Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a fun show but it's quite never lived up to creators and executive producers Dan Goor and Michael Schur's other effort, Parks and Recreation. While Andy Samberg's childish yet competent Detective Jake Peralta is one of the better comedic performances on TV just now (evidenced by Samberg's Golden Globe win), other characters do not seem as fleshed out.
With the series nearing its end, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is starting to build up drama for its finale. For example, Boyle is getting married while Peralta and Santiago are hinting heavily at the old classic will-they-won't-they romance.
Unlike most of ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s episodes. ‘Tactical Village’ did not focus on any police cases and instead saw the detectives go to Tactical Village Training Day with the day concluding with a police simulation using paintball guns. The interesting twists and turns that come with each case the Nine-Nine solve were instead substituted for cliché end-of-season plotlines.
Tactical Village introduce that oh so familiar ingredient to Jake and Amy’s unrequited love trope, an another man. Teddy, an officer from Queens also attends Tactical Village Training Day with his unit and spends the majority of the episode flirting with Amy, with whom he used to date. Seeing Amy get along with another guy helps Jake realise his true feelings for her. Jake ends the episode by asking Amy if he can ask her something. Predictably, this does not get asked as Amy tells him that she is going on a date with Teddy (who will probably stick around till the finale).
The B storyline is no less predictable. Back at the station, Captain Holt gets addicted to mobile phone game named ‘Kwazy Cupcakes’. Once Gina showed Holt the game, the entire storyline could be guessed.
What makes up for the lack of interesting plot, is the witty dialogue and great comedic performances. Jake’s jealousy of Teddy inspired the episodes best one-lines such as “I thought he was talking to me... and he clearly was.” after Teddy invited Amy to look at the new handguns with him and a childish 69 joke (as opposed to a non-childish 69 joke) ending with Peralta simply saying 69 to make sure his audience got it. Likewise, Andre Braugher’s reactions to getting caught playing the mobile game along with a particularly funny scene where he plays ‘Kwazy Cupcakes’ with bald members of a police line-up elevate his storyline.
While Rosa and Charles’ relationship, has never been as charming as Jake and Amy’s, their storyline was marginally the most imaginative this week. ‘Tactical Village’ saw Charles distribute STDs (Save The Dates) to everyone in the office bar Rosa. By the end of the episode, Charles invited Rosa and told her that not inviting Rosa was Vivian’s idea due to the detectives’ history, only for her to find out that Charles hadn’t even told Vivian that he used to be in love with her. Although Boyle and Diaz are the two most underwritten characters of the show (she’s angry, he’s naïve), it will be intriguing to see whether or not Charles will go through with the wedding (which will surely be the season finale).
As well as an interesting case, the episode also underutilised Terry Crews who only popped into Rosa and Boyle’s storyline. He did, however, have one of the episode's best non-Peralta exchanges:
“Scully, just stand next to me and say 'yes, Serge'.”
“Okay, Serge.”
“Come on, man.”
This episode perfectly demonstrated Brooklyn Nine-Nine's status in the modern American comedy pantheon. While it does provide enjoyable viewing, it is yet to provide the laughs and character empathy other sitcoms, such as New Girl, Modern Family and the aforementioned Parks and Recreation do. The difference in quality between the Peralta story line and the two non-Peralta storyline also demonstrates Brooklyn Nine-Nine's imbalance in characters.
With the series nearing its end, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is starting to build up drama for its finale. For example, Boyle is getting married while Peralta and Santiago are hinting heavily at the old classic will-they-won't-they romance.
Unlike most of ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s episodes. ‘Tactical Village’ did not focus on any police cases and instead saw the detectives go to Tactical Village Training Day with the day concluding with a police simulation using paintball guns. The interesting twists and turns that come with each case the Nine-Nine solve were instead substituted for cliché end-of-season plotlines.
Tactical Village introduce that oh so familiar ingredient to Jake and Amy’s unrequited love trope, an another man. Teddy, an officer from Queens also attends Tactical Village Training Day with his unit and spends the majority of the episode flirting with Amy, with whom he used to date. Seeing Amy get along with another guy helps Jake realise his true feelings for her. Jake ends the episode by asking Amy if he can ask her something. Predictably, this does not get asked as Amy tells him that she is going on a date with Teddy (who will probably stick around till the finale).
The B storyline is no less predictable. Back at the station, Captain Holt gets addicted to mobile phone game named ‘Kwazy Cupcakes’. Once Gina showed Holt the game, the entire storyline could be guessed.
What makes up for the lack of interesting plot, is the witty dialogue and great comedic performances. Jake’s jealousy of Teddy inspired the episodes best one-lines such as “I thought he was talking to me... and he clearly was.” after Teddy invited Amy to look at the new handguns with him and a childish 69 joke (as opposed to a non-childish 69 joke) ending with Peralta simply saying 69 to make sure his audience got it. Likewise, Andre Braugher’s reactions to getting caught playing the mobile game along with a particularly funny scene where he plays ‘Kwazy Cupcakes’ with bald members of a police line-up elevate his storyline.
While Rosa and Charles’ relationship, has never been as charming as Jake and Amy’s, their storyline was marginally the most imaginative this week. ‘Tactical Village’ saw Charles distribute STDs (Save The Dates) to everyone in the office bar Rosa. By the end of the episode, Charles invited Rosa and told her that not inviting Rosa was Vivian’s idea due to the detectives’ history, only for her to find out that Charles hadn’t even told Vivian that he used to be in love with her. Although Boyle and Diaz are the two most underwritten characters of the show (she’s angry, he’s naïve), it will be intriguing to see whether or not Charles will go through with the wedding (which will surely be the season finale).
As well as an interesting case, the episode also underutilised Terry Crews who only popped into Rosa and Boyle’s storyline. He did, however, have one of the episode's best non-Peralta exchanges:
“Scully, just stand next to me and say 'yes, Serge'.”
“Okay, Serge.”
“Come on, man.”
This episode perfectly demonstrated Brooklyn Nine-Nine's status in the modern American comedy pantheon. While it does provide enjoyable viewing, it is yet to provide the laughs and character empathy other sitcoms, such as New Girl, Modern Family and the aforementioned Parks and Recreation do. The difference in quality between the Peralta story line and the two non-Peralta storyline also demonstrates Brooklyn Nine-Nine's imbalance in characters.
Grant Robertson
RSS Feed
