escape plan the extractors movie review

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Escape plan: the extractors, common sense media reviewers.

Action-thriller threequel has violence, swearing.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Solving problems with teamwork. Working with peopl

The heroes are a mix of different genders, races,

Frequent violence -- both hand-to-hand combat and

"F--k," "s--t," and "bitch." "Jesus Christ" used a

Parents need to know that Escape Plan: The Extractors is the third installment in the action-thriller franchise starring Sylvester Stallone and contains much violence and strong language. The violence is frequent and brutal and although it's mostly hand-to-hand combat, weapons are sometimes used. Characters…

Positive Messages

Solving problems with teamwork. Working with people from different cultures. But mostly all of the movie's conflicts are resolved by violence.

Positive Role Models

The heroes are a mix of different genders, races, and nationalities. Villains are stereotypical "bad guys" and the premise of women being kidnapped feels cliched. Some racial slurs are used.

Violence & Scariness

Frequent violence -- both hand-to-hand combat and fighting with weapons -- resulting in broken bones and multiple deaths. One character dies by being impaled on a metal rod. Other characters die by gunshot and knife wounds. Blood spatter and bloody wounds are seen on screen. Characters are kidnapped.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

"F--k," "s--t," and "bitch." "Jesus Christ" used as an exclamation. Some racist epithets -- a Chinese character is referred to as "chopsticks."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Escape Plan: The Extractors is the third installment in the action-thriller franchise starring Sylvester Stallone and contains much violence and strong language. The violence is frequent and brutal and although it's mostly hand-to-hand combat, weapons are sometimes used. Characters are shot dead and some are beaten to death with or against heavy objects. Two characters have their throats slit with knives and die. In one of the more graphic scenes, a character has a metal rod thrust through his head. There are two set pieces where female characters are overpowered by male attackers who then kidnap them. There are several uses of "f--k," "s--t," and some racial slurs -- a Chinese character is referred to as "chopsticks" by one of his American kidnappers. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

ESCAPE PLAN: THE EXTRACTORS tells the story of a group of security experts, led by Ray Breslin ( Sylvester Stallone ) who are hired to save a Chinese heiress being held hostage in Estonia. But after his girlfriend, Abigail Ross ( Jaime King ) is also abducted, Breslin learns that his past may be part of the reason for the kidnappings.

Is It Any Good?

Sadly not even a well-established cast of action heroes can turn this into anything more than a dull, predictable action-thriller. For this third installment in the franchise, Stallone is once again joined by Dave Bautista ( Guardians of the Galaxy ) and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as members of his crew, as well as top martial arts talent from Asia, in the form of Max Zhang. Despite this pedigree, the fight scenes in Escape Plan: The Extractors are poorly choreographed and much of the cinematography is too dark to really follow the action. Furthermore, the villains don't do much more than threaten, kill, and talk in exposition in an attempt to explain the movie's convoluted ransom and revenge plot.

As a result, it is very difficult to care about any of the characters. Fans of the first two Escape Plan movies -- particularly the first one , which co-starred Arnold Schwarzenegger -- will likely feel short-changed by this low-budget attempt to keep the franchise moving. It would certainly seem like a challenge too far to churn out another installment after this.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the violence in Escape Plan: The Extractors. Is it justified? Did it feel realistic? Why do we like violent action movies?

Discuss the role of women in the movie. How are they portrayed? Could the film have cast more female characters in heroic roles?

How is surveillance technology used in the movie? Do you think this kind of technology should be used? What should it be used for, and what shouldn't it?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : July 2, 2019
• Cast : Sylvester Stallone , Dave Bautista , Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson
• Director : John Herzfeld
• Inclusion Information : Asian actors, Black actors
• Studio : Summit Entertainment
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Topics : Sports and Martial Arts , Adventures , Friendship
• Run time : 97 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violence and language
• Last updated : April 17, 2023

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Flickering Myth

Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019)

July 3, 2019 by Shaun Munro

Escape Plan: The Extractors , 2019.

Directed by John Herzfeld. Starring Sylvester Stallone, Dave Bautista, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Jaime King, Max Zhang, Harry Shum, Jr., Devon Sawa and Daniel Bernhardt.

After security expert Ray Breslin is hired to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a Hong Kong tech mogul from a formidable Latvian prison, Breslin’s girlfriend is also captured.

You’d be forgiven for being unaware that 2013’s moderately successful Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring action thriller Escape Plan ever had a sequel, let alone that it was dumped straight-to-VOD after Arnie couldn’t be convinced to return.

Despite critical and commercial failure signalling the end of this most unlikely franchise,  Escape Plan 2: Hades was shot back-to-back with a threequel,  Escape Plan: The Extractors . Bizarrely, Sly keenly went out of his way to bash the previous movie ahead of this third film’s release, dubbing it the worst-produced film he’s ever appeared in, as though that might in any way drum up hype for its successor.

The Extractors , shot in just 17 days with new series director John Herzfeld ( The Death and Life of Bobby Z ), is an action film so utterly lifeless and lacking in personality you’ll likely be left begging for the deeply terrible yet occasionally amusing sci-fi genre shift of the previous film. But only barely.

Ditching the pure prison break set-up of the first two films, the third go-around finds Ray Breslin (Stallone) tasked with breaking into Devil’s Station, a Latvian prison where the daughter of a Hong Kong tech mogul has been stashed. If that’s not enough, Ray’s decades-too-young girlfriend, Abigail (Jaime King), has also been imprisoned there by Lester Clark Jr. (Devon Sawa), the son of the first film’s antagonist (Vincent D’Onofrio, recycled footage of whom is peppered throughout to pad the scant runtime).

Like the overwhelming majority of these cynically junky “star-studded” VOD actioners, this film makes every possible effort to keep its budget as low as possible, evidenced by the first two-thirds of its mere 87-minute run-time proving depressingly low on action – and low on our featured actors, too – while doubling down on soul-sapping expository dialogue about dodgy business deals, complete with the requisite stilted acting.

At least those wooden actors are present , mind. Anyone lured to this on the promise of some Dave Bautista head-cracking action has been forewarned; he’s barely in the movie and looks bored even when he’s there, clearly just filling time between more fruitful shooting assignments. Still, he gets more to do than 50 Cent, returning as Breslin’s payrolled hacker (!) pal Hush, and whose revolving door cameo is absolutely worthless.

As for Stallone himself? He’s in maybe 40% of the movie if we’re being generous, and doesn’t even enter the actual prison itself until late in the game. In what’s surely a laughable attempt to save money, Breslin spends about 15 minutes navigating a dark tunnel on his way into the prison itself. Awkward.

The one vaguely promising performer here is Devon Sawa, for while it’s easy to scoff at his casting given that he’s hardly carved out a filmography suggesting himself an imposing villain stood next to Stallone, he actually works fine with what he has. Sawa has filled out appropriately since he was Final Destination ‘s skinny protagonist, with age adding a sure weathered grit to his face, even if it’s ultimately a bit depressing to see him in a role like this.

On a most elementary technical level, however, this film is really quite repulsive. The cinematography touts an ugly, unfussed digital sheen throughout, which in conjunction with poor lighting and jaundiced colour grading, renders almost the entire film an eyesore; seriously, you’ll be begging for the comparatively peppy blue-neon overload of the previous film.

And even when the action finally abounds, most of it is ruined by spasmodic editing, as well as blatantly chroma-keyed explosion and gunshot effects. It’s somehow all still more palatable than the film’s excessive Dell product placement, though.

The third act does at least deliver a few surprisingly brutal deaths – including a memorable one involving a crowbar – and the central third act fistfight has a basic, rough-hewn effectiveness to it, even if it’s ultimately tough to care about any of it.

That A-listers like Stallone and Bautista feel the need to work on such inept, slung-together projects like Escape Plan: The Extractors is both baffling and embarrassing. With virtually nothing to praise and little entertainment value to be found, this might truly be the worst thing either actor has ever been involved with.

Flabbergastingly lazy bargain basement tosh from Sly and co., and one unlikely to please even the scarce few who enjoyed its rancid predecessor.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★

Shaun Munro – Follow me on  Twitter  for more film rambling.

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Escape Plan: The Extractors

Where to Watch

Sylvester Stallone (Ray Breslin) Dave Bautista (Trent DeRosa) 50 Cent (Hush) Jin Zhang (Shen Lo) Harry Shum Jr. (Bao Yung) Devon Sawa (Lester Clark Jr.) Jaime King (Abigail Ross) Lydia Hull (Jules) Melise (Daya Zhang) Russell Wong (Wu Zhang)

John Herzfeld

After security expert Ray Breslin is hired to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a Hong Kong tech mogul from a formidable Latvian prison, Breslin's girlfriend is also captured.

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‘Escape Plan: The Extractors’

In 2013, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger co-starred in “Escape Plan,” a two-fisted prison picture that found a fervent fan base among ’80s action aficionados. Then Stallone squandered a lot of that goodwill by appearing — for a handful of scenes, anyway — in the tedious, Schwarzenegger-free sequel, “Escape Plan 2: Hades.”

Now, almost exactly one year after “Hades” debuted, the series resumes with “Escape Plan: The Extractors,” which — at the least — is more Stallone-centric. Not only is his security expert Ray Breslin in the picture from start to finish, but the story’s really all about Ray, and the villain out to bring him down.

Devon Sawa plays Lester Clark Jr., the son of the sleazy turncoat played by Vincent D’Onofrio in the first movie. Clark kidnaps a Hong Kong heiress to lure Breslin’s team to the dank, labyrinthine jail Devil’s Station; and then he grabs Ray’s girlfriend Abigail (Jaime King) too, making the mission personal.

Director John Herzfeld (also a credited co-screenwriter, with Miles Chapman) focuses most of his creative attention on his long, surprisingly gory climactic sequence, where Breslin and company punch, slash and shoot their way through Devil’s Station. Dave Bautista is especially entertaining as Breslin’s resident gunslinger.

But while this film is better than its predecessor, neither the prison nor the plot here is as cool as what “Escape Plan” had to offer. The original movie had a certain spark, while “The Extractors” is, ultimately, just another VOD actioner.

-------------

Rated: R, for violence and language

Running time: 1 hour, 27 minutes

Playing: Available VOD

‘Crown and Anchor’

Early in writer-director Andrew Rowe’s powerhouse debut feature, “Crown and Anchor,” Toronto cop James Downey (Michael Rowe) returns to his hometown of St. John’s, Newfoundland , for his mother’s funeral. He’s dreading everything about the trip — including the inevitability of running into his estranged cousin Danny (Matt Wells). Both men have big anchor tattoos on their necks but otherwise couldn’t be more opposite.

Rowe’s grim drama is mostly about how these very different cousins were profoundly damaged by their abusive childhoods. Danny became a crook and a substance abuser; James now listens to screeching punk rock and exercises compulsively to channel his violent rage.

The plot primarily concerns Danny, who risks his family and his life as he sinks deeper into organized crime. James has to decide whether to help a relative who represents the selfishness he left St. John’s to escape.

“Crown and Anchor” is slow-paced and talky, with scenes that run long, in static takes. Rowe introduces a few eruptions of shocking violence, but he’s working more in the spirit of genre movies like “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” and “Dragged Across Concrete,” in which dialogue and character development are paramount.

Rowe’s not a great writer yet; he leans too far to the explanatory. But he elicits outstanding performances (including a one-scene wonder from Canadian character actor extraordinaire Stephen McHattie ), and he knows how to spin a mood. This film is utterly absorbing, pulling viewers into a world that seems permanently overcast — as gray and discolored as a busted lip.

Running time: 1 hour, 59 minutes.

Playing: Available on VOD

‘Cold Blood’

As Henry, an aged but adept hitman living in the snowy wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, Jean Reno plays a very Jean Reno-like role in writer-director Frédéric Petitjean’s debut feature film, “Cold Blood.” When Henry finds a wounded woman named Charlie (Sarah Lind) and nurses her back to health, the pair gradually learn the secrets of their respective pasts — right as a detective (Joe Anderson) and another killer (David Gyasi) are closing in.

Picturesque locations (shot by veteran cinematographer Thierry Arbogast ) bring some visual pop to this low-key, European-style suspense picture, which is otherwise fairly blah. The complicated relationship between Henry and Charlie is meant to be the core of this story, but they’re both relatively stoic, as are the flat, featureless supporting characters. “Cold Blood” is well-made but hard to warm to — although it might satisfy nostalgic Reno fans, eager to see him playing a silent, hulking assassin yet again.

Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Playing: Starts July 5, Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica; also on VOD

‘Silent Panic’

Writer-director Kyle Schadt begins his movie “Silent Panic” with the kind of perplexing moral dilemma usually reserved for party games and brainteasers. Three friends — Bobby (Joseph Martinez), Dominic (Jay Habre) and Eagle (Sean Nateghi) — are returning from a camping trip when they find a dead woman in the trunk of Eagle’s car. None of them killed her. But they’re each other’s only alibis; and Eagle’s an ex-con. Should they call the cops?

Unfortunately, Schadt fumbles what should have been a can’t-miss premise. When the boys get home — after coming up with an iffy plan to avoid the police — they’re wracked with guilt. In a classic noir, this one bad break would expose all the cracks running through the characters’ lives. In a black comedy, they’d be spun through a series of surprising and ironic twists. In “Silent Panic,” these guys mostly just mope.

Schadt’s dialogue lacks punch, and his cast isn’t charismatic enough to compensate. But the bigger problem is that nothing especially tense or exciting happens after the corpse is found. What should’ve been a crackling thriller very quickly becomes just another middling indie drama about bland, angst-ridden young men.

Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes.

Playing: Starts July 5, Arena Cinelounge, Hollywood; also on VOD

‘Cocaine Condor’

The production values of Alan Bradley’s documentary “Cocaine Condor” are about at the level of a YouTube video. The sound’s inconsistent, the cuts are sometimes abrupt, and to illustrate his expose of the U.S. government’s involvement in ’70s and ’80s drug trafficking, Bradley relies on just a couple of original interviews and a lot of old news footage. At just over an hour, the movie’s not much longer than a typical online rant.

“Cocaine Condor” is still illuminating, however, because it burns with the passion of its director. Bradley appears on-screen throughout, telling this story of smuggling and assassination while staring intensely into the camera, with an engaging presence (and accent) halfway between Dennis Hopper and Joe Mantegna. Bradley weaves together pieces of disparate scandals into his own persuasive argument, rooted in what seems to be a deeply personal belief that powerful people have spent the past 50 years making our world more violent and miserable.

Running time: 1 hour, 4 minutes

Playing: Starts July 5, Arena Cinelounge, Hollywood

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Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019)

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Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019)

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Escape plan collection.

The Escape Plan film series are composed of action-thriller movies based on characters created by Miles Chapman and Arnell Jesko. The films are centered on a businessman and skilled structure engineer name Ray Breslin, who is best known for being the world's greatest escape artist. Breslin also helps design detention centers with the most intense levels of security. The series stars Sylvester Stallone, with a supporting cast including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dave Bautista and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as members of Breslin's team. Courtesy Wikipedia®

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Escape Plan: The Extractors Reviews

Herzfeld does more with the material than his predecessor, giving "Escape Plan: The Extractors" a pleasingly mean energy.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Nov 12, 2021

Movieman's Guide to the Movies

Escape plan: the extractors blu-ray review.

Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019)

Genre(s): Action, Thriller Lionsgate | R – 88 min. – $24.99 | July 2, 2019

Date Published: 06/24/2019 | Author: The Movieman

Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.

Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers .

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Why So Blu?

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Escape Plan: The Extractors (Blu-ray Review)

Ray Breslin is back in the third installment of the Escape Plan franchise entitled: Escape Plan: The Extractors. In this latest adventure Breslin and his team have to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a tech mogul (who ties in directly to what has been established in the first film) in addition to rescuing a member of their own team. Yes, you guessed right: this time…it’s personal.

Having reviewed Escape Plan 2: Hades and not necessarily hating it outright (it has an awesome animatronic robot) I wasn’t really expecting much of a quality film in this latest sequel. I’m here to say that I was wrong. The Extractors is one of the best “grindhouse” films I’ve seen this year. Stallone drafted his best friend John Herzfeld to write and direct this sequel.  Hades  is not acknowledged, so don’t worry about playing catch-up with that one.

Herzfeld has staged a dynamic little film filled with some insane hand-to-hand combat action. I literally cursed out loud in excitement at the conclusion of Dave Bautista’s fight, because I was not expecting that brutal hit. I do give the film props on connecting it to the first film, so I would suggest watching that film if you want a refresher.

Outside of a few shots of connective flashback tissue – Escape Plan: The Extractors is its own self-contained beast. It’s a short film, running under 90-minutes, but delivers some great action. You can clearly see that Stallone and the rest of the cast enjoyed themselves on this action-romp-fest. I did too!

Encoding:  AVC/MPEG-4

Resolution:  1080p

Aspect Ratio:  2.40:1

Clarity/Detail: Escape Plan: The Extractors was shot on the digital side of things and it has a nice and slick presentation for the first half. Once in the prison, things get gritty, but the quality of the show does not degrade.

Depth: There are some scenes and second-unit cinematography (like the skyline above) that really shine on the Blu-ray.

Black Levels: Black levels are deep and retain their consistency even in the largely darkened cells of the prison.

Color Reproduction:  The color remains bright and bold unless it takes place under the bright yellow spotlights of the prison – once there everything is obviously washed out until folks get out of the light.

Flesh Tones: Folks looked nice and healthy throughout the film.

Noise/Artifacts: I did not notice any noise, debris, or artifacts on the Blu-ray presentation.

Audio Format(s):  English DTS Master Audio 5.1

Subtitles:  English SDH, French, Spanish

Dynamics:  The Blu-ray sounds terrific and really takes advantage of the lossless sound field.

Low Frequency Extension:  The rumble in the jungle (LFE) gave the whole spectacle a nice kick in the pants.

Surround Sound Presentation:  There’s plenty of action going on in the background that perfectly balances out what’s going in the front. You’ll be ducking for cover as bullets whiz by your head on this one.

Dialogue Reproduction:  Dialogue is clean, crisp, and clear.

Surprisingly, we get a nice helping of special features. There’s an audio commentary with the stars including Sly, but be warned, Sly only shows up for the final fight. The bulk of commentary track is writer-director John Herzfeld and actors Devon Sawa and Daniel Bernhardt. The other extra is a nice featurette with cast and crew. Stallone makes an appearance and you can tell he’s having a ball. He was completely absent from any promotional material from  Hades,  if you remember that release. A DVD and Digital HD copy round out the special features.

•  Audio commentary with director John Herzfeld, Sylvester Stallone, Devon Sawa, and Daniel Bernhardt
• “The Making of Escape Plan: The Extractors” – featuring never-before-seen cast and crew interviews that explain what it took to make this white-knuckle film.
• Digital HD Copy

Escape Plan: The Extractors  is not going to win awards for being a great or original film. It’s neither. It’s just a whole hell lot of fun. Fans of action/martial arts/grindhouse films will have a blast. The Blu-ray has awesome audio and video specs and the special features are more than adequate for this release. Enjoy!

Escape Plan: The Extractors is available

On blu-ray & dvd.

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The Rookie Season 6, Episode 10 Review: The Finale Goes International & Jumps the Shark

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The following contains spoilers from The Rookie Season 6, Episode 10, "Escape Plan."

After the historic strikes forced by studios, series like The Rookie returned later in the year than usual. This means their seasons were truncated more than they would've been otherwise. In The Rookie Season 6, Episode, 10, "Escape Plan," the overall story for the season wraps up, but many loose threads are still left dangling. With two operations, one in Los Angeles and the other in Argentina, The Rookie's season finale provides the action fans expected from the "grounded" police series.

When it first aired in 2018, The Rookie was meant to be different from typical network police procedurals . By focusing on beat cops in the Mid-Wilshire Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, the show told street-level stories. However, it's also the sixth season finale of a hit network show. Thus, John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and Nyla Harper (Mekia Cox) are sent abroad on an "observe-only" mission that, of course, goes horribly (and entertainingly) awry.

There was plenty of action for the characters left at home, with Lucy Chen (Melissa O'Neill) and Tim Bradford (Eric Winter) proving the ChenFord "love language" will save each others' lives. Meanwhile, Monica Stevens (Bridget Regan) and Blair London (Danielle Campbell) find their lives as changed as Nolan's and Bailey Nune's (Jenna Dewan), as the couple make concrete plans to adopt a child. All told, "Escape Plan" was a dense episode of television, setting up interesting things for The Rookie Season 7, arriving in 2025 with the start of the winter TV season.

John Nolan & Nyla Harper's Mission in Argentina Didn't Make Sense, But Was Fun

The rookie works better when there's a dose of unreality, what happened to tamara on the rookie.

In The Rookie Seasons 3 and 4, Lucy Chen's roommate Tamara Colins was a big part of the supporting cast, but in the later seasons she shows up less.

Before he was John Nolan, Fillion played Richard Castle in Castle, a series that had time-travelers and other genre-TV elements. While it doesn't go as far as that series, The Rookie works well when it pushes beyond the limits of what makes sense for the typical beat cop on the LAPD. For example, there are shootouts nearly every episode, and yet Nolan and the other characters rarely ever have to take administrative leave afterward. If they do, it's wrapped up quickly.

That being said, Nolan and Harper going rogue in a foreign country where the LAPD had zero jurisdiction was a bit much, even by this show's standards. In "Escape Plan," Nolan and Harper are paired with an FBI Special Agent and CIA-adjacent operatives who guide them to where Monica Stevens meets with Jakob Olmstead (Casper Andreas), a mysterious Swiss billionaire, to save her life. She met with Eric Ramsey (Neil Edward Hopkins), who put the hit out on her from Episode 8, "Punch Card."

When he refused to broker a deal with her, she turned to his "benefactor" in an effort to remove him from the Los Angeles criminal playing field. For reasons that remain unclear, Monica was going to turn over Dr. London to the international criminal. Thus, Nolan took out a CIA operative and bum-rushed the meeting in an up-armored Humvee.

They rescue Dr. London, though Nolan gets shot in his butt while chasing Monica into the desert. Despite being warned multiple times not to take action while in Argentina, they're all back in Los Angeles with Dr. London in tow by the episode's end. She is last seen being booked at the local precinct, despite being told she'd be in federal protective custody.

None of this made much sense nor was it in any way reflective of actual law enforcement, but it was enjoyable to watch. Realistically speaking, Nolan should be in trouble with the State Department for his actions. Yet, he was home, snuggled up with Bailey by the time the credits rolled. "Escape Plan" jumped the shark, but its personal drama brought it back down to Earth before it completely lost sight of the show's grounded appeal.

Lucy Chen Got Her Action Movie Moment When She Saved Tim Bradford

Chen's undercover operation may continue in the rookie season 7, the rookie: the pentagram killer, explained.

The Rookie introduced a new serial killer in Season 6, the Pentagram Killer, but this case is different from Rosalind Dyer and her many acolytes.

Despite being the subject of a statewide manhunt and participating in two big-time true crime documentaries , Chen was somehow still able to work undercover. Her latest operation was infiltrating a criminal organization as the nanny for money-launderer Christian Bautista (Will Beinbrink), the man who Monica turned to for help.

After getting the necessary intel on Monica's plans, Chen left the house because the Bautista family fled the country. In fact, she was able to participate in the LAPD operation to stop Monica's hit against Gundo (A Martinez), a drug dealer who shook her down for $2 million and 10 percent of her business instead of killing her.

During the shootout which, like the Argentina mission, goes wrong in cinematic fashion, Gundo was shot and Aaron Thorsen (Tru Valentino) was forced to rescue him. Gundo's fate, as of this writing, remains unclear. Bradford jumped into the bed of a truck driven by an escaping hitman, and he got into a fight for his life. A fight, he admits at the end of the episode, he was going to lose.

Chen and Lopez, however, were behind him in a police vehicle. Like a true action-movie hero, Chen jumped from the moving vehicle to the truck and choked out the driver. In their final scene of the season, Bradford movingly thanked her for the "kindness" she's shown him since he ended their relationship.

Again, the idea that Chen and Bradford, two former romantic partners, would be allowed to stand watch on an operation together is ludicrous. Yet, quibbling about this is basically getting mad at The Rookie for being a TV show. Rather than mine this moment for drama, Chen and Bradford reaffirmed the ChenFord chemistry. Chen saving him was a great moment, and so was Bradford telling her that he'd try to "pay her back for the rest of [his] life."

This suggests that, despite their recent troubles, Chen and Bradford's orbits are fated to converge in The Rookie Season 7 . Also, since her cover isn't blown at the Bautista house, she may be sent back in, allowing Bradford to return the life-saving favor.

Monica Stevens May Be The Rookie Season 7’s "Big Bad," Along With Other Familiar Faces

Recapturing oscar hutchinson and jason wyler will be a priority in the rookie’s next season, who is austin walker in the rookie.

On the Rookie, Austin Walker isn't a character fans will know, but his life and death are very important to the continued presence of a fan-favorite.

Monica tapped recurring antagonist Oscar Hutchinson (Matthew Glave) for help in getting leverage against Ramsey. He went to Jason Wyler (Steve Kazee), Bailey's former husband, who was arrested by Nolan in Season 4, Episode 11 "End Game." Oscar and Jason escaped from the prison very easily, meaning both are now free to roam when The Rookie comes back in 2025.

Oscar may be trickier to catch, but with Jason asking to be dropped off in Los Angeles, it's clear that Jason is going after Bailey. If any of these antagonists appear in the Season 7 premiere, it will likely be Jason, as he pursues revenge on Nolan and, possibly, Bailey.

Oscar will likely pop up again in the next season, perhaps bringing Castle alum Molly Quinn back for another The Rookie cameo as his daughter. When audiences last saw her, she was going to be a mother, and Oscar may want to see his grandchild. However, both Oscar and Jason are small potatoes compared to the show's main antagonist.

As of now, Monica is the biggest question mark for The Rookie Season 6. She is, as she described herself, "ruthless but practical." She will surely find a way to land on her feet, though her career as an attorney in Los Angeles is likely over. She may just have to become a full-time crime-boss soon instead of a covert one. If she can take out Ramsey, she'll have the opening she needs.

Now that she has nothing to lose, her arc could extend over the 18 episodes ABC ordered for Season 7. She has a vendetta against Nolan, Harper and the other Mid-Wilshire Officers. She also has a past with Wesley Evers (Shawn Ashmore) , and he's just enough of a soft touch to maybe try to help her, either as a prosecutor or not.

It's possible that The Rookie will wrap up these villainous storylines by the time Season 7 hits ABC, presumably in January 2025. However, Monica has been a great antagonist thus far. It would be a shame to conclude her story so soon, especially now that her criminal enterprise is just beginning. Monica could be the kind of over-arching "Big Bad" that The Rookie would need to keep its upcoming seventh season and beyond more exciting.

The Rookie Seasons 1-6 are currently streaming on Hulu, and Season 7 is expected to debut on ABC sometime in early 2025 where 18 episodes will air without a break.

Starting over isn't easy, especially for John Nolan who, after a life-altering incident, is pursuing his dream of joining the LAPD. As their oldest rookie, he's met with skepticism from those who see him as just a walking midlife crisis.

• Epic action sequences and a thrilling story to wrap up the season.
• Heroic moments for the characters, especially Lucy Chen.
• Monica Stevens remains an excellent antagonist for The Rookie cast.
• The adoption story, specifically Bailey Nune's reaction to it, was underserved.
• While plenty of set-up for Season 7, the finale leaves a lot of loose ends.
• The effect of the Nolan's actions in Argentina are brushed past too quickly.