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doranwenOr Rookie Blue manifesto? I'm not sure what you call this, except I feel like I might explode with all the thoughts I've had with nowhere to share. Just because the fandom died before I could get to it doesn't mean I don't have Feelings and Thoughts about everything, so. Starting with that, actually.
Obviously I wasn't around, but it looks to me like the fandom imploded for a couple reasons, mostly having to do with the way the writers wrote things. At first, the fandom was entirely Sam/Andy, to the point that I could hardly find a fic on the ff.n pages that wasn't. Other than a couple fics that attempted Luke/Andy (more on that later), no one really tried to ship either of them with anyone else. The few writers who didn't get into them wrote really awesome Luke/Gail or Dov/Gail fics instead (because Gail is awesome *g*). Sam and Andy seemed predestined to be together, and the journey along the way towards was slow but enjoyable, if you count her nearly marrying another guy enjoyable. (But at the same time, I don't think anyone thought it would ever go through—as things moved along, it was obvious that something or another would intervene before that actually took place.)
And then the writers threw the end of season 3 at us, and followed it with season 4. By mid-season 4, they had damaged Sam/Andy to the point that many thought it was hopeless, and actually thought Andy would be better off with someone else. And when they mixed Nick/Andy into things, they lured away some McSwarek shippers to McCollins, which weakened things.
At that point, it appears that they also lured in a large number of fans just for the canon femslash with Gail/Holly. Fans who had not watched all along up to this point, so weren't invested in Sam/Andy the way the rest were. Fans who hadn't watched Gail all along, and couldn't speak to whether it made sense for her character or not. Those fans wrote tons of Gail/Holly and nothing else, and probably had little to do with the Sam/Andy and Nick/Andy shippers, who were all torn up at the end of season 4.
Come season 5, they reunite Sam/Andy for good, disappointing all the Nick/Andy shippers greatly (and understandably so!). Plus by the end of season 5 they break up Gail/Holly (though instead of making the breakup about the emotional wounds, like with the other ships, they make it be a distance thing, leaving it fairly inviting for fic at first). They play a lot more with the dynamic between some of the supporting cast, particularly with Oliver's role, and not always in positive directions. And then comes the end of season 5, which goes out with a terrible bang (literally and figuratively).
Marlo's baby. Yes, this does happen to people. Yes, there are families out there with this situation, who make it work, and who were probably delighted to see their family structure represented. But for those watching Sam and Andy all along, it felt like a major blow. Just when they thought things were going to work out for them at last, this wrench gets thrown in to keep it from being "perfect". What it does is sour a lot of people's delight in the Sam/Andy, so that even when they get engaged, there's a lackluster turnout in fic. The number of Sam/Andy fics focusing on season 5 are a tiny handful, and season 6 even smaller yet. Almost no fics deal with the canonical engagement or proposal, and I have seen maybe one that continues right after S6 ends. By that point even the Gail/Holly shippers were losing steam, since their ship was never coming back, the Nick/Andy ones had been lost long ago, and the Sam/Andy ones were fed up with the treatment the writers gave their ship. Way to go, writers…
And then I come on the scene about three years later, and there's virtually no activity, because of this. (I might be wrong about some of this analysis, but I think I'm pretty close.) *sigh*
But I have ships, I dooooo, so here to my thoughts on those:
Luke and Andy were doomed from the start, and I think most people figured that out pretty early on (the few Luke/Andy fics I ever found were pretty terribly written, on the whole). There were aspects of their relationship that were good, and he did seem to be that "good guy" that Andy was looking for, except when you realized how his work compared to Andy in terms of priority. Death knell number one was his treatment of Benny, death knell number two was his leaving Andy alone at home to go look for more bones at the rec center. By season 2, when he was getting along so well with Jo (and not recognizing the danger in working so closely with her and not setting firmer boundaries), the handwriting was on the wall. And when he cheated on Andy with Jo, it was simply a matter of how soon she would find out and leave him for good.
Do I think the show shouldn't have had them together at all? No, actually, I think that Sam seeing her with him was exactly what he needed to realize that he cared for Andy as much as he did, and it gave Andy somewhere to focus her attention besides Sam - because I don't think she'd have made it to being cut loose with the amount of UST between her and Sam if she hadn't been redirected to Luke. And being with the wrong guy gave her (and us) a better appreciation of why Sam was the right one; the sheer difference in how much she felt for Sam vs. Luke was clear through the screen, even if she never came out and spoke the words. Luke was the wrong guy that Andy needed to date to be ready for the right one, in my opinion, and I don't think I'm alone in that.
Where do I begin with Sam and Andy? These two were obvious from day 1. If you didn't pick it up then, by the end of 1x02 it should've been clear. The attraction was there, the fire they sparked in each other, even when both were pure and simply annoyed at each other (first locker room scene, anyone?), it was all there for anyone with eyes. Which apparently was everyone except for Sam and Andy, if the comments from Oliver, Noelle, and Traci were anything to go by. (I'm sure Chris and Dov had their own, but hopefully they would've been wise enough not to comment in Andy's presence, since we never saw much beyond Dov's analysis of why Sam would like having Andy as his rookie. "Hot secretary with a gun", lol.)
Both had major emotional issues, though. Andy ran anytime things got too close, and she was wary of getting close to a cop again after Luke. Sam never let anyone really inside. And just when we thought the writers might start letting them bond properly, they had to start the first push the wrong way - sending Andy to Temagami for three months, just when they had barely gotten together. Communication had been a weak point for the two from the start (they rarely said what they really needed to), and this bump in the road took a little getting over.
And even when it seemed like they had gotten past it, they hadn't really - I think Sam never quite got over it, in a way, so when Jerry died, he didn't feel like he could really rely on her, especially since he never let anyone in anyway. And Sam being emotionally dumb, instead of just telling her that he needed space, he broke up with her (only a few months after promising that he would fight for them instead of just giving up). Andy, of course, has no idea what's going on in his head, and tries for as long as she can to try to get him back, and then finally has to accept that it's really and truly over with the man she's loved for probably nearly three years (officially, only about one, but who are we kidding? it's pretty clear she had feelings for him even when she was dating Luke). So when Sam finally gets his head back on straight and declares his love for her, she can't even accept it, because she's been hurt so badly by his actions.
So instead of showing them working their way to getting past this hurt, the writers decided to have her hurt him back by leaving - running, like she does best. All the realism - or unrealism (because what task force ever grabs someone that last-minute, or grabs someone who was holding a bomb only a few hours earlier, without checking their mental state???) - of that aside, this was the last thing they needed. Neither one has fully communicated everything going on in their head, and by not having Andy even write anything to let Sam know why she left, the writers really evened out the emotional wounds.
For most of season 4, it's hard to hold out much hope for Sam and Andy, especially once Nick/Andy becomes canon. But even before they do, the webisode of Sam with the therapist gives one hope, when he finally reveals what he feels about Andy, and the episode after Nick/Andy becomes canon we finally get to hear Sam opening up about his feelings for Andy still (side note: Oliver is the biggest Sam/Andy fan, it's so hilarious how obvious that is).
Andy is starting to get over Sam—but I think it's clear at this point that while she might be able to get over him and be happy with someone else, Sam will never fully get over Andy. Which is why he has to actually leave, and if he hadn't been shot, I think we'd have seen him transferring to another division. I think he would have actually left his friends, left Oliver, left everyone he knew to go somewhere Andy wasn't so she could be happy without it killing him. Would he have moved on, maybe dated someone else? Possibly. But I think he never would've opened up to anyone else, because Andy would have left such a scar on his heart that I don't think he would've wanted to open up. I think we'd have seen him sink back into himself more, possibly a few surface relationships (like with Monica, or Marlo), ones he didn't have to put too much of himself into. He'd have gone back to a lot of who he was before Andy came into his life, but closed off more because he wouldn't have Oliver or Jerry to lean on and hang out with. He'd have been a loner detective, working long hours to forget. And every bit of news he would hear of Andy would only seal the doors to his heart further, I suspect - marriage, children, etc. A rather tragic end to their story. Fortunately, the writers would never have considered that (and should anyone write it, be forewarned that I'll probably cry reading, lol).
This is why while I think Nick/Andy is a nice light happy ship, it's a terrible ending for the characters because of what it would do to Sam. Also, I don't think anyone will feel as deeply as Sam does for Andy. Nick cares greatly, he may even be in love with her, and be able to sacrifice his own feelings for her good, as we see (but we see Sam do that too!), but Sam would be devastated to lose her. Imagine a 4x13 with the roles reversed and Andy being shot instead… Nick would be upset, but Sam would be worse. That's why, as hokey as some people found the scene, I loved the ambulance confession, because I think it's true - Andy would never be more loved than with Sam. (They are definitely my OTP here.)
And this is the sole reason why I finished watching the show - because Sam/Andy were meant to be, and I had to see the culmination of their story. Even though the proposal could've maybe been better, and the wedding ep was a little odd (felt like a lot of random stuff shoved together in the one ep), there were good bits to those and it was enjoyable to see. But will I rewatch the last season very often? Definitely not. The whole Marlo baby thing was a pretty major buzzkill. We'd already seen Sam and Andy's relationship go through the wringer, we didn't need anything new added to that. It basically added a huge dampener to the enjoyment of them being together, and I feel like it took away from a lot of things we could have seen between them otherwise. For instance, there was little discussion of where Sam's mom was, or any attempt to rebuild the relationship between him and his sister. I'd have liked to see all of that (plus more of Sam and Andy opening up to each other) - but Marlo and the baby took up the place of those scenes. :P
I think Nick and Andy made great friends. He fit really well as a buddy for her, someone she could joke and laugh with without the dating thing in the way. Which is why when they made him fall in love with her, it was really frustrating. Do I blame Nick? No, anyone could fall in love with Andy - she's that kind of girl. Any guy with her would feel like a million bucks, because she just shines everywhere she is. But it was annoying that they had to do that, because it meant she lost her casual buddy, and now had someone she had to deal with on a romantic level as well. Dating Nick also wrecked her friendship with Gail (which wasn't all that strong, but it would've been better without that!). And on top of that, they lacked that spark that she had with Sam. They were fun, light, simple, easy - a lot like Sam and Marlo (though a bit more honest and definitely more open and warm, especially since they'd spent six months relying on each other alone, pretty much) - but they didn't have the deep connection, even after the undercover, that Andy had with Sam. And Nick pushed just a tiny bit more than Sam did. Sam followed Andy's lead in things, but Nick pushed a bit more to have Andy do what he thought she should. It's small, but I got that impression from watching, and I liked how Sam handled her better.
So yeah, in short, there were some good things about McCollins, but overall it wasn't that good for Andy, and it kind of ruined a lot of things. Until Juliet came along to distract Nick, he had it pretty rough, because he and Andy dating and then breaking up damaged the friendship they had, which was the best thing between them. It's kinda sad…
I feel like Sam only dated Marlo to try to move on from Andy, to have something simple and easy and not feel so alone, but he also didn't put much of himself in that relationship. What surprises me is how long it took for Marlo to realize how much he was still in love with Andy. There's more than one really good fic that deals with that - either her realization, or another character telling her that. There was no real chance for this to go anywhere, not with him still all wrapped up in Andy. Even if Andy had stayed with Nick at the end of S4, I think he would have just transferred away - and not necessarily to stay with Marlo. They were done by that point, and she knew it as well as he did.
I would've liked Marlo better had she not been dating Sam - and had the writers not used her mental illness as a cheap plot device. The introduction of it was very good, but when they had her go off her meds and harass Kevin Ford, I got frustrated with them. To this day, I'd love to see a fic that realistically deals with the Nick/Andy/Sam/Marlo love quadrangle without Marlo going off her meds at the end of S4. What might the season have looked like otherwise, how would it have ended? No one ever wrote anything like that, which means it probably will never happen. But still… it's an intriguing thought.
All that aside, I wish the writers had done a better job with mental illness representation on the show - the agoraphobic woman in 1x07 was well-done overall, but their one representative of schizophrenia shoots an unarmed man thinking he's part of "McNally's lies", Marlo harasses an innocent man in a manic episode, and the woman from 4x03 (I don't even remember what mental problem she had) threatens a child with a knife and has to be shot. None of them is a good representation of the many people who live and deal with schizophrenia or bipolar every day.
Chris and Gail together were sort of sweet, until one realized how unsuited they were for each other. In some ways they were a case of opposites attract. Chris has a sweet exterior that masks an internal unyielding, which we only see bits of. Gail has the classic "ice queen" exterior that masks an internal vulnerability that few characters ever see or recognize, much to her detriment. Chris let her push him around in some ways, and I don't think he ever really understood her. The signs were there from day one that they would not last, and his reaction to her "betrayal" in season 2 was the clear end to their relationship.
The show teased us painfully with the potential of Dov and Gail. Unlike Chris, Dov really got Gail's snark, and could even dish some of it back - or say something straightforward that would cut to the heart and bypass all her defenses. He also "saw" Gail in a way almost no one else did, and I think with a little work, he would have been an excellent match for her. I felt like the show did a major cop-out in having him leave Gail out to dry and hide behind the "I was on medication" thing. Yes, he couldn't really control his confession - but he could've recognized that Chris was nowhere near as hurt by her betrayal as she was at being kicked to the curb. His failure to be there for the girl he supposedly loved when she really needed it was sad, and left her with more emotional scars - and closed off just that much more. This is a ship that "might have been", and it would have been a good one, too. A few fanfics explore this possibility, but very very few. This is definitely my rarepair for Rookie Blue. (If I felt like I could actually write Gail properly, I'd be writing it!)
These two are surprisingly well-matched, in a sad sort of way. Both are emotionally closed off, wounded characters by the end of season 2, and in the wake of Andy going to Sam and Gail being rejected by Chris, they would've been good for each other. Sadly, the show hinted only slightly at it, with the occasional exchange between them, such as Gail telling Luke to meet her outside in a few minutes, and never came out with it canonically, even for a short while. That didn't stop a small handful of writers from writing some excellent Luke/Gail fics, but that contingent has completely ceased at this point, and this ship is a "what could have been". :(
I think it's pretty clear from the show how bad Chris/Denise were. They only got back together because she showed up with a toddler claiming it was Chris's son - and then turned out to be lying about that. It really just messed up Chris's life, is what happened - and any fanfic that wants to remedy this one by having him get a DNA test as soon as Christian appeared, is a great fanfic in my books.
These two were kind of cute together, if not trying to ship Gail with him, and I liked them up until the whole Wes thing came along. I soured on Chloe pretty fast there - it's not like she couldn't have gotten around to divorcing him properly, and trying to pretend she was single and dating Dov that long without telling him was cowardly. Her personality grew on me, but that sort of dishonesty, even unintentional, is something I really do not like. So I have a lot of mixed feelings about this ship now.
I thought this ship was a mess the moment I saw it on-screen. Characters suddenly appearing with backstory with other characters is a touchy thing to do, and Nick rubbed me all wrong when it came to Gail. I never felt like he really understood her all that well, either - yes, he knew what to do or say sometimes, but it came across more as familiarity with her actions, not that he really understood what was going on inside. And the backstory that they came up with didn't make him look good either - and it didn't feel right for Gail at all. So this ship really turned me off to pairing her with people, because the writers had just botched three ships in a row (Dov/Gail, Luke/Gail, and now Nick/Gail). At this point, I was ready for them to stop pairing her with anyone! Of course, that didn't happen…
Because the next thing the writers did was decide that she wasn't straight, she was bi! (I don't think one can argue lesbian because her relationship with Chris, while ill-matched personality-wise, was not lacking in sexual attraction whatsoever.) Never mind that the issue with Gail is that she has major difficulties with emotional intimacy (which has nothing to do with one's sexual orientation), and those difficulties are going to arise in whatever relationship she finds herself in. I felt like they tossed that in because they'd blundered so badly with the other pairings that would've worked well, so they decided they needed to change things up.
To be honest, I know that's not necessarily the case, that the actress herself thought that Gail was perhaps not straight - but that's not what came across to me watching from 1x01 onwards. We see Gail attempt to reach out and make friends with Traci in 1x05 Broad Daylight (that was not asking Traci on a date, lol, no one at least has tried to argue that), but the moment Traci says she can't make it that day, Gail backs off in a hurry and closes back up. The slightest bit of rejection she can't handle, and that speaks volumes to her low self-esteem and emotional vulnerability underneath the cold caustic exterior. Having her switch teams mid-show was not the solution to that—and as we saw, she might've made some progress with Holly, but she'd have been able to make the same progress with Dov, or Luke, given the right writing - it was a timing and personality thing rather than a gender thing.
The "I date women now" thing felt like it was designed just to draw in femslash viewers—and it did that, so if that was the writers' design, they certainly succeeded. It just didn't feel true to the character, it didn't feel like an organic thing, but more of "well, we kind of ruined all these possibilities for her, let's just make her gay and then we can try something new!" It's one thing to add in an issue from the get-go, or really explore it in-depth, it's another to toss it in for the sensationalism, and that's what it felt like to me. So that's why I can't get into Gail/Holly hardly at all. I've read a few good fics, but I'm not emotionally invested in that ship, and I got tired of it quickly. (I feel about the same way with Nick/Andy - the difference is that the McCollins fics were a short-lived phenomenon in season 4 amounting to only a few dozen, and the Gail/Holly ones lasted much longer and number in the hundreds at least.)
I don't even like Nick all that much, and I thought Nick/Juliet wasn't the greatest idea - and it certainly didn't make Nick look like all that great of a person. He kept pushing, and pushing, and then when he'd gotten her to reluctantly date him, and then found out she was IA, he was angry with her for concealing it. Uh, hello, that's kind of the point - it was her job, and she had tried not to date him, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. So when he found out that she was IA after all, he shouldn't have been angry at her - it was his own fault for pursuing her so intensely when she said "no"! She had her reasons, and the Nick who could push Andy towards Sam because it was where her heart was, should also have been able to leave Juliet be, and just become friends with her. By the time the show ended, I was tired of both of them and really didn't care about their scenes.
Jerry and Traci were sort of interesting at the beginning, and they got sweeter as time went on. I really wish we had gotten to see them get married and make a life together, either before he got killed, or in lieu of that. I think I cried during 3x09 Out of Time and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. This was one ship I really was sad to see go. I understood them killing him off, it made sense, but still… ouch!
I was a lot more reserved about Steve and Traci together, so when Traci found out that he was dirty, and dropped him like a hot potato, I kind of rooted for her. If he hadn't been, I think I would have liked them, if for nothing more than it would've made Traci and Gail sisters, and I think Traci was the one person who tried to reach out to Gail more as the show went on, since Andy was all wrapped up in her own life, and the boys had pretty much abandoned Gail to her own devices.
Before you raise your eyebrows too much, I have to say that I think Chris could've been a good match for Traci for several reasons. One, he was gentle and kind in general, and she would have always treated him in a way to maintain that bond. Two, I think they had decent chemistry, in a more mellow sweet way - and after losing Jerry, I could see them settling into a comfortable companionship. Would it have had the spark and the fire that she had with Jerry, or that Andy had with Sam? Probably not, but I think she'd gotten burned enough by sparks to be content with the quiet heat of a relationship with someone like Chris, and I think she'd have eventually woken up to realize she was really happy with him, maybe even in love. Those quiet relationships where it's the slowest of slow burns, those ones really get to me. So that's why I would have liked to see a Chris/Traci fic. This, however, is probably even more of a rarepair than Dov/Gail, because I'm not sure I have seen even one with them as the main pairing (only one series that used them as a background ship). If you have, please link me! I'd love to read something of these two together.
I think that's all I can come up with for Rookie Blue, ship-wise (for now - I'm sure there are more possible ships to discuss!). There are a lot of plot-related things I think were pretty dumb or ill-thought-out (the length of time between Luke being shot and when Sam and Andy find him, Andy going on a UC operation the same day she held a bomb, Duncan even making it through the academy in the first place), but that's what AU fics are for…
If you found this interesting in any way, or agree/disagree with me about something, please comment! I'd love to have a discussion with another Rookie Blue fan.
Obviously I wasn't around, but it looks to me like the fandom imploded for a couple reasons, mostly having to do with the way the writers wrote things. At first, the fandom was entirely Sam/Andy, to the point that I could hardly find a fic on the ff.n pages that wasn't. Other than a couple fics that attempted Luke/Andy (more on that later), no one really tried to ship either of them with anyone else. The few writers who didn't get into them wrote really awesome Luke/Gail or Dov/Gail fics instead (because Gail is awesome *g*). Sam and Andy seemed predestined to be together, and the journey along the way towards was slow but enjoyable, if you count her nearly marrying another guy enjoyable. (But at the same time, I don't think anyone thought it would ever go through—as things moved along, it was obvious that something or another would intervene before that actually took place.)
And then the writers threw the end of season 3 at us, and followed it with season 4. By mid-season 4, they had damaged Sam/Andy to the point that many thought it was hopeless, and actually thought Andy would be better off with someone else. And when they mixed Nick/Andy into things, they lured away some McSwarek shippers to McCollins, which weakened things.
At that point, it appears that they also lured in a large number of fans just for the canon femslash with Gail/Holly. Fans who had not watched all along up to this point, so weren't invested in Sam/Andy the way the rest were. Fans who hadn't watched Gail all along, and couldn't speak to whether it made sense for her character or not. Those fans wrote tons of Gail/Holly and nothing else, and probably had little to do with the Sam/Andy and Nick/Andy shippers, who were all torn up at the end of season 4.
Come season 5, they reunite Sam/Andy for good, disappointing all the Nick/Andy shippers greatly (and understandably so!). Plus by the end of season 5 they break up Gail/Holly (though instead of making the breakup about the emotional wounds, like with the other ships, they make it be a distance thing, leaving it fairly inviting for fic at first). They play a lot more with the dynamic between some of the supporting cast, particularly with Oliver's role, and not always in positive directions. And then comes the end of season 5, which goes out with a terrible bang (literally and figuratively).
Marlo's baby. Yes, this does happen to people. Yes, there are families out there with this situation, who make it work, and who were probably delighted to see their family structure represented. But for those watching Sam and Andy all along, it felt like a major blow. Just when they thought things were going to work out for them at last, this wrench gets thrown in to keep it from being "perfect". What it does is sour a lot of people's delight in the Sam/Andy, so that even when they get engaged, there's a lackluster turnout in fic. The number of Sam/Andy fics focusing on season 5 are a tiny handful, and season 6 even smaller yet. Almost no fics deal with the canonical engagement or proposal, and I have seen maybe one that continues right after S6 ends. By that point even the Gail/Holly shippers were losing steam, since their ship was never coming back, the Nick/Andy ones had been lost long ago, and the Sam/Andy ones were fed up with the treatment the writers gave their ship. Way to go, writers…
And then I come on the scene about three years later, and there's virtually no activity, because of this. (I might be wrong about some of this analysis, but I think I'm pretty close.) *sigh*
But I have ships, I dooooo, so here to my thoughts on those:
Luke and Andy were doomed from the start, and I think most people figured that out pretty early on (the few Luke/Andy fics I ever found were pretty terribly written, on the whole). There were aspects of their relationship that were good, and he did seem to be that "good guy" that Andy was looking for, except when you realized how his work compared to Andy in terms of priority. Death knell number one was his treatment of Benny, death knell number two was his leaving Andy alone at home to go look for more bones at the rec center. By season 2, when he was getting along so well with Jo (and not recognizing the danger in working so closely with her and not setting firmer boundaries), the handwriting was on the wall. And when he cheated on Andy with Jo, it was simply a matter of how soon she would find out and leave him for good.
Do I think the show shouldn't have had them together at all? No, actually, I think that Sam seeing her with him was exactly what he needed to realize that he cared for Andy as much as he did, and it gave Andy somewhere to focus her attention besides Sam - because I don't think she'd have made it to being cut loose with the amount of UST between her and Sam if she hadn't been redirected to Luke. And being with the wrong guy gave her (and us) a better appreciation of why Sam was the right one; the sheer difference in how much she felt for Sam vs. Luke was clear through the screen, even if she never came out and spoke the words. Luke was the wrong guy that Andy needed to date to be ready for the right one, in my opinion, and I don't think I'm alone in that.
Where do I begin with Sam and Andy? These two were obvious from day 1. If you didn't pick it up then, by the end of 1x02 it should've been clear. The attraction was there, the fire they sparked in each other, even when both were pure and simply annoyed at each other (first locker room scene, anyone?), it was all there for anyone with eyes. Which apparently was everyone except for Sam and Andy, if the comments from Oliver, Noelle, and Traci were anything to go by. (I'm sure Chris and Dov had their own, but hopefully they would've been wise enough not to comment in Andy's presence, since we never saw much beyond Dov's analysis of why Sam would like having Andy as his rookie. "Hot secretary with a gun", lol.)
Both had major emotional issues, though. Andy ran anytime things got too close, and she was wary of getting close to a cop again after Luke. Sam never let anyone really inside. And just when we thought the writers might start letting them bond properly, they had to start the first push the wrong way - sending Andy to Temagami for three months, just when they had barely gotten together. Communication had been a weak point for the two from the start (they rarely said what they really needed to), and this bump in the road took a little getting over.
And even when it seemed like they had gotten past it, they hadn't really - I think Sam never quite got over it, in a way, so when Jerry died, he didn't feel like he could really rely on her, especially since he never let anyone in anyway. And Sam being emotionally dumb, instead of just telling her that he needed space, he broke up with her (only a few months after promising that he would fight for them instead of just giving up). Andy, of course, has no idea what's going on in his head, and tries for as long as she can to try to get him back, and then finally has to accept that it's really and truly over with the man she's loved for probably nearly three years (officially, only about one, but who are we kidding? it's pretty clear she had feelings for him even when she was dating Luke). So when Sam finally gets his head back on straight and declares his love for her, she can't even accept it, because she's been hurt so badly by his actions.
So instead of showing them working their way to getting past this hurt, the writers decided to have her hurt him back by leaving - running, like she does best. All the realism - or unrealism (because what task force ever grabs someone that last-minute, or grabs someone who was holding a bomb only a few hours earlier, without checking their mental state???) - of that aside, this was the last thing they needed. Neither one has fully communicated everything going on in their head, and by not having Andy even write anything to let Sam know why she left, the writers really evened out the emotional wounds.
For most of season 4, it's hard to hold out much hope for Sam and Andy, especially once Nick/Andy becomes canon. But even before they do, the webisode of Sam with the therapist gives one hope, when he finally reveals what he feels about Andy, and the episode after Nick/Andy becomes canon we finally get to hear Sam opening up about his feelings for Andy still (side note: Oliver is the biggest Sam/Andy fan, it's so hilarious how obvious that is).
Andy is starting to get over Sam—but I think it's clear at this point that while she might be able to get over him and be happy with someone else, Sam will never fully get over Andy. Which is why he has to actually leave, and if he hadn't been shot, I think we'd have seen him transferring to another division. I think he would have actually left his friends, left Oliver, left everyone he knew to go somewhere Andy wasn't so she could be happy without it killing him. Would he have moved on, maybe dated someone else? Possibly. But I think he never would've opened up to anyone else, because Andy would have left such a scar on his heart that I don't think he would've wanted to open up. I think we'd have seen him sink back into himself more, possibly a few surface relationships (like with Monica, or Marlo), ones he didn't have to put too much of himself into. He'd have gone back to a lot of who he was before Andy came into his life, but closed off more because he wouldn't have Oliver or Jerry to lean on and hang out with. He'd have been a loner detective, working long hours to forget. And every bit of news he would hear of Andy would only seal the doors to his heart further, I suspect - marriage, children, etc. A rather tragic end to their story. Fortunately, the writers would never have considered that (and should anyone write it, be forewarned that I'll probably cry reading, lol).
This is why while I think Nick/Andy is a nice light happy ship, it's a terrible ending for the characters because of what it would do to Sam. Also, I don't think anyone will feel as deeply as Sam does for Andy. Nick cares greatly, he may even be in love with her, and be able to sacrifice his own feelings for her good, as we see (but we see Sam do that too!), but Sam would be devastated to lose her. Imagine a 4x13 with the roles reversed and Andy being shot instead… Nick would be upset, but Sam would be worse. That's why, as hokey as some people found the scene, I loved the ambulance confession, because I think it's true - Andy would never be more loved than with Sam. (They are definitely my OTP here.)
And this is the sole reason why I finished watching the show - because Sam/Andy were meant to be, and I had to see the culmination of their story. Even though the proposal could've maybe been better, and the wedding ep was a little odd (felt like a lot of random stuff shoved together in the one ep), there were good bits to those and it was enjoyable to see. But will I rewatch the last season very often? Definitely not. The whole Marlo baby thing was a pretty major buzzkill. We'd already seen Sam and Andy's relationship go through the wringer, we didn't need anything new added to that. It basically added a huge dampener to the enjoyment of them being together, and I feel like it took away from a lot of things we could have seen between them otherwise. For instance, there was little discussion of where Sam's mom was, or any attempt to rebuild the relationship between him and his sister. I'd have liked to see all of that (plus more of Sam and Andy opening up to each other) - but Marlo and the baby took up the place of those scenes. :P
I think Nick and Andy made great friends. He fit really well as a buddy for her, someone she could joke and laugh with without the dating thing in the way. Which is why when they made him fall in love with her, it was really frustrating. Do I blame Nick? No, anyone could fall in love with Andy - she's that kind of girl. Any guy with her would feel like a million bucks, because she just shines everywhere she is. But it was annoying that they had to do that, because it meant she lost her casual buddy, and now had someone she had to deal with on a romantic level as well. Dating Nick also wrecked her friendship with Gail (which wasn't all that strong, but it would've been better without that!). And on top of that, they lacked that spark that she had with Sam. They were fun, light, simple, easy - a lot like Sam and Marlo (though a bit more honest and definitely more open and warm, especially since they'd spent six months relying on each other alone, pretty much) - but they didn't have the deep connection, even after the undercover, that Andy had with Sam. And Nick pushed just a tiny bit more than Sam did. Sam followed Andy's lead in things, but Nick pushed a bit more to have Andy do what he thought she should. It's small, but I got that impression from watching, and I liked how Sam handled her better.
So yeah, in short, there were some good things about McCollins, but overall it wasn't that good for Andy, and it kind of ruined a lot of things. Until Juliet came along to distract Nick, he had it pretty rough, because he and Andy dating and then breaking up damaged the friendship they had, which was the best thing between them. It's kinda sad…
I feel like Sam only dated Marlo to try to move on from Andy, to have something simple and easy and not feel so alone, but he also didn't put much of himself in that relationship. What surprises me is how long it took for Marlo to realize how much he was still in love with Andy. There's more than one really good fic that deals with that - either her realization, or another character telling her that. There was no real chance for this to go anywhere, not with him still all wrapped up in Andy. Even if Andy had stayed with Nick at the end of S4, I think he would have just transferred away - and not necessarily to stay with Marlo. They were done by that point, and she knew it as well as he did.
I would've liked Marlo better had she not been dating Sam - and had the writers not used her mental illness as a cheap plot device. The introduction of it was very good, but when they had her go off her meds and harass Kevin Ford, I got frustrated with them. To this day, I'd love to see a fic that realistically deals with the Nick/Andy/Sam/Marlo love quadrangle without Marlo going off her meds at the end of S4. What might the season have looked like otherwise, how would it have ended? No one ever wrote anything like that, which means it probably will never happen. But still… it's an intriguing thought.
All that aside, I wish the writers had done a better job with mental illness representation on the show - the agoraphobic woman in 1x07 was well-done overall, but their one representative of schizophrenia shoots an unarmed man thinking he's part of "McNally's lies", Marlo harasses an innocent man in a manic episode, and the woman from 4x03 (I don't even remember what mental problem she had) threatens a child with a knife and has to be shot. None of them is a good representation of the many people who live and deal with schizophrenia or bipolar every day.
Chris and Gail together were sort of sweet, until one realized how unsuited they were for each other. In some ways they were a case of opposites attract. Chris has a sweet exterior that masks an internal unyielding, which we only see bits of. Gail has the classic "ice queen" exterior that masks an internal vulnerability that few characters ever see or recognize, much to her detriment. Chris let her push him around in some ways, and I don't think he ever really understood her. The signs were there from day one that they would not last, and his reaction to her "betrayal" in season 2 was the clear end to their relationship.
The show teased us painfully with the potential of Dov and Gail. Unlike Chris, Dov really got Gail's snark, and could even dish some of it back - or say something straightforward that would cut to the heart and bypass all her defenses. He also "saw" Gail in a way almost no one else did, and I think with a little work, he would have been an excellent match for her. I felt like the show did a major cop-out in having him leave Gail out to dry and hide behind the "I was on medication" thing. Yes, he couldn't really control his confession - but he could've recognized that Chris was nowhere near as hurt by her betrayal as she was at being kicked to the curb. His failure to be there for the girl he supposedly loved when she really needed it was sad, and left her with more emotional scars - and closed off just that much more. This is a ship that "might have been", and it would have been a good one, too. A few fanfics explore this possibility, but very very few. This is definitely my rarepair for Rookie Blue. (If I felt like I could actually write Gail properly, I'd be writing it!)
These two are surprisingly well-matched, in a sad sort of way. Both are emotionally closed off, wounded characters by the end of season 2, and in the wake of Andy going to Sam and Gail being rejected by Chris, they would've been good for each other. Sadly, the show hinted only slightly at it, with the occasional exchange between them, such as Gail telling Luke to meet her outside in a few minutes, and never came out with it canonically, even for a short while. That didn't stop a small handful of writers from writing some excellent Luke/Gail fics, but that contingent has completely ceased at this point, and this ship is a "what could have been". :(
I think it's pretty clear from the show how bad Chris/Denise were. They only got back together because she showed up with a toddler claiming it was Chris's son - and then turned out to be lying about that. It really just messed up Chris's life, is what happened - and any fanfic that wants to remedy this one by having him get a DNA test as soon as Christian appeared, is a great fanfic in my books.
These two were kind of cute together, if not trying to ship Gail with him, and I liked them up until the whole Wes thing came along. I soured on Chloe pretty fast there - it's not like she couldn't have gotten around to divorcing him properly, and trying to pretend she was single and dating Dov that long without telling him was cowardly. Her personality grew on me, but that sort of dishonesty, even unintentional, is something I really do not like. So I have a lot of mixed feelings about this ship now.
I thought this ship was a mess the moment I saw it on-screen. Characters suddenly appearing with backstory with other characters is a touchy thing to do, and Nick rubbed me all wrong when it came to Gail. I never felt like he really understood her all that well, either - yes, he knew what to do or say sometimes, but it came across more as familiarity with her actions, not that he really understood what was going on inside. And the backstory that they came up with didn't make him look good either - and it didn't feel right for Gail at all. So this ship really turned me off to pairing her with people, because the writers had just botched three ships in a row (Dov/Gail, Luke/Gail, and now Nick/Gail). At this point, I was ready for them to stop pairing her with anyone! Of course, that didn't happen…
Because the next thing the writers did was decide that she wasn't straight, she was bi! (I don't think one can argue lesbian because her relationship with Chris, while ill-matched personality-wise, was not lacking in sexual attraction whatsoever.) Never mind that the issue with Gail is that she has major difficulties with emotional intimacy (which has nothing to do with one's sexual orientation), and those difficulties are going to arise in whatever relationship she finds herself in. I felt like they tossed that in because they'd blundered so badly with the other pairings that would've worked well, so they decided they needed to change things up.
To be honest, I know that's not necessarily the case, that the actress herself thought that Gail was perhaps not straight - but that's not what came across to me watching from 1x01 onwards. We see Gail attempt to reach out and make friends with Traci in 1x05 Broad Daylight (that was not asking Traci on a date, lol, no one at least has tried to argue that), but the moment Traci says she can't make it that day, Gail backs off in a hurry and closes back up. The slightest bit of rejection she can't handle, and that speaks volumes to her low self-esteem and emotional vulnerability underneath the cold caustic exterior. Having her switch teams mid-show was not the solution to that—and as we saw, she might've made some progress with Holly, but she'd have been able to make the same progress with Dov, or Luke, given the right writing - it was a timing and personality thing rather than a gender thing.
The "I date women now" thing felt like it was designed just to draw in femslash viewers—and it did that, so if that was the writers' design, they certainly succeeded. It just didn't feel true to the character, it didn't feel like an organic thing, but more of "well, we kind of ruined all these possibilities for her, let's just make her gay and then we can try something new!" It's one thing to add in an issue from the get-go, or really explore it in-depth, it's another to toss it in for the sensationalism, and that's what it felt like to me. So that's why I can't get into Gail/Holly hardly at all. I've read a few good fics, but I'm not emotionally invested in that ship, and I got tired of it quickly. (I feel about the same way with Nick/Andy - the difference is that the McCollins fics were a short-lived phenomenon in season 4 amounting to only a few dozen, and the Gail/Holly ones lasted much longer and number in the hundreds at least.)
I don't even like Nick all that much, and I thought Nick/Juliet wasn't the greatest idea - and it certainly didn't make Nick look like all that great of a person. He kept pushing, and pushing, and then when he'd gotten her to reluctantly date him, and then found out she was IA, he was angry with her for concealing it. Uh, hello, that's kind of the point - it was her job, and she had tried not to date him, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. So when he found out that she was IA after all, he shouldn't have been angry at her - it was his own fault for pursuing her so intensely when she said "no"! She had her reasons, and the Nick who could push Andy towards Sam because it was where her heart was, should also have been able to leave Juliet be, and just become friends with her. By the time the show ended, I was tired of both of them and really didn't care about their scenes.
Jerry and Traci were sort of interesting at the beginning, and they got sweeter as time went on. I really wish we had gotten to see them get married and make a life together, either before he got killed, or in lieu of that. I think I cried during 3x09 Out of Time and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. This was one ship I really was sad to see go. I understood them killing him off, it made sense, but still… ouch!
I was a lot more reserved about Steve and Traci together, so when Traci found out that he was dirty, and dropped him like a hot potato, I kind of rooted for her. If he hadn't been, I think I would have liked them, if for nothing more than it would've made Traci and Gail sisters, and I think Traci was the one person who tried to reach out to Gail more as the show went on, since Andy was all wrapped up in her own life, and the boys had pretty much abandoned Gail to her own devices.
Before you raise your eyebrows too much, I have to say that I think Chris could've been a good match for Traci for several reasons. One, he was gentle and kind in general, and she would have always treated him in a way to maintain that bond. Two, I think they had decent chemistry, in a more mellow sweet way - and after losing Jerry, I could see them settling into a comfortable companionship. Would it have had the spark and the fire that she had with Jerry, or that Andy had with Sam? Probably not, but I think she'd gotten burned enough by sparks to be content with the quiet heat of a relationship with someone like Chris, and I think she'd have eventually woken up to realize she was really happy with him, maybe even in love. Those quiet relationships where it's the slowest of slow burns, those ones really get to me. So that's why I would have liked to see a Chris/Traci fic. This, however, is probably even more of a rarepair than Dov/Gail, because I'm not sure I have seen even one with them as the main pairing (only one series that used them as a background ship). If you have, please link me! I'd love to read something of these two together.
I think that's all I can come up with for Rookie Blue, ship-wise (for now - I'm sure there are more possible ships to discuss!). There are a lot of plot-related things I think were pretty dumb or ill-thought-out (the length of time between Luke being shot and when Sam and Andy find him, Andy going on a UC operation the same day she held a bomb, Duncan even making it through the academy in the first place), but that's what AU fics are for…
If you found this interesting in any way, or agree/disagree with me about something, please comment! I'd love to have a discussion with another Rookie Blue fan.
