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The Best Episodes of The Rookies Season 2

Every episode of The Rookies Season 2 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Rookies Season 2!

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The Rookies is an American crime drama series that aired on ABC from 1972 until 1976. It follows the exploits of three rookie police officers working in an unidentified city for the fictitious Southern California

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    The Rookies Season 2 Episode 1 - Cauldron
    8.1/10(30 votes)

    #1 - Cauldron

    S2:E1

    Willie and Terry are kidnapped by a disturbed criminal who is dying. The criminal leaves the two rookies in the desert, abandoned, with no food source and little hope of being rescued. Willie, in this situation, struggles to saves Terry's life.

    Director:Harry Falk
    Writer:William Blinn

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  2. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 2 - Margin for Error
    8.5/10(36 votes)

    #2 - Margin for Error

    S2:E2

    While performing their routine patrol, Gillis and Danko unexpectedly stumble upon a robbery that is taking place. They radio for additional support and a veteran police team arrive at the crime scene. One of the veteran policeman is killed in the midst of the robbery, and his partner places fault on Danko. The veteran policeman makes the suggestion that Danko be appointed to ride with him, a suggestion that turns out to have almost catastrophic results.

    Director:Harry Falk
    Writers:Hoke Howell, Robert Harland

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  3. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 3 - Deadly Cage
    8.2/10(27 votes)

    #3 - Deadly Cage

    S2:E3

    Webster is asked to play the role of a prisoner at the State Prison. He disguises himself as an inmate, in an effort to aid the issue of prison reform. However, when the other prisoners discover that Webster is merely pretending to be a fellow inmate, pandemonium results.

    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:Hal Sitowitz

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  4. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 4 - Frozen Smoke
    8.3/10(33 votes)

    #4 - Frozen Smoke

    S2:E4

    Juvenile detail is typically known to be a relatively easy tour. However, this is not the case for Willie. While on juvenile detail, Willie discovers that he is not as emotionally strong as he once thought. He is presented with pain and death, in amounts that are greater than he can manage.

    Director:Harry Falk
    Writer:Robert I. Holt

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  5. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 5 - Get Ryker
    8.3/10(27 votes)

    #5 - Get Ryker

    S2:E5

    Jill, Danko's wife, is assigned to protect Lieutenant Ryker after he is wounded by a former prisoner who desires to take revenge. However, Ryker decides to take charge of the situation when Jill's life is at stake.

    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:William Douglas Lansford

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  6. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 6 - Cry Wolf
    7.8/10(28 votes)

    #6 - Cry Wolf

    S2:E6

    A lonely lady who resides by the beach places a call into the police station for aid. Willie and Terry ignore this routine call, only to find out that the call was legitimate and the woman has been robbed and beaten. The rookies are then thrown into a peculiar series of robberies.

    Director:Harry Falk
    Writer:William Blinn

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  7. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 7 - A Matter of Justice (a.k.a.) Justice for Jill Danko
    8.6/10(31 votes)

    #7 - A Matter of Justice (a.k.a.) Justice for Jill Danko

    S2:E7

    Jill Danko is seriously wounded by a seemingly demented gunman while dining with her husband Mike. Later, they find out that the gunman is unable to be prosecuted in court, because he is suffering from a brain tumor which appears to be the cause of his action. The rookies take it upon themselves to prove the man is dangerous and can place society in jeopardy.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 8 - Blood Brother
    8.6/10(29 votes)

    #8 - Blood Brother

    S2:E8

    Like many Vietnam veterans returning home after the war, Jimmy Webster is angry at society for treating him as if he was an outsider, and not openly accepting him. He is unable to find employment and is left with an important decision to make: either he can fall back on his cousin, Terry Webster, and turn to him for support, or he can join a robbery operation and make a large amount of money.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 9 - Code 261
    8.6/10(38 votes)

    #9 - Code 261

    S2:E9

    A young nurse suffers a terrifying ordeal when she is raped in the underground garage of Memorial Hospital. The rookies attempt to help the woman by offering support. They offer encouragement and assistance as the woman proceeds through the legal formalities which often are unsympathetic to the rape victim, and sometimes humiliate her.

    Director:William F. Claxton
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 10 - Prayers Unanswered, Prayers Unheard
    8.4/10(30 votes)

    #10 - Prayers Unanswered, Prayers Unheard

    S2:E10

    Lieutenant Ryker is selected to be personally in charge of an important investigation. A priest is murdered and a nun is badly beaten in a destitute neighborhood, and the community worries that religious restlessness with arise. As the investigation progresses, the rookies uncover a completely different motive.

    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:William Blinn

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  11. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 11 - Down Home Boy
    8.6/10(33 votes)

    #11 - Down Home Boy

    S2:E11

    A telethon featuring an extremely famous country western singer requests of the police department extra protection. The rookies are assigned to the event. Their placement on this assignment results in their protecting the singer from a couple of bitter and unforgiving country folk from Tennessee. The hillbillies hold the singer responsible for the death of their sister, who died while she was giving birth.

    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:Paul Savage

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  12. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 12 - Lots of Trees and a Running Stream
    8.4/10(33 votes)

    #12 - Lots of Trees and a Running Stream

    S2:E12

    Jill is confronted by her past when a former lover of hers appears at her home. Mike is currently out of town. The unanticipated visitor gives the impression that he is fatally ill, thereby luring Jill into becoming involved with him, despite her uncertainty. Only after a period of time does Jill realize the great lengths this former lover will go to try to get her back and claim her as his own.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 13 - Another Beginning for Ben Fuller
    7.8/10(30 votes)

    #13 - Another Beginning for Ben Fuller

    S2:E13

    A retired police lieutenant interferes in the investigation of an aggravated assault involving his best friend.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 14 - Sound of Silence
    8.1/10(32 votes)

    #14 - Sound of Silence

    S2:E14

    One of Willie's young female friends is desperately afraid when she discovers that she is afflicted with diabetes. After she makes the realization, the young woman flees to a drug rehabilitation center, to be around the other young people whom she trusts. However, she neglects to bring her insulin.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 15 - Trial by Doubt
    8.1/10(30 votes)

    #15 - Trial by Doubt

    S2:E15

    Willie Gillis is assigned to ride with an older officer and, while on patrol, the man is killed. When the murderer is captured, the other policemen are inclined to take the law into their own hands. Falsely accused of incompetence, Willie is forced to search his soul to arrive at justice.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 16 - The Authentic Death of Billy Stomper
    8.9/10(36 votes)

    #16 - The Authentic Death of Billy Stomper

    S2:E16

    A college girl from Jamaica witnesses the murder of a notorious drug pusher and Terry Webster is assigned to get her testimony in the days that follow, they fall in love, but the girl is tracked down by the murderer and killed. Terry uses himself as a decoy to trap the killers.

    Director:Gene Nelson
    Writer:William Blinn

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  17. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 17 - The Late Mr. Brent
    7.4/10(28 votes)

    #17 - The Late Mr. Brent

    S2:E17

    Mike and Jill Danko's marriage is strained by Mike's protective interest in the widow of a man Mike was forced to kill in the line of duty.

    Directors:Barry Shear, Gene Nelson
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 18 - The Teacher
    8.6/10(43 votes)

    #18 - The Teacher

    S2:E18

    The rookies must contend with 'The Teacher' an ex-convict who masterminds several well executed robberies using the young boys who are in the city looking for excitement.

    Director:Gene Nelson
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 19 - Eyewitness
    8.8/10(27 votes)

    #19 - Eyewitness

    S2:E19

    A young man with a Jekyll - Hyde personality becomes a puzzle for Terry and Willie when he gives them a description of a suspected cop-killer. But for Mike and Ryker he poses a different problem: extreme danger.

    Director:Barry Shear
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 20 - Something Less Than a Man
    7.4/10(30 votes)

    #20 - Something Less Than a Man

    S2:E20

    An old friend of Ryker's, once a good policeman and now a pathetic drunk, is framed for the murder of a gangster who has terrorized the neighborhood. To gain favor from his daughter and neighbors, he pleads guilty, but Lt. Ryker, with the help of the rookies, finds a better way to give the man back his dignity.

    Director:Philip Leacock
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 21 - Rolling Thunder
    8.1/10(25 votes)

    #21 - Rolling Thunder

    S2:E21

    The Ludlow precinct institutes a Police Cadet Program. One of the boys involved becomes overzealous and is kidnapped, along with Terry, by his sister's boyfriend who is a fugitive.

    Director:Edward M. Abroms
    Writer:William Blinn

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  22. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 22 - Time Lock
    8.0/10(29 votes)

    #22 - Time Lock

    S2:E22

    A brilliant young felon holds Terry and three women, one of whom is pregnant, hostage in a bank vault in order to free his partner from jail.

    Director:Lee Philips
    Writer:Daniel B. Ullman

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  23. The Rookies Season 2 Episode 23 - Death Watch
    7.2/10(29 votes)

    #23 - Death Watch

    S2:E23

    Two ex-convicts are loose in the city carrying contagious meningitis. After Willie is exposed to it when he gives the ex-convict mouth - to – mouth resuscitation, the other rookies are given the task of finding the men and stopping a possible epidemic.

    Director:Philip Leacock
    Writer:Alvin Boretz

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Season 2 Ratings Summary

"Cauldron" is the best rated episode of "The Rookies" season 2. It scored 8.1/10 based on 30 votes. Directed by Harry Falk and written by William Blinn, it aired on 9/10/1973. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Margin for Error".