The Rookie's Melissa O'Neil Breaks Down Lucy and Tim's Valentine's Day, and What Comes Next for Chenford

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[Warning: This story contains spoilers for The Rookie Season 7 Episode 6, "The Gala." Read at your own risk!]

Melissa O'Neil isn't afraid to admit when she is mistaken. Heading into the seventh season of The Rookie, the Canadian actress had difficulty squaring her own interpretation of Lucy Chen with what the show's writers had in mind for the next chapter of her character's story.

"I was frequently finding myself in the writers' room being like, 'Is this out of character? I don't understand. What are we doing?'" O'Neil told TV Guide with a laugh. "I'm so glad, now that time has passed, when I reflect back, I'm like, 'Oh, I understand what they were highlighting here.'"

After Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) shockingly decided to break up with her midway through last season, Lucy threw herself into her work, even agreeing to take on the role of acting training officer — not only to give back to the next generation of rookies, but also to boost her own chances of a promotion. (She was also being given an opportunity to one-up Bradford, her former training officer.)

Lucy had convinced herself that she and Tim were ancient history, and Tim, realizing that he had made a mistake in letting her go, has attempted to earn back Lucy's trust by letting her take the lead. But, as evidenced in this week's episode, the heart wants what it wants.

More on ABC and The Rookie:

• Everything we know about The Rookie Season 7
• The Rookie's showrunner updates us on Chenford in Season 7
• The Rookie Season 6 finale: Melissa O'Neil and Eric Winter discuss the future of Chenford
• Your complete guide to winter TV: Previews, schedules, editors' picks, and more

On Valentine's Day, Lieutenant Grey (Richard T. Jones) gives Chen and Bradford the unromantic assignment of running a "Turn In Your Ex" booth outside the station, where a colorful array of characters arrive to air all kinds of grievances about their exes (including one who was aiding the illegal sale and transport of a tiger in Los Angeles?!). That evening, all the officers show up to Grey's wife Luna's (Angel Parker) special gala fundraiser. Things quickly take a turn for the worse when Teddy, the husband of James' (Arjay Smith) colleague Anita, drunkenly (and foolishly) gets into an altercation with Tim, resulting in a bunch of broken glasses.

Noticing that a shard of glass cut the back of Tim's neck, Lucy offers to help Tim clean up his wound in his hotel room, where they give in to temptation and hook up for the first time since their controversial split. After clearly not getting much sleep overnight (you can probably guess why), Lucy and Tim awkwardly try to convince themselves that this was just "a classic case of Valentine's Day ex sex" and "a singular moment in time aided by alcohol and shirtless triage."

Below, O'Neil answers all of our burning questions about what led to that long-awaited "Chenford" reunion (and where they go from here), why Lucy cannot seem to shake the feeling that her rookie Ridley (Patrick Keleher) is up to no good, Lucy's future trajectory at the LAPD, and who, between her and Winter, Kojo the dog likes better.

Moving past their break-up seems to have allowed Lucy and Tim to lean into the banter that they had long before they had become a romantic item — especially now that they are working side-by-side as training officers, which is a significant step up for Lucy after not making detective last season. What are the new layers that you have been able to find in playing Lucy this season?

Melissa O'Neil: I really have to give kudos to [showrunner] Alexi [Hawley] and the writers because there have been several times, especially at the beginning of the season, where the ideas that I have about who Lucy is have come up against how she has been presented in the script — and they are at odds with each other. So I was frequently finding myself in the writers' room being like, "Is this out of character? I don't understand. What are we doing?"

I'm so glad, now that time has passed, when I reflect back, I'm like, "Oh, I understand what they were highlighting here." I understand that they were highlighting her capacity and her instinct, her cop instinct, and her intuition, as far as everything that's going on with her training officer journey, and then in particular with what's going on with [her and] Bradford. I like that we've still retained her femininity. We can girl boss all day, OK? We can go hard all we want, but at the end of the day, the person we want is the person we want. And we're not perfect. And we might just slip up [laughs] and do something that we said we wouldn't do again! And then we did!

So I really love how human she is this year and imperfect in all of the ways, and how she's still reaching and trying. She has goals and aspirations, but still, she wants what she wants too. It's been fun to see that banter have the additional layer of a romantic history with someone. It's nice to see them get back into a playful space, but now there's this subtext that didn't exist before when the banter was happening, because the [romantic] relationship hadn't existed yet. So there's this whole other layer that's going on, and for the people who are tuning in to those little aspects, I think there's fun little nuggets to pick up on.

In our interview at the end of last season, you mentioned that while Lucy is a principled and disciplined person who wouldn't want to be burned again by her ex, it would be interesting as a viewer to see her and Tim slip back into their old dynamic and confront how they really feel about each other, which is exactly what happens in this week's episode. Walk me through what is going through Lucy's mind in that hotel room, and how you wanted to play those intimate moments between her and Tim.

O'Neil: Lanre [Olabisi], our director, he's so amazing and so collaborative, and so is Paul [Theriault], our [director of photography], and Eric, of course — all four of us kind of worked together. I was really chewing on it the night before, like, how do we tell this story with the blocking [of the camera]? What was interesting to me was that [the characters] are sincere and were kind of focused on: "Let me clean you up. It's on the back of your neck. Dude, you're bleeding. Do you have glass in there? Let's focus on what's happening at hand." And then they can't even help themselves because suddenly they're just [face-to-face] like that. So, actually, I think we spent more time probably figuring out the blocking than we did shooting it. The moment is [snaps her fingers to show how quick it happened], but we spent a lot of time figuring it out.

I don't think, when she goes there, that she's thinking about hooking up like that. I don't think that's happening at all. I feel like at the gala, she's having a good time; she's minding her own business. It's all good, and then she's like, "Hold on. What's going on with you?" I think the fact that she feels so comfortable and at ease to be like, "Stop it. I'm coming with you to help you" — that's just a part of her caretaker [nature] and the fact that they have that rapport and that intimacy. It's old-hat, you know? I think anyone who's been in a long-term relationship, or just a very deep, intimate one, knows that kind of familiarity where it's like, "Stop it. I'm going to walk you home. Don't be weird."

But when she gets there, it's that moment where she's minding her own business, she's getting the [bandage] ready, and then all of a sudden, he's right there. We all know that moment where there's just a look in the other person's eye, and it's like, "No. Not that." It's the unspoken thing — and then she can't help herself. It's that moment that doesn't even need words: "You are right here, and I can tell by the way you're looking at me that you're ready to go there, and all I have to do is say yes." It's one of those beautiful, sweet moments that I think is terribly human, and I love that. I love that despite themselves and despite their principled nature, they find themselves in a space that they are overcome. That's how strong that root chakra, primal, procreative force is though! It's a very, very powerful element in our world and our human experience, and it does that to people. [Laughs.] Sometimes, it doesn't. But when you lock in with that person who you do have that with, everybody knows it's irresistible in the truest sense of the word. It's not that the person is; it's that element inside of you that is.

Some fans on social media clocked the significance of Lucy re-wearing the necklace that Tim previously gifted her months ago, and you actually posted a TikTok wearing the necklace and then tried to keep it under wraps.

[O'Neil laughs.]

Were you responsible for selecting Lucy's accessories for the gala? Was that a conscious choice on your part? Even though we don't acknowledge that Tim was the one who gave her that necklace, she still chose to wear it on Valentine's Day — of all days — knowing that he would see it.

O'Neil: We don't talk about it in the episode?

I don't think we talk about it in the episode, no.

O'Neil: OK, so it was absolutely not my choice, and I did absolutely go, "Excuse me!" [Jokingly raises her finger in objection.] It was in the script; it is scripted that she wears it. I was like, "What is this about? Are we sticking it to him? What's going on?" You'll have to forgive me if I'm misquoting Alexi, but I think when I went to Alexi, he was like, "She's getting dressed up, and she knows he's going to be there, and she knows that he's bringing a date, so she's going to wear the necklace." [Laughs.] I didn't realize that he had that little petty thing in him, but that's the little thing that was embedded. That's the subtext that we don't get in the script, but I did ask Alexi directly. I was like, "Ah, what's up with the necklace?" Especially if we're not going to address it. And if memory serves correctly, that's what that was about.

Alexi recently told me that he was adamant about bringing back some of the old "Chenford" to kick off this season, but some fans have remarked how markedly different the "Chenford" dynamic feels between the Season 6 finale and the Season 7 premiere. How have you chosen to play Lucy's half of that dynamic post-breakup? How do you think she feels about Tim after all that he put her through last season?

O'Neil: One of the things that I love about The Rookie fans is that they pay attention to the details. I think it is both an incredible tool of accountability in a show that runs for such a long period of time, and at the same time, it can feel like shining a flashlight on a thing that you didn't want anyone to pay attention to. You're like, "No, don't look over here! Ah!" [Laughs.] I know that when the question of timeline comes up for Alexi, he's like, "Uh..." [Laughs.] God bless, but we're juggling so many different things. Our hero is [Nathan Fillion's] Nolan, so I think a lot of the timeline-specific stuff does center on his journey.

What I'm trying to say here is, I also was like, "What's going on? Help me understand, because I feel confused," especially when we were moving through that first episode, and Alexi really wanted us to kind of bring in that old "Chenford" banter, experience, joy, playfulness. I won't speak for Eric, but I remember being like, "I don't understand. Aren't I mad at him? Did I receive flowers I'm unaware of? [Laughs.] I'm confused."

I used this analogy earlier, but I think it has a lot to do with the nature of professionals who are good at their job, who also very highly prioritize being perceived that way in their workspace. The whole reason why [Tim] broke up with her, is because of appearances with regards to work, and also his inner integrity of feeling like, "I lied to these superiors that I respect very much." And that is the hill that he was like, "I can't do this. I need to recenter myself." And even though that hurt her, I do believe that, at her core, she is similar to that — even though she does things for love all the time at work, apparently, including a five-player trade. But I think they're both like that.

So [the decision to move on from the break-up] is 1) it's to get us back to that place where it's fun, and 2) it's to underline that these guys are professionals, and yes, their dynamic got a little bit messy, but they're here and they can do this. I think that when it comes to how I felt as Lucy reentering that space and that gap in information, there was a little bit of confusion, because I was like, "Did he do his small doses [which he promised in the Season 6 finale] on the break?" [Laughs.] I think that they perhaps did feel like that happened, and I appreciate why the fans want to see that on camera.

What I'm hopeful for is that [the fans feel] like me in this process, where I have ideas about what it should be, and then something else is coming up in the script, and then I realize, "Oh, this is actually really cool. That's why they're in the writing room." [Laughs.] That's why I do what I'm told, and that's why [the fans are] the people who are watching and enjoying it. So when you have a show that's been running for as long as it has, it's so wonderful to have people so invested and want to see things unfold and to hold writers and actors to account and everything. I love that degree of enthusiasm and investment. And what I'm hopeful for is that the ways that [the writers] take the story with all of the characters is one that both surprises them and delights them, even though it might be different from what they think it should be.

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Lucy stepped into the role of acting training officer this season, but she is dealt a difficult hand in the form of Seth Ridley, who seems to be both a compulsive liar and now a cancer patient. Why do you think it is so difficult for Lucy to shake the feeling that something might be off about Ridley and that she is responsible for exposing those mistruths? And despite Ridley's tendency to bend the truth, what have you enjoyed most about seeing Lucy step into that new leadership role?

O'Neil: There are two things about that that I think [are] tying to what I was saying just a moment ago, as far as this idea that I had about Lucy and it being completely the opposite inside of the script. I've always had this feeling that Lucy is someone who gives people not only the benefit of the doubt, but probably more chances than they [deserve]. In my brain, at the beginning, I was like, "Wouldn't her folly be that she's trusting him too much?" Especially because of his boyish, young person enthusiasm, she would be like, "Oh God, that's awful." But instead, I think that nose for [lying] is underlying the fact that she's a really good cop.

I love that when it comes to Lucy, there's this thing that's counter to her personality — or, rather, the personality that we've come to know, and the aspect of her that people really love — which is her good spirit, her cheer, her optimism. The counterpoint to that [is] she's actually really good at her job and has that nose, that instinct, that gut feeling that a lot of police officers talk about.

I think that's been a really exciting way to explore an aspect of Lucy that did not occur to me when I was reading the script, in relation to Seth and how I thought maybe her orientation to training and being a training officer would be. Even at the beginning, the first few days when she's dialoguing with Bradford, she's like, "I have my own way of doing this, thank you very much." And then she gets in there and she's like, "Oh s***. What's going on with this guy? I don't think I can be all sweet with him because he's behaving in a very suspicious way." So yeah, that's been a lot of fun as an actor, and I love being wrong. I love having opportunities to grow and to be a student like that.

Does Lucy have a long-term goal at this point? Does she want to become a detective, sergeant, or watch commander? Or does she want to go back undercover?

O'Neil: To my recollection, when Grey is bestowing this duty [as acting training officer] upon her, she's like, "That's cool, but also, no thank you?" [Laughs.] Which surprised me because, again, I had this perspective that Lucy would be grateful for any opportunity to advance. I really liked that she had a clear perspective and was like, "Thank you, but also this is not the path I want to be on." So it seems to me … that she's doing this as a favor to get a favor in the long run, but that she's got her eye on the prize of eventually being a detective or continuing her undercover work.

We'll have to wait and see what ends up happening with that. But I will say, personally, as somebody who has watched the show and gone through the scripts and been inside of it, we have so many episodes, and we've done a lot of Lucy undercover. I'm not saying that we're oversaturated, and I like that she has it in her back pocket to pull on, but also as a viewer, as someone who reads the scripts, I am also excited for new stuff.

At the end of this week's episode, Lucy tells Tim, "I'm not sorry about last night, but it can't happen again for a million reasons." The obvious question on everyone's mind is, where do Chen and Bradford go from here? What will it take for them to have the real, adult conversation that they both seem to be avoiding but desperately need to have?

O'Neil: You sound like me when I was shooting the season! [Laughs.] What are we going to do here? What is it going to take? I don't want to eat up your time with thinking, but I feel like the best thing for me to say in response to that question is … it makes complete sense that [a real conversation] is something that people want to see, especially because I think those two have a lot unsaid between them. I agree. I would also love to see that. And I can't comment on what it would take and how we might get there. I truly can't. I'll leave it at that. [Laughs.]

I'll end with a fun question: Between you and Eric, who does Kojo the dog like more?

O'Neil: Kojo is a very food motivated TV dog. Kojo likes his trainer. Kojo is very well-trained. Kojo is, like, eyes on the lady with the bag of food. I mean, Eric is competitive, so he'll probably say him, but since I get to feed him food more often [laughs], probably me. But it has nothing to do with me. I'm just the food dispenser.

Did you ad-lib the line about the butt scratches when Lucy greets Kojo at Tim's house in Episode 4?

O'Neil: That would be me. The only reason why I'm saying that is it might've been in the script, but I don't think so. It is something that I say to pretty much any dog whose butt I scratch — and they like it. [Laughs.]

The Rookie airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC. Episodes stream the next day on Hulu.