Officer Jackson West (Titus Makin Jr.) has undergone impressive development over the first three seasons of The Rookie and has left big shoes to fill. His death in Season 4 didn’t do him any justice and over the past three years, The Rookie has failed to fill its void.
Jackson was one of the most exciting characters in The Rookie – until his horrific death
Jackson West was at the beginning of the series one of the title-winning rookies. Thanks to Titus Makin Jr.’s stirring performance, he brought humor and complexity to the series. We get to know him as an attentive friend, a warm-hearted family man, part of the people of color community as well as the LBTQ+ community and a committed police officer.
As Son of a high-ranking officer Jackson initially appears as a radiant model student – until he falls into a state of shock during his first shootout. He owes the trust of his trainer Angela Lopez that he is able to keep his job afterwards.
Through her influence, the over-ambitious Jackson begins to question his previous views. This is how the ambitious model student becomes an empathetic police officer who is full of optimism in search of his place in the world, but doesn’t allow himself to be fooled. This becomes particularly clear in season 3. Here Jackson has to face the racist prejudices of his new instructor Doug Stanton (Brandon Routh) claim.
Jackson’s abruptness hits us all the harder Exit in season 4, episode 1 Life and death. Jackson is quietly shot in the back.
Jackson’s death scene is an insult to fans and to his character
In the death scene, we only see Jackson from behind on video surveillance footage, as he is only responsible for his death in Season 4 for a few seconds played by a double becomes. Titus Makin Jr. left the series at his own request before season 4, which posed a challenge for the scriptwriters. But there would have been so much more elegant and worthy solutions to writing him out of the series.
We remember: The starting point of the series was John Nolan – a building contractor in a life crisis who starts a new life as a police officer. Reinventing yourself is a central theme of the series. Then why not give Jackson a fresh start too?
He could have gone underground as an undercover cop like his colleague Lucy Chen. Following the example of firefighter Bailey, she would rather be able to fight fires in another city. Or hunt down fugitive criminals like crazy bounty hunter Randy. A move to a new city or a break from the police service would also have been conceivable – and given his experiences with Doug Stanton, it would have been completely understandable.
After his touching career, Jackson should have been given an exit that honored his complexity and ended his story satisfactorily – or better yet, continued it. Almost anything is more desirable than what happened instead.
Jackson leaves a void in The Rookie that no one has been able to fill
Jackson’s entertaining dynamic, particularly with his boss Angela Lopez, left a noticeable void after his death. Unfortunately, the series also didn’t take enough advantage of its chance to take an even more critical look at the police service with Jackson. Topics such as structural racism and police violence were hardly touched upon apart from the one storyline about Doug Stanton. Last but not least is with Jackson The queer perspective among the main characters has also disappeared – and didn’t come back.
Little is known about the reasons for Titus Makin Jr.’s exit. However, the actor made it clear a while before he left The Rookie that he could identify less and less with the role of a police officer given the political climate in the USA. An understandable decision that should be respected.
What remains is the sad certainty that with Jackson West we have lost a character who is as funny as he is exciting. whose potential will remain largely unused. His loss still hurts today. The Rookie will enter its 7th season in 2025 – hopefully they will take up some of the dropped topics again.