Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Jimmy Jab Games II (7x04)

This was an amazing episode, right in line with the greatness I've come to expect from this show!

Cons:

I did miss Terry. He could have added a lot of chaos to the Jimmy Jab Games! And Gina's absence was more keenly felt than usual... I hope she makes an appearance soon!

I didn't really think Boyle's musical numbers/costume changes were funny. I liked the continued narrative of him calling everyone else "freaks" and mixing up the metaphors, though. His whole routine was a bit of a mixed bag.

Pros:

Debbie is so funny! I was thrilled to see her again, and I hope we get lots more in the near future. She's the perfect kind of "sad sack" character because she's charming in her general sense of incompetence. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is ultimately a loving, welcoming sort of show, so of course Boyle would work to encourage Debbie to get out of her shell and participate in the fun, even though for her, having fun with friends is "high stakes." I feel ya, sister. My favorite moment was "I'm anti-dextrous... neither hand is good at anything."

And while Boyle was testing my patience a little bit, I do like to see his growing confidence, and like I said, his enthusiasm for the poorly thought out circus metaphors was a lot of fun.

Jake's story of the week involves him pushing back against the idea that he's a more responsible adult now. He's insecure about losing his status as the fun party kid, so he goes all-out for the Jimmy Jab Games, and even bets his and Amy's new car to Hitchcock, in exchange for Hitchcock doing all of Jake's paperwork for a year. I like the fact that both Jake and Hitchcock end up in bad physical shape by the end - Jake keeps throwing himself into danger, falling out of the ceiling and doing other risky things to get ahead. Hitchcock meanwhile takes some of Scully's drugs in order to enhance his abilities, only for the various side effects to catch up to him in the end.

The thing that elevated Jake's story for me, from being just some diverting fun to being genuinely brilliant, was Amy's involvement. She's frustrated with Jake for betting the car, but as she gradually begins to understand Jake's insecurities, she's there to support him. By the end, she's injecting Jake with adrenaline from Debbie's EpiPen in order to help him cross the final finish line and win the day. I loved that she got invested, that she encouraged Jake to understand that while yes, he is getting more mature and adult, he's still the same man he's always been.

Rosa and Holt have their own competition going on during the games, but things change when Holt tries to deduce why Rosa wants the extra vacation day. Turns out, her girlfriend broke up with her and she wants some time alone to deal with it. Holt is contrite when he realizes what's really going on, and they both leave the competition. Holt sits with Rosa to deal with her breakup on her terms, proving himself a kind and compassionate friend.

I loved watching these two queer characters of color have this moment of closeness. Rosa calls Holt out for using the gay card earlier in the episode, and then tries to do the same thing with him later, but he doesn't let her get away with it. It's just so fun and refreshing to have more than one queer main character on the show so we can have little back-and-forths like this. And their friendship is really something very sweet. Rosa's face when she breaks and reveals her breakup was really tragic. I hope she finds love soon!

I'll stop there. I love Jake and Amy trying to have kids. I was worried they were jumping in to that story-line too soon, but it's actually quite fun to explore. And there are a lot of other elements to enjoy, besides!

9/10