After appearing in The Rookie season 2, This Is Us star Jon Huertas returned to the series as the director of season 5, episode 18, and he now looks back on the experience. The true-crime-style installment focused on the lives of Tim and Lucy’s criminal alter egos, Jake and Sava, who are also portrayed by Eric Winter and Melissa O’Neil. The series has produced multiple episodes in documentary format, but “Double Trouble” was the first to feature showrunner, Alexi Hawley, onscreen.
Huertas previously played alongside Nathan Fillion as homicide detective Javier Esposito during Castle‘s eight-year run. Several of Fillion’s former co-stars have been featured on The Rookie, with actors such as Toks Olagundoye, Tamala Jones, and Sean Maher also making appearances. During an interview with Screen Rant, Huertas reflects on his time directing a rather unorthodox episode of ABC’s The Rookie. Read his full quote below:
Jake Butler and his girlfriend, Sava Wu, first appear in the season 4 finale of The Rookie after Jake is arrested on drug trafficking charges. The characters are identical to Tim and Lucy, earning the nicknames “Dim” and “Juicy” from their cop lookalikes. Their placement in the show allows the procedural’s will-they-or-won’t-they pairing to act on their real feelings under the guise of an undercover operation.
Given that the alter egos were created to further Tim and Lucy’s romantic storyline, not much is initially revealed about Jake and Sava’s backstories. The Rookie season 5, episode 18, “Double Trouble,” dives deeper into their history when the fictional camera crew returns to create a new documentary. Jake reunites with Sava after being released from prison, and found footage provides insight into the criminal life they lead together.
“Dim” and “Juicy” allowed Winter and O’Neil to step outside their usual roles, but Jake’s murder at the end of the episode prevented him from returning. However, Sava is last seen giving her number to the documentary’s filmmaker, indicating they may remain in contact. Because she still exists within The Rookie universe, it’s possible that viewers have not seen the last of O’Neil’s “Juicy” character.