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The Best Episodes of The Rookies Season 4

Every episode of The Rookies Season 4 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Rookies Season 4!

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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 4 Episode 1 - Lamb to the Slaughter
    8.1/10(29 votes)

    #1 - Lamb to the Slaughter

    S4:E1

    When burglar Brad Gifford is arrested, his cop-hating, now orphaned son, Jody, is taken to Lambert Hall where he is befriended by Ryker, a former orphan himself. Jody is just beginning to trust and like Ryker when his father, aided by Augie Baker and P.G. Larkan, escapes custody and comes for him. Ryker is taken hostage. The group is traced down by Mike and Terry. In the resulting shootout, Augie is killed, P.G. arrested, and Brad Gifford is mortally wounded. Jody is taken back to the home where he is given foster parents, and a new life.

    Director:William Crain
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 2 - Reading Writing and Angel Dust
    6.6/10(33 votes)

    #2 - Reading Writing and Angel Dust

    S4:E2

    After the tragic death of a bright high school student, the rookies put in a team effort to get the pushers off the school campus. They get some help from a pusher who is pretending to scorch for the source.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 3 - One-Way Street to Nowhere
    6.1/10(25 votes)

    #3 - One-Way Street to Nowhere

    S4:E3

    Mike is critically injured when he tries to capture the leader of a militant group and Terry is taken hostage.

    Director:Georg Stanford Brown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 4 - Someone Who Cares
    8.4/10(30 votes)

    #4 - Someone Who Cares

    S4:E4

    An unidentified nine-year-old girl is accidentally hit by a car after two hedonistic ""swinging single"" men spike her lunch with narcotics. Before she dies, she begs Terry for help. Terry, reluctant to let her die a Jane Doe, investigates.

    Director:Ivan Dixon
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 5 - Ladies Day (a.k.a.) Ladies Kill, Too
    8.6/10(33 votes)

    #5 - Ladies Day (a.k.a.) Ladies Kill, Too

    S4:E5

    Jill is working in a womens prison, fighting an outbreak of diphtheria. In order to protest for better food and working conditions, inmates take Jill Danko and Dr. Malcolm hostage.

    Director:Fernando Lamas
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 6 - Reign of Terror
    6.4/10(23 votes)

    #6 - Reign of Terror

    S4:E6

    Young crooks Pat Stevens and Glen Barton rob ticket agent Brewster and shoot rookie Chris. The scene is witnessed by mailman Charlie Brooks, who is adamant about not getting involved. Eventually his wife, Nadine, and daughter, Stacy, encourage him to cooperate with the rookies, and finally, the criminals are apprehended.

    Director:Fernando Lamas
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 7 - Death Lady
    7.2/10(27 votes)

    #7 - Death Lady

    S4:E7

    A female officer is blamed for her partner's death during a jewelry store robbery. With her new partner, Mike, she sets out to solve the crime and prove her worth to the police department.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 8 - Measure of Mercy
    7.4/10(25 votes)

    #8 - Measure of Mercy

    S4:E8

    The rookies must investigate a robbery at Memorial Hospital. The blood bank was robbed and its contents sold to the black market, leaving an infant at the hospital on the critical list.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 9 - A Time to Mourn
    8.1/10(28 votes)

    #9 - A Time to Mourn

    S4:E9

    Chris' sister makes a surprise visit on her brother. He is suspended after conducting an unauthorized bust of the man who molested her.

    Director:Gerald S. O'Loughlin
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 10 - The Torch Man
    7.8/10(22 votes)

    #10 - The Torch Man

    S4:E10

    An ex-convict, out on parole, desperately wants to go straight, but is sought after by his ex-cellmates to use his safe-cracking abilities in a robbery.

    Director:Georg Stanford Brown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 11 - Invitation to a Rumble
    6.2/10(25 votes)

    #11 - Invitation to a Rumble

    S4:E11

    Terry is run down by a car driven by the leader of a street gang in his old neighborhood. When one of the members of the gang is overheard calling for an ambulance, he is forced to kill Terry or he will be killed by the gang for betrayal.

    Director:George McCowan
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 12 - Reluctant Hero
    7.5/10(27 votes)

    #12 - Reluctant Hero

    S4:E12

    A rookie accidentally overpowers a professional assassin and is named ""hero"". The assassin vows to kill the rookie and escapes with Jill as a hostage, offering to exchange her for the rookie.

    Director:Fernando Lamas
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 13 - Dead Heat
    8.8/10(23 votes)

    #13 - Dead Heat

    S4:E13

    Chris and Terry have their patrol car stolen by teenage vandals while investigating a major robbery in a department store and three heavily armed killers trap them there.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 14 - The Voice of Thunder
    7.5/10(25 votes)

    #14 - The Voice of Thunder

    S4:E14

    After a series of Sunday bombings of porno bookshops and massage parlors sweep the city, Chris and Terry recognize the same girl, at the scene of each incident. The dangerously schizophrenic top fashion model believes she is being instructed by a supreme being.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 15 - The Code Five Affair
    8.6/10(31 votes)

    #15 - The Code Five Affair

    S4:E15

    The rookies stake out an abandoned factory where a heroin deal is about to take place, and are able to seize the drugs and arrest all but one man. This man must get the heroin back from the police.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 16 - Shadow of a Man
    7.3/10(22 votes)

    #16 - Shadow of a Man

    S4:E16

    Forest, a tough career cop, takes $10,000 from the scene of a robbery after his partner is killed by the robbers. Lt. Ryker puts an undercover investigator on the case to retrieve the money.

    Director:Fernando Lamas
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 17 - Eye for an Eye
    7.9/10(23 votes)

    #17 - Eye for an Eye

    S4:E17

    A man who was forced to spend eighteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit is determined to get the men who framed him.

    Director:William Crain
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 18 - Sudden Death (a.k.a.) Return from the Past
    8.0/10(21 votes)

    #18 - Sudden Death (a.k.a.) Return from the Past

    S4:E18

    Mike, a former helicopter pilot in Vietnam, becomes the prey of a deranged ex-POW who blames the policeman for his capture by the Vietcong.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 19 - From Out of the Darkness
    9.1/10(25 votes)

    #19 - From Out of the Darkness

    S4:E19

    Terry vows to find the murderer of Dan Kennedy, a retired cop turned security guard. Dan was the father of a blind girl, Terry's former girlfriend.

    Director:Randal Kleiser
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 20 - The Mugging
    8.2/10(23 votes)

    #20 - The Mugging

    S4:E20

    After a woman is fatally assaulted by three junkies, her son, a doctor in the same hospital where Jill works, announces his intention to get revenge against the three, who were released from jail on a technicality.

    Director:Richard Benedict
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 21 - Blue Movie, Blue Death
    7.9/10(21 votes)

    #21 - Blue Movie, Blue Death

    S4:E21

    The rookies are given undercover assignments in order to smash a syndicate-owned porno film company responsible for the deaths of some of its actors.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 22 - Deliver Me From Innocence
    6.3/10(21 votes)

    #22 - Deliver Me From Innocence

    S4:E22

    A frightened sixteen-year-old boy is forced to take the blame for the crimes of a junkie he has become mixed up with. The two had committed a burglary and escaped after killing a cop. The boy is Terry's current girlfriend's brother.

    Director:Richard Benedict
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. The Rookies Season 4 Episode 23 - Journey to Oblivion
    7.0/10(24 votes)

    #23 - Journey to Oblivion

    S4:E23

    A gambler kills his creditor and is witnessed by Jill Danko whom he and his accomplice must now do away with. Another episode dedicated to nurse Jill Danko. In this episode Jill bears a big resemblance to her later character Sabrina Duncan.

    Director:Georg Stanford Brown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 4 Ratings Summary

"Lamb to the Slaughter" is the best rated episode of "The Rookies" season 4. It scored 8.1/10 based on 29 votes. Directed by William Crain and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/9/1975. This episode is rated 1.5 points higher than the second-best, "Reading Writing and Angel Dust".