Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Debbie (7x05)

This was really fun - really invigorating. The kind of episode that's so fun that it actually makes the rest of this season seem less good by comparison. Not that I actually dislike the others, but I really, really enjoyed this!

Cons:

The subplot didn't pack much of a punch compared to the main story. I like Amy and Holt being in competition, but Terry had nothing to do except be vaguely incredulous of their behavior, and Charles was pretty sidelined as well. That's not really a big structural problem, but I did find myself less entranced whenever the subplot came around.

There could have been an opportunity for more fear from the rest of the Nine-Nine, once they realized Jake and Rosa were nowhere to be found. I wanted to see Holt, Amy, Charles, and Terry panicking a little bit!

Pros:

Debbie is so hilarious! I feel like I could spend this whole review just listing the funny jokes with her. The way she acts really, really suspicious and the entire Nine-Nine instantly realizes she's guilty, the way her self-defense classes + cocaine make her superhuman and able to kick everyone's asses, her weird crush on Jake, the way she brandished the guns around... it was a great performance from this actress all around. So over the top, so genuinely funny while also being increasingly terrifying. There's this sense of Debbie as a deeply unhappy and damaged person, and while there is tragedy inherent in that, it also lends itself to some great bleak comedy.

I also really loved Jake's essential trust in Debbie's humanity. He doesn't want to give up on her entirely - he wants to believe she is redeemable and just needs help. It's very him to think this way, especially after all of the growth he's undergone. And then at the same time, he's also learned to acknowledge privilege - he talks about how Debbie could have had other options, especially since she's white. What a good ally he has become.

Rosa was really the surprise highlight this week, though. She starts off with a hard-line opposition position to Jake's, saying that Debbie is an adult who made her own choices and needs to work it out herself. She knows this because when she made mistakes as a hid, her parents gave her the tough love speech and sent her off to fix it. But by the end of the episode, when Rosa witnesses Debbie being berated by her mother, she realizes how badly it sucked that her parents weren't there for her. And she decides right then and there to be a support system for Debbie. That made me pretty emotional!

While the subplot was somewhat underwhelming, I did like the joke about Amy's fingers getting burned from tracing over the pages. And it was funny when Boyle said "Slow and steady - " and then Amy and Holt burst in with a whole detailed summary of Debbie's mother and all her habits, only for him to finish the saying after them: "...wins the race."

So that's that. This was such a fun episode all around, I loved it a lot!

9/10