List of The Rookie episodes Season 3 (2021) WXYZ-TV

Season 3 (2021) WXYZ-TV February 4, 2023 and March 19, 2023

Episodes WXYZ-TV		Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date  USA	Prod.code	U.S. viewers (millions)
141	Nearing the end of his training, Nolan faces his biggest challenge as a police officer yet when he must come to terms with the choices he has made in pursuit of the truth.	"Consequences" Season Premiere	Bill Roe	Alexi Hawley	February 4, 2023	141	3.44
As Nolan finds the stash, Grey asks him to step out of his house but Nolan demands a warrant to enter first in order to buy time to hide the stash and also calls Wesley to act as his defense attorney. As Wesley is getting dressed to contest the warrant, he knocks over a wastebasket and finds a positive pregnancy test. As Armstrong is brought to the hospital, he implicates Harper as an accomplice of Nolan, but has the tables turned when Harper explains Armstrong's corruption to Internal Affairs commander West and Lopez is able to find Armstrong's go bag off of a tip acquired from Rosalind Dyer. Nolan attempts to clear his name by going undercover to catch Derian in order implicate Armstrong, but his cover is blown when Armstrong escapes from the hospital and makes a deal with Derian after getting tipped off by Rosalind about the cops finding his go bag. As Armstrong prepares to execute Nolan, the gun he is given is revealed to be empty and he is shot to death; Nolan is able to escape and place Derian under arrest. In the aftermath, Nolan and Harper both receive letters of reprimand in their personnel files and Nolan will be held in the training program for an additional month and must pass a disciplinary exam. Lopez receives a promotion to detective and opts to hold off on announcing her pregnancy out of fear that she'll be treated differently as a rookie detective
142	Officer John Nolan and Officer Nyla Harper are assigned to a community policing center in an attempt to rebuild their station's reputation in the community.	"In Justice"	Michael Goi	Brynn Malone & Fredrick Kotto	February 5, 2023	142	3.15
As punishment for their part in the Armstrong fiasco, Nolan and Harper are assigned to a community policing center with the hope of rebuilding their station's reputation. While Nolan tries to make a positive impact, Harper has her doubts regarding his methods. Meanwhile, Chen tries to find the person who stole her car, and later tries to help her upon learning of her situation. West gets off to a rocky start with his new training officer, Doug Stanton, and Lopez's first case as a detective is a difficult one as someone broke in to use a furnace to cremate a body. She later discovers that the body is one of many burned on the orders of a notorious gang.
143	Officer John Nolan's mom makes an unannounced visit, which complicates his life; Sgt. Grey considers retiring.	"La Fiera"	Sylvain White	Terence Paul Winter & Natalie Callaghan	February 11, 2023	143	3.76
Nolan's life becomes more difficult when his mother (Frances Fisher) visits him. Distracted, Nolan fails his firearms re-qualification exam, and later stumbles upon a plot to assassinate a businesswoman with shady connections (Camille Guaty) when he returns to practice for the retake. Also, West and Stanton continue to exchange blows when Stanton opts to arrest an entire family who were not even connected to the crime the suspect that they're looking for committed. West reports Stanton to Grey with Bradford's backing, but West is outraged when Grey says that Stanton will only be assigned to administrative duty. Grey later admits to his wife that he and West need to solve the issue with Stanton.
144	Officer Jackson West's relationship with his new training officer, Stanton, escalates, and he begins to work with Sgt. Grey to find a solution.	"Sabotage"	Daniel Willis	Vincent Angell & Diana Mendez Boucher	February 12, 2023	144	3.39
As Grey and West look to shut down Stanton, Nolan and Grey are looped into a scam that their family members put money into—instigated by Nolan's troublesome visiting mother. Stanton sets up West by making it look like he was going to beat up a kid, but instead writes him up for failing to stay with the evidence after West ran after him. Lopez is shocked when Wesley reveals that he is predisposed to fragile X syndrome, which could mean that their child could suffer mental disabilities and seizures. At the same time, Lopez confronts her supervisor, who she believes is not assigning her cases because of her pregnancy. Her supervisor, who was unaware that she was pregnant, tells her that's not the case, but it doesn't mean that he will be easy on her. Increasingly troubled by his mother's interference in his life and career, Nolan finally forces her to leave permanently.
145	Officer Nolan is taken hostage by a man with nothing to lose; Officer Jackson and his training officer, Officer Doug Stanton, reach a tipping point in their relationship that could end Jackson's career.	"Lockdown"	Anna Mastro	Elizabeth Davis Beall & Robert Bella	February 18, 2023	145	4.08
As Nolan passes his disciplinary exam, he is once again reminded that he has a very little chance of ever getting promoted. He is later held hostage by a man (Josh Stewart) who threatens to blow up the police station unless the release of a dangerous felon happens, but Grey and Harper do not buy it and start to look for the real motive. West and Stanton reach a point of no return when Stanton threatens to report a fireable offense against West, with West firing back that his father, the head of Internal Affairs, would rip apart Stanton's career. Stanton sets up West to take a beating in a public housing complex, but it backfires when West activates Stanton's body camera, showing that Stanton did not intervene in the beating. Stanton is placed on suspension. Since he has no chance for a promotion, Nolan sets his sights becoming a training officer, which requires him to complete his degree.
146	Officer Nolan's decision to return to school to become a training officer proves to be much harder than he expected; Officer Chen considers going into undercover work after getting a taste of the job.	"Revelations"	C. Chi-Yoon Chung	Corey Miller & Fredrick Kotto	February 19, 2023	146	4.11
Chen gets a taste of what undercover work is like when she works with of Harper and her Fresno PD colleague June Zhang in a narcotics operation, much to Bradford's chagrin. Chen's initial success brings her onboard an operation to take down Alonga Salonga. Nolan's return to school becomes difficult when he is outed as a police officer in his ethics class. After asking for advice from Bradford and Harper, he is still unsure if it was a wise decision, and asks his professor, who expresses that one should be open, and that the other students will accept him again. Jackson befriends a mounted police officer, Isaac Young, while working with Smitty at the community policing centre. Bradford, while working security at the undercover convention, meets a colleague, Mack Daniels, who appears to have an addiction problem—and an involvement in an extramarital affair. Despite taking firm action on Daniels' behalf to help him, his trust with Daniels' wife, Beth, sinks.
147	The team gets the true crime docuseries treatment when it analyzes a recent case featuring a former child actor whose adult life has garnered him a cult following.	"True Crime"	Bill Roe	Alexi Hawley & Zoe Cheng	February 25, 2023	147	3.45
In a true crime documentary, the station breaks down a recent case of a former child actor, Corey Harris (guest star Frankie Muniz), known for his role in Paul's Place, who turned into the leader of a cult. Said cult is revealed to be the same one Lopez and West encountered previously. Harper and Nolan initially responded to a call where Harris was reported by a girl's father, before Nolan convinced the girl, Debbie, to stop. Harris is later reported missing after his house becomes a crime scene, with blood later identified to his former co-star, Charlotte Luster, and a mummified body of Charlie Chaplin is found under his bed. Luster is also reported missing, and her car found at LAX. Harris is later found alive, and remains silent for five hours before demanding a lawyer, revealed to be Wesley. Harris' mother is arrested after CCTV shows her parking Luster's car. She also confesses to the murder and claims sole responsibility. Harris himself is later murdered during a livestream to his followers, by Ronald Sanchez, a former student of his.
148	Officer Nolan, Officer Harper and Detective Lopez are assigned to the kidnapping of the son of a criminal court judge who has a long list of enemies who could possibly be involved.	"Bad Blood"	Sylvain White	Paula Puryear & Bill Rinier	February 26, 2023	148	3.87
Nolan struggles to find the answer to a question he needs in order to take an exam for his ethics class. Lopez, Nolan, and Harper must work with Oscar Hutchinson (Matthew Glave) to find his previously unknown daughter (Molly C. Quinn), who is involved in the kidnapping of a judge's son. Bradford looks for the tagger, 3Eyez, who spray-painted his squad car as a rookie after the tagger resurfaces from retirement. He later discovers that she only came out of retirement because she wanted to feel young again after breaking up with her husband. Jackson is put in the middle of a debate between Grey and his father when the two argue about what Jackson should do once he completes the officers' field-training program. Jackson decides to accept advice from them both but makes it clear that it is too early for him to decide his career path. Nolan presents his answer to Professor Ryan, concluding that, based on insufficient information, all the given options would be wrong. She decides to let him take the exam.
149	An Amber Alert sends the team on a race against time to find a newborn infant who was stolen from a local hospital; Officers Jackson and Chen work their last shift as rookies as Officer Nolan continues for 30 more days.	"Amber"	Bill Roe	Brynn Malone & Natalie Callaghan	March 4, 2023	149	3.80
In what is Chen and West's final day as rookies, the department races against the clock when a newborn is kidnapped from the hospital. Nolan and Harper do a ride-along with Nolan's professor Fiona Ryan, who is working on a book about police reform, and Lopez, who is riding with West on his final day as a rookie, contemplates what her future as a parent holds. She is reassures by West and gets some advice from Harper during the search. The baby's father is later found after he crashes his car, but he is revealed to have never taken the baby. CCTV at the hospital reveal that a woman, Rita Cissane, kidnapped the baby after her own died of SIDS. They later find her on a bridge with the baby, and Nolan and Lopez manage to convince her to give up the baby. As Chen and West celebrate their last day as rookies, Harper invites Nolan for dinner with her and her daughter to cheer him up.
150	Harper and Nolan respond to a bank robbery in progress and realize the motives of the thief run much deeper than just needing money; Jackson and Chen's first day riding without training officers isn't what they thought it would be.	"Man of Honor"	Sylvain White	Elizabeth Davis Beall & Diana Mendez Boucher	March 5, 2023	150	3.70
West and Chen become full-fledged police officers. West celebrates, but Chen is hurt when her mother tries to get her to abandon her "thankless job". Ben comes to visit Nolan and reveals that Henry now works for him, which means he has dropped out of college. Harper feels awkward when she sees someone from her past. Bradford assists Lopez with preparations for her and Wesley's wedding, and assures her to plan her own wedding the way she wants it. She later has him take over as her man of honor. Nolan responds to a call where a man is holding people hostage. He has the situation well in hand, but a nervous security guard shoots and kills the man. He later continues the investigation into the case with Harper's help. They discover that the man's family were disturbed by robbers who forced him to pay back, prompting him to rob a bank. His wife and daughter are abducted and the assailants force her to steal from her workplace. Nolan assists her while Harper causes a distraction, giving Chen and West enough time to find the daughter.
151	When professor Fiona Ryan's car window is smashed following a series of mysterious notes, Nolan volunteers to guard her house overnight; Lucy notices that Tim is being much nicer to his new trainee than he was with her and she does not like it.	"New Blood"	Bill Roe	Corey Miller & Zoe Cheng	March 11, 2023	151	3.81
Nolan watches over Fiona, after threats escalate from a brick through her car window and harassing messages to a shootout with white supremacists in the middle of a street in broad daylight. As the new rookies arrive, one—who fawned over Nolan, saying Nolan's academy success inspired him in turn—accidentally causes a roll-call mishap that ends his police career before it begins. Chen becomes jealous of the way Bradford treats the second rookie, a former female soldier who he tries to help readjust back to civilian life. She resigns at the end of the day, saying she needs to find her way. Bradford assists Lopez and Wesley in planning their wedding, acting as a third party when Wesley's mother comes over to look over the plans. She later reconciles with Lopez and urges her to plan her wedding the way she wants it. Henry returns to Los Angeles to begin his new job, with Nolan struggling to be supportive of his son's choice to leave school. He becomes more accepting of his son's decision after a talk with Fiona, but then Henry collapses at dinner.
152	After rushing his son to the hospital following his collapse, Nolan is reunited with his ex-wife, and they must come together to help their son; Detective Lopez discovers La Fiera is in the same hospital and wants to find out exactly why.	"Brave Heart"	Lisa Demaine	Vincent Angell & Paula Puryear	March 12, 2023	152	4.00
Henry is rushed to the local hospital following his collapse, caused by a lifelong medical condition. He has a heart attack before he can decide whether to undergo a safe, short-term repair or long-term surgery with a 20% mortality risk. Nolan chooses the long-term option, believing Henry would have wanted that. The gamble is successful. La Fiera has taken her injured son, Diego, to the same hospital, but the police soon realise she is actually there to negotiate an agreement with a major drug dealer, Tomás Madrigal, who is close to death and knows his son is incapable of running the business. Harper surreptitiously records the conversation. Lopez unsuccessfully confronts La Fiera twice, trying to warn her off. Billie, an addict slightly injured when arrested by West and Chen, is made to admit she is a drug mule carrying MDMA in her stomach and is offered a deal. When a condom bursts, she is taken for life-saving surgery. Madrigal's son, Cesar, foolishly orchestrates the murder of La Fiera's son, but she is protected by Lopez in the ensuing gunfight. War is predicted. Mack Daniels has been reduced to temporary security work for the Madrigals. Bradford offers support for his addiction.
153	Officers Nolan and Bradford hope they can de-escalate a drug war before any innocent lives are lost; Officer Harper hopes she can get Officer Chen ready to go under cover.	"Triple Duty"	Bill Johnson	Teleplay by : Natalie Callaghan & Zoe Cheng & Paula Puryear Story by : Bill Rinier	March 18, 2023	153	3.91
La Fiera starts her war by massacring Cesar's men at a drug deal but comes to the attention of a DEA task force. Lopez negotiates with her to cease hostilities in exchange for Harper's hospital tape, which will convince Cesar's lieutenants of the agreement's validity. Bradford and Nolan conduct a stakeout of Cesar's girlfriend's house and prevent La Fiera's men killing her baby as revenge for Diego's murder. DEA agent Taggert tries to belittle Lopez. He obtains the tape over her head and has Lopez deliver it, but La Fiera sees through his stratagem of including surveillance malware on the USB stick containing the recording. The war highlights a need for undercover work so Harper puts Chen though a series of intense tests: a social gathering with "criminals", a drug-cooking session and a phoney attempted kidnapping. Offered a last chance to pull out, Chen remains determined to go undercover. West learns Stanton is still on the force, despite everything that has happened. He threatens to go public even though Grey thinks it may cost West his career. Instead they improvise, by having Stanton's watch commander use Stanton's and West's body-cam footage as a so-called retraining video to expose him.
154	Officer Nolan mildly injures himself while chasing down a shoplifter and the local district attorney wants to charge the suspect with assault, despite Nolan's wishes; Lucy goes under cover; Lopez' wedding venue is seized by the FBI.	"Threshold" Season Finale	Lisa Demaine	Alexi Hawley	March 19, 2023	154	3.77
The possibility of making Cesar Madrigal an informant against La Fiera is floated, and Nolan approaches Madrigal's girlfriend about persuading him to talk. However, just as Nolan and Smitty locate Madrigal, he is shot by a sniper. Later, on patrol, they chase a shoplifter who, after being arrested, is unjustifiably charged with assault instead of a simple misdemeanour, on the grounds that Nolan had accidentally dislocated his own thumb during the pursuit. Nolan brings Professor Ryan into the case and manages to get Grey's backing to force ADA Sean Delmonte to reduce the charge. Chen starts her undercover work in a rundown motel and is duly grabbed by Salonga's brother Dahrio, who forces her to participate in a robbery to obtain ingredients for the drugs he wants her to cook. Her work is interrupted when La Fiera storms Dahrio's compound to force him to join her cartel but the police, alerted by Harper, arrive to arrest the gang. Lopez forthrightly tells La Fiera that she has only herself to blame for her son's death. La Fiera is later broken out from her prisoner transport and, as Wesley and Lopez's wedding ceremony begins, she vengefully has her men kidnap Lopez.