info on the gang violence. Then, we see her with Monica Stevens, whose corruption could fill up the entire state of Colorado at least three times. And once I heard the certain words, my own certain words were as follows: "AND THERE IT IS!" So Blair and Monica are in cahoots, with Blair acting as a mole within the department. Mad Dog, a Metro member, ended the episode jumping to his death after refusing to come forward to Tim, adding that "she knows everything about me."

The "she" has to be Blair, and I was really drinking in this reveal for sure! Think about it! Blair is a department psychiatrist. She has all sorts of power to take down cops--all without lifting a finger. One word plus a few certain words, and it's game over for any cops in her way. With all of that, I was really elated with the possibility that Blair could be a ruthless and powerful villainess.

And then I saw the promo for next week.

Promoted as Part 1 of the two-part season finale (Season Six was shortened to 10 episodes because of the strike), the promo shows Tim asking John Nolan to look into Blair, and what I saw did not please me. It definitely looks like Blair will be portrayed as being forced or blackmailed into turning corrupt, and to be honest, I did get a bit of that vibe during the reveal, as Blair told Monica that she was promised that no one would be hurt. Statements like that come across as Blair's arm being proverbially twisted, plus it did look like Monica was higher in rank in this crime faction than Blair. Also, that statement also potentially kills my hope that Blair's "coerced" persona could be an act, and that she could be revealed as the true evil "Final Boss" of the season, most likely in a surprise final scene in the next episode that could set up a fully heel Blair to make her endgame move in the conclusion.

One of the reasons why I was banking on Blair being a villainess was because of the actress playing her. Dr. Blair London is played by Danielle Campbell, and I beamed over this casting because I had seen her on the short-lived (still not over that) series, Tell Me a Story. The series, which centered on dark and modern retellings of classic fairy tales, only lasted two seasons on the former CBS All Access (now known as Paramount+), and regarding Campbell, she appeared during the second season as Olivia Moon, who was introduced as a young woman being stalked, drugged, and imprisoned by Tucker Reed. Olivia turned heel in the midpoint of the season after revealing that she had killed her boyfriend, as she further established herself as a psychotic serial killer before turning the tables on Tucker,and later abducting Tucker's fiancee, Maddie Pruitt as well.

This was the Sleeping Beauty storyline, with Olivia being introduced in the Princess Aurora role in the beginning, only to be placed in the Maleficent role after her heel turn. Again, this was why I had hopes for Blair being a villainess; when an actress plays a villainess and is good at it, she gets more roles like that. Blair's heel turn capped off a very amazing night for this fan, and I am wondering what we'll see from Blair in the final two episodes of the season. Whatever develops should be quite interesting.