After foiling a bank robbery in the small town of Foxburg, Pennyslvania, John Nolan works to become a police officer in Los Angeles. He is met with skepticism, especially by Sergeant Wade Grey and his training officer, Talia Bishop.
Joining Nolan are his fellow rookie officers, Jackson West, and Lucy Chen. Their first day on the job involves a domestic dispute that turns fatal, an unbalanced father who leaves his child in a locked car on a hot day, and an escaped felon.
- Bigot with a Badge: Bradford plays one to test Lucy. He then refuses to confirm whether he was faking it or not.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Played for Drama. A husband is murdered by his girlfriend during an argument. This is after Talia assumes that the husband is beating the wife and he keeps quiet about his abuse due to his shame.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- John thwarting a bank robbery through a combination of talking and action.
- Lucy takes in a knife-wielding carjacker who also threatened to sexually assault her. The carjacker not realizing she was a cop or apparently able to disable him without a weapon.
- Hollywood Midlife Crisis: Sergeant Wade believes John is going through one of these and is a police officer for the thrills.
- Intergenerational Friendship: John is friends with his fellow rookies despite being old enough to be their father.
- May–December Romance: John is revealed to be in one of these with Lucy.
- Naïve Newcomer: All of the rookies are this, but John is especially so because he's not even from Los Angeles.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sergeant Wade gives John one of these on his first day, assuming his police work is the result of a Midlife crisis.
- Relationship Reveal: The end of the episode reveals that John and Lucy are in a relationship.
- Secret Test of Character: Officer Bradford acts racist to a group of Spanish speaking gardeners in order to see if Lucy would give a Tactful Translation or not. She fails the test.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: All three of the training officers are this, having no patience or desire to mentor in a nurturing manner.
- Tactful Translation: Lucy gives one of these when Bradford (deliberately) acts racist to a group of gardeners.
