Welcome back to my weekly review and recap of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” To catch up on previous coverage, click here.
Have we ever seen an entire episode with Scully and Hitchcock at the center of an episode? How often do we get to see the odd pairing on Holt and Boyle? All of the fantastic women characters in one storyline that capitalizes on their strengths? Andre Braugher killing a delivery of the word “chagrin”? Count me in. It’s a light, funny episode that doesn’t reach some of the highest points of season three but is undoubtedly enjoyable and plays to the entire ensembles strengths. Yes, it’s fractured again, but no one feels short changed.
Boyle and Holt
This is a pairing that I’ve always believed should be utilized more mainly due to Holt’s bizarre disdain for anything Boyle does and his worming his way into the “celebrity case” is perfectly suited to his character. Not only is the celebrity in question someone only Holt would be enthusiastic about, but it’s also a way to once again undermine a moment for Boyle to shine alone.
Holt’s cool is broken when he meets his idol, with him and Charles getting to reverse roles; the former getting to be over the top about something he’s easily excitable. His enthusiasm over the oboe player is likened to Boyle’s enthusiasm over anything food. It’s also one of the few times that we see Holt dispose of his typical logic.
However, it does seem like a close copy of Boyle’s position last week, where he pointed out to Jake that someone he partially idolized that the person in question was also up to illegal affairs.
The best joke was the running idea of classical musicians for all their finery are all in dept savages.
Rosa, Gina and Amy
It’s a pretty light storyline, thinly plotted out to get the three characters to find themselves in a highly conceptual situation, but finding out that Rosa of all people is afraid of needles is a nice little crack in the tough girl attitude.
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Amy faces her fear of confined spaces by staying in the trunk of a car (Gina provides a juice box and a diaper) and I’ve decided that’s a thing that I could not do. All seems fine when she’s let out until she threatens to kill Rosa if she closes the trunk again.
Gina, who has my favorite fear, has to interact with businessmen which I think I could have watched an entire episode of. Just let Chelsea Peretti run with nonsense at any given time and she excels. My favorite gag being her throwing off a wig at the end, saying she’d never willingly put her hair into a ponytail, which instantly made me wonder what was so bad about ponytails…
Thoughts for a later time.
My guess leading up to it would be that Rosa would have to be the one who didn’t conquer her fear, but I think her hyping herself up for it by yelling violently was a better conclusion.
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“I think we’ve all grown as women” wins the night with the best delivery of the night from Stephanie Beatriz.
Jake, Hitchcock and Scully
Jake is once again getting to play the straight man character after getting to play it against Boyle last week but this time against two players who have been apart of the ensemble sine the beginning.
Jake wants to jump on the celebrity case so he tries to saddle his drug case on Hitchcock and Scully, believing that even they can’t mess up a case so simple. But then the tables turn and the celebrity case is deemed inconsequential and the one Jake has given away becoming possibly the biggest drug bust of their precinct’s history. Terry and Jake are forced to track down the two bumbling detectives, who have grown agitated at the notion that they aren’t trusted with cases that force them outside of the station (despite neither of them having any actually interest in being active detectives as it is).
Following up on the straight man character, Jake is one of my favorite versions of the character, the exasperated one. His astonished reactions at how the two perform their jobs and his annoyance at the terrible names they come up with (all bean related) allows Andy Samberg to tone down his cartoonish nature.
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Hitchcock getting kidnapped allows for a fun standoff with the three detectives pretending to be looking to buy from them before they’re all knocked out. When things begin to look dire, Jake utilizes Hitchcock and Scully’s “strengths” (their perspiration problem and their clumsiness to be exact) and save the day. It’s not their most picturesque, heroic moment, but it’s a way to get the two characters in on the action.
With such a uniformly terrific ensemble cast the showrunners would be hard pressed not to dole out episodes like this every once in a while where every actor get’s a moment (a small moment sure) to shine.
8/10
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