"The Rookie" Season 1 (2018)

Overall grade for Season One: A-

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

Perhaps one of the most heartbreaking scenes was the line of duty death (LODD) of Captain Anderson who gave her life for the rookie John Nolan in "Greenlight."  The moral significance of an officer -- and a captain no less -- laying down her life in a LODD for another merits a solid A at this time.  Overall, Season One earned an A- due to "Greenlight" which gave a realism to what officers go through being in harm's way.  "Greenlight" then ranks at the top of Season One.  Characters development came to fruition in "Greenlight" where characters like Training Officer (Corporal) Bradford and even Nolan refuse to execute Anderson's murderer for revenge but rather let the justice system play out.  They said that their slain by-the-book captain would want it that way.  ("Plain Clothes Day" showed how each character is able to grow into something or someone outside their current image so far.)

Second, on a separate but related note, the series presented certain moral issues, both police ethics as well as general social ethics.  For example, Nolan and his fellow rookie, Officer West, do their utmost to protect themselves from possible corruption (such as accepting favors of free rent and even free food) as part of professional police ethics, while the larger ethical issue of lying (or evading) to protect relationships by another fellow rookie, Officer Chen, is a consistent theme.  While not a direct violation of department policy (police ethics), Chen and Nolan protect their relationship even to the point of violating the moral law through lying (general ethics).

Furthermore, the season is packed with both action and even humorous moments, and perhaps the main critique is killing off the actress who playing the captain as well as avoding the hook up details which the story could have done without. I'm not sure that lower subordinates poke fun at their training officers in real life, but there is a bond to protect each other.

Finally, the spirit of the law and the letter of the law receive fair treatment to highlight the humanity of the police officer as an enforcer of the law.  West, for example, should have left or even assisted with a sick dog instead of writing a speeding ticket for the dog's owner, and he later learns to assist the public instead of being a cold public servant by giving an old watch to the wife of a murder victim and through this finds peace with West's action in favor of the spirit of the law.  Characters grow through such moments in the series making the first season enjoyable and also ethically thought-provoking.