Coming off of a fantastic season premiere, Brooklyn Nine-Nine proved in its second episode of the season that the high quality of comedy and storytelling was here to stay. With Jake and Amy officially dating and Holt’s replacement having passed away, this episode dealt with many of the consequences of the premiere in a half hour full of laughs and great character moments. As the precinct gathered to attend the funeral of their deceased captain, everyone had to come to terms with the Vulture being in charge now, a turn of events that has not been pleasant for anyone.
Although no longer captain of the Nine-Nine, Holt was asked to speak about the loss of his short-lived replacement, allowing him and Gina to return for the first time and interact with the rest of the group. I’m glad to see that so early on in the season the writers are already finding ways to bring these characters back into the fold, as Brooklyn Nine-Nine really benefits when everyone can play off of each other instead of just having the same characters interact week after week. This time, we got to see Terry help Holt come to terms with the fact that everything ends and nothing can last forever.
One of the best running gags of the episode was Terry’s despair over his discontinued brand of mango yogurt. What this really represented, however, was that things are always changing, and you have to find a way to cope with that. For Holt, no longer being captain and not having sway in the department anymore was a difficult change to adjust to.
An evening spent at the bar with Terry only led to more sadness over both his loss of the Nine-Nine and Terry’s loss of mango yogurt. After a rather depressing speech that’s message seemed to be that everything is garbage, Holt did manage to momentarily come out of his funk to save Jake’s job and his relationship with Amy. It’s been simultaneously interesting, hilarious, and sad to see a version of Holt rid of his normal determination, but it looks like he might finally be returning to his old self.
Meanwhile, we got to see Gina return to what she does best: making fun of Boyle’s love life. In a move very unlike what we’ve come to expect from Charles, it’s revealed that he has been sleeping with someone he knows nothing about at funerals. Rosa and Gina observe an interaction between him and Lt. Singh (guest star Archie Panjabi), with whom he shares no emotional connection, and immediately begin questioning him about it, making Boyle second guess what he’s doing. Of course, when he tries to sleep with her again at this funeral, he is stopped by their words and tries asking Singh questions about herself. After discovering that she’s a gluten-free vegan, Boyle can no longer go through with the tryst. Because really, there’s nothing worse than that.
In the end, it’s a heartfelt conversation with Rosa that helps Boyle realize that maybe it’s okay that having meaningless relationships isn’t his thing. The friendship between these two characters is one of my favorites on the show, looking back on how they’ve progressed over the seasons. Brooklyn Nine-Nine started with Boyle harboring a somewhat creepy crush on Rosa, who wanted nothing to do with him. When the writers realized this wasn’t working and would never go anywhere, they managed to create a rewarding friendship between these two completely opposite characters, who now rely on each other for advice and support.
The A-story of this episode, however, did not have to do with Holt’s despair or Boyle’s love life. Instead, it focused on how the Vulture gaining control of the Nine-Nine would affect Jake and his relationship with Amy. Having essentially killed the previous captain because of their relationship, Jake and Amy knew they had to be careful with the Vulture. Their plan was for Jake to befriend him, thereby lessening the chance that he would object to the interoffice romance. Unfortunately for them, a never-ending butt dial from Scully clued the Vulture into this plan, who instead of buddying up with Jake, banned him from dating Amy.
Right away, Jake and AMy had to overcome yet another obstacle, solidifying their commitment to each other and the relationship. Once again, their feelings for each other won out over any possible threat of demotion for Jake as they made it clear that giving their relationship a chance was more important than anything. Thankfully, Holt was able to come to the rescue at the end, ensuring that the two could be together without Jake being demoted by the Vulture.
Ideally, this relationship will get to a point soon where various obstacles do not have to keep presenting themselves, and Jake and Amy can just be happy together and see if things works. Every episode does not need to center around some new reason why they can’t be with one another. They also don’t need to have all of their story arcs revolve around each other, and the writers should still be able to explore Jake and Amy’s friendships with other characters. Considering we’re only two episodes into the season, though, I’m not too worried about this. And I’m already dreaming of the day that Holt walks Amy down the aisle as the whole precinct gathers to celebrate her and Jake’s marriage.
[Photo credit: Eddy Chen/FOX]
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