Melissa O’Neil admitted she had “a lot of feelings” about Lucy and Tim’s will-they, won’t-they romance on season 7 of The Rookie — but how did she feel about their steamy hotel hookup?
Warning: Spoilers below from season 7, episode 6 of The Rookie.
During the Tuesday, February 11, episode of the ABC series, Lucy Chen (O’Neil) and Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) found themselves alone in a hotel room following the LAPD’s Valentine’s Day gala.
After a bar fight left Tim with a cut on the back of his neck, Lucy jumped in to help. The former couple, who called it quits during season 6, were in close quarters as Lucy tended to Tim’s injury while he was shirtless. Although they both agreed they shouldn’t cross that line, they finally hooked up — and actress O’Neil has some thoughts.
“I think that’s how strong their connection is,” O’Neil, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly of the romantic sex scene. “I’m sure it’s in the very, very, very far back of their mind [to hook up], but also the adrenaline of Tim getting into a fight, and then he’s got, like, a cut. Is there glass in there? Like, what’s going on? It’s on the back of your neck. How are you exactly gonna clean that up?”
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The actress explained there was a “practicality” to “how they got into that environment” that opened the door to their intimate moment after months of avoidance.
“Once they are that close to each other, and the proximity of their bodies, and she is in a beautiful dress and they’re dressed up and they’re in a private space and in a beautiful hotel room, not only is it like a moment out of time, it’s like they’re completely in foreign territory right now,” O’Neil said.
She confessed, “It’s almost like all bets are off. We’re not in any realm that’s familiar. You’ve never seen me in this dress. We’ve never been in this hotel room. It’s almost like they are just somewhere else entirely.”
O’Neil noted that “despite themselves” both admitting, “we shouldn’t, and we can’t” do this, there is an “unspoken connection” between the two that cannot be denied.
“She can’t help herself,” the TV star said, revealing that Lucy’s “internal experience” of “I shouldn’t do this and s—, but I can’t help myself and I’m so glad I did” is totally relatable.
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Once the highly anticipated hookup happens, both Tim and Lucy know they have to talk about the elephant in the room. However, they side-step most of the conversation the morning after and leave it until they are in the LAPD elevator together to set some ground rules.
During that scene, Lucy tells him that they can’t do that again and he agrees. However, O’Neil told Us that not even Lucy believes they will follow the so-called rules.
“Now that this kind of line has been crossed, I firmly believe that verbally and mentally she absolutely means what she says. But I don’t even think she buys it,” O’Neil said with a laugh.
The actress pointed out that the “juicy stuff” — where one person is clearly saying what they believe needs to or should be said, while their heart says another — is “compelling” and will be a consistent part of the rest of the season.
“You’re like, ‘Oh girl, this is not gonna go well. But I love you for trying,’” O’Neil teased, adding, “We’ll see what ends up happening. But when I was playing that moment even I was like, ‘Oh God, Lucy, like, what’s gonna happen?’”
When it comes to their future, O’Neil told Us it will take more than the physical connection for Lucy to fully commit to Tim after he pulled the plug on their romance. (Tim called off their relationship during season 6 after he realized that pulling Lucy into his past drama could’ve gotten her fired.)
“For Lucy, it is going [to] require a very real conversation and accountability. She’s not just gonna slide into something if nothing has changed, especially because he’s the one that said that he can’t do this,” O’Neil explained.
She pointed out that Lucy is the type of person who will tell Tim, “I’m not gonna let you tell me you don’t want me twice.”
“She’d need a real sincere conversation and accountability because he kind of hung her out to dry,” O’Neil revealed, noting, “It’s like classic avoidant attachment. Like, ‘OK, so you’re really struggling and so now you wanna, like, isolate yourself and cut me out? Make it make sense.’”
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If Tim doesn’t figure out a way to let his walls down and show progress on his end, O’Neil said Lucy will still have a strong working relationship with him.
“Their intimacy is beyond just romance and physical. She respects him, she respects his opinion, and she values his input,” she said of Lucy’s connection with Tim at the office. “She leans on him in that way for his thoughts in the professional environment. She wants his advice, and that intimacy exists for them as well.”
O’Neil concluded that Lucy and Tim are a “good team” that “balance each other out” as police officers.
She teased, “But as far as the romantic thing, I think it would be important for her to have that [conversation] before they could really dive back in seriously in a relationship kind of a way.”
The Rookie airs on ABC Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.
