Melissa O’Neil on Chenford’s Valentine’s Day -moment what is the next

(Warning: The below contains larger spoilers to Rookie Season 7 Section 6 “Gala.”)

Take two exes that are clearly interested in each other, add a black-slips event, have a reason why they get close and something is for sure. That’s exactly the case for Lucy (Melissa O’Neil) and Tim (Eric Winter) on Rookie In Season 7’s Valentine’s Day -Episode.

First, the awkward work must work together as part of a turn in your ex -day at work (that’s exactly what it sounds like). Then they both participate in a charity gala, where Tim gets a cut on the back of his neck while intervening and dampening a drunk guest. Lucy joins him in a hotel room to help patch him up. With her shirt away so she can clean the area so standing close to thanking her … Is it strange that even if they shouldn’t, they kiss and fall into bed?

“I was excited to see all the messy ramp up and make them awkward around each other. And when they had their moment in the hotel, I felt a little protective and liked ‘Well, wait a moment. They haven’t had a conversation. What’s going on here? ‘”O’NEIL tells TV insider in our Booked: Rookie afterhow (See the full interview above). She talked to the authors and winter. “It was a good exercise for me as an actor to be like, okay, let me just trust the process. But in the end, it was a really wonderful opportunity to collaborate with Eric. There are many good places for us to find out and dialogue with each other: ‘Okay, how will you play this? How can we help tell this story as best we can? ” ‘

Disney/Mike Taing

O’Neil says Chenford’s evening together comes from “the inaccuracy of a connection you know exists” and calls it “a moment that is out of time for them.”

She continues, ”there is no supervision. They both really look beautiful because they were dressed up for this evening. She had just finished watching him be a knight in shining armor. I think she had the best intentions when she went up there and probably tried to refuse parts of herself. And then at that moment it is pheromones. They are so close to each other. “

The next morning is awkward. They write it off as Valentine’s Day ex sex, helped by alcohol and shirtless triage. But it seems that 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 that moment. Was she also on board with it just being a thing as if we’re good? Or was she caught by guard? “She wonders. “When she stands outside, I hope that what ended up in the cut is a mixture of wanting to go back, but also know that she should not. It’s messy. I think that if there is someone through the line for Lucy’s journey with her on work romance, it is that she very much does not want her professionalism to be compromised in spite of herself. “

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

From O’Neil’s perspective, Lucy was “on the back of the back and waited for him to go forward and waited for him to do all these things that he said he would do and waited for him to initiate these Conversations. And at the same time, after I dialogue with Alexi (Hawley) about what was going on in the manuscripts, it was really important to him that she had agency in these situations and regained his power and connected with him when she wanted to go on her terms because of how everything ended. And also to the point that because Bradford knew he had really messed up their threads of confidence in how he left their relationship, Bradford was also on the back foot, waiting for her signal. So I feel like there’s a bit of both of those whistling each other out and trying to find out what are you going to do? How are you going to be with me? “

Until the gala mentioned Tim that he brought a date, but it wasn’t until the event that Lucy saw it was his sister, Genny (Peyton List). It “enabled a beautiful moment to have the release, the energy release when she saw genny,” shares O’Neil. “I wanted to wish they had done it for the audience too. I wanted to wish they had not said anything about Genny. “

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

RookieTuesdays, 10/9c, ABC