ABC's New York City cop show Rookie Blue kicked off its fourth season on May 23 with the first episode "Surprises" picking up six months after the season three finale, during which lead character Andy McNally (played by Missy Peregrym) finally got the 'I love you' from her then-off again flame and training officer Sam Swarek. However, in the closing moments of the finale, Andy and recent addition to 15 Division, Nick Collins, elected to join a secret undercover task force. Andy does it in part to prove she's devoted first and foremost to her job, but there's also indication that it has to do with Sam. Even though he's finally done what she wanted, she can't forgive him for breaking up with her and being so emotionally closed off, so she walks away instead of meeting him at the local bar, The Penny, as he'd asked. Neither Nick nor Andy can contact anyone, so Gail Peck, whom Nick was starting to get serious with, and Sam are both essentially abandoned.
The season four premiere begins with Nick undercover as a member of a group of meth dealers, and Andy posing as his semi-in-the-dark girlfriend. The group receives a shipment at a beach house, but soon a gang of apparent rival meth dealers invades the house and steals the meth. After the attack, Andy and Nick head 'home,' where it is revealed that the leader of the intruders is actually Jacob Blackstone, their task force boss. The invasion was staged to scare Nick's group into making a mistake. Meanwhile, back in New York City, the now-celibate Dove Epstein is temporarily living with Chris Diaz, and the son Chris discovered he had towards the end of last season, along with the child's mother. Sam has been promoted to detective.
Soon, the meth dealers show up at Andy and Nick's place, take Nick's phone, and pull him out to another shipment, withholding information from Andy, who then goes to investigate the beach house. While she's looking through a computer, one of the men returns, knocks her out, and she awakens tied up and duct taped in the back of a van. Back at the police station, Blackstone is telling 15 that Simon Dent, a man Dove and officer Oliver Shaw arrested earlier that day for reckless driving, is part of the drug operation and needs to be in play in order for a successful takedown of Nick's group. Eventually, Blackstone admits that he's lost contact with Andy and Nick, which prompts the chief and officers of 15 to rush to rescue their officers, no matter the cost to the undercover operation.
Meanwhile, the head of Nick's group names Andy as the mole and forces Nick to shoot her to prove he's not a mole as well. He takes the shot, but it's a blank. When the leader orders the group to get rid of Andy for real, the officers escape to a different room and hide. Nick tells a furious Andy he knew the gun wasn't loaded before he shot her, and Andy gets a call in to Sam, which leads to their rescue. Afterwards, Chris learns he received the transfer he requested to Timmins, so he can raise his son in a better environment. Andy goes to make amends with Sam, but sees him kissing officer Marlo Cruz, a newcomer.
Episode 2, "Homecoming", begins with Chief Frank Best's marriage proposal to officer Noelle Williams. Later, Nick reveals he took the undercover job thinking Gail was leaving for France. Andy and Oliver stumble across a bank robbery, where the suspect seemingly has a baby strapped to him, so Andy can't shoot. The suspect, Timothy McRae, escapes the bank after needlessly shooting the bank manager. Just as the team figures out that McRae was after the bank manager specifically, he shows up at the hospital and kidnaps the manager's wife, who is McRae's ex girlfriend. The chase leads to a standoff-- McRae holding his wife hostage in a van with Andy and Sam blocking him off on one side while Dove and Chris close in on him from behind.
Later, with six minutes left in the episode, during which there was much awkwardness and occasional flirting, Andy and Sam finally discuss their relationship as they pull into The Penny. Sam blames their failure on Andy leaving for the undercover job and Andy says it goes back to Sam breaking up with her, leaving her heartbroken.
Nick, sitting at the bar, perks up when he sees Andy walk in-- there had been signs that he might feel something for her since even before they went undercover, and recently the signs have become stronger. But when Sam comes in behind her, he looks dejected, and goes and asks Gail to move in with him. Coincidentally, earlier that day the victim's wife told Nick she once broke up with her now-husband to find a romance with more spark, but later realized she should have stayed with the one she had all along. Dove meets a cute girl at the bar who successfully tempts him out of his vow of celibacy- and into bathroom stall sex. The episode ends with Shaw telling Andy not to give up on Sam.
In Episode 3, "Different, Not Better", Andy leads Dove and Gail to victory in a game of paintball, and says "When I set my mind on something, I fight to the death for it." Andy's friend and rookie-turned-detective Traci Nash thinks she's really talking about Sam Swarek. Back at the station later, Dove finds out his overbearing one night bar stand is Chief Best's god daughter, Chloe Price, a cop who has just transferred into 15 Division. When the division sets out to track down an ATM burglar, Dove and Chloe are paired together, while Andy gets paired with Marlo, much to their dismay.
While searching for the burglar, Andy and Marlo come across someone Andy has dealt with before, a mentally ill woman, Wanda, who is off her medicines and having a dispute with a neighbor. Andy assures Marlo that the woman will be fine once she takes her medicine and the two depart. However, they soon get another call to her residency, where they find the neighbor has been stabbed. Andy discovers finds Wanda in the basement threatening a child. When the boy tries to flee, Wanda goes to stab him, but Marlo shoots Wanda almost fatally.
Meanwhile, Chloe realizes all the ATM robberies have happened near antique stores, which leads to her and Dove's takedown of the perpetrator. In the closing moments, Chris gets a tattoo of his son's name, Nick makes a 'romantic' gesture for Gail, and Andy changes her mind about fighting for Sam, telling him she knows when to quit.
Tune in this Thursday, July 11, at 10 pm for Episode 4, "The Kids Are Not Alright."