‘The Rookie’ Throws Major Curveball in Nolan & Bailey’s Marriage

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Rookie Season 8 Episode 4 “Cut and Run.”]

“This is a relationship on [The Rookie] that I really like because it is solid. It’s not rocked with drama and tribulation. Certainly, life throws curveballs, and you have to face those tribulations, those trials. You have to face them as a team. But I think Nolan and Bailey are a fantastic team. I think they have found happiness with one another, and I think it’s a strong relationship,” Nathan Fillion just told TV Insider of his character’s marriage … and now the Monday, January 26, episode (the first after a major schedule change) leaves things very much up in the air when it comes to their future.

Bailey’s (Jenna Dewan) old captain, Russ, meets with the couple to discuss a new opportunity: He’s putting together a think tank at the Pentagon, focused on updating battlefield medicine, and she’s the first person he’s asking to be part of it. At first, she seems fine with passing on the opportunity, which would mean relocating to D.C.; she agrees with Nolan that their life’s perfect as is. However, as Nyla (Mekia Cox) and Angela (Alyssa Diaz) make him realize, that’s not exactly 100% true. “It might be a non-starter for you, but I guarantee your overachiever of a wife is seriously thinking about it,” Nyla tells him. She also has experience in D.C. from her joint ops days and doesn’t paint a pretty picture of what a transfer to D.C. police would entail: Being a cop means a lot of crowd control around government offices.

Russ then stops by to appeal to Bailey one last time (while Nolan’s at work). While she may not be a doctor or a scientist, he knows that she won’t rest until she’s looked at a problem from every angle twice before bringing him a solution — and if she can’t find one, that’s why it’s a think tank, with people with different viewpoints. It’s one thing if she doesn’t want the job because it’s not the right fit or right time, but deciding she’s not good enough before someone else can is the coward’s way, and he knows she’s not a coward. She agrees.

And so Nolan gets home to find Bailey’s cooked dinner and lit candles for a conversation about D.C. She tells him about Russ stopping by, and now she wants to explore the idea, and for him to see what transferring to D.C. police would look like. If they come to different conclusions, she assures him, they’ll abort — either they’re both in, or they’re both out. He wants her to be happy, so he’ll do everything he can to see if it’s feasible, he says, adding, “We’re in this together.”

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When Nolan talks to Grey (Richard T. Jones), however, it’s a grim outlook. He’d have to start at the bottom again, including redoing the academy, and while he’d get a signing bonus, his annual salary would be much less, but it’s just as expensive to live in D.C. as L.A., so the bonus wouldn’t make a difference, and chances are Bailey would just have a government salary. Grey also notes that the LAPD would be sad to see him go.

But when Nolan gets home and tells Bailey that he doesn’t think he can do it, she’s not ready to say no yet. Yes, she meant it when she said both in or both out, “when I said it,” she tells him. Now, she still wants it. So she asks the question we’re left with at the end of this episode: “Where does that leave us?”

Where does that leave Nolan and Bailey? Could they give a long-distance relationship, with both flying to see one another — Bailey could try to work that into her contract, perhaps — so that she can take the job in D.C. and he can stay in L.A.? Or will that possibility at least come up? We don’t think this will lead to any sort of separation other than distance for the two; to be frank, it’s too late in the show’s run for that. But it does feel like The Rookie is introducing some drama into their relationship just as we continue to see Angela and Wesley’s (Shawn Ashmore) stay stable, and Lucy (Melissa O’Neil) and Tim (Eric Winter) really settle into their rekindled romance.

What do you think will happen with Nolan and Bailey and her job offer? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Rookie, Mondays, 10/9c, ABC