The main cast of The Rookie (2018).
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Main Characters
Officer John Nolan
Played by: Nathan Fillion
The oldest rookie in LAPD history. John was at a low point in his life crisis after going through a divorce, seeing his son move away for college, and having his construction company go belly up. That is until he became a heroic bystander in the midst of a Pennsylvania bank robbery, consequently dropping everything to become a police officer. He's proven to be the most affable and bumbling of the rookies (and, of course, the force in general), but also effective due to his life experiences and deep empathy.
- Actor Allusion: When Nolan meets FBI agent Jessica Russo, who's written a book he has read, he giddily asks her for an autograph because "[he's] never met anyone who's written a book before". With Nolan being played by Nathan Fillion, it's pretty much impossible to not read this as an allusion to Castle where Fillion plays a famous mystery novelist.
- Amicable Exes: His marriage to Sarah ended badly, with both agreeing that the relationship was over years before they divorced. Although he ended up reeling after the split, John and Sarah eventually worked things out to stay friends.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Make no mistake, this guy may be a nice guy to a fault and fairly bumbling, but piss him off and he will find a way to end you.
- Nolan stands up to every training officer, snubs a judge, and speaks on Bishop's behalf to the chief of police in spite of being told his words have zero value. All in the first season. He's helpful, agreeable, even a little bit of a pushover on the small stuff, but when he decides not to bend, he's not going to bend.
- Break the Cutie: The whole of Season 1 is dedicated to this. He's constantly berated by his fellow officers, judged for being a rookie at an older age, and gets a bunch of shit thrown at him on the job, breaking down a lot of his optimism. If that isn't bad, he was a first-hand witness to Andersen's death, making him a shadow of himself for a while. He luckily gets better.
- Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Unlike his own father who abandoned him when he was young, John is very active in his son's life, even dropping out of college so he could get a job as a contractor to support him and Sarah, and pays Henry's college tuition. In contrast to his mother, he has remained amicable with his ex, tries to be the responsible who can provide his son with advice when needed.
- Bringing in the Expert: A Running Gag is how Nolan's experience as a contractor comes up either in how he can spot a clue on a case or the other officers seeking advice on updating/selling a house; one episode saw him having to postpone a request by Bradford to look over his childhood home for potential resale value because he'd already agreed to help Harper with her kitchen.
- Butt-Monkey: Enforced by Sergeant Grey in Season 1, who states he'll do all he can to harass, harangue, humiliate and haze John until he quits due to his belief that Nolan’s in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Grey lightens up in Season 2 and he actually takes advantage of Nolan's life experiences.
- Calling the Old Man Out
- He does this to the criminal Oscar for manipulating his daughter into making wrong choices, or not being there for her when she needs his help.
- He finds himself with no choice but to do this with his mother. While she was the parent who stayed and raised him after his father abandoned them, she had become a burden to him throughout his adult life by using his businesses to sell her sketchy products to his customers, sometimes at the risk of his employment when he was a contractor. It finally comes to a head when her latest product causes an outbreak of rashes at the LAPD. After getting some advice from Grey’s wife, who also had to deal with a parent that was toxic, Nolan calmly but firmly tells his mother that while he will always love her, he wants her out of his life.
- Chick Magnet: Ironically, he ends up attracting quite a few romantic interests, which include Lucy, Jessica Russo, a woman he had once saved from a powerline, his his old flame Grace, and finally Bailey.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: He was this in the Pilot as he finds himself newly divorced and his son gone for college, unsure of his next move. Then he finds meaning upon seeing several cops save him and several civilians during an attempted bank robbery, soon signing up for the police academy to reinvent himself.
- Disappeared Dad: Nolan's father abandoned his mother and him when he was only 11 years old.
- Doom Magnet: It’s noted in the third season episode "Lockdown" that Nolan has developed this reputation amongst his fellow officers in the L.A.P.D. before he’s even finished his training.
- Drives Like Crazy: Not deliberately, but he has quite bad luck with his patrol cars.(on being presented with a Lamborghini)Nolan: Can I drive?
Wolf: The motor pool has a picture of your face on a dartboard. What do you think?
Nolan: Fair enough. - Fire-Forged Friends:
- Went through the academy with Lucy and Jackson, leading to the trio being a close knit group upon starting their shifts as rookie officers.
- With Grey. Whilst Grey is initially sceptical of Nolan’s aspirations to become a police officer, over the course of the series their relationship develops to the point that Nolan has genuinely earned Grey’s respect by the time he becomes a full-fledged member of the LAPD.
- Former Teen Rebel: Admits that, after his dad abruptly left, he became rebellious and started acting out as a way to cope with the trauma. But, after he realized the added mental toll his behavior was taking on his mother, he got his act together and decided to be someone better.
- "Friends" Rent Control:
- In Season 1, he's shown living in a luxury home that would be nowhere near affordable for a rookie cop. It's soon revealed that it belongs to a friend of John's who's allowing him to live there rent-free while serving as a caretaker for the property.
- In Season 2, he moves into a large house in the Hollywood Hills. In most situations, this would be well beyond a cop's salary, but the house is a derelict husk when purchased and Nolan spends a significant portion of the season renovating the property to a liveable state.
- Good Parents: He is a good father to his son Henry. Given his own father walked out on him when he was a kid, Nolan clearly strived to be a better father for Henry.
- The Heart:
- Nolan's primary ability is the fact he's far more emotionally open and vulnerable than the majority of the police around him, who have been hardened by the job. This allows him to do a lot more deescalation and talking things out than, say, Bradford.
- John has the largest belief that there's good in all people, not just from the suspects he confronts, but also the cynical mindset his fellow officers in the force have come to embody from their experiences on the street.
- Lampshaded by Bradford when he endorses Nolan to be the station's union rep - Bradford points out that Nolan has offered to help his fellow officers with matters outside of work on countless occasions, simply because it was the decent thing to do.
- Hidden Depths: In season 1, when trying to describe a suspect to the police sketch artist - who proves to be rather subpar at his job - Nolan takes the sketch pad and draws a perfect and detailed picture of the guy he saw. The sketch artist is left in stunned amazement, to which Nolan explains he used to "draw a little" during his previous job.
- Limited Advancement Opportunities:
- Discussed in regards to Nolan’s career aspirations as due to his enrolling in the police academy in his forties, Nolan’s age means that he has missed a lot of the opportunities he would normally have had to progress his career in the LAPD and needs to be at his best in order to reach a higher rank as soon as possible.
- Played straight in the third season - as a result of Nolan and Harper working independently to bring in Armstrong rather than go to Internal Affairs, Nolan winds up with a Letter of Reprimand on his file; as noted by Grey, receiving one as a rookie effectively means that Nolan will almost certainly never be promoted to Detective or to a specialized unit like SWAT.
- Defied as of Season 5, as Nolan is given a "golden ticket" as a result of his actions in the Season 4 finale - meaning he can request training for any specialised role in the LAPD and it will be provided.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: An adult Downplayed Trope version with Officer Bishop. She's a hardened jaded police officer and he's a kind, empathic Naïve Newcomer.
- Master-Apprentice Chain: Nolan starts out as one of the department's three rookies, with Bishop as his training officer. In Season 5, Nolan becomes a training officer himself, with rookie Juarez assigned to him.
- Mundane Utility: Upon receiving a "golden ticket" in Season 5, Nolan uses it to get back on track with his desire to become a training officer, rather than pursue a more glamorous or higher paying position in the force.
- Naïve Newcomer: Nolan is not only the titular Rookie for the majority of the show but he's also a newcomer to Los Angeles, having grown up in Pennyslvania.
- Nice Guy: He's a very affable guy at heart and even gets the hardest of people to like him. While this would be viewed as a weakness in the field, Nolan turns it around and turns it into a reliable strength of his.
- Older and Wiser:
- Despite being the oldest rookie, John has the advantage of being able to see situations from a different perspective thanks to his age and life experiences. It was the reason Captain Anderson allowed him to become a rookie despite his older age, as she saw the value in having a cop who (unlike the younger rookies) came with life experience and the ability to see situations differently.
- When told his job as a contractor didn't involve skills such as communication and building a rapport, he says his years of work did teach him those skills; such as breaking the news to a single mom of four that a construction job can't happen, convincing the bank to give him more time to pay off his mortgage, building relationships with various clients, etc. FBI agent Jessica Russo admits she didn't think of it that way.
- This trope actually results in him being placed with Harper in Season 2, as Grey notes that she would destroy a younger rookie whereas John is more willing to stand up to her and speak out when she goes too far.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Invoked when Armstrong was trying to frame Nolan as The Mole, as his cover story claimed that Nolan came to his apartment, bragged about everything he'd done for the mob, and then tried to kill Armstrong. Jackson notes that while Nolan's definitely a talker, he isn't a boaster who would go on about such things without reason.
- Parental Abandonment: He was abandoned by his own father when he was only 11.
- Parental Hypocrisy: He at first disapproves of his son getting married so young, despite him marrying his ex-wife when he wasn’t much older than Henry is now. Of course, his case was a little different, as Sarah had become pregnant with Henry at the time.
- Rank Up:
- Officially becomes a full fledged LAPD officer in the opening episode of Season 4.
- In Season 5, he gets a "golden ticket" and uses it to become a training officer and gets promoted to Officer III in the process.
- Secret Test of Character: When Nick Armstrong notes that Nolan still has chemistry with his ex-girlfriend Grace Sawyer, Nolan responds that he is already in a relationship; Armstrong praises his decision, observing that anyone who can’t be loyal in a relationship can’t be loyal to an oath or a badge.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: An adult Downplayed Trope version with Officer Bishop. She's a hardened jaded police officer and he's a kind, empathic Naïve Newcomer.
- Spotting the Thread: Has a tendency to pick up on minor details that even more experienced officers miss.
- Took a Level in Badass: Most of the series is dedicated to him taking this due to his inexperience and missed opportunities because of his age. Compare the bumbling guy in the pilot to the guy in Season 3, you can really see a difference in not only skill but also composure.
- Tragic Dropout: He never finished his college education due to Sarah becoming pregnant with their son Henry, forcing to get a high paying job to support her and Henry.
- What You Are in the Dark: When Rosalind Dyer tries to provoke him into killing her in exchange for Bailey's life (Rosalind's accomplice will deactivate the trap Bailey's currently in once Nolan kills Rosalind), Nolan ultimately refuses to kill in cold blood even to save Bailey's life (ultimately the rest of the team save Bailey without the intervention of the accomplice).
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Nolan first starts out as this, fully believing in the good in people no matter who they are on the outside. This gets heavily deconstructed throughout the first season, as his experiences on the job force him to realize that there are some truly awful people out there that are willing to do the worst of things. As the series goes on, he still keeps his idealist streak, but he's far more realistic in his views.
Officer Lucy Chen
Played by: Melissa O'Neil
- Action Girl: As a rookie cop, but of course. As she gets hardcore training from no-nonsense T.O Tim Bradford, she learns to get far out of her comfort zone and even jumps off a building (albeit lower-level building, but still quite high) to catch a criminal. Grey is genuinely impressed by her stunt and Tim is proud when hearing about it.
- A Friend in Need: She is a very kind woman and always helps out her friends when she feels they need her.
- Badass Bookworm: Scored the second-highest on the six-month rookie exam, much to everyone's surprise. In season 4, she also mentions having taught herself French. Why? She wanted to follow a homicide case in France that made national headlines and keep up with the coverage.
- Beware the Nice Ones: She's a friendly and somewhat timid young person. However, she rises to any challenge where the odds are against her as a top-notch cop Action Girl, even taking on men twice her size. She can also deliver a good "The Reason You Suck" Speech if one deserves it and will stick up for herself once she's had enough.
- Big Sister Instinct: She is this for Tamara, from giving her a place to live, helping her with her education, and making sure she is well fed.
- Break the Cutie: After being abducted by a serial killer, she proves to be a Defiant Captive and maintains a logical composure for the sake of survival... up until he buries her alive. As her fear finally begins to get the best of her, she sings to herself to keep herself calm. As soon as she is found and freed, she finally breaks down in held-back tears and is clearly traumatized by the near-death experience.
- Buried Alive: When she is captured by Caleb, she is forced to get into a barrel that is sealed before he buries her alive, leaving no one with any trace to find her. Fortunately, the team is able to locate her in time before she runs out of air.
- Calling the Old Man Out: She has a moment of this when Tim rags on her for not reporting him being willing to commit suicide when he was about to be infected with a lethal disease while in quarantine. He insists she has an obligation to do things by the book and, as an officer, it was her duty to report him. She then calls him out on how, in that case, she should also report the many times he covered for his addict ex-wife when she committed crimes that he knew about. He's left in silence after this.
- Go-Getter Girl: She's a Determinator with everything she does. When she makes a bet with Tim that involves her setting him up on a successful date with one of her friends, she stakes out at the date spot with binoculars to make sure the date goes well; Jackson comments on how weird her actions were. Tim also remarks in an off-hand comment that "there's no quit in Chen" and that once she sets her mind to something, she won't stop until she achieves her goal.
- Good Is Not Soft: She might be a sweet and friendly young woman, but she can definitely take care of herself and will defend herself by any means necessary. She will also call someone out when she feels they deserve it.
- Hidden Depths: She's actually a very talented singer. In season 2, she accidentally ends up auditioning for American Idol (after arresting a young man who was about to audition, she went back to get his bag and was mistaken for the auditionee). She decides to just go with it and displays her awesome singing talent to the impressed judges. Bradford is then heard calling for her and she quickly runs out as the judges try to offer her the golden ticket to proceed to the next contest round.
- Like Brother and Sister: Has this going on with Jackson when they share an apartment together. He even gives her a family heirloom, a charm necklace given to each generation of his family that becomes a cop, as a gift for leveling up in her police career as a token of their friendship. She says the gift was far better than any medal or badge. When Jackson dies, she takes months to properly grieve her loss and adjust to life without him.
- The Matchmaker: She sets Tim up with her college friend, Rachel, believing they'll be a cute couple. She's thrilled when finding out that Tim and Rachel hooked up and her matchmaking worked.
- Naïve Everygirl:
- Lucy is capably smart for the most part, but has her moments where her young age and lack of life experience come into obvious play (and sometimes bite her). When a young kid is a prime suspect in his mother's murder, she insists the kid can't be the killer because "he's just a kid". Tim remarks, "And kids can't be monsters?" When the kid confesses to the murder and details how he repeatedly stabbed his mother to death, she is shocked.
- She shows this again when a female journalist clearly wants to take advantage of her rookie gullibility to help her in covering a gossip story. Bradford sees right through the woman's fake sincerity towards Lucy and warns her that a majority of journalists only want the next big story regardless of rule-breaking and danger. Lucy blows him off, calling him paranoid and that journalists "only want the truth." When she later realizes he was right, she rightfully feels naive about having given her trust to the journalist so easily.
- Nice Girl: She's one of the nicest people you'll meet.
- Omniglot: She is fluent in English as well as Spanish, Cantonese, and Tagalog. In season 4, she also mentions she can understand French.
- Parental Substitute: She becomes one to Tamara upon taking her into her home.
- Promotion to Parent: Happens to her once Tamara is introduced. Lucy started out simply trying to help the girl find a safe place to live, to having her move into her apartment after Jackson's death.
- Spirited Young Lady: Is very spirited and has many playful moments with her friends. Her Establishing Character Moment has her pushing her broken-down car along the road as she makes her way to her first day as a rookie. Then a guy starts eyeing her and her car, showing off a hidden gun as he demands to be given her car and to "take a ride with her too". Lucy only gives a "Really?" expression and then it immediately cuts to her slamming the handcuffed man onto the counter at the police station, introducing herself and saying she's there for her first day as a cop, all with a cheerful smile.
- Another prominent example is when Tim begins training her to "think like a crook" so she can outsmart criminals by knowing potential hiding spots for important items. Later, she steals his wallet from him and calls him while he's at the bar after work and playfully teases him about how he's going to pay his tab without his money.
- Spoiled Sweet: It's implied she had a privileged upbringing growing up as the daughter of successful psychologists, but she is nowhere near stuck up and is always looking to help others and make a positive difference in people's lives.
- Spotting the Thread: After being partnered with Bradford for a few months, she does notice when something is off with him, specifically when he does something out of character.
- Trauma Button: Following the events of "Day of Death", Chen experiences a bit of post traumatic stress symptoms. During a girl's night out at a speed dating event, she gets triggered when a guy tries to pull a thread from her sweater, which causes her to have flashbacks to when Caleb was tattooing her. The next she knows, she has the guy restrained and held to the ground before Harper and Lopez intervene.
- She also has a few flashbacks when she goes to the DA to testify about Caleb's crimes. Special mentions goes to her getting flashbacks to her time in the barrel when Chris absent-mindedly hums the song she was singing in the barrel.
- Use Your Head: In the Pilot episode, she headbutts Ghost Head during their fight before she arrests him. She does it again in Caught Stealing while wrestling Desantis for his gun. She uses it again later on in season 1 when stuck in a fight with a man twice her size and has her pinned.
- What You Are in the Dark: When Chen still needs to deal with seven different crimes in two days to pass her field evaluation, she finds herself in a position to get a needed vehicular theft crime when finding a woman has moved the license plates from her husband’s car to her own. However, learning that the plates were only switched because the family could only afford to insure one car while the other was getting repaired, Chen chooses not to be the cop who focuses on numbers over people. She lets the woman off with a warning (although this act allows Bradford to pass her on making an ethical decision in a difficult situation, which was another scenario she needed to face).
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Despite being an excellent police officer leveling up in her career, Lucy's job choice strains her relationship with her parents. Her father believes she works for a "broken system" that mistreats the mentally ill while her mother deems it a "thankless job" without positive impact like that of a doctor. Her mother even implies to being ashamed of her, admitting when she talks to people she hopes they "don't ask what her daughter does for a living", begging Lucy to get a new job. Her parents' disappointment often leaves her in tears and she even throws her mother out during a visit, tearfully asking why she can't be just be happy for her. Fortunately, the rest of LAPD team, especially the West family, are there for her to remind her that she has a lot of people who see how good she is at her job.
Sergeant Tim Bradford
Played by: Eric Winter
- Berserk Button: Downplayed. When Chen is kidnapped by a serial killer, Bradford notably gets more aggressive when handling the criminals he and the others go after for clues to her whereabouts.
- He also get particulary agitated when someone brings up Isabel, her addiction, or how he was trying to cover for her.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: In the Season 1 finale, he contemplates ending things on his own terms rather than painfully dying of an infection.
- Bling of War: On his first day as sergeant, he's gifted a badge made of precious metals like silver and gold rather than the usual stamped brass and tin.
- Brake Angrily: One of his "training techniques" is to suddenly slam the brakes during an ordinary conversation and scream, "I've been shot! Call EMS! Where are we?!" to demonstrate the importance of a cop always knowing their location. Chen is unable to answer, and he forces her to get out and follow as he drives slowly away, until she can tell him where they are. He fails to rattle West with the trick, however.
- By-the-Book Cop: It can be hard to see due to his rough personality, but he's very strict about enforcing the law (barring when his ex-wife is concerned) and expects Lucy to know the LAPD's rules and regulations backward and forwards.
- Control Freak: One of Bradford's characteristics is a need to be in control, stemming from his rough childhood and the chaos he sees in his job. During at least one relationship, part of the challenge he faces is learning to take chances and try new things rather than stick to what he knows.
- Dark and Troubled Past: In season 2, "Safety", he mentions that as a kid he would regularly get "tuned up by an abusive father with a bad temper that could be set off any second. It resulted in his love for football as "it was the one thing he had control over" and taught him teamwork and discipline. This part of his past was expanded on in Season 4, where he mentioned that his father at least once slammed his head against a wall, and on another occasion he dropped a seven-year-old Tim in the middle of a park with a compass and told him to find his way home.
- Everyone Has Standards: While he seemingly delight in how he gives Chen his "Tim-Tests", Bradford takes his position as Training Officer very seriously, viewing it as a sacred duty in training future cops. It's for this reason he was initially distrustful of Harper when she became Nolan's new TO, and why he was quick to help Jackson get his new commanding officer Staunton out of the department, viewing the man's aggresive and outdated tactics against minorities as a disgrace to the badge.
- First-Name Basis: Chen refers to him as "Tim" most of the time after becoming close with him.
- Freudian Excuse: His abrasive and strict personality, especially in his role as Chen's commanding officer, stems from being raised by an abusive, alcoholic father. In fact, his Tim-Tests are actually a surprisingly mild version of what his father would do to him when he was a kid.
- Hidden Depths:
- It's revealed that he can speak and understand Spanish perfectly well - telling Chen this when she deliberately messes up a translation so as she doesn't come off as offensive.
- Season 3 reveals he has more than one speed as a TO, taking a gentle and encouraging approach with his newest rookie, compared to the strict and tough approach he took with Lucy. He explains to Lucy that she started out as a naive and trusting person who needed to be hardened to the cruel realities of being a cop. However, his new rookie is already a hardened combat veteran who needs to be softened and reminded of the more peaceful aspects worth protecting as a cop.
- Honor Before Reason: Downplayed. After passing the sergeant’s exam, he elects to put off a promotion until he’s finished training Chen. The promotion is made official in Season 4.
- Hypocrite:
- His hatred for Internal Affairs, particularly their use of Secret Test of Character, as seen in Season 1's "Greenlight".Bradford: How are we supposed to do our jobs when our fellow cops are setting us up to fail?Chen: I ask myself that every day.
- In Season 2, "The Night General", Chen points out that Bradford is mad for not reporting his brief suicidal thoughts but expected her to cover for him when he was doing favors for his ex-wife, Isabel.
- His hatred for Internal Affairs, particularly their use of Secret Test of Character, as seen in Season 1's "Greenlight".
- Jerkass with a Heart of Gold: He's abrasive, blunt, and delights in giving Chen random, startling tests and then punishing her for not responding perfectly. However, he only does it so she can be the best cop she can possibly be and is ready for whatever the job throws at her. As another example, he checks in regularly on a man who he brought to the hospital a couple of years ago after the man was a victim of a hate crime. He also still has an obvious soft spot for his ex-wife, even bending a few police rules in order to protect her. Chen also comments that while Tim can come off as a "smug hardass" he "has a really good heart" deep down.
- One clear example of his true caring nature is when Chen is kidnapped by a serial killer. It's revealed her abductor was the guy she had gone on a date with, whom Tim pushed her to go out with instead of going home to sleep like she originally planned. When he realizes this, his face says it all. He later confesses his guilt in her abduction, feels he failed as a cop, and that if Chen died, it was on him. He works hard to locate her and, upon finding her, comforts her in her traumatized state. He even stays by her bedside the entire night during her hospital recovery and bought her favorite fast-food meal as a treat for her.
- When West comes to Bradford with a genuine issue, rather than brushing the rookie off, he tries to provide useful guidance. He steps up to provide corroboration and support when he realizes the problem needs to be properly addressed.
- Like Father, Like Son: His Tim Tests for Lucy are much milder versions of the stuff that his father would do to him when he was a kid, which Lucy is able to connect when his sister mentioned that his father once left a seven year old Tim in the middle of the street with nothing but a compass to find his way home. However, Tim differs from his father in these test by assessing which rookie needs a firm or gentle hand when training them, and he always observes them from a distance after giving proper instructions, and provides feedback when they make a mistake.
- Limited Advancement Opportunities: When Bradford finally comes around to admitting that he wants to advance his career, Sergeant Grey points out that opportunities to sit the sergeant's exam are few and far between.
- Mr. Fanservice: While few and far in-between, the show can really turn the fanservice up with Bradford, gloriously showing off his defined upper body at times.
- Nice to the Waiter: He butters up Nell the dispatcher so that she'll direct the juicier calls to him.
- Not Quite Dead: In the opening of the Season 2 premiere, he's being rushed to a hospital and is seen seizing and going into anaphylactic shock. Yet, moments later, he leaps out of the ambulance seemingly no worse for wear to take down a rampaging gunwoman with a couple of well-placed shots.
- Not So Above It All: He really loves his football. So much so that, during a car chase that's interrupting his televised game, he's willing to call in overtime, pull out his car to stop the criminal being chased, pull a gun on the suspect, and nonchalantly drive back in a minute later and get back to his game. All so that he can watch football.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Because he is usually a gruff and stern officer, everyone quickly pick up that something's up with him whenever he does something even slightly nice and compassioante.
- Rank Up: Promoted to Sergeant in the second episode of Season 4.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He takes his job as a training officer very seriously, saying that training the next generation of officers is the most important work there is, and can't stand officers who are bad TO's. He offers hard but meaningful advice to the rookies when asked and, when he sees Stanton's abusive attitude in the field firsthand, asserts his authority as the senior officer and ends up in a heated stand-off with Stanton when he won't back down.
- Stern Teacher: He takes a very stringent approach to train his boots, being quick with criticism and very spare with praise.
- The Stoic: Bradford rarely cracks a smile both on and off-duty, preferring to be as stern as possible.
- Trickster Mentor: When he's not berating Chen, he's messing with her head and doing everything he can to make her second guess herself. Chen all but calls him this when listing off the ways he trained her.
- Undying Loyalty: To his job as a police officer and law enforcer. It's clear his job is the one thing he is most passionate about and will do everything he can to uphold it.
Detective Angela Lopez
Played by: Alyssa Diaz
- Dark and Troubled Past: When she was a teenager, she had a fight with her boyfriend one night and left a party early, and later on that same night her boyfriend died in a brutal car accident that required a closed-casket funeral. She's felt guilt-ridden ever since and still has emotional baggage years later.
- She frequently mentions that she and her four older brothers were raised by their single mother, who had to work two jobs to make ends meet. Because they were so poor, she hadd to wear all her brother's hand-me-downs until she was a teenager, and by that point, she herself had to work two jobs.
- Her father left the family when he was young, and while he would make an appearances, he eventually stopped showing up all together with each passing year. And while her mother loved her and her brothers equally, Angela felt that she often relied on her too much in taking care of her brothers.
- Everyone Has Standards: While a professional cop focused on doing the job, she does have her standards and can show compassion. When faced with the possibility of arresting an escaped convict who was currently dancing with his daughter at her Quinceañera, Lopez decided to let him finish the dance before arresting him, not wanting the daughter's memory of that day to be remembered as the day her dad got arrested; the man appreciated this kindness so much he gave her a tip-off to a later drug deal.
- First Day from Hell: Lopez’s first shift saw her responding to a shooting involving Grey and his partner - Grey was wounded, but his partner died in Lopez’s arms, an experience that she still has nightmares about.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: She's kidnapped to Guatemala in the Season 4 opener while six months pregnant. This is somewhat subverted as her kidnapper doesn't want to harm her (or more specifically her unborn baby) and provides her with great medical care and her own personal home as her captivity placement (to have her avoid stress in her pregnancy). However, the entire point of her plan is to exact revenge on Angela by taking her baby and raising the child as her own, intending to dispose of Angela as soon as the baby is born.
- Limited Advancement Opportunities: She complains about the limited number of detective slots in the LAPD. She also remarks that if she doesn't make detective soon, she'll be required to take the exam again.
- Limited Wardrobe: Averted following Lopez being promoted to Detective in Season 3, as her new rank no longer requires her to wear a uniform, making her the sole series regular to regularly appear in a more relaxed wardrobe.
- Loophole Abuse: Lopez demonstrates a greater willingness to bend the rules for personal benefit without actually letting criminals get away with their actions. For example, she deliberately creates a situation where a man who intended to 'dine and dash' would be charged with an actual felony by ensuring that his 'crime' would have cost over $700; in addition to bumping up the charges, Lopez also notes that this would allow the restaurant to claim against their insurance.
- Maternity Crisis: She becomes terrified for the well-being of her unborn child when Wesley reveals that his family is genetically predisposed to Fragile X syndrome
. - My Secret Pregnancy: In the third season, with Lopez discovering her pregnancy literally a day before being officially promoted to Detective, rather than reveal her news she instead opts to keep her pregnancy a secret for as long as possible so that she isn’t treated as “fragile” for turning up as pregnant on day one as a detective. She eventually admits to her pregnancy, to which her boss says he doesn't care about her condition and will treat her like any other detective.
- Not So Above It All: While she takes her role as police officer and detective seriously, she has a snarky sense of humor, as shown when she helps Bishop punk Nolan on his first day at the station.
- Out of Focus: Of the six main characters, she is the one with the least focus in the first season, outside of being Jackson's Commanding officer and her relationship with Wesley. From Season 2 onwards, she gets more focus, starting with an arc involving her trying to get promoted to detective.
- Rank Up: She gets promoted to detective at the beginning of Season 3.
- Parental Abandonment: Her father walked out her family when she was still young. He would make a few appearances for certain events before disappearing altogether.
- Surprise Pregnancy: Angela's pregnancy by Wesley was unplanned, with her at first keeping it secret due to fearing this might stop her becoming detective. She gets another one in Season 5, after which she arranges for Wesley to get a vasectomy to prevent another one.
- Trash of the Titans: She's revealed to be a complete slob who can make a sandwich and forget about it while eating it in the shower, as she likes not having to live an orderly life after adhering to so many regulations at work. When Angela is discussing her unclean home habits while driving during duty, the arrested guy in the back listening in says that he's a homeless guy who lives under a bridge and he's disgusted by her lifestyle. Later on, in a comical moment, the very act of cleaning causes her to break down into tears. It's implied that she is used to this lifestyle, considering that she grew up with five brothers in a small home.
Sergeant Wade Grey
Played by: Richard T. Jones
Officer Nolan...
The watch commander of the Wilshire Division, Sergeant Grey has an immediate disdain for John enrolling in the police department because of his supposed midlife crisis, which Grey believes will be a potential detriment to the safety of his fellow officers.- Bald of Authority: Watch commander of the uniformed officers, which includes the rookies & their training officers. Following Captain Andersen’s death, it’s implied that he serves as such for the entire Wilshire Division until her replacement can be found.
- Brutally Honest: Grey won't hesitate at telling the rookies and training officers alike what they don't want to hear. It's this trait that made John instantly choose him to be his companion officer after he kills an armed suspect, knowing Grey will tell him whether his actions were Justified or not. This being opposed to every other officer who would only try to ease his discomfort and trauma. Although John wasn't sure he was ready to ask the question, Grey assured John that he would have done the same thing in that situation.
- Deadpan Snarker: When he isn't being blunt, he's laying on the sarcasm pretty thick around his employees, mostly around Nolan.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Towards Nolan, early in the first season. Grey outright states that he doesn’t believe Nolan belongs on the force and will “harass, harangue and haze” him into quitting, all whilst giving him less margin for error than his fellow rookies; Grey eventually eases off as he comes to respect Nolan.
- Failure Hero: Starts to feel like one when he realizes that after thirty years in the LAPD, there is a racist cop in his division and there's not much he can do about it.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Nolan. Whilst Grey is initially sceptical of Nolan’s aspirations to become a police officer, over the course of the series their relationship develops to the point that Nolan has genuinely earned Greg’s respect by the time he becomes a full-fledged member of the LAPD.
- Good Parents: He is a very devoted father to his daughter, Dominique.
- Happily Married: He and Luna are very much still in a very happy marriage.
- Henpecked Husband: Although he jokes about it, Grey is genuinely terrified of getting his wife angry. Unlike most examples of this trope, when his wife appears on-screen she seems sweet, supportive, and reasonable. It seems that what he's really afraid of is losing her.
- Identical Grandson: Suggested; "Double Trouble" sees the team find a long-lost portrait of a famous Haitian general who looks exactly like Sergeant Grey, prompting speculation that this man is Grey's ancestor.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Only in the earlier seasons, and only to Nolan. Despite being very vocal in his disapproval, whenever Nolan must deal with a difficult or traumatic experience on the job Grey gives him the same emotional and professional support he would give any other officer under his command.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: While he will make some questionable decisions, he has shown to be a compassionate man when it truly counts. In "Brave Heart", when Nolan's son Henry is in hospital for heart surgery, although Nolan isn't technically allowed days off when he's still a rookie, Gray makes it clear he'll sort the situation with the Captain.
Detective Nyla Harper
Played by: Mekia Cox
A detective who decided to take a training officer position after a long-stint undercover. Her brash attitude makes John uneasy and puts Sergeant Grey on guard. She eventually softens considerably but is still tough, determined and not someone to cross. She eventually goes back to detective work in season 5.
- Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Not hers, but herself. As an undercover cop, she missed out on the first few years of her daughter's life. In addition to some marriage problems with Donovan, Harper found herself missing her daughter immensely. Instead of using her hard-earned Golden Ticket to advance her career, she chose to go back on patrol so she can get extra pay bump at work which also allowed her to stay local so she can work on getting herself into a stable setting for the sake of her daughter.
- But I Can't Be Pregnant!: She is quite shocked to find out that she was pregnant with a child in Season 4. After the birth of her first daughter, there were complications, and her doctor said it would most unlikely that she would get pregnant again. Annoyed, Nyla says that she should have had a follow-up.
- Cowboy Cop: As a result of the hardcore environment of her previous undercover work with drug cartels, she has an utter disdain for the rules and the expectations Sergeant Grey has for his officers in the more toned LA city. It's why he admits he doesn't trust her as an officer because such a dramatic change "is going to be a bitch" to do. Her hard-charging attitude nearly gets John killed on her first day as his T.O, which she later gets royally chewed out for by Sergeant Grey.
- Custody Battle: After her divorce, Harper lost all custody of her daughter to her ex-husband, leaving her with only supervised visits whenever she sees her daughter. Throughout the second season, she makes clear that she is going to fight for shared custody between her husband, going as far as to use her golden ticket to be a training officer, which would allow her to stay local and a higher paycheck so she could provide a safe environment for Lila. By Season 3, she and her husband both were able to reach in an agreement to have shared custody with each other. The fourth season however introduces some problems for her when Donovan wants to move away with Lila and his fiance to a new city, citing that their daughter would be better off with him. Fortunately, it was avoided when Harper unintentionally exposed his fiance's past, but this only worsened his relationship with Donovan.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Gradually opens up and becomes friendlier towards Nolan and the other officers. She alludes to this when Nolan panics over having his identity (or more specifically, Henry's college tuition) stolen and she comforts him. She says that normally she wouldn't be optimistic, but that Nolan's can-do attitude is rubbing off on her.
- Freudian Excuse: Her aloofness, bad attitude and difficulty adjusting to being back in blues and Nolan's new Commanding Officer is clearly due to the difficulty of transitioning out of the undercover lifestyle that she spent years in, and her ongoing battle with her ex-husband over the custody of their daughter, who she really misses.
- Gone Horribly Right: During the custody battle for her daughter, Nyla discovered that her husband Donovan's new fiancée (who he was planning to move to San Francisco with) was a former escort. Her colleagues encouraged her to use that information as part of the current case as her ex kept using her own past in undercover work against her so she was simply levelling the playing field. When that information was presented, Donovan outright called off the engagement as he hadn't known about that part of his fiancée's past and didn't want to be with someone else who would lie to him, ensuring that Nyla's daughter wouldn't move but going far beyond what Nyla had wanted to achieve.
- Good Parents: Despite her relationship with Don and some past incidents, Harper is a really good mother to her daughter. When a missile strike alert came out, the first thing she did was rush to Lila’s school to pick her up and bring her to the police station, knowing that doing so could risk losing all her visitation rights.
- Hidden Depths: When Harper first arrived, she put up various walls to keep herself distanced from the other officers - portraying herself as a lone wolf only interested in the T.O. position for the pay rise, though Nolan suspect that something else is at play, since she had a golden ticket that could have gotten a far better position in the department. A few episodes later, her colleagues learn that she returned to patrol because she was sincerely trying to do right by her daughter and make up for lost time during her years of undercover work.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: During Nyla's maternity leave, she and her new husband move into a new house, and on the day that Nyla is giving birth she spots various clues that her new neighbors are criminals who may be disposing of a body. The neighbors actually attack the house while Nyla is in the midst of delivering her daughter, requiring her to submerge herself in the birthing pool to take one of the men by surprise.
- Karma Houdini: On her first day as a T.O. she almost got Nolan killed by going into a dangerous situation without waiting for backup, then when Nolan wanted to report Armstrong to Internal Affairs, she talked him out of it, practically guaranteeing that he would never get a promotion. Not only did she receive no punishment (other than the same letter of reprimand as Nolan, which in her position was meaningless), she was assigned another rookie. She also cheated on her boyfriend with her ex-husband, and never got caught.
- Maternity Crisis: She goes into labor with just as her criminal neighbors break into the house after discovering she was snooping around their house.
- Master of Disguise: Harper demonstrates this ability as she has skills that allow her to instantly impersonate a junkie among other identities.
- Missing Mom: In her personal life, she's been absent for much of her daughter's life and this emotionally devastates her. Adding salt to the wound, she is also legally prohibited from having unsupervised visits by court order after a criminal from her undercover life recognized her during a social outing and tried to kill her in front of her daughter, putting her in harm's way.
- Moral Myopia: Harper seems to have missed that the police are, by definition, meant to be guardians versus warriors.
- Morality Chain: For her it's her daughter. While Harper has a lot of difficulty transitioning back into blues and having to take orders from new superiors, she in the end sets aside her own arrogant determination, knowing that she needs to do well at this new job in order to prove to get a second chance to be a part of her daughter's life.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: While she has taken a job in the department that allows her to stay closer to home and has made a lot of successful attempts to do right by her daughter, her ex Donovan just can’t get past the mistakes she made during her undercover days.
- Only in It for the Money: Freely admits to Nolan that part of the reason she took the T.O. position was the 5% pay rise, though Nolan suspect there has to be something more importantat play. Once the show gives a first glance into her personal life, Nolan's suspicisions are correct, as she took position so she could have a stable work schedule that would allow her to be a part of her daughter's life.
- Parental Neglect: Her old job working undercover forced her to be away from home, sometimes for months. This forced her to miss out on her daughter’s early years, which she has come to regret. Now she is trying to make up for it by doing everything power to earn back her ex’s trust and to be there for her daughter now.
- Pragmatic Hero: Demonstrates this when she’s caught in the middle of a bank robbery, pointing out to one of the civilians present that she won’t risk her life confronting multiple thieves armed with machine guns when she only has a revolver, particularly since the thieves are only taking money at the moment and nobody’s life is in danger.
- Pregnancy Makes You Crazy: When she is pregnant with Leah, there are a few episodes where she starts to act uncharacteristicly nice and chipper.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Harper views warriors as superior to Guardians and her questions all would be whether Nolan should be a Glory Seeker Rabid Cop. Except, she views the fact he is not one of those things as a flaw.
- Rape as Backstory: She confides in Lucy that an older police officer got her drunk one night and raped her. She usually had her guard up, but he was someone she trusted. After letting her guard down, she ended up drunk with him. In her vulnerable state, he took advantage of her and raped her. She was traumatized by the betrayal, but shoved it in the back of her mind and never truly dealt with it. She never told anyone, including her ex-husband, as she wanted to move on (the word "rape" isn't used, but the context is very clear). Her lesson from the experience was to never let your guard down, even with someone you trust. When asked what happened to the officer who assaulted her, she said that he "fell down a flight of stairs" several times and was forced to take early retirement on disability (it was pretty clear that Nyla brutally beat him as her own personal revenge).
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Has grown into this at least during her time as Thorsen's training officer. When plain clothes day- the day when Thorsen basically acts on his own while Nyla watches- sees him have an encounter with both his mother's film crew and the father of his best friend/alleged murder victim, Nyla assures him at the end of the day that they'll re-do the event next week as these were unconventional circumstances.
- Trickster Mentor: When Lucy decides she wants to do undercover work, Nyla does not hold back when it comes to the reality of it. She and another undercover agent kidnap Lucy, bring her to an abandoned warehouse where the agent pretends that he's going to set Nyla on fire (who's bound and gagged and has fake blood smeared on her to make it appear she's been beaten) unless Lucy confesses to being a cop. Lucy handles herself but is naturally furious to hear it was a test. Nyla is unapologetic, telling her undercover work is brutal and she must be prepared for the worst-case scenario.
- True Companions: While she and Nolan initially had a rough start, they soon form a true bond of friendship, especially during their personal investigation into Armstrong being dirty. When they face the consequences of their unreported actions, Nyla tries to take the brunt of the blow for Nolan. It doesn't work, but it brings them closer as partners and friends. They soon even share a sibling-like friendship and banter, often looking out for each other. Nyla even defends Nolan to a local resident (who formed a negative opinion of Nolan by mistaking his well-intended city deeds as subtle selfishness to make himself feel good). She says that Nolan is one of the most stand-up guys she knows who truly cares about those around him, even at the cost of his own convenience.
- Ultimate Job Security: Nyla has a “golden ticket” following her time working undercover as a detective - this effectively allowed Harper to choose her next position on the force and makes her immune to being fired if she operates as a Cowboy Cop. Ultimately subverted, as Grey makes it clear that he doesn't care about her "golden ticket" and will fire her if her reckless actions lead to any of his officers being put in harm's way.
Officer Aaron Thorsen
Played by: Tru Valentino
Harper’s new rookie following Nolan’s graduation to P2.
- Bait-and-Switch: “Five Minutes” initially makes the viewer think Thorsen’s notoriety amongst the department stems from being a spoiled, rich TikTok star. Then it's revealed that it actually stems from his being accused (and tried) of the murder of his childhood friend and roommate while studying in Paris. He was initially convicted for murder before there was a retrial, which pointed out mishandled evidence and sloppiness of the trial that convicted him. The retrial exonerated him of the crime. Despite this, there are many who still think he's guilty and got away with murder. Subsequently, he had to sue the L.A.P.D. in order to be allowed into the academy.
- A Day in the Limelight: Season 4’s "Real Crime" focuses on Aaron, fleshing out his background and further addressing his troubled backstory.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Played for Drama in Season 4's "Real Crime" as Thorsen finds himself once again under suspicion of murder. It's later revealed that his other friend, Rowan Clausen was the one who committed both of the murders that he was suspected of.
- Rank Up: Graduates to P2 in early Season 5.
- Ripped from the Headlines: His backstory is basically the story of Amanda Knox, an American college student who was convicted and eventually exonerated for the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, while studying abroad in Italy.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: A downplayed example, but his affluent upbringing and his past legal problems has meant that he has numerous connections that an average patrol officer would not have.
- In one case when Harper felt she needed a better divorce lawyer to deal with a custody dispute, he offered to put her in contact with his high-powered attorney that she would normally never be able to afford and get her a "Friends and family discount".
- When someone turns in a Katana that was potentially used in a murder he happens to know the prop guy that makes all the Katanas for Hollywood movies and he gets the name of who he sold it to without even needing a warrant.
- When Harper decides to marry James he and Lopez are able to throw together a last minute party because his mom's best friend is a party planner who owns a venue.
- Second Episode Introduction: Introduced in the second episode of Season 4.
- Spotting the Thread: During his debut episode, he single-handedly determines how a seemingly random murder relates to the heist being planned by a notorious thief, allowing the L.A.P.D. to capture said thief after she's eluded capture for almost twenty years.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A black L.A.P.D. rookie much like Jackson West, who had left the series in the previous episode.
Former Main Characters
Officer Jackson West
Played by: Titus Makin Jr.
- Bait-and-Switch: Shortly after the viewer learns that he’s gay, it’s also revealed that Jackson’s not currently welcome at his family home. The viewer later learns that this is nothing to do with his sexuality, but rather his mother feeling his pursuing a career in law enforcement was Jackson putting his own desires over what the family needs.
- Black-and-White Morality: When he first joins the force, Jackson believes that the law should be upheld to the letter. This ultimately leads to an internal conflict when he’s presented with the possibility that his father planted evidence to secure an arrest.
- Butt-Monkey: The opening episodes of the second season have Jackson fall into the role Nolan had held the prior season, with Grey intentionally being harder on him than the other rookies. However, whilst the intent was to discourage Nolan, with Jackson it is supposed to serve as a kick in the pants.
- The B Grade: He scores an 81 on his six-month exam. Although this is a technical passing grade, it's low enough that it puts him on notice with Sergeant Grey and is considered "failing" by police standards.
- Generation Xerox: He became a cop because his father (and almost all of his family) was one.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Jackson freezes on multiple occasions in the midst of gunfire in early season 1, which serves as an obvious problem. He gets better.
- Upon finding out that he was the rookie with the lowest score in the six-month exam, Jackson subsequently goes on a rant about how school and putting the work in is meaningless - in front of a room full of high school-aged police cadets. This incident is enough for Grey to kick him back a level in the program until Jackson regains his trust.
- In-Series Nickname: "Extra Credit", a moniker given to him at the academy because he was most enthusiastic at learning to be a cop.
- In the Back: He's shot dead this way in the Season 4 opener by La Fiera's gunman.
- Nepotism:
- Discussed after Lopez discovers Jackson's Heroic BSoD - as the son of a reputed police commander at internal affairs, were she to report his rookie mistake, Lopez herself would be called into question, making it much harder for her to climb the ranks.
- When he starts floundering in the second season, Bradford pulls Jackson aside and points out that if he doesn’t get his act together, then Lopez will be the one who ultimately suffers in her career because she’ll be blamed for Jackson’s failings due to his father’s reputation.
- Out of Focus: During the second season Jackson has no real arc once he’s regained Grey’s trust following his aforementioned Heroic BSoD - which happens in the fifth episode. Pointedly, he’s also excluded from several operations that his fellow rookies conduct with their T.O.s with no explanation as to his absence.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!:
- Downplayed. He prefers to never use his father's position to give himself a boost and wants to make it on his own merits.
- When his racist TO Stanton threatens to use his connections with the City Manager to have West fired, remarking how he doesn't care if West's dad "works in IA". West snaps back and reveals that his dad doesn't work in Internal Affairs, his dad runs Internal Affairs. He warns that if Stanton unjustly gets West fired, Percy West will make sure Stanton's career is also over.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: He tells Lucy that he knew about her relationship with Nolan the entire time it was going on, much to her shock, but stayed quiet about it.
- Straight Gay: He's revealed to be this in "Heartbreak", showing attraction for a male orderly, whom he later dates. In his appearance and manner, he's no different than the straight guys.
- Twofer Token Minority: Black and gay.
- Walking Spoiler: It is impossible to discuss the opening episode of Season 4 without revealing that Jackson is executed by La Fierra’s men in the opening minutes of the episode.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: The youngest of the rookies and the son of a decorated officer, Jackson comes in with a Black-and-White Morality, oblivious to some of the real dangers of police work.
Officer Talia Bishop
Played by: Afton Williamson
A newly promoted training officer assigned to John, Talia is making her way to detective with the goal of becoming the chief of police.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: When trapped in an escape room with Nolan, she quickly figures out a cipher that gets them out. Even after saying how escape rooms are stupid and she has no interest in them.
- Consummate Professional: Arguably the most out of the three training officers, Talia is very no-nonsense. For example, in the annual competition where training officers see who can get the most arrests in a single shift, she refuses to play on the grounds that not only is it utterly pointless, it robs the true meaning out of their police work and that "it's not a game".
- Dark and Troubled Past: She grew up in an abusive foster home which turned her foster brother into a criminal. She deliberately omitted this from her application papers, which inevitably comes back to haunt her.
- Not So Above It All: She gets caught up in the celebratory spirit after she and Nolan solve an escape room, enough to almost high-five the suspect they apprehended. She also shares a quick moment of fangirling with Nolan when they come to investigate a call at a home, and Will.i.am shows up. She stays professional during conversation with him, but the second he walks away, she and Nolan both fangirl over meeting him.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Her Dark and Troubled Past, and more prudently, omitting it from her application papers back when she enlisted at the academy. It ultimately leads to Bishop leaving the LAPD, as she would no longer be on the fast track to becoming a detective.
- Put on a Bus: In the Season 2 premiere, Talia is said to have left the LAPD and taken a job with the ATF. note
- Shipping Torpedo: Talia discovers John and Lucy are dating and warns both of them of the dangers of such a relationship in their environment as newbie rookies trying to establish a career.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: She has her rookies act as the primary officer on all their calls from Day One, in contrast to Bradford and Lopez who wait until their rookies have more experience before letting them act as the primary. This actually works out to Nolan's advantage as he ends up ahead of his cohorts when a change to regulations requires rookie officers to have served as the primary on specific types of arrests.
- The Stoic: She is consistently professional in her work, showing very little emotion. Outside of her job, she is quite casual.
Other Government Employees
L.A.P.D. Wilshire Division
Captain Zoe Andersen
Played by: Mercedes Mason
- Dying Moment of Awesome: After being tied to a chair and pushed into a pool, she dislocates her own thumb to escape her handcuffs and caps two white supremacists (saving Nolan's life) before the third fatally wings her in her throat. Yes, she tragically dies... but damn, if her death wasn't awesome and truly badass.
- Hidden Depths: A former United States Marine deployed to the Middle East with fluency in Farsi.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: Shot in her throat in "Greenlight".
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: A former soldier who rapidly rose up the ranks in the LAPD, and still appreciates the chance to get into the field.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Andersen is the only division captain in the LAPD willing to give John a chance, believing he has more life experience and a fresh perspective that most police rookies don't have.
Detective Kevin Wolfe
Played by: Demetrius Grosse
A detective who is assigned to Isabel's case.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappeared without explanation between Seasons 1 and 2.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Not a bureaucrat but he's the person who encourages her to be an informant.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never hear about him again after Isabel leaves the story.
Detective Elijah Vestri
Detective Nick Armstrong
Played by: Harold Perrineau
Wilshire Division's night detective. He takes an immediate liking to Nolan and shows the rookie the ropes of investigative work.
- Broken Pedestal: Nolan is devastated when he learns that Armstrong is a mole for the mob, albeit because he needed the money for his wife's hospital bills.
- Dirty Cop: He turns out to be working for the mob, even killing a fellow officer and framing Nolan for his crimes.
- Do-Anything Soldier: As night detective, he responds to all investigative requests that come in while he's at work, regardless of type of crime. He hands the cases off to the relevant specialists when they come into work in the morning.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: May apply to Armstrong; by encouraging Nolan's observational skills in Nolan's ambition to make detective, he inspired Nolan to pay enough attention that he noticed the evidence that Armstrong was on the take.
- I Did What I Had to Do:
- Breaking into Rosalind Dyer’s home without a warrant allowed him to discover the evidence that led to her arrest.
- In the second season finale, it’s revealed that Armstrong became a mole for the mob so that he could pay for his wife’s hospital bills.
- The Lost Lenore: His wife died of cancer.
- My Greatest Failure: Subverted. His investigation and hunt for Rosalind Dyer coincided with his wife being diagnosed with cancer. Whilst Armstrong clearly regrets not being around for his wife’s struggle and passing, he doesn’t regret that his efforts led to Dyer’s arrest.
- The Night Owl: His position requires him to work at night.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: He ultimately dies at the hands of Serj Darian and the Armenian mafia, who he had been leaking intel to. Bonus points for said death coming after they handed Armstrong an empty gun and told him to execute Nolan.
- Walking Spoiler: The Reveal that he’s a Dirty Cop providing information to the mob doesn’t come until the end of the second season - it’s impossible to list the appropriate tropes, or even discuss the third season, without giving this plot point away.
- Wham Episode: Is killed at the end of "Consequences".
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He is told to murder Nolan, and takes the gun willingly. It turns out to be empty though, and he's shot instead, presumably because (with his work for them revealed) the mob has no more use for him.
Officer Quigley Smitty
Played by: Brent Huff.
A lazy T.O. at the precinct.
- Achievements in Ignorance: Managed to start a cult of conspiracy theorists by writing This Is Us fan-fiction while high on a combination of cough medication and diet pills.
- Ascended Extra: Can be seen at the morning briefings and in various scenes throughout the first season, but wasn’t fleshed out until the second season.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Whilst Smitty is a lazy Cloud Cuckoo Lander who tries to avoid work, it is worth noting that he is still employed by the LAPD and is shown taking his job seriously when needed - it just takes a major crisis for him to do so.
- In Season 2, Smitty is unusually cool toward Detective Armstrong when he's transferred to Wilshire to serve as the night shift general detective for the station. This is an odds with his generally laid-back attitude, especially given Armstrong bought the station donuts. Given that Armstrong turns out to be a Dirty Cop, and given how well Smitty seems to know most of his fellow cops, there's a possibility he knew Armstrong was dirty and just hadn't done anything with it since he's Smitty and that would take effort.
- In Season 4, he hunts down one of five trucks loaded with explosives during a city-wide search.
- In Season 5, he instantly figures out Lucy's entire plan based on a single request from her, showing that he is, at the least, extremely capable of predicting the actions and motivations of most of his fellow officers, implying an extreme and, because it's Smitty, effortless attention to detail.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: It's been shown that Smitty can be an exceptional cop when he wants to. Problem is that he never wants to.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: He operates on a very different level compared to the other cops at Wilshire Division. Examples include, living in an RV in an empty lot next to the station, not knowing his own badge number (needing to read it out instead), aspiring to become a DJ in his middle age, and taking a day off to get a full back tattoo.
- Flanderization: Originally he was an apathetic and grumpy cop that's used to show West what can happen when cops burn out, but progressively got weirder and weirder with later appearances.
- Foil: Serves as such to West, with their attitudes to police work being polar opposites & Smitty’s most prominent early appearances being when paired with the rookie.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Most of Wilshire Division looks at him askance, but they're stuck with him because he's not actually a bad cop, just a very strange one.
- Jaded Washout: It's implied during his brief stint as West's temp T.O. that Smitty used to be a better cop, but he eventually burnt out from the stress of the job.
- Jerkass Has a Point: West is trying too hard when Smitty observes that the parolees are just gathering there. Knowing where they are is a better thing than trying to round them all up and panic them.
- Laborious Laziness: Because he's so lazy, he works hard as a union representative so he can gain every possible benefit and concession for himself.
- Pet the Dog: When a pursuit with West results in an autistic child accidentally shooting his mother with the perp's gun, Smitty shields the boy from seeing his mother bleeding out, and then pulls West aside to give him a gentle assurance that what happened was out of his control and that blaming himself will only make it worse.
- Permanent Elected Official: He's been unopposed as Mid-Wilshire's union rep for years because he squeezes every possible benefit out of the city, which his fellow officers love.
- Police Are Useless: A shining example. Even he agrees.Bradford: Why do we rely on you for anything?
Smitty: I've been wondering that myself. - Retirony: Given a twist. When told to be Nolan's TO for a day, Smitty notes that Nolan has just a few days left as a rookie and that he doesn't want to risk having to do actual police work by riding with a known trouble magnet. They end up under fire from a sniper after Nolan insists on tracking down a drug dealer with a price on his head.
- The Slacker: He tries to avoid doing police work, but this is exemplified with his living arrangements - he lives in a trailer park across the street from the station, just so he doesn’t have to commute.Smitty: Faulkner wrote, 'You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.' I like the shore.
- Truth in Television: Smitty exists for comic relief, but his general vibe is actually common in police departments. Most shows show all cops as driven for success and very ambitious. In reality, there are cops who are just there to do the bare minimum, stay safe and get a nice pension at retirement. The first season had a similar cop train Lucy for a day.
- Straw Loser: He's looked down upon by his superiors & fellow T.O.s, and seen as a cautionary tale by the rookies.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He got high on over-the-counter medications and posted writings that in the light of day he thought made no sense. He ended up accidentally creating a dangerous cult of conspiracy theorists.
Officer Doug Stanton
Played by: Brandon Routh
Jackson's new T.O., brought in after Lopez is promoted to detective. A seemingly perfect cop, with a dark side that soon becomes an issue.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: At first he seems a great guy, a friendly T.O. who treats Jackson like an equal instead of a trainee. But it soon becomes apparent he is heavily bigoted and prejudiced against minorities.
- I Reject Your Reality: Stanton takes a hardline view toward gang activity and membership that is, according to Bradford, at least ten years out of date. Rather than accepting that things have changed, Stanton tries to get Jackson to come around to his way of thinking.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After Jackson once again interferes with his racism during a call, Stanton threatens to do everything it takes to destroy Jackson's career; having finally reached his breaking point, Jackson threatens to have his father, the C.O. of LAPD's Internal Affairs, do everything to ruin Stanton's career in return. When Jackson is later ambushed and severely beaten up on another call, Stanton, upon coming across the scene, discreetly backs off and allows him to be beaten as payback, lies to the just-arrived backup Bradford and Lucy that they'd gotten separated and he hadn't seen him since, then follows them back to the area and feigns concern for the bloodied and bruised rookie. However, Jackson, having suspected Stanton might try something like this, gets close enough to him to turn his bodycam back on; it turns out that though he had switched it off, Stanton's cam captured the previous two minutes of footage that showed his deliberate refusal to back up Jackson (a function that Stanton had ironically bragged to Jackson about earlier). This ends up being what Grey needs to finally take him off the street, and Stanton is stripped of his police powers and put on administrative leave pending review, seemingly ending his LAPD career.
- Later though, Stanton is revealed to have gotten his termination reversed on appeal and was reinstated, albeit stripped of his TO status and permanently demoted from seniority. But for Jackson, who still holds the trauma from his beating, it's not enough, and he threatens, along with Nolan's professor Fiona Ryan, to expose Stanton on the media. However, Grey convinces them to take another route that won't end with Stanton being martyred and Jackson being ostracized, and instead uses both the two's bodycam footages from the beating to expose Stanton to his fellow officers under the guise of a "re-training video" for backing up their partner, effectively destroying his reputation within the department.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He's an abusive, racist cop with no qualms arresting minorities for minor actions (along with him hassling them for nothing at all). This obviously rubs West the wrong way, determining he's got to go, and Doug is set up as the antagonist of Season 3.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Stanton is a well-connected cop, managing to skirt discipline for his attitude by promising people cushy promotions. And if that fails, he's not above intimidating them into keeping quiet or using his power and connections to tank their careers.
Officer Celina Juarez
Played by: Lisseth Chavez
A new rookie assigned to John Nolan as his first rookie in his own role as a Training Officer.
- Broken Pedestal: Juarez attributes her decision to become a cop to Officer Joel Chambers, a police officer who investigated the abduction and death of her sister Blanca, so is left devastated when evidence emerges that Chambers was the one who abducted Blanca in the first place.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: A firm believer in the occult and mysticism, to the point that part of Celina's training under Nolan is to process what she has seen and initially interpreted as a "dark aura" into a more logical explanation - such as blood splatter.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Her sister was abducted from the family garden when Celina was nine years old, and was subsequently missing for three weeks before her body was found.
- Never My Fault: After pulling over a car because she sensed a dark aura emanating from the trunk, Celina is reprimanded after blood is spotted on the rear bumper as the evidence would be inadmissible in court because she conducted an illegal stop. When she later complains about this, Nolan scolds her for not understanding that her job is based on evidence and logic, not intuition, as stopping a car because of intuition could be argued as profiling or prejudice.
- Sherlock Scan: Nolan notes that Celina's focus on detail after the loss of her sister has given her a knack for doing this in the field, but she needs to learn how to recognise what she's spotted, rather than translating her insights as intuition or instinct.
Other L.A.P.D. Employees
Commander Percy West
Played by: Michael Beach
Head of Internal Affairs in the Los Angeles Police Department, Commander West is the father to Jackson.
- Bald of Authority: He’s the head of Internal Affairs within the L.A.P.D. and is respected enough within the force that Jackson has lofty expectations to fulfill.
- Berserk Button: Hates it when other cops view Internal Affairs as "the rat squad," as the entire point of Internal Affairs is to investigate and punish police misconduct. Even though Harper defends her actions regarding Armstrong on the basis that she didn't think it wise to accuse a fellow officer of corruption without definitive evidence, West is unmoved as letting IA search for evidence themselves to determine if there is corruption trumps the fear of possibly ruining an honest cop's reputation.
- Broken Pedestal: Jackson suffers from this when he finds evidence that his father may have been a dirty cop.
- Hero of Another Story: Whilst he no longer works in the field, Percy has a stellar reputation as an officer; something that Jackson has to live up to.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Happens to him in the Season 4 premiere when Jackson is murdered by La Fiera's men.
- Serious Business: As head of Internal Affairs, Percy’s presence (unless he’s merely acting as Jackson’s father) is a solid indication of how bad a situation is for the other officers.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Hasn't been seen since Season 3, with his reaction to Jackson's death the following season not being seen. He comes back in Season 6, still working in Internal Affairs, though Jackson's death has not yet been brought up, though granted it's been 2 years.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- When Jackson confronts him about evidence that he may have been a Dirty Cop, Percy calls Jackson out for choosing to do so as the department is dealing with the fallout of Internal Affairs having to arrest a Detective for lying on the stand.
- Tears into Harper over her and Nolan's investigation into Armstrong’s behavior and potential role as a Dirty Cop, pointing out that it’s not their job to police their fellow officers, and that they should have gone to Internal Affairs the moment they had their suspicions, asking how he's expected to root out bad cops when his efforts are sabotaged at every turn.
Ellroy Basso
Played by: Alan Tudyk
A crime scene cleaner who befriends Nolan when they are each assigned the same crime scene.
- Almighty Janitor: Has detailed knowledge of the materials needed to deal with various messes, to the point that he has a cleaner that can be used for getting out bits of scattered brain that is technically illegal.
- Dark and Troubled Past: It is suggested that he got into his role after his sister committed suicide, which Nolan calls his "first crime scene".
- I Just Want to Have Friends: He has spoken to Nell Forester on the phone for years, but has never dared to meet her even though they have a good working relationship.
- Married to the Job: He appears to have little life outside the job.
- Serious Business: Birthdays. He missed his sister's last birthday before her implied suicide, and improvises a birthday cake (using a Twinkee) when Nolan gets stuck guarding a crime scene on his own birthday.
- Sherlock Scan: Demonstrates to Nolan how he can use the evidence left at the crime scene to reconstruct how the victim was shot, tried to escape, and brutally tortured just from the blood trail he left behind.
- Took a Level in Badass: He is revealed to have taken fighting lessons since his and Nolan's initial close call. While Nolan initially doubts Ellroy's claims, during a subsequent shoot-out with armed criminals Ellroy manages to defeat one of them in a hand-to-hand confrontation.
Officer Chris Rios
Played by: Chris O Shea
A rookie LAPD officer who went to the academy alongside Nolan, Chen & West.
- One-Shot Character: Only shows up in “The Q Word”.
- Remember the New Guy?: Was never mentioned prior to his introduction, despite being mentioned as a close friend to Nolan, Chen and West after going to the academy together.
- The Rival: Had a friendly rivalry with West during their academy days - they would frequently be placed at first and second during their assessments, and their fathers worked together back in the day.
- Small Role, Big Impact: His shooting and death result in the Wilshire Division discovering a mole in the department, which ultimately leads to Nolan discovering that Armstrong is a Dirty Cop, and Armstrong framing Nolan in his place.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: By the end of his second scene, Chris has received the bullet wounds that ultimately end his life.
Larry Macer
Played by: Greg Grunberg
An older gentleman who was inspired by Nolan's example and joined the LAPD.
- All for Nothing: He goes through the LAPD's arduous academy course only to be fired at his first roll call. He didn't even have a chance to go out on the street.
- The Bus Came Back: He becomes a railroad police officer after being fired by the LAPD and Wilshire Division meets him again when investigating railway-related crimes.
- Captain Ersatz: He's referred to as "Bizarro Nolan" for having a similar backstory but none of Nolan's merits. Harper went so far as to bribe Sergeant Grey to not have Larry as her new boot.
- Hidden Depths: Despite coming off as hapless, especially after getting booted off the LAPD on his very first rolecall, he was so committed to becoming a cop that he memorized every aspect of the LA railway system so the railroad police would hire him, and in his second apperance showed great attention to detail and deductive reasoning that was vital in solving the case.
- My Greatest Second Chance: While assisting the team in investigating a robbery at the train station, he plays a key role in helping them determine what was stolen, and is allowed to officially call in the final arrest to acknowledge that he did a good job.
- Rank Up: He's become a sergeant since Wilshire Division saw him last. This is due to railroad police having a high turnover rate rather than merit and Harper is not happy to learn that "Bizarro Nolan" outranks her.
- Shur Fine Guns: His service weapon somehow goes off when he gently places his hand on his holster.
Los Angeles Fire Department
Bailey Nune
Played By: Jenna Dewan
A Los Angeles Firefighter whom John meets while house sitting for a fellow firefighter, striking up a relationship shortly after.
- The Ace: Along with being a badass firefighter, Bailey is also an Army National Guard Reservist, teaches capoeira, and drives a motorcycle among other incredibly awesome things. More than once John shows legitimate sincerity that he's lucky to be dating someone so incredible.
- Played for Laughs the same episode this is brought up, Bailey had taken up painting as a new hobby and done a portrait of John...and its horrendous by most standards to his delight since it means there's something she can't do perfectly.
- Anger Born of Worry: She can get pissed when John ends up in unnecessary danger such as when he ran into a burning building (pointing out that's her job) to rescue a man when the firefighters hadn't shown up yet.
- Deadpan Snarker: She gives a few digs at times.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Subverted for the most part though it is the one thing that can cause them to argue, mainly Anger Born of Worry when one oversteps into their area of expertise. Their unofficial rule is that "Bailey runs into fires and John runs towards bullets" though not literally.
- Naked People Trapped Outside: This is how she and John meet actually. She was about to take a shower when she found the dog she was looking after along with the house outside. She ran out and got locked outside in just a towel forcing her to find help, ending up at John's house whom lends her a hoodie and spare key.
- Noodle Incident: After being trapped by Rosalind's water tank, Bailey revealed that she has been declared dead twice before. The second such incident involved losing her oxygen mask during a HALO jump (her partners spotted it in time to pull her chute and give her CPR after landing), but all she'll say about the first is that it apparently involved Bigfoot.
Department of Homeland Security
Agent Jessica Russo
Played by: Sarah Shahi
A DHS agent whose work frequently brings her into contact with the LAPD. She and John begin a relationship towards the end of Season 1.
- I Did What I Had to Do: She has no qualms about killing someone if it means stopping a greater danger.
- My Biological Clock Is Ticking: The reason she breaks up with Nolan - a pregnancy scare makes Jessica realize that she wants children. John isn’t ready to be a father again but is willing to try in a year or two, which leads to Jessica pointing out that she doesn’t have the luxury of waiting two years to start trying.
- Pregnancy Scare: She has one in her last appearance on the show. While it turns out to be negative, the scare itself made her reconsider her relationship with Nolan, realizing that she wanted to live kids, and that she should break up with John because he was not ready to become a father again.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: In her first year at the DHS, Jessica was convinced a stolen school bus was a sign of an impending terror attack - in reality, the thief was just a kid who didn’t want to go to school that day. Years later, Jessica still keeps tabs on said kid’s activities on the off chance he does anything wrong.
Civilians
Isabel Bradford
Played by: Mircea Monroe
A former undercover narcotics officer for the LAPD, Isabel is Tim's ex-wife and a drug addict.
- Drugs Are Bad: Repeatedly used to illustrate Isabel has gone off the deep end with her addiction.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: She lost years of her life to drugs, including her husband and career, was forced to wear a wire for the cops to bust a dealer (and avoid being an ex-cop in prison), only to get shot in the head and nearly died. The last time we see her, she's clean, got her act together, and says goodbye to Tim since he's too much of a reminder of the drug-addicted past she's trying to forget. However, she's still in a good place and ready to move on with her life.
- Put on a Bus: See Shipping Torpedo below.
- Shipping Torpedo: Even after Isabel goes into rehab, she and Tim decide to call their relationship off out of concern that Isabel will always remember what she became during their relationship.
- Satellite Character: Isabel’s purpose on the show is to show that her ex-husband is a more sympathetic Jerkass with a Heart of Gold.
Ben McRee
Played by: Currie Graham
John's college roommate, Ben is the one who shares his luxurious Los Angeles home with him as a house guest.
- The Bus Came Back: After leaving L.A. towards the end of the first season and going unmentioned in the second season, Ben returns to town in "Man of Honor” to celebrate Nolan’s graduation to P2.
- Nice Guy: Lets John stay in his pool house, rent-free. It’s only at John’s insistence that he starts to actually pay rent.
- Put on a Bus: Leaves L.A. after being involved in a car jacking. When the second season picks up two weeks after the first season finale, John has moved out of Ben’s pool house into a property that he’s in the process of renovating.
- Satellite Character: Has no purpose on the show beyond giving Nolan a friend outside of the LAPD.
Wesley Evers
Played by: Shawn Ashmore
A criminal defense attorney who has a sometimes-antagonistic, sometimes-steamy relationship with Lopez. In season 5, he moves over to the DA's office, but still looks out for the accused.- Ascended Extra: He initially only appears as a lawyer advising Isabel in one episode. Afterward, he begins getting more focus following the second season, thanks to his relationship with Angela.
- Broken Pedestal: Downplayed. It is revealed that he was once engaged to Monica Evans for two years . While their relationship was rocky, it was him that got their relationship to end after he cheated on her. Nolan in particular is surprised upon learning about this, as he never viewed Wesley as the cheating type.
- Crusading Lawyer: He is introduced as a lawyer who represents the rights of criminals, especially those of minor offenses.
- Happily Married: While they have a few spats due to their jobs sometimes conflicting with each other, he and Angela are deeply in love with each other.
- Hello, Attorney!: His good looks catch Lopez's eye.
- Henpecked Husband: One of the reasons Angela knows that Wesley will never cheat on her is because of how scared he is of her. Also, when he accidentally overslepted on her first Mother’s Day, he had to make it up to her by taking their infant son to work with him, so she can enjoy her day in peace with a manicure.
- Heroic BSoD: His PTSD from being stabbed has a negative effect on him, causing him to begin having panic attacks and briefly descend into alcoholism and drug use as an unhealthy coping mechanism.
- Honor Before Reason:
- He refuses to tap into his trust fund, as he believes it is nobler to make his own way. Lopez points out that his perspective is of someone who grew up with money.
- While he is focused on protecting people's civil liberties, after he becomes caught up in a situation where the police were trying to stop a bioterrorism attack, he appreciates that Lopez was right to focus more on stopping a panic than informing the public.
- Opposites Attract: Wesley is from a wealthy family focused on defending the rights of criminals and due process. Angela is a cynical cop who just makes do. He believes that people are at the core good, but working the streets Angela has a more pessimistic outlook. Despite this they love each other deeply even if in any given episode he ends up being an antagonist due his work as a criminal defense attorney putting him opposite the L.A.P.D.
- Promoted to Opening Titles: As of the third season.
- Secretly Wealthy: He's from an incredibly wealthy family, but keeps his background secret from others. He doesn't even tap into his trust fund because he's ashamed of how privileged and easy his upbringing was.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: As a lawyer, it's quite rare to not see him wearing a suit.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: A non-violent example. He and Angela meet when a guy snatched and ran off with his briefcase and Angela pinned the guy to stop him. Wesley and Angela began bickering over whether she was too violent, starting a string of verbal sparring matches between them for the rest of the episode, going at each other's throats. However, it's clearly stemmed from suppressed attraction to each other, even a criminal caught between them commented on the clear chemistry between them, and their verbal fights inevitably lead to sex.
- Trauma Button: After being stabbed in the gut by Oscar in "Fallout", he develops one for whenever someone brings up something about stabbing. This most notable in the episode when he represents a child who killed his mom by stabbing her with a pair of scissors. During the interrogation, Wesley starts having flashbacks to when he was stabbed, resulting in him having a panic attack.
Patrice Evers
Played by: Jane Daly
Wesley's very wealthy mother.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Averted. While she can be waspy and a bit overbearing, she and Angela have a good relationship and she doesn't get offended when she's told she's overstepping. In fact, she highly approves of Angela dating her son, as she thinks it's great that she is helping to keep the city safe.
- My Beloved Smother: Also averted. While she does think Wesley's being ridiculous not using his family's wealth and connections to his advantage, she is still proud of him, and when she's told that she's taking over his and Angela's wedding, she immediately backs off and apologizes for going overboard. She even has a heart-to-heart with Lucy, who has an uneasy relationship with her mother.
- Women Are Wiser: She is a very wise old woman who gives the team a lot of advice on the personal things going on in their lives.
Tamara Collins
Played by: Dylan Conrique
A teenage girl formerly living on the street who was taken in by Lucy.
- The Artful Dodger: In her first few episodes at least. Lucy attempts to help her by getting her placed in a nearby shelter, only for Tamara to leave during the night, citing that she would get her stuff stolen from there. Later, Lucy meets her again, and wanting her to have a safe place to sleep, which leads her to offer to let Tamara have her car to sleep in until she finds a place to live, provided she works with her social worker. While Tamara seems to going along with it, Lucy is later disappointed to find out Tamara sold the car to buy some new clothes and use the remainder of the money for her college fund. Subverted afterwards, when Tamara confesses that she doesn’t like the way she is living, but has a hard time trusting people who are nice to her.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: She looks pretty good for someone living in the streets for almost a year.
- Book Smart: Despite being homeless, Tamara still goes to school, and is actually a really good student, with hopes of going to college. There are even a few episodes that focuses on her asking the officers for help with a few of her writing assignments.
- Brainy Brunette: She has long brownish black hair, and is a really good student.
- The Cynic: She is quite put-off by the way Lucy keeps trying to help her get a place to stay. Given her time living on the streets, she has a hard time trusting people who try to be nice to her. She slowly grows out of this once she sees how genuine Lucy is in her attempts to help her.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Implied. She was living on the street for a year after her parents' death, and considering her knowledge about street life, it's implied that she has a few emotional scars from living in the streets.
- Deadpan Snarker: she is prone to making a few snarks, especially with Lucy.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Her parents both died from a drug overdose a year before her first appearance.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Tamara is very wary when Lucy offers to help her.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: She does a bit of cooking every once and a while, which she learned to do from watching Cliptalk.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: Her laptop, which was the first computer she has ever owned. Since she's a good student, she needs her laptop to do her schoolwork, but is afraid of it getting stolen which is why she didn't want to stay at the shelter. Wanting to build trust with her, Lucy agrees to keep the laptop at the police station for Tamara to pick up when she heads to school.
- While not particularly plot relevant, Tamara gets a bit defensive when Tim drops her small teddy bear as he examines her contents in Lucy's car.
- Shipper on Deck: She clearly approves of Lucy and Tim’s relationship, despite their insistence that they were acting like a couple as part of their undercover training.
- Street Urchin: Tamara started out as one, living in the streets trying to find anything to help her get by instead of seeking help from her social worker or going to a shelter.
- Trauma Conga Line: In Lucy's words, Tamara's has had it rough. Her parents both died from an overdose a year prior to her first appearance. Her only family member was a violent cousin. She ended up in a shelter, but she would eventually leave, as her stuff would keep getting stolen. Without a support system, Tamara had to go to school with dirty clothes and greasy hair, and became distrustful of anyone on the street who tries to help her. When Lucy comes into her life, things start to look up for her, and with the officer's help, gets herself set up to be placed in transitional housing. Her cousin reluctantly agrees to let her stay at his place as her new preparations are being made. Things go south again, when her new place won't be ready for two more months due to black mold, and her cousin, whose girlfriend doesn't want her around, kicks Tamara out. Fortunately, Lucy allows her to stay with her and West until her place is ready. Tragedy strikes when West is killed, which saddens her. While Chen decides to let her move into his old room, it takes her sometimes to adjust, not wanting to erase West's memory. A few months later, she is informed that her friend from the streets was murdered, and later discovered she had been killed by their male friend accidentally. Tamara feels guilty over her friends, blaming herself for not being in touch with her for months. It's also implied that Tamara still carries a few emotional scars from undisclosed situations during her time living in the streets.
- Troubled Teen: Tamara is introduced as a young teen living on the streets after her parents died from a drug overdose.
James Murray
'''Played by: "' Arjay Smith
Harper's love interest, and eventual husband, he runs a community center that the Mid-Wilshire officers frequently visit to help the residence.—-
- Amicable Exes: With his wife, who he brings his sons to visit on Mother’s Day
- Good Parents: He still takes his two sons to his ex wife’s house for Mother’s day.
- Honorable Marriage Proposal: He makes one to Harper shortly after learning that she is pregnant with their daughter.
Henry Nolan
Played by: Zayne Emory
John's son who's attending college.
- Anger Born of Worry:
- Henry calls out his father when visiting Los Angeles that he didn't have to worry about him when he was a construction worker. But now, he's constantly anxious about his father getting wounded or possibly killed on the job.
- When his fiancée wants to become a cop, he begs his dad to convince her the job wasn't worth it because he can't handle two loved ones having dangerous jobs and being in constant danger. He gets better when warned his feelings could negatively impact his relationship and how he handles matters in the future.
- Delicate and Sickly:
- It’s revealed during “The Overnight” that Henry was born with a heart defect known as Tetralogy of Fallot; he required three surgeries before his first birthday.
- Season 3’s “Brave Heart” has Henry in the hospital after collapsing during the previous episode due to complications with his heart condition.
- Something Only They Would Say: Invoked when John states they should have a code word so Henry will know his father's all right the next time he calls - Henry suggests the word "turducken".
Dominique Grey
Sergeant Grey's daughter, a senior in high school.
Grace Sawyer
Played by: Ali Larter
An ex-girlfriend of Nolan’s he meets again when investigating a fight at the hospital where she works.- Amicable Exes: Once Nolan apologizes for the circumstances under which they broke up, he and Grace appear to establish this kind of dynamic.
- Easily Forgiven: Averted. Grace still holds a grudge twenty years later at Nolan leaving her via note.
- Hospital Hottie: Grace is a very attractive medical doctor.
- The One That Got Away: She and John had a brief but passionate relationship in college and John is sure she would have been the love of his life if they had stayed together. However, John found out that his ex was pregnant with Henry and he broke things off with Grace to do what he felt was the right thing by marrying his ex and dropping out of school to start working.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Nolan - Armstrong and Harper both pick up on this separately when first witnessing a simple conversation between the two.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Upon her introduction, she’s still pissed at Nolan over the way he broke up with her when he found out Sarah was pregnant. She says she thought she was over it, but talking to him again was reminding her of all the anger she's since suppressed about the break-up.
Abigail
Played by: Madeleine Coghlan
Henry Nolan’s fiancé.- Dark and Troubled Past: She had a relationship with a guy that ended in a nasty break-up, and the guy posted revenge porn of her out of spite online. Naturally furious, she set his car on fire as payback. Sadly, this resulted in her getting a police record.
- The Gadfly: Makes several jokes about being pregnant upon first meeting John, ostensibly to lighten the blow about Henry’s engagement to her.
- No Name Given: Abigail’s surname is never mentioned.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: She wanted to become a police officer after hearing how it had changed Nolan's life for the better. However, her previous record prevents her from legally pursuing it, as it essentially red flags her, much to her disappointment. She mentions that it wasn't the first time she lost out on an opportunity because of her past.
Sarah Nolan
Played by: Emily Deschanel
John Nolan’s ex-wife.- Amicable Exes: Despite the divorce and the lack of contact between them since, when she and John meet up while Henry is in hospital they get along well enough.
- Cynic–Idealist Duo: The cynic to her ex-husband’s idealist. Sarah notes that John was very optimistic and convinced Henry would be fine when he had repeated heart surgeries as a baby, whilst she wasn’t as convinced. She admits this was her way of mentally surviving each emotionally gruelling situation, preparing herself for the worst-case scenario just in case her son didn't make it.
- The Ghost: Doesn’t appear until the third-season episode "Brave Heart" but is spoken of throughout the first two seasons; the closest she comes to appearing before that is John calling her after shooting a suspect during "Time of Death" in the first season and her voice is faintly heard.
Mr. Patrick and Vanessa Chen
Played by: Jim Lau and Lauren Tom
Lucy Chen's parents. Professional therapists, they both openly disapprove of their daughter's career choice, much to her frustration.- Hypocrite: Lucy comes to view her mother as one upon learning that she had hooked up with her father when he was her patient.
- I Want Grand Kids: Vanessa at least, which is perhaps why she keeps pestering Lucy about her love life. Taken to an extreme when she pays to have Lucy's eggs frozen and fertilized behind her back.
- Not Actually His Child: It is revealed in Season 4 that Patrick is not Lucy's biological father, which she knew for a few years prior to the series. Her real father walked out when her mother got pregnant, feeling ill-equipped to be a father.
Skip Tracer Randy
Played by: Flula Borg
A skip tracer (Later bounty hunter) who frequently crosses paths with the main group.- The Friend Nobody Likes: Randy seems to consider himself and the squad true friends. The squad at large do not agree. Especially Nolan.
Criminals
Oscar Hutchinson
Played by: Matthew Glave
A convicted murderer and prison inmate who seems to keep crossing paths with the cast, has a history with Jackson's father.- Affably Evil: Jovially amoral is the best way to describe Oscar. A ruthless and conniving Opportunistic Bastard who will do anything and cross any line to get ahead but his good cheer and openly friendly attitude is 100% genuine.
- Beard of Evil: By Season 3, he has grown a beard.
- Beware the Silly Ones: The amiable attitude and constant snarking make it easy to forget Oscar is a ruthless convicted murderer, who will not hesitate to kill someone in his way if it means freedom.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Oscar Hutchinson has spent so long betraying everyone he ever met in some way that when he's attacked by two different people to get revenge, he doesn't know who they are, even when one person provides such specific details as Hutchinson betraying his brother to rebels in another country.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He is constantly betraying all sides whenever it suits him. One episode had two individuals trying to kill him for betraying them or their families in the past. In fact, he has backstabbed so many people, he himself can't even remember the individuals when they confront him.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: Particularly relevant to "Heart Beat" and "End Game", when Nolan has to turn to Oscar Hutchinson for insight into dealing with Bailey's manipulative ex-husband Jason, Oscar's similar psychology allowing him to advise Nolan on how best to trap Jason.
- Disappeared Dad: In "Bad Blood", it is revealed that he had fathered a daughter after cheating on one of his former lovers with her co-worker. To his credit, he was completely unaware, partially because he went through a lot of partners before getting arrested.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Oscar is a ruthless convicted murderer who loves cracking bad jokes at the cops' expense.
- The Gadfly: If there is any opportunity to say something that will make a situation worse or more entertaining for him, he will take it for all it's worth. Even if there might be an impending ballistic missile strike. In fact, the only thing that seems to be able to keep him from escalating a situation is the possibility of a brutal beatdown by the other prisoners during a riot, if only because it's the singular time he was helping out law enforcement.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Oscar learns he has a daughter. Her mother had given the girl a fake story to explain why he was gone, making it a surprise for them both while finding this out.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Despite Hutchinson and Nolan meeting during Hutchinson's past two escape attempts, when their third meeting occurs during a prison riot, Hutchinson agrees to help Nolan rescue the prison warden after she's taken hostage by other prisoners as Nolan recognizes that Hutchinson is an opportunist. He had already returned to his cell as he knew he couldn't escape in the current situation, but if he helps the warden now Nolan and Harper promise to put in a good word for Hutchinson to receive certain privileges later.
- Really Got Around: Not that he likes to brag, but he was very "popular" back in the day. So when the LAPD are forced to enlist his help in finding a child that he had unknowingly sired in connection to a kidnapping, he is quick to tell them that the search could take some time, as he had a whole list of sexual partners who could potentially be the mother. Some of the candidates responded to him with anger while others are still interested in hooking up with him. In the end, the mother turns out to be a co-worker of his then partner that he had cheated on, whom he didn't even remember.
- Troll: He does enjoy being annoying for the LAPD due to being inconvenienced by their investigations.
Rosalind Dyer
Played by: Annie Wersching
A convicted serial killer who Nick Armstrong helped bring to justice.
- Arc Villain: Can be considered one in Seasons 2 and first few episodes of Season 4.
- Ax-Crazy: She is a notorious serial killer who enjoys torturing and mutilating her victims before killing them. These acts include cutting off her victim's hands and feet, extracting their teeth, pouring boiled oil down someone's throat, peeling the skin off a woman's face, etc. Even the hardly shaken Bradford, who worked the crime scene of her fourth victim, regrets ignoring the detectives' warning to not look at the remains of the body.
- Boom, Headshot!: Taken out by her accomplice when her Saw-esque plan fails, to keep herself from going back to prison.
- The Chessmaster:
- She makes a deal with the District Attorney to reveal the locations of her victims in exchange for a reduced sentence, knowing full well that there was going to be a second body killed in the past year in the same location.
- She sells out Detective Armstrong to the cops, knowing full well his exposure as a crooked cop means all his previous arrests will be looked over, including hers.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: She tortured all of her victims before killing them, which include pouring boiling oil down one's throat, peeling the skin off a woman's face, extracting the teeth from an anesthesiologist, and her trademark of cutting off her victims' hands and feet.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: The LAPD are left with no choice but to talk to Rosalind when a new killer who has burying bodies of new victims at her own victim's gravesites. Nolan, whose unshakable moral character intrigues her, finds himself being the one to interrogate her, as she finds talking to him to be more entertaining, since Armstrong and the other cops are more jaded. Unfortunately, Rosalind tends to focus more on talking about her kills, taunting the officers over how she's a step ahead of them, and throwing bits of information for them to use.
- The Corrupter: She is one to her lawyer Grace. She convinced the woman to kill the officer guarding them and orchestrating her escape from the courthouse, in exchange for killing the woman's parents for her. According to Wesley, Grace was a bit unstable when they were younger, so it really didn't take much of a push from Rosalind to get the girl to commit murder. It's unclear how much of an influence she had on Caleb, though.
- While she and the LAPD team are out trekking towards the first body, they get shot at by a Vigilante Man who wants Rosalind dead for killing his wife, which results in the man being arrested. Nolan even points out how even arrested, Rosalind was still destroying lives.
- She tries to be this for Nolan in her final episode, setting up a scenario that she hoped would provoke him into killing her (albeit to save Bailey's life).
- The Dreaded: Probably the most dangerous criminal/killer in the entire show.
- Enemy Mine: Nolan turns to Rosalind upon discovering evidence that implicates Armstrong as a Dirty Cop.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Subverted.It is indicated that not all of her victims were innocent people. The first burial site she leads the LAPD to contained the body of a predatory anesthesiologist. However, it's clear that Rosalind doesn’t actually care about what they did (having done equally horrific if not worse things to completely innocent people), but rather the thrill of the new experience.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: She is curiously baffled when Nolan literally shields her from getting shot by a vengeful husband of one of her victims, believing most cops wouldn't have risked their own lives to protect a killer like herself.
- In her final appearance, she taunts Nolan with the idea that Bailey will die because he came to catch her thinking he could be the hero, not considering how Nolan's actions instead reflect a faith in his team to do the job in his absence.
- Evil Redhead: A given since she's played by the late Annie Wersching.
- Face Death with Dignity: Her endgame in her final episode. Having tapped out her enjoyment of watching her victims suffer, and not wanting to go back to prison or be on the run anymore, she would rather meet her end on her own terms. And because she wanted to go out with a bang, she, with the help of another acolyte, orchestrated a series of events to force Nolan to meet with her for the purpose of killing her himself. While she was very confident Nolan would do it, she nonetheless made clear to her acolyte to shoot her in the head if Nolan didn't go through with it.
- Fame Through Infamy: Very much so - to the point where she considers Caleb’s kills to be shared with her as everyone was connecting the two.
- Faux Affably Evil: Rosalind is constantly soft-spoken and polite, even when graphically discussing how she brutally tortured and murdered people. She likewise often offers false gestures of kindness, such as suggesting everyone stop for a drink break between going to her burial sites, all so she has more time to rattle them.
- For the Evulz: She admits that her crimes were simply just because of how much she enjoyed the suffering she was causing.
- Glory Seeker: Nolan seems to think she is one, which he tries to exploit in effort to get her to give up Caleb's location to them. Rosalind seems only slightly rattled by the idea that Caleb's killing spree could potentially overshadow her.
- Hate Sink: She doesn't even pretend to have any humanity. The delight she takes in the suffering she causes makes her very easy to hate.
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: She kidnapped Chris, slashed his wrists, and left him in Lucy's apartment for her to find. Lucy believes that Rosalind did this because she chose not to testify Caleb's crimes in court, as Rosalind reveled in watching her victims relive their darkest moments.
- Killed Off for Real: She is finally killed by her unnamed acolyte after Nolan refuses to compromise his moral code to save Bailey by killing Rosalind herself.
- Knight of Cerebus: The show takes a much, much darker turn when she shows up with much of the lighthearted humor absent.
- Leitmotif: A chilling theme is played whenever she first appears in an episode.
- Murder by Suicide: In her final appearance, she has found that she does not want to spend the rest of her life on the run after successfully escaping prison, and would rather cap off her legacy on her own terms. With the help of a new acolyte, she orchestrated a series of events to have Nolan meet up with her while her acolyte has Bailey trapped in a rigged container that would fill with water until she drowned. With him trapped, Rosalind tried to force Nolan to kill her himself, wanting to die knowing that she managed to force the good-hearted Nolan to compromise his moral code to save Bailey. While he comes close, Nolan isn't able to go through with it, but she had a contingency plan...
- Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: She would love to tell you how she killed her victims. Needless to say, it's not pleasant.
- Sadist: You'd have to be in order to commit the crimes she committed. She even admits that she enjoys the killings, comparing the suffering of her victim's loved ones to a five star meal.
- Secret-Keeper: Having planned it months in advance, she knew the identity of the new killer who was burying bodies at her gravesites.
- She's aware that Armstrong is a Dirty Cop, and alludes to this as Nolan informs her of Caleb’s failure.
- Serial Killer: She originally has seven confirmed victims. That said, Armstrong says that the body count is probably much higher, as there was not enough evidence in the other cases to properly convict her. Following them using Caleb’s notes to uncover all her undiscovered victims, it's revealed that Rosalind is now recognised as the most prolific serial killer in the history of the state of California.
- Smug Smiler: She almost always seems to be wearing such a gleeful grin on her face when she appears. She apparently gets off on how the officers and lawyers have such a hatred for her, and loves being able to watch them scramble to uncover her plans.
- Smug Snake: At no point does she lose her cool, and calmly taunts the L.A.P.D. at every turn. Even when told of Caleb’s failure, her immediate response is that there are still more bodies, so she can always make another deal. It’s only when told that Caleb wrote down everything she told him that this veneer begins to slip.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: She is quite cordial when talking about her kills to the officers. She even speaks in a slightly softer voice.
- Villain Respect: Rosalind admits to Nolan that she quite likes working with Eli Reynolds, recognising him as another highly intelligent and dangerous serial killer in their own right, as opposed to her usually easily manipulated “blunt instruments.”
Sandra de La Cruz
Played by: Camille Guaty
AKA 'La Fiera'. An infamous drug kingpin who fronts as a businesswoman.- Affably Evil: She's polite and genial to Lopez, even giving her a good luck charm to bring protection to her baby. She's also a merciless drug lord and a stone-cold killer.
- Baby Be Mine: After her son is murdered, she has the pregnant Lopez kidnapped so she can steal her baby once it's born and raise it as her own.
- Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Sends her son to college in America in an attempt to keep him safe and wants him to have as normal a life as possible and not follow in her footsteps.
- Mama Bear: She earned her nickname (The Fierce) due to having shot dead several gangsters in Guatemala during a shootout whose violence was endangering her son. She's insistent that the story is entirely true when Angela questions it and is equally protective of him when assassins come gunning for her. Despite hating La Fiera's crimes, Angela can't help admiring this. La Fiera, spotting that Angela's pregnant, tells her to be the same way.
- Morality Pet: If there's one thing keeping La Fiera slightly grounded, it's her son Diego. Who she loves without question and would do anything for. Him getting waxed by a hit squad from a rival kingpin is acknowledged as being the final destruction of her remaining bit of humanity.
- The Queenpin: She's a woman who's the boss of a major Guatemalan drug cartel. Her nickname means "The Fierce", and she's earned it, being very ruthless.
- Villains Out Shopping: When we first meet her, she's on a college tour with her son like any other parent picking out colleges for her kid.
- Villain Respect: She seems to genuinely like and respect Lopez, and basically understands and even respects Lopez for simply doing her job as a cop by trying to bring her down.
- Would Hurt a Child: Ironically, despite her own Mama Bear instincts towards her son, she has no qualms about harming another child if she feels it suits her interests. When Cesar murders her son, she attempts to kill his infant son in revenge. When Angela calls her out on trying to murder an innocent baby, also putting an innocent mother through her own trauma just to get back at the father, Sandra shrugs it off as simple "karma" evening the score.
Elijah Stone
Played by: Brandon Jay McLaren
An LA crime lord who Wesley finds himself indebted after going to him for help in finding Angela. This uneasy alliance causes the LAPD to take a closer look at him.
- Always a Bigger Fish: His entire operation is almost completely wiped by a hitwoman working for La Fiera, a much bigger and international crime boss.
- Arc Villain: Is one for Wesley and Angela's storyline in Season 4.
- Archenemy: Probably the closest one for Wesley and Angela. While his presence gets the attention of the entire LAPD, he is primarily focused on those two, considering that he ended up in the mess they're in because of his deal with Wesley.
- Beard of Evil: He has a nifty beard.
- The Chessmaster: He orchestrated a gang war between two rival gangs, knowing they would take each other out in the process, allowing him to take control of their operations.
- Deal with the Devil: He's the devil, obviously. He's approached by a desperate Wesley, who agrees to become a crooked lawyer for him if Elijah uses his criminal connections to find the location of where La Fiera is holding the pregnant Lopez.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While he is quite a notorious crimelord who doesn't tolerate failure from his men, he nonetheless makes an exception when it comes to his family. Notably, he is absolutely furious when one of his men screws up a job and gets himself thrown into prison based on a witness's testimony, but makes clear to Wesley that letting him rotting in jail is not an option, since the man was his wife's favorite cousin.
- Evil Is Petty: After he evades legal prosecution, he deliberately has a Hollywood Restraining Order against Wesley just to stop Wesley going to a particular café that serves a pastry he likes.
- Faux Affably Evil: He is pretty polite with Wesley when the man comes to him for help with trying to find Angela. He even asks Wesley if he is okay with the arrangement of becoming his crooked lawyer in exchange for his help in finding Angela, recalling how Wesley had once stood his ground when he asked him in the past. However, the longer they work together, the more Wesley comes to realize just how shallow his seeming professionalism is and how vicious and cruel Elijah really can be.
- Informed Ability: Downplayed. The series does try to show that Elijah is perfectly willing and capable of being hands-on in dangerous situations, but in any situation not involving a civilian, he tends to back off from the fight or lose badly. He also hid rather than face La Fiera's enforcers. He's almost a Non-Action Guy.
- Machiavelli Was Wrong: He ultimately ends up in prison because he decided to threaten his attorney with a gun and a wood chipper for no real reason other than to terrify her.
- Noodle Incident: Elijah had once come to Wesley in the past to recruit him as his legal aid. Details about what transpired aren't elaborated, only that Wesley stood his ground, not wanting to break his oath as a lawyer. Elijah brings this up when Wesley comes to him for help with trying to find where La Fiera is holding Angela.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Whilst Elijah demands total loyalty from his men, it is made clear that it’s an absolutely one-way street. He happily has a trusted lieutenant shanked to death in prison just to ensure he doesn’t become a liability. Whilst forced to work for him, Wesley manages to resolve several situations for Elijah without him needing to further break the law, only for Elijah’s threats to keep getting worse. Likewise, despite Monica being a great asset to his operation and ensuring his freedom, Elijah comes within seconds of throwing her into a wood chipper the moment he gets it into his head she could turn on him.
- Remember the New Guy?: He is introduced in Season 4 as a pretty powerful crimelord whose gang operates in the LA area, and later episodes indicate that the LAPD have had their eyes on him for a while, despite never being mentioned in the previous seasons.
- Smug Snake: A high-functioning one. Elijah is a capable and dangerous crime lord and he is a master of the Xanatos Speed Chess, but most of the time he's at his most dangerous when he has leverage over his target. Any situation were he does not have leverage over and he's left floundering and utterly outmatched by people smarter, more capable and more ruthless than he is. He's nowhere near as in control of the situation as "La Fiera" was before him and all his smug bravado tends to vanish against people he cannot intimidate.
- The Sociopath: Elijah comes across as a high-functioning example. He is certainly capable of acting charming and pragmatic. Still, he is equally happy to throw away anyone (even his most loyal followers) the moment they become an inconvenience to him. Likewise, despite being married, Elijah overall never shows any particular care to anyone else or possesses any relationships that are deeper than transactional.
- Villains Out Shopping: He comes across Wesley at a coffee shop.
- Villain Respect: When he first appears, he greets Wesley in a friendly manner. Before agreeing to help him, Stone wants to make sure what it means, recalling how Wesley had rejected him when he came to him to ask for him to be his legal aid.
Monica Stevens
Played by: Bridget Regan
Wesley’s ex-fiance, she is a cutthroat lawyer who ends up representing Elijah Stone’s case against Wesley.
- Ambition Is Evil: She makes it very clear that her goal is to only further her career while also getting a pretty paycheck from representing her clients, regardless if said clients are innocent or guilty.
- Amoral Attorney: She represents clients knowing full well that they are notorious criminals, not caring about the innocents lives in jeopardy so long as she can keep boosting up her career and getting a great paycheck.
- Enemy Mine: She is forced to work with the LAPD to take Elijah down once it becomes clear that she is no longer in Stone's graces.
- Evil Is Petty: Whilst she is primarily doing it for the paycheck, Monica doesn’t even attempt to hide how much joy she gets out of her actions hurting Wesley. She openly makes it clear she enjoys watching him and his loved ones suffer, and all because he cheated on her years ago.
- Evil Redhead: She has long red hair and is a calculating, ruthless, and ambitious lawyer who unapologetically chooses to represent the notorious criminal Elijah Stone, knowing full well of what the man is capable of if allowed to go free.
- Only in It for the Money: When being told that she is making a mistake representing Elijah Stone, Monica boasts that she is able to bill the man $800 per hour, making it clear she doesn't care about her client's criminal activity so long as she is able to line her own pockets from her cases.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Downplayed. She is Wesley's ex-fiance of two years. While he was the one who cheated on her, Monica's true colors had come out to Wesley beforehand, so the breakup came as a relief for him.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: According to Wesley, when they first got together Monica used to be as moral and caring as he was. By the present, he uncomfortably comes to accept there is nothing left of who she used to be, and she’s now completely selfish.
- Sharped Dressed Woman: Like Wesley, she dresses in very professional attire.
- Smug Snake: Whilst highly competent, Monica is incredibly arrogant, constantly walking around with a smug, oily attitude that easily gets under everyone else’s skin. It likewise never occurs to her that working for a psychopathic drug lord who is happy to kill anyone who becomes a liability to them (or they even perceive as a liability) could possibly backfire on her.
- The Stoic: She remains quite calm and contained whenever she is addressing anyone in or out of court. She even manages to keep her cool when facing a brutal death, although she nearly has a breakdown several times afterwards from the trauma of the events.
- Statuesque Stunner: She is a very tall lady with a height of 5'11, not including heels.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: An amoral redhead woman that enjoys messing around with the officers and Wesley, and is in league with notorious criminals. She's basically the lawyer version of Rosalind Dyer.
