Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Trying (7x06)

I loved this episode! I had emotions about it!

Cons:

While I ultimately had a very positive reaction to this episode as a whole, I will say that when I saw it was Hitchcock-centric, I was a little worried. And those worries, to some extent, seem founded. I liked the stuff with Amy and Jake, and I was amused by the guinea pig subplot, but whenever I was asked to care about Hitchcock randomly ending up with a woman, getting her pregnant, getting married, finding out the baby wasn't his, getting divorced... I just wasn't really on board.

Pros:

The one joke I did like with that was the mirror "divorce parties" at the beginning and end, with Scully getting cakes clearly meant for gay weddings, and declaring them to be for his "bromance" with Hitchcock. Scully's speech at Hitchcock's wedding was oddly sweet, too. Their relationship isn't one I really feel invested in, but it was funny to see it treated with such sincerity, given the absurdity of the situation in general.

I love it when Charles and Rosa pair up for story-lines. They have such a funny, unique energy together. The whole guinea pig thing is just the right type of absurd silliness for a subplot. I loved the comedy of Boyle naming them all Claire/Clare, and Rosa being unexpectedly an animal person. And then Terry finally putting a stop to things at the end, while Rosa and Charles pretend to be upset but are secretly relieved to be at the end of their torment. It was also an excellent way of showing the passage of time - I love episodes that go through months and speed the narrative along! After six months, the number of guinea pigs is truly absurd.

Meanwhile, Holt is bored of doing the same route over and over again as a beat cop, but Terry tells him to stick with it. In the end, because of his constant presence in a certain community, he picks up some Russian, which turns out to be a valuable skill. It's a nice little lesson learned. Nothing too groundbreaking here, but I liked the flipped roles, with Terry being the one in charge, and Holt having to eat some humble pie and do things by the book.

The main story is obviously where most of my appreciation comes in. Jake and Amy are trying to have a baby. First, they do it the Amy way, with lots of scheduling and charts. Then the Jake way, with fun role play and spontaneity. Then back to Amy's way, even more extreme, with everything scheduled and measured and recorded. Finally, they try the Hitchcock way, getting drunk and trying to have sex in public. Nothing works. Amy, discouraged, says she's done trying. But after talking it over, Jake and Amy both decide to stop thinking about it for a while, to try and stop putting pressure on it. As the episode ends, Amy takes one more pregnancy test, but it's still negative.

I really, really liked this exploration of Jake and Amy as a couple. I've been watching some clips of the earlier seasons recently, and it's heartwarming to see how far they have come. Especially Jake. It's cute that Jake is willing to go along with Amy's extreme planning, but I also like that when they try to make a baby "The Jake Way," it actually also comes with planning and forethought. Jake exudes a more casual, loose energy, but he puts effort into the fun role play scenario for him and Amy. It shows that he cares.

Their increasing desperation over the six months is hard to watch, but I like that even when they're both exhausted and unhappy, they don't take it out on each other at all. I also liked that Amy didn't suddenly get pregnant the moment they decided to relax and stop trying so hard. That would have been the predictable thing to expect, and it seems that even Jake and Amy thought so. The last snippet of the episode shows Amy taking another pregnancy test and Jake's expression of acceptance but also disappointment. That felt so true to life. As Jake says, they are a family just the two of them, and whatever happens, they're happy and together.

So that's where I'll stop for now. This was a lovely installment, mostly for the main story-line. But elements of the subplots were also quite fun, and pretty much everyone in the ensemble had at least one or two moments to shine.

8/10