The Rookie S5's Most Controversial Couple: Fans Can't Handle This "Icky" Pairing
Fans find the Chenford relationship rushed.
The Rookie had several love arcs during its 5 season run, but the most controversial was probably the pairing of Lucy Chen and Tim Bradford, often called Chenford by fans.
They began their relationship as strictly professional. Tim was Lucy's training officer, to whom she had to prove herself. They had no romantic feelings for each other throughout Seasons 1-3, but viewers couldn't help but notice the palpable chemistry between the two.
Many fans then jumped on the Chenford bandwagon and started pushing the show's creators to get Lucy and Tim together. That's how in Season 5, Chenford became official.
The season began with both characters going undercover as a drug dealer and his girlfriend. Of course, posing as a couple involved a lot of public kissing, which raised the stakes for the couple.
All the romantic tension and flirtatious glances led to the couple being ready to jump into bed together if the appearance of Chen's badly injured boyfriend, Chris, hadn't ruined the moment. This willingness to betray the people they were both dating at the time by cheating on them gave many viewers the ick.
But even though the writers fixed that problem and both Lucy and Tim broke up with their partners before the actual relationship started, some fans still felt that the love arc was rushed. They didn't like the power imbalance in the couple, which we never saw as equals.
Tim has always been superior to Lucy, even a father-figure, and many viewers felt that crossing that line was unnecessary and wrong. Why not wait for Lucy to rise through the ranks?
Even the fans who shipped the couple didn't like how the writers handled the beginning of their relationship. A super slow-burn romance turned into an actual relationship without the much-needed transition period. Viewers didn't get to see a lot of cute little moments like everyone finding out it's official or even the first time they called each other "boyfriend/girlfriend".
Lucy said she wanted to take it slow for one episode, and then it's "tonight's the night" not too long after that.
"We've been surviving on crumbs and longing looks and now they're throwing huge baguettes at us and wondering why we're unsatisfied," a fan explained.