Under Siege

**"Under Siege"** is the twenty-second and final episode of the fifth season of *The Rookie*. This is the ninety-eighth episode of the series overall.

## Summary

After one of their own is shot, the team suffers a series of close calls and realizes their division may be a target for a group of masked assailants.

## Plot

The episode starts with Celina Juarez and Aaron Thorsen being assaulted in a back alley as they investigate a disturbance. Celina is heavily beaten and Aaron is shot. One of their assailants then whispers a riddle to the badly injured Juarez. While Celina and Aaron are rushed to the hospital for treatment, Celina recounts the riddle to John Nolan. Aaron is left in a coma following the attack, which places the Mid-Wilshire station on high alert. They soon realize that everyone in the station has become a target for the assailants as Nolan and Bailey Nune are attacked by a hitman sent to kill them in their own home. Later, Nyla Harper and James Murray are also attacked and their daughter Leah is temporarily abducted by one of the assailants. Following these incidents, the families of the officers are placed into protective custody. Angela Lopez works with her husband Wesley Evers and Wade Grey's wife Luna in deducing the riddle shared by Celina and later gives birth to her second child, a daughter.

The police look into past run-ins, identifying a criminal named Roy Gracco who had been arrested for a felony by the Mid-Wilshire station and finding him dead in his boobytrapped house. They further narrow his possible prison encounters, with Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen visiting Luke Moran. Moran had previously been arrested by the Mid-Wilshire Station for elder abuse. An army of masked men with police shields pursue Bradford and Chen, who were led into a trap, but the masked men are swiftly taken out as reinforcements including Nolan, Harper, and Sergeant Grey arrive at the scene. With Moran caught and surrounded, he makes one last stand before being killed. As further reinforcements roll in, a mystery man in a passing vehicle praises how well Moran served as a distraction, boasting that every cop in the city has now been drawn away from his ultimate target.

Juarez sits next to Thorsen's bed in the hospital as he lies unconscious, encouraging him to rally using memories of his victory during their D&D campaign. At the end of the episode, a "code blue" is called on Thorsen and he is last seen fighting for his life.

## Cast

### Main

* Nathan Fillion as John Nolan
* Shawn Ashmore as Wesley Evers
* Mekia Cox as Nyla Harper
* Jenna Dewan as Bailey Nune
* Alyssa Diaz as Angela Lopez
* Richard T. Jones as Wade Grey
* Melissa O'Neil as Lucy Chen
* Eric Winter as Tim Bradford
* Tru Valentino as Aaron Thorsen

### Guest starring

* Lisseth Chavez as Celina Juarez
* Angel Parker as Luna Grey
* Arjay Smith as James Murray
* Kristian Brunn as Criminal Mastermind
* Paul Schackman as Dr. Vance
* Chet Grissom as Luke Moran
* Hans Obma as Hamza Young

### Co-starring

* Crystal Coney as Nurse Lisa
* Morgana Wise as Nurse Morgan
* Jan M. Janssen as Officer Jan
* Danielle Juliet Ma as Dr. Schneider
* Michelle Carmichael as Dr. Lewis
* Ambar Martinez as OR Nurse

## Trivia

* This episode is tied with "Green Light" for the highest rated episode of the series according to the Internet Movie Database.
* Etomidate is an ultrashort-acting, non-barbiturate hypnotic intravenous anesthetic agent.
* A FAST exam is used, among other applications, to evaluate a "hypotensive trauma patient who is too unstable for CT but without a clear indication for laparotomy". FAST stands for Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma.
* Levophed (norepinephrine bitartrate) is a vasoconstrictor, similar to adrenaline, used to treat life-threatening low blood pressure (hypotension) that can occur with certain medical conditions or surgical procedures.
* A laparotomy is a surgical procedure that opens up your abdomen to expose your organs.
* Five of the seven masks used by the attackers (and in one case, their victim) are shown in a screenshot Lopez takes of the promotion for the unnamed play. Four of the names of the actors shown in the promotion are names of various production crew on *The Rookie*; the fifth is the name of a person in the same profession who is not listed in *The Rookie* IMDb credits.
* The character of Luke Moran, who is cornered in the basement, appeared in 1x11, "Redwood", as the man who tied his elderly mother to her wheelchair. He was arrested by Lopez and Jackson West for elder abuse, which is the reason why he holds a personal grudge against the Mid-Wilshire station. Luke reveals that his mother had died while he was in prison and that he was beaten by other inmates. He also lost his house and job after serving 90 days in jail.

## References

1. ↑ DGE Press
2. ↑ IMDb Ratings List: The Rookie
3. ↑ "Etomidate", National Library of Medicine
4. ↑ "FAST exam", Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
5. ↑ "Levophed", rxlist.com
6. ↑ "Laparotomy", Cleveland Clinic