It's True — Eric Winter's 'The Rookie' Character Does Die, but Not in the Way We Expected

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Season 5, Episode 18 of The Rookie.

Sometimes, even dramatic series like The Rookie can give us a lighthearted episode. That's not what we expected when promos for Season 5, Episode 18, "Double Trouble," teased Officer Tim Bradford's death, but it's what we got. The episode played with the series' mockumentary format in an investigation into the lives of Tim (Eric Winter) and Lucy Chen's (Melissa O'Neil) doppelgängers, Dim and Juicy.

Even still, the promo for "Double Trouble" hinted that Tim dies when rookie officer Aaron Thorsen (Tru Valentino) radios, "Seven Lincoln seven, I just found a body... It's Tim Bradford." In all honesty, we watched with our hands covering our eyes because we just couldn't bear to lose Tim! So, does Tim die in The Rookie?

"Double Trouble" isn't Tim's first brush with death. In Season 1, his infection from a deadly virus made us worry that he could've died then and there. Luckily, he made it through the virus, but now, four seasons later, we're tricked into thinking that Tim is dead. Fans were distraught ahead of the episode, and many vowed to stop watching if Tim really is killed off.

Pretty quickly into the episode, however, we realize that it isn't Tim who dies. So we can breathe a sigh of relief after that sneaky promo for "Double Trouble," but even still, someone does die. In fact, we've met that someone before. So who dies in The Rookie, Season 5, Episode 18? It's none other than Tim's dopplegänger, Jake a.k.a. "Dim."

Back in Season 4, Episode 22, Tim and Lucy meet their ultimate dopplegängers: Dim and Juicy. Dim's real name is Jake, but because he's basically a "dumber version of Tim," according to Lucy, they call him Dim. Because of his connection to some drug dealers, Tim is able to use his appearance to infiltrate a drug den alongside Lucy, who is the spitting image of Dim's girlfriend, Juicy.

Naturally, Eric and Melissa also play Dim and Juicy, respectively, and the lookalikes were a fun addition to The Rookie. Witnessing Eric and Melissa as different characters is both hilarious and impressive.

Plus, their undercover mission as lovers allows them to explore their physical connection before admitting their feelings to one another. By Season 5, they no longer need Dim and Juicy to make sense of their romance, so it's sensible to kill one or both of them off.

In "Double Trouble," an officer finds Dim's body in a dumpster, not Tim's. As the team investigates who murdered Dim, they learn that Dim was actually wrapped up in an affair with a woman named Lisa Miller, Juicy's close friend. Because of her jealousy, Lisa ran Dim off the road, shot him, and tried to cover it up by hiding his body in a dumpster. The team arrests Lisa and lets Juicy go, so perhaps we'll still see Juicy again someday.

New episodes of The Rookie air every Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.