Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Bimbo (6x13)

I love Kevin and Raymond so much!

Cons:

Amy and Terry's plot thread was totally harmless and not awful or anything, I just felt like it didn't stick the landing as much as I wanted it to. The humor was good. I think my problem is that Amy's role as a sergeant hasn't been explored that much, and this felt like an odd way of shining a spotlight on it. Why does it have to be a competition between her and Terry? This plot thread might have worked better if we'd seen more of Amy flourishing in this new role. I want to understand how she's doing in this job, before we see wacky hi-jinks ensue.

Pros:

But there were plenty of moments in the subplot that still made me laugh. I actually found Hitchcock and Scully more amusing here than I usually do. Basically, they keep making it to both Amy and Terry's fun morale-boosting activities, because the free food gives them the ability to be in two places at once. It's a simple conceit, but it works and continues to escalate throughout the episode.

I also like that in the end, Terry and Amy find common ground and give the people what they really want - a room with a bunch of phone chargers and noise cancelling headphones. I feel that so hard.

The main plot was a hilarious triumph. Holt is always making a fool of himself in front of Kevin's academic friends, and he sees a chance to redeem himself by solving a case involving some missing ancient coins. Jake tries to help, but no matter what Holt does, he can't gain the respect of Kevin's colleagues. In the end, though, Holt and Jake solve the case, and Kevin defends Holt.

There wasn't anything groundbreaking going on here. We added a bit of nuance to Holt's character, learning that he feels insecure around Kevin's peers, but even that isn't some big new revelation. Mostly, this episode is here to be funny and sweet, and it accomplishes those goals. Some of my favorite comedic moments:

- "Y'all are hella specific..." - Jake, about Raymond and Kevin at the very end.

- "Oh, damn," Jake, sincerely thrilled, when Kevin causes a scene on Raymond's behalf.

- The whole soft & wet vs. hard brain joke... that cracked me up.

- Holt being the "Jake" of the group, making Jake the "Hitchcock" of the group.

- The handshake between Holt and Kevin being PDA

- Jake's reaction to the thought of Raymond and Kevin getting a divorce

- Jake's insecurity about his height, because Amy's family thinks he's short

I could go on. I was smiling all the way through this episode, and honestly I've been having a really, really lousy couple of days, so I'm glad this episode came along to be an uncomplicated good time.

9/10