S04.E19: Simone

[WendyCR72]

It's back-door pilot time with Niecy Nash's FBI character. Airing April 24, 2022:

Quote

Officer Nolan and the LA division of the FBI enlist the help of FBI trainee Simone Clark when one of her former students is suspected of terrorism following an explosion at a local power station.

 

[Rabithed]

On 4/15/2022 at 3:39 AM, WendyCR72 said:

It's back-door pilot time with Niecy Nash's FBI character. Airing April 24, 2022:

 

I thought this was an annoying character and an awful episode. 

Edited April 25, 2022 by Rabithed
Thought this was a repeat episode

[shapeshifter]

A lot of pilots aren't great, but since next week is part II of the same pilot, my expectations are low. 

[Sandman]

Definitely felt like a back door pilot. That’s not a compliment. 

[crowceilidh]

In comparison to the storyline for Jenna Dewan Tatum, the storyline for Niecy Nash was delightful.  FFS.  Who is JDT blackmailing and what with?

[HurricaneVal]

I had a bit of cognitive dissonance when after the power station bombing and the fire department responded, there was no Bailey.  Then.......*BAM* there she was, popping up at the Armory.  I'm so used to this now that I just shrugged and went "Oh yeah.  There's Bailey."

[Msample]

I am sure when they inevitably find the bombs with mere seconds left on the clock it will be Bailey to the rescue. 

[Raja]

It was a standard The Rookie episode to me. However I am looking forward to the conclusion. I can see all of the FBI costars  being picked up for her spinoff.

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Msample said:

I am sure when they inevitably find the bombs with mere seconds left on the clock it will be Bailey to the rescue. 

—while she’s simultaneously escaping the clutches of the “serial killer looking dude.” 

[NYGirl]

Gosh Simone was very annoying!  Especially her voice.

I was hopeful when Nolan said Bailey was someplace else.  I really hate that they shove her down our throat.

I wasn't crazy about the episode but I'll ride out Part 2 if I'm home..If not..oh well.  

I will not watch the spin off

[gerdialiaVA]

I was thinking "where have I seen this guy?" looking at the evil Russian, and it was Otis from Chicago Fire! Oooooh! Nice to see him again, even evil! 

Edited April 25, 2022 by gerdialiaVA

[milkyaqua]

It was a bit implausible and I like Niecy Nash.  I was thinking oh, we're going to be spared Bailey but no, there she was at the armory.  Because of course...

I'll be interested to see how they wrap this up and yes, all those FBI characters are probably going to be part of the spin-off (assuming it actually gets picked).  Nice to see Frankie Faison.

[Msample]

Instead of ramming a back door pilot down our throats ( what is this, YELLOWSTONE? ) I wish they’d just give more screen time to an already large cast. We had a promising character in Aaron Thorsen introduced and he’s inconsistently used. 

[MerBearHou]

I like Niecy Nash, but no.  This was terrible.  She was annoying and unprofessional in absurd ways.  I have never been bothered by her voice before in comedic shows, but on The Rookie, her voice was just horrible.  I like the idea of a new, older rookie but this was not the way to go.  My husband and I both watch and enjoy The Rookie weekly, but we won't be watching a spinoff with Niecy.  They got this one wrong.

[HurricaneVal]

I'm intrigued about where they'd take the NN spinoff.  She was nicely used in this backdoor pilot, though I'm really confused by the about face.  The FBI literally pulled her from class and threw her on a helicopter then a private jet because her specialized knowledge and help was urgently required in LA.  Then when she gets there and starts sharing said specialized knowledge that she was called to help with, she gets shut down, told off, and sent immediately back to Quantico.    Does.  Not.  Make.  Sense.   I guess they had to introduce conflict somehow, to get her character on the ropes and fighting back, but it just didn't set well with me.  Also?  Even though this is all make-believe on TV, I'm a taxpayer, goddammit, and that fictional waste pissed me off. 

But the thing is, the whole "I have insight because I was a guidance counselor" schtick is going to wear off, fast.  Where do they go from here for the new show?  Will each Case of the Week consist of another one of her troubled teens that she can pull the same mojo on and turn the case?  That's neither believable, nor sustainable.  Are they going to set this up as a "compassionate former high school guidance counselor with empathy oozing out her ears shows the elite profilers at the FBI Behavioral Science Unit just how out of touch they are" show?  That is a couple of orders of magnitude less believable than than Nolan's contractor past constantly giving him unique perspectives and problem solving techniques for the incidents he runs into on patrol. 

But, like I said, I'm intrigued about how they're going to apply the "Rookie" concept to the FBI.  I like Niecey Nash.  I don't know why.  I'm not ordinarily drawn to brash and broad over-the-top personalities like that.  I also loathe the "Real Housewives of Wherever" franchise, so I am automatically inclined to hate her.   But she's got a little twinkle or something that tempers all that for me.

[preeya]

4 hours ago, gerdialiaVA said:

I was thinking "where have I seen this guy?" looking at the evil Russian, and it was Otis from Chicago Fire! Oooooh! Nice to see him again, even evil! 

I had this same thought that it was Otis. Thanks for the clarification.

ETA: So Bailey is not only a firefighter & EMT she's now a military reservist. Fillion must really be in love with her as she gets dropped into any and all  current circumstances.

Edited April 25, 2022 by preeya

[Zaffy]

was I the only one expecting the oktapod Alien to be Bailey?

[Andyourlittledog2]

They swooped in to pick up a trainee and fly her to Los Angeles so they could pick her brain about a kid for whom she used to be guidance counselor?  Three thousand miles of travel for some conversations. What? They don't have telephones at the FBI? 

Nine minutes in and I wanted to scream this was so annoying in almost every way possible.

The body cams again. I don't want to watch scripted television, what little of it there is nowadays, via body cam. Stop it, show.

Bailey showing up again. And again. And again. I want to laugh but I can't.

Niecy Nash. No. Just no. NO.  I do not find her character refreshingly charming.  I find her infuriating.

So many oft used but silly TV tropes.  The explosion that never leaves a scratch, rattles your insides, or affects your hearing immediately afterward.  The brash recruit who breaks all the rules and is constantly insubordinate but somehow no one ever serves up any consequences. And this in seriously chain of command type of work. 

This show is unrealistic in many many ways but it's job is to be comforting and inoffensive. Something to take the edge off living in a dangerous and aggravating world right now.  So I forbear, to a point. However pilots are by definition clunky (too many new people to introduce, settings to establish, etc) and dropping one into this show which already has an overabundance of characters and weird storylines is jarring. Especially one whose star is already annoying and loud and ridiculous. Final aggravation: it's a two parter, so we are expected to put up with this for a second week. 

No.

[preeya]

2 hours ago, HurricaneVal said:

But the thing is, the whole "I have insight because I was a guidance counselor" schtick is going to wear off, fast.  Where do they go from here for the new show?  Will each Case of the Week consist of another one of her troubled teens that she can pull the same mojo on and turn the case?  That's neither believable, nor sustainable.  Are they going to set this up as a "compassionate former high school guidance counselor with empathy oozing out her ears shows the elite profilers at the FBI Behavioral Science Unit just how out of touch they are" show?  That is a couple of orders of magnitude less believable than than Nolan's contractor past constantly giving him unique perspectives and problem solving techniques for the incidents he runs into on patrol. 

I'm just hoping she doesn't wind up on the "real" FBI shows like FBI; FBI, Most Wanted; and FBI, International.  Perhaps hers could become FBI, Antarctica.

[edhopper]

I strongly believe a woman can be a firefighter or an EMT or a soldier or bomb disposal specialist or an astronaut,. Just maybe not the same woman.

[Pepper the Cat]

I thought this was part 1 of the season finale so was confused that so much time was spent on this brand new character. Now that I know it’s a back door pilot it makes much more sense. 
Add me to the list thought found her voice annoying.

[Proteus]

Neicy Nash is too annoying for me to watch on a weekly basis so if this spin off happens it's a big no for me. I hope after next week I will never have to watch her on The Rookie or anything else I watch again.

[Netfoot]

I expected this to be horrible and brain-destroying. Actually, it wasn't anywhere as bad as I thought it would be.

I can see an awful lot of negative in the idea, but I will watch part deux and draw a conclusion then. 

After all, I watched an entire season of QL in The Equalizer, so unless NN starts doing HALO drops from one of Mr. Twitter's rocketships and taking out a battalion of troops with one hand while not spilling her Vesper Martini (shaken, not stirred), I may be able to watch this.

[Sandman]

On 4/25/2022 at 5:51 PM, Andyourlittledog2 said:

Three thousand miles of travel for some conversations. What? They don't have telephones at the FBI? 

What I found weird was that her help was so urgently needed that the FBI dispatched a helicopter to fetch her, and then from the moment she arrived they treated her like an interloper who was sticking her nose into their Extra-Secret FBI Business.  She didn’t fly herself there, boys!

Also, I’m a big fan of Filion; I am. But it seems like awkward, transparently producer-service level flattery for Simone to single out Nolan as “handsome” when resident prettyboy Sergeant Tim and his jawline are right. There. (No one thinks you’re chopped liver, Nathan — I promise! Yeeesh.)

Edited April 27, 2022 by Sandman

[cherrycoke]

Totally awful. Surprised her name wasn’t Mary Sue. 

[shapeshifter]

25 minutes ago, Sandman said:

What I found weird was that her help was so urgently needed that the FBI dispatched a helicopter to fetch her, and then from the moment she arrived they treated her like an interloper who was sticking her nose into their Extra-Secret FBI Business.  She didn’t fly herself there, boys!

I handwaved that none of the fibbies in LA had anything to do with flying Neicy's character out there. It was orchestrated back East. Maybe to get rid of her for a few days since she's so OTT. 

 

26 minutes ago, Sandman said:

Also, I’m a big fan of Filion; I am. But it seems like awkward, transparently producer-service level flattery for Simone to single out Nolan as “handsome” when resident prettyboy Sargent Tim and his jawline are right. There. (No one thinks you’re chopped liver, Nathan — I promise! Yeeesh.)

Nolan was more age-appropriate than Tim for Neicy's character. 
But, also, she got into the meeting late and awkwardly and found herself next to chick magnet Filion/Nolan and hadn't yet noticed Tim.

[bros402]

holy crap the FBI Rookie was annoying - it's also not possible for her to be in the FBI academy at 47.

Why were they acting like a guidance counselor would have insight or any psychological training? They aren't school psychologists. They just have a little bit more in terms of psych classes than regular education majors.

I didn't heard some of the start of the episode when Nolan was in the car, heard him saying "bachelor" and for a second I thought Bailey broke up with him off screen

then she appeared at the armory and I just started laughing my ass off

also, why did the armory have 441 lbs of C4?

[Sandman]

10 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I handwaved that none of the fibbies in LA had anything to do with flying Neicy's character out there. It was orchestrated back East. Maybe to get rid of her for a few days since she's so OTT. 

Doesn’t that make it worse? That the various branches aren’t communicating well enough to share such a purpose? They must REALLY hate Simone at the Academy. 
 

Ehh. The more I think about this, the less sense it’s making to me. Time to stop. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Simone is so f-king annoying, definitely won't be watching The FBI Rookie show.

Am not liking this episode at all, and there'll be one more next week. UGH. Hoping for less Simone as they shouldn't be needing her "specialized" skills much to catch TrevorG, right? 🙄🙄🙄

The only good thing is... Otissssssssssssssss, miss him in CF!!! ❤️

Edited April 26, 2022 by SnazzyDaisy

[Raja]

53 minutes ago, Sandman said:

Doesn’t that make it worse? That the various branches aren’t communicating well enough to share such a purpose? They must REALLY hate Simone at the Academy. 
 

Ehh. The more I think about this, the less sense it’s making to me. Time to stop. 

It does play to how things started with Officer Nolan, it took the Mid Wilshire commanding Captain to override the watch commander Sergeant Grey who was going to immediately bounce him. While the initial season was based upon the truth that the  LAPD does not have any upper age limits, for the academy or forced retirement the FBI spinoff will not share that or any of the first season's inside LAPD culture stuff.

[ctlady]

16 hours ago, Sandman said:

Also, I’m a big fan of Filion; I am. But it seems like awkward, transparently producer-service level flattery for Simone to single out Nolan as “handsome” when resident prettyboy Sargent Tim and his jawline are right. There. (No one thinks you’re chopped liver, Nathan — I promise! Yeeesh.)

Not to mention the remark was inappropriate.  If a male colleague did that to a female he would've had his hiney hauled off to the HR department.  Well, at least in my company  they would've been

18 hours ago, edhopper said:

I strongly believe a woman can be a firefighter or an EMT or a soldier or bomb disposal specialist or an astronaut,. Just maybe not the same woman

I'm waiting for Bailey to be revealed to also be a concerto violinist, Renaissance painter, storm chaser, pastry chef, mountain climber, empath and diamond miner.

On 4/25/2022 at 1:55 PM, MerBearHou said:

I like Niecy Nash, but no.  This was terrible.  She was annoying and unprofessional in absurd ways

I think if the episode had a more lighthearted plot her OTTness would've blended, but not when the plot is a terrorist, murdering bomber

Was I the only one who got a Silence Of The Lambs vibe here?  FBI trainee pulled out of training to assist with a police case of hunting down a bad guy?  Simone Clark may have schmoozy skills, but she's no Clarice Starling

Edited April 26, 2022 by ctlady

[shapeshifter]

If we accept that in this alternate universe that the FBI has no trainee age limit:

Neicy Nash is 52 IRL. Actors have long played 10 years older or under, and with advances in cosmetic procedures used by many actors for HD TV, playing younger no longer requires too much suspension of disbelief on the part of the viewer.
Fillion is playing 10 years younger.
Neicy should be doing the same given Simone's line:

• I've always wanted to be an FBI agent, but I ended up on an off-ramp when I found out I was pregnant with the twins. They're in college now, so time for Mama to finish what she started.

--which would make Simone 24 when she got pregnant with them--which is still a stretch WRT what she was doing with her life before then, given that she adds regarding her fellow FBI trainees:

• It's not easy, though, trying to keep up with these 20-somethings.

I guess she could have been working to pay off student loans.🤷‍♀️

Anyway, I hope that if this show moves forward they will retcon her age closer to 42 rather than 48. But I guess they want to milk the menopause humor.
And I do appreciate them wanting to write for a 48-year-old female lead character.
But the FBI? Hmmm... Turns out the CIA has no upper limit to join. Maybe they can retcon the whole premise to CIA.

 

47 minutes ago, ctlady said:

Wait!  I'm waiting for Bailey to be revealed to also be a concerto violinist, Renaissance painter, storm chaser, pastry chef, mountain climber, empath and diamond miner.

Thankfully, it was established that Bailey is not a Renaissance painter.
But I bet she is a dog groomer.

[eel21788]

1 hour ago, ctlady said:

Was I the only one who got a Silence Of The Lambs vibe here?  FBI trainee pulled out of training to assist with a police case of hunting down a bad guy?  Simone Clark may have schmoozy skills, but she's no Clarice Starling

I went straight to the pilot episode of The Blacklist. The FBI had to send a helicopter to pick up the neophyte agent on her first day on the job because no other agent had the needed connection to the criminal. She is also no Elizabeth Keene.

[milkyaqua]

2 hours ago, ctlady said:

I think if the episode had a more lighthearted plot her OTTness would've blended, but not when the plot is a terrorist, murdering bomber

This show doesn't really do lighthearted or understated well at all, so that was never going to happen.  I'm also leery of how this spin-off show would work assuming it gets picked up.

1 hour ago, eel21788 said:

She is also no Elizabeth Keene.

Like that's a bad thing...

[Andyourlittledog2]

And let's not forget that Bailey was the leader of the armory defenders and referred to the place as 'her armory'.  The writers have to be screwing with us.

[MrWhyt]

On 4/25/2022 at 2:18 PM, preeya said:

I had this same thought that it was Otis. Thanks for the clarification.

ETA: So Bailey is not only a firefighter & EMT she's now a military reservist. Fillion must really be in love with her as she gets dropped into any and all  current circumstances.

her military service and current Army reservist status has been mentioned before.

[paigow]

2 hours ago, MrWhyt said:

her military service and current Army reservist status has been mentioned before.

yes.. her fight at the most poorly secured police impound garage was key exposition...

[chaifan]

I'm really not a fan of cop shows, and that includes the entire genre - FBI, CIA, arson investigators, profilers, etc etc etc.  I watch The Rookie because the original premise is that The Rookie is to cop shows what Ally McBeal was to law shows.  I'm watching for the fluff and Nathan Fillion being the adorable dork that he can be.  They've lost me here and there along the way because they let the show get too serious.  There is nothing about the FBI Rookie that has any appeal to me, and this episode did nothing to make it appealing in any way. 

It would have made more sense for Simone to have at least had a start as something more in depth than school counselor - maybe she got her degree in psychology, had a few years under her belt in that, was headed in a law enforcement direction when she got derailed with the twins.  And then took the HS counselor job because of a) racism/sexism closing other doors, and b) twins.  The "I was a high school counselor for 20 years" is only going to be helpful in so many situations.  Oh, wait, she was also a driving instructor and wrestling coach.  Maybe this is Bailey 2.0?  Each episode we'll find out a new skill - home ec teacher, auto shop instructor, and, just in time for a wacky undercover role, show choir director! 

Speaking of Bailey... I really want to know how much Jenna Dewan gets paid to show up for about 5 minutes per episode, for no particular reason, serving no plot purpose.  Seriously, show runners, take that salary and use it to raise the pay of the bottom 1/2 of your crew. 

[juliet73]

On 4/26/2022 at 12:11 PM, ctlady said:

I'm waiting for Bailey to be revealed to also be a concerto violinist, Renaissance painter, storm chaser, pastry chef, mountain climber, empath and diamond miner.

They've already shown that Bailey is a pastry chef...in one episode she made like 6 different types of pies.

I would take Simone all day, every day over one minute of Bailey.  She looked absolutely ridiculous carrying that huge gun with her hair hanging in her eyes while shouting orders to the rest of "her" team.

I think if Simone toned down her personality (and her makeup), she would be more believable. A little bit of Simone goes a long way.  I would like to see her as often as I see Smitty.  

[ctlady]

12 hours ago, juliet73 said:

I think if Simone toned down her personality (and her makeup), she would be more believable. A little bit of Simone goes a long way

Agreed.  Characters with very strong personalities can teeter on annoying

12 hours ago, juliet73 said:

I would like to see her as often as I see Smitty. 

I think a Simone/Smitty partnering would be a hoot.  She's take charge and in your face and he's all, "yeah, whatever"

[SnarkySheep]

On 6/1/2022 at 10:55 PM, juliet73 said:

I think if Simone toned down her personality (and her makeup), she would be more believable. A little bit of Simone goes a long way.  I would like to see her as often as I see Smitty.  

Finally got around to finishing the season and ITA. I'm not familiar with this actress but overall I thought her character had potential if only they dialed her personality down about 50%. I mean, I get it - she's quirky and opinionated and stubborn. But she can portray just without doing stuff like walloping the guy trying to work at his computer because she's just SO excited about her case, y'know? That's just obnoxious.