Brooklyn Nine-Nine: A Tale of Two Bandits (6x05)

DOUG JUDY!

Cons:

This actually wasn't a super great episode - perhaps the weakest of the season so far. I think part of the problem was that this felt like an episode that had to explain to me why I should find things funny, instead of just being funny. Sure, there were plenty of individual jokes that worked really well, but the premise wasn't as electrifying or wacky as I would expect, given that the Doug Judy episodes are usually highlights every year.

I feel like we didn't really tread new ground with this episode. Last time we saw Doug Judy, he was going legit, and we spent the whole episode wondering if he'd trick Jake, and he didn't. Same thing this time, only now Terry is there to be suspicious, and Trudy Judy is there to take on the criminal mantle. It's not bad, exactly, it just doesn't feel innovative.

The subplot had a good opportunity for comedy, since it involved the rest of the gang (sans Jake and Terry) drinking together. Again, the individual jokes worked perfectly well and made me laugh, but the premise itself lacked substance. That would be fine, except for the fact that I think it was meant to be sentimental as well as funny. I wasn't aware until now that I was supposed to attach some sort of special meaning to Shaw's Bar. I honestly hadn't really given the place a second thought. It just seemed like a spot for the characters to be together when they're not in the precinct. I don't get a feel for the atmosphere or understand why this bar specifically is important to the gang. A story like this should either be entirely comedy, or it should be rooted in something that feels real. I think the script tried to split the difference, and fell short.

Pros:

But when we go into the individual jokes of the episode, I laughed a lot. I'm always bad at remembering individual bits that got me, but I'll try to list a few:

Terry: "How did you deal when Hodor died?"

Jake: "Not well, Terry. Why would you bring that up?!"

Doug Judy and Jake rhyming with the word "Judy" over and over again.

Doug liking Jake's song even though it was objectively horrible.

Terry being unfazed by 1,000 push-ups.

Jake "discovering" that Orlando Bloom has a weird name.

Drunk Amy - especially three-drink Amy back down from nine-drink Amy after throwing up. Apparently nine-drink Amy speaks French?

Rosa's flat yet still clearly wasted delivery of all of her lines, especially when she calls Holt and leaves messages to get him to come back to the bar.

Holt saying that he hates it when Terry shouts "Nine Nine" because he should say "Cheers to the 99th precinct."

And plenty more, I'm sure. I was kept smiling by all the one-liners and individual comedy beats this week, even if I felt both premises were lacking in some way. This show is incredible, and sometimes I think I grade it harshly because I expect it to be so wonderful every week. This week we got a pretty standard sitcom episode. Nothing wrong with it, just not one for the history books!

7/10