Rooser is back with another new episode, and it's a good one! Rooster episode 8 saw the bittersweet end of Cristle and Russo’s relationship, but it also reunited a force to help Tommy stay in college. Although Russo’s love life is in shambles, his mentoring of Tommy takes on a new life.
After a wild night of learning how a cop’s job impacts his personal life, Tommy decides to stay in college. His decision leads him to encourage Katie to confide in her dad. Although she’s an adult and can handle her own problems, sometimes a girl just needs her dad to make it all better.
On the flip side, Sunny has also stepped up as a soon-to-be mom. She decided that she’d rather stay with Archie than take her dream job. Being the lovesick idiot that he is, he didn’t talk her out of it. He may be questionable, but I do admire how he started showing up for Sunny and their unborn child, despite it wrecking Katie’s heart in the process. It just goes to show we can’t have everything we want, and sometimes that’s the best thing for us.
Tommy and Katie gain confidence
Russo and Cristle continue to join forces to keep Tommy passing his classes. After Russo assigns Tommy’s friends subjects to help Tommy, he leaves, and Cristle walks in. She sweetly tells them how her son was a 14-pound baby, and she didn’t go through all of that for him to flunk out of college. She successfully puts the fear into them and walks back out of the office to leave them to their studying.
Russo meets up with Katie after her class ends because it is day one of getting her life back. Being the goofy woman she is, she puts her bike helmet on too soon and makes her dad do the same. They wave to people on their way to their bikes. With sound effects included, father-daughter time starts with zooming around campus.
Tommy complains about how Germany sucks, and Katie encourages him to write that into his document he’s working on. They’re in Russo’s living room when he walks in and asks about her dinner plans with her mom. They easily move back to Tommy’s work, and then Katie talks about Archie. They encourage her to believe she belongs at Ludlow College just as much as Archie. Tommy tells her she’s in the top five hottest professors, which boosts her confidence.
This confidence leads Katie to talk to Dylan the next day about Dylan’s program for helping out professors get tenure. Although the talk goes great, Russo is shocked at how five years is fast-track as Katie walks with her parents around campus. They joke about Russo being bad at encouraging Katie as he walks off towards hockey practice, leaving them to their girl talk. She reveals that Russo is finally moving on and took the photo of her down. They part on a weird topic as Katie goes to work. Later on, Walt tells Katie he’ll fast-track the tenure to one year. He ends the conversation by saying he believes in her as she stands there stunned.
She turns to Cristle and asks whether tenure came up when Walt talked to her mom or whether Walt was lying. Her answer, or lack there of, confirms her mom meddled. She confronts her mom while Graham’s talking to her about her name being on the building. In Katie’s office, she confronts her mom for meddling again and realizes her mom got her the job and now the tenure. Katie feels dumb for not realizing it sooner. She judges her mom for not being involved in her life but in her job. Their conversation reveals something else that shocks Katie.
She’s waiting for her dad when he returns from the hockey game, all pumped up from the win. Katie confronts him about taking the job here as a trade-off for not getting fired. She wishes he hadn’t helped her get the job or keep it so she could have gotten away from Archie. He tries to mend it by saying he only wanted the best for her, but she’s not hearing it. He confesses that he’s kind of online friends with Sunny’s dad. Katie isn’t mad but really sad about all the lies. She storms out, leaving Russo sad and alone.
She goes to the diner and runs into Archie, who is drowning his sorrows, too. Shockingly, he reminds her she’s smart and then tells her his book is getting cancelled. She doesn’t want to compliment him, but she tells him he’ll get his book back since she convinced her to take him back. His speech turns into her saying yes and him paying for her pie as she leaves him stunned. She kisses him and leaves the diner.
Sunny and Archie’s future
Sunny meets up with Walt at his house once again to tell him about declining the job offer. He has to process it, as Mo thinks it is the dumbest thing ever. Walt actually supports her, shocking Mo, but he ends by making sure Archie is also making the same commitment she is. Mo agrees that if Archie doesn’t step up, Mo will help Walt take Archie out. Honestly, the bonding happening is hilarious.
Archie looks outraged at his laptop with his five o’clock shadow on display. Dylan interrupts his fighting with his Word document, allowing him to take a break from writing his book. She confronts him about cancelling his classes for the last two days, as he is hyped on caffeine due to his book deadline. He’s going a tad crazy and runs Dylan off with his oddness. She wishes him good luck and backs out of his office. Later on, Archie walks into a room where some of his students are gathered, reading his manuscript. He doesn’t like the feedback and takes all the papers, revealing he already handed them in. He sends them out the door even though the class just started.
He complains about it as he talks to Sunny in the car. They sit outside a house that could be theirs next semester after the person moves out. As he says the person is bathing it in good vibes, Russo walks out and flips Archie the bird as they make eye contact. Later on, Archie has to hurry out of Russo’s hot seat meeting to take a call from his editor. Although he makes it sound good in front of others, it quickly turns bad. He acts like it’s the best call as Sunny approaches him, and he awkwardly ends the call. He easily lies that the editor loved it and embraces Sunny.
Russo’s final days at Ludlow College
Russo and Dylan meet with the hockey coach, who is appreciative that his team misses them. Although his rehab is going great, sobriety has opened up the world of gambling. I foresee another bad habit starting as Dylan and Russo try to hide their concern. They hope he can resume coaching since Russo is leaving soon. They decide to talk to Walt to see if someone can cover for him while he finishes up rehab before returning to coaching. The next day, Russo meets with Walt in his office, and unfortunately, a temp hockey coach may not be in the cards. But Russo can’t let that happen when the team has worked so hard.
Russo shines on the ice ahead of tomorrow’s game. Unfortunately, Russo sucks at pep talks as Officer Donny cuts him off, even though he shouldn’t be there. Donny is even worse at pep talks, and Russo repeating his phrasing lands him back in the hot seat. As he tries to fix it, he and Dylan confess they are going to miss them once he leaves. The next day in the locker room, the hockey coach comes back to give the team a pep talk before the game.
The coach apologized to the team about his shortcomings before he went to rehab. The guys have mixed feelings as they head onto the ice and the coach cheers from the stands. Graham is in attendance with Dylan and Walt, and it doesn’t look good as the team gets cruel and bloody. Somehow, they seem to pull it out, and Graham thinks it is the greatest game ever. Russo, the team, the coach, and Walt celebrate in the locker room following the game.
The finale episode of Rooster airs on HBO and HBO Max on May 10 at 10 p.m. ET.
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