During The Rookie's first seven seasons, ABC's hit police procedural series has introduced an extremely long list of memorable characters. For example, the show created two exceptionally compelling criminal mastermind characters. On top of that, one of The Rookie's most important characters left a huge mark on the show's history before they died in a way they shouldn't have.
Since The Rookie's writers have done a great job creating many memorable characters, some of the show's very entertaining figures have managed to fall through the cracks. In fact, there is one particularly underrated character from the show who feels like they have been slipping out of the show's spotlight. With that in mind, that fantastic character needs to be featured a lot during The Rookie season 8.
The Rookie’s Tamara Colins needs to be heavily spotlighted during season 8
The third season of The Rookie featured the introduction of Dylan Conrique. Cast as Tamara Colins, there was no way to know at the time that Conrique's character would manage to become a true highlight of the show.
After Tamara was caught stealing Lucy Chen's car, the show's starring police officer character saw something in the youngster. As such, Lucy sought to help Tamara. While Tamara initially didn't trust Lucy, that would be built over time as the two women became extremely important to one another. Ultimately, Lucy even let Lucy live with her, and the characters developed what can only be described as a familial relationship.
Seeing Lucy look out for Tamara, has been a heartwarming aspect of many The Rookie episodes. Just as importantly, the fact that it became obvious over time that Tamara cares deeply about Lucy, despite a history of being betrayed by family members, has been one of The Rookie's best arcs. With that in mind, it has been very disappointing to see how the show has handled Tamara's character lately.
After Tamara was a staple of The Rookie between the third and fifth seasons, her character has been put on the back burner. Between seasons six and seven of The Rookie combined, Tamara only appeared in a total of five episodes. To put it bluntly, having Tamara show up in so few recent episodes was a terrible decision.
I sincerely hope that when The Rookie returns for season 8, Tamara becomes a staple of the show's storylines once again. Most of all, I would be so happy if the show features a scene that involves Tamara and Lucy saying they love each other or stating out loud that they view each other as family.
It is great that the show didn't feature a moment like that early on, since Tamara's obvious abandonment issues made it unlikely that she would have been willing to risk making a statement like that. However, Tamara has clearly come to trust Lucy, so it feels like it is time for that to happen. On top of that, I believe Tamara is multifaceted enough that she could be worked into many of the upcoming season's storylines.