‘The Rookie’ Aftershow: Melissa O’Neil Talks ‘Irresistibility’ of Chenford’s Major Moment (VIDEO)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Rookie Season 7 Episode 6 “The Gala.”]

Take two exes who clearly still care about one another, add in a black-tie event, have a reason for them to get close, and something’s bound to happen. That’s exactly the case for Lucy (Melissa O’Neil) and Tim (Eric Winter) on The Rookie for Season 7’s Valentine’s Day episode.

First, they must awkwardly work together as part of a Turn in Your Ex Day at work (it’s exactly what it sounds like). Then, they both attend a charity gala, where Tim gets a cut on the back of his neck while intervening and subduing a drunk guest. Lucy joins him in a hotel room to help patch him up. With his shirt off so she can clean the area, then him standing close to thank her … well, is it any wonder that even though they shouldn’t, they kiss and fall into bed?

“I was excited to see all of the messy ramp up and having them be awkward around each other. And when they had their moment in the hotel, I was admittedly feeling a little bit protective and like, ‘Well, wait a minute. They haven’t had a conversation. What’s happening here?'” O’Neil tells TV Insider in our Booked: The Rookie Aftershow (watch the full interview above). She spoke with the writers and Winter. “It was a good exercise for me as an actor to be like, okay, let me just trust the process. But ultimately it was a really wonderful opportunity to collaborate with Eric. There’s a lot of great places for us to figure out and dialogue with each other: ‘Okay, how do you want to play this? How can we help tell this story as best as we can?'”

Disney/Mike Taing

O’Neil says Chenford’s night together stems from “the irresistibility of a connection that you know exists” and calls it “a moment of out of time for them.”

She continues, “There’s no supervision. They both look really beautiful because they got dressed up for this evening. She just finished watching him being a knight in shining armor. I think that she had the best intentions when she went up there and probably was trying to deny parts of herself. And then in that moment, it’s pheromones. They’re so close to each other.”

The next morning is awkward. They write it off as Valentine’s Day ex sex, aided by alcohol and shirtless triage. But it looks like both want to say something, and she hesitates outside the hotel room after she leaves. O’Neil reveals that they filmed a few different versions of that scene.

“I wasn’t sure how I wanted to have that moment. Was she also on board with it just being a thing, like we’re good? Or was she caught off guard?” she wonders. “When she’s standing outside, I hope what ended up in the cut is a mix of wanting to go back, but also knowing that she shouldn’t. It’s messy. I think if there’s any through line for Lucy’s journey with her at work romances, it’s that she very much doesn’t want her professionalism to be compromised despite herself.”

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Looking ahead, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they would try to stay a little bit separated, but because of the nature of their job, I imagine that they’re going to get right back involved with each other,” says O’Neil. “I think it’s always really fun for us to see them doing what they’re the best at, which is sure, being in love with each other, but more than that, being really good at their job. They’re really excellent teammates.”

From O’Neil’s perspective, Lucy “was on the back foot waiting for him to step forward, waiting for him to do all of these things that he said he was going to do, waiting for him to initiate these conversations. And at the same time, after I dialogued with Alexi [Hawley] about what was going on in the scripts, it was really important to him that she had agency in these situations and was reclaiming her power and connecting with him when she wanted to on her terms because of how everything ended. And also to that point that because Bradford knew that he had really messed up their threads of trust in how he departed their relationship, that Bradford was also on the back foot waiting for her cue. So I do feel like there’s a little bit of both of them kind of sussing each other out, trying to figure out, well, what are you going to do? How are you going to be with me?”

Leading up to the gala, Tim mentioned he was bringing a date, but it wasn’t until the event that Lucy saw it was his sister, Genny (Peyton List). That “allowed for a beautiful moment to have that release, that energy release when she saw Genny,” shares O’Neil. “I kind of wish that they had done that for the audience as well. I kind of wish that they hadn’t said anything about Genny.”

Watch the full aftershow with O’Neil above as she breaks down the episode, discusses Lucy as a training officer this season and how much she trusts Seth (Patrick Keleher), and more.

The Rookie, Tuesdays, 10/9c, ABC