can lucy chen have it all?
my opinions on the juicy lucy questions below!
should lucy keep going for UC?
should lucy go for a position other than detective?
how will lucy's promotion affect chenford?
will lucy's promotion increase the bloat on the rookie?
should lucy keep going for UC?
not forever, but it's now or never.
this has been her dream for three seasons now. it would be cruel for the writers to make her do 98% of the work to get there, only for her to fail in the end. she needs a win after all the shit she's been put through: unsupportive parents, getting roofied on a date, being put in a barrel by a serial killer, having her handler fake a kidnapping to test her, watching her bff die on camera, seeing her bf ruin her couch, etc.
yes, it's easier for her to get doxxed bc of the true crime docs, but it doesn't seem like the writers are willing to go there bc it would nuke that avenue. alexi loves docs the most, so do w that what you will.
there also seems to be no indication in canon that lucy's passion for UC has waned. tim himself said that there's no quit in chen, so it wouldn't make sense for her to decline this opportunity when she's so close to seeing it through to the end. much has changed since she began her UC journey, yes, but it seems like she would regret not going all in on making the team, even if she doesn't stay there for life.
should lucy go for a position other than detective?
no, bc i don't have those handles saved detective hits the sweet spot.
this show is making it very clear that nolan is the rookie; therefore, he needs his own extra mega special storyline per ep, where he interacts solely w the bane of my existence bailey and another person who won't make him look worse. lucy getting the same TO title would weaken that, esp bc she's better than him at...well, everything.
sgt chen has a nice ring to it, but lucy's wildly under qualified rn. tim prob has 15-20 yrs of field experience, while lucy has 1/4th of that, max. pushing her a rank above harper and lopez would also undermine the seniority of our fave female detectives of color, so detective is lucy's best bet. detective ≠ being UC for infinity tho.
how will lucy's promotion affect chenford?
it should make them the power couple of our dreams. tim has been super supportive of lucy's journey ever since she proved to him that she can singlehandedly take down two drug cartels as a newly minted P2. so why would that change now that they're together?
she can take their relationship into consideration when deciding on her path, sure, but ultimately, she should pick the choice that's best for her in the long run.
tbf, i don't think the decision that's best for her is mutually exclusive from the decision that's best for them. prioritizing their careers now, while they're still young, will open doors that would give them lighter schedules when they get married and start a family.
their current problem is spending less time together. like everything meaningful in life, relationships take work and intentionality. bc they no longer have the proximity that working together brings to facilitate their close connection, they have to find another way to make it happen. you're rolling in it, timothy! ask her to move in. (irl: the set decs need to get movin on building his home set.)
will lucy's promotion increase the bloat on the rookie?
i don't think so. UC has been a mainstay since s2. based on their recent storylines, it seems like they even want to expand it to everyone going UC like oprah.
lucy's promotion to detective probably won't mean anything besides a title change tbh. she'll prob do the same thing she's been doing, except she'll be called 'detective' when addressed LOL
they don't have the budget for her to go on these ops without her mid-wilshire fam as backup, so i can't see s5 lucy being more lonely than the lucy in 4A, right after jackson died. it's most likely why episode enders place everyone at the same rendezvous point.
so many of us love patrol, but i don't think they're going back to slice of life any time soon. they seem hellbent on transforming into a procedural + dramedy, when they used to be just dramedy imo. in short, no change on the bloat so bailey's still on the chopping block for me 😈
all in all, yes, i think lucy can have it all. the writers have to be willing to give it to her tho ¯\_(ツ)_/¯