Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Episode 1.19 & 1.20 - Tactical Village & Fancy Brugdom - Review

First up, “Tactical Village” - this was a fun episode with wacky bits (like Rosa shooting a sound gun at Boyle’s head), and interesting character development (like Jake sacrificing style for temporary maturity). But for the most part this episode had relationship woes all over the place, as Jake and Rosa came to terms with feelings they ignored in the past for Amy and Boyle, respectively.

The show last touched on any potential romance or feelings between Jake and Amy on their outlandish fake date. Here Boyle, ever the romantic, talks to Jake about whether or not he likes Amy. Obviously Jake scoffs at the suggestion, but is jealous enough to sacrifice his shot at “Coolest Kill” in order to help the Nine-Nine beat the record set by a guy who was flirting with Amy. Based on Jake’s usual level of maturity, it makes sense that his interest in Amy really surfaces only after another cop is interested in her - he’s like a little kid who wants something just because he can’t have it, regardless of what that is. This potential for romance between the two character has obviously been the intention from the near beginning, and has slowly been sprinkled in throughout the year. The best part of the story was Boyle’s line to Jake that the other cop has the advantage when it comes to dating Amy, because he actually asked her out - which helps. Although Jake didn’t have any success this time, the story will most likely come up once more before the end of this season, though if anything ever happened between the characters it would most likely be short-lived and disastrous.

Some other relationship issues came up with Boyle didn’t give Rosa an STD (Save The Date). She’s pissed at Boyle and keeps taking it out by shooting him with various weapons around the tactical village, filled with paint. It’s hard to tell whether she’s just upset because they’re finally friends and he didn’t invite her to his wedding, or whether she, like Jake, just wants now what she can’t have. It all just reminds me of those words of truth from those wise, harmonizing brothers, the Jackson 5: “When I had you to myself/I didn’t want you around/Those pretty faces always made you stand out in a crowd/But someone picked you from the bunch/One glance was all it took/Now it’s much to late for me to take a second look” (“I Want You Back” - great song).

Do you think these romantic(ish) failures will cause Rosa and Jake to hook up, as the unlikely couple forecasted in THIS piece of TVLine news? Who knows, it’s probably something more outrageous.

While Rosa and Jake can’t get what they want, the Captain gets too much of a…good? thing. Gina turns him onto “Kwazy Cupcakes” (with a backwards “w”), a “Candy Crush”/”Bejeweled”-type game, with crack-like addictive powers. It was a silly story, but fun to see Gina and Holt switch places in terms of craziness. Also, I’m 99% sure that the story was put in just to hear Andre Braugher say “Kwazy Cupcakes” in his deep, robotic voice.

This week’s episode, “Fancy Brugdom,” delved into even more relationship stuff, this time between Boyle and his fiancé Vivian. As Jake helps Boyle plan his (ridiculous) wedding, as all good Best Men do, Boyle reveals that Vivian got a job in Ottawa so he’s quitting the Nine-Nine and they’re moving. Boyle has to leave behind his friends, his job, and, as Jake later points out, his pizza ranking blog (call back!). It’s pretty clear that the Boyle/Vivian relationship is going to end at some point, as most relationships with recurring characters do, and this could very well lead to its downfall. Regardless of what happens with Boyle’s engagement, it was really nice to see Jake being such a good friend, and helping Boyle not only pick out stationary, but also figure out how to have an honest discussion with his future wife. It’s always good to have a reminder that Jake is an adult, and he does actually know how to operate on that level.

In crazytown we had Gina, Amy and Sarge all on the teeniest of diets. In what I’m assuming is a hyperbole of diets, this one included meals like an orange wedge, three cashews, and a grape. Pro tip though: lick the bags afterward, there’s food molecules! Obviously the diet was unmanageable and the girls quit. Gina went first, just as enthusiastic about abandoning her diet as she was about sticking to it, and Amy folded after spinning into a hypoglycemic rage. In the end it turns out that Sarge was doing it in solidarity to his wife, so even though he doesn’t need to stick to it (and nobody needs to stick to eating 3 pieces of fruit and a couple nuts per day), his diet team help him stick it out. It was a nice fun story with the A story dealt with a bigger issue.

Finally, Holt tried to get Rosa to do the impossible - apologize. This lead to a couple of great moments, including a monotone apology-off between the two of them, and a horrified Holt burning Rosa’s notepad with an apparently terrifying “apology” written on it. Since Rosa’s embarrassing rage outbursts at a young cop are motivated by a frustration with the cop screwing up, it makes sense that the way to get through to her is to encourage her to help the cop fix the problem by teaching him how - that way she doesn’t have to worry about his mistakes, and he doesn’t get humiliated in front of his co-workers. Best line goes to Captain Holt in response to Rosa’s “I’m sorry”: “No need to make a scene.”

What did you think of these two episodes? Do you think B99 is really hitting their groove as they cruise into their last few episodes for the season? Who do YOU think might hook up in the finale? Let us know below!

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