Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Valloweaster (7x11)

Another twist on a heist! I love that they keep finding ways to make this fun.

Cons:

At the very start of the episode, when Amy was wearing a pumpkin costume, it was another meta reference to hiding her real-life pregnancy when Amy the character is not supposed to be pregnant yet. But because it was the very start of the episode, I got confused because I didn't realize we were in a flashback? This was probably me looking away from the screen at the wrong time or something, but I do aim to be thorough in my reporting so I thought I'd mention it. ;)

It was nice to see Cheddar in this episode, but I missed seeing Kevin, and I was kind of hoping Gina would make a surprise reappearance at some point. This is just wishing for what I can't have, so it's probably not fair to mark it down in the "cons" section, but honestly, I miss those guys.

Pros:

I loved the three holiday heist! Starting on Halloween, things go wrong, so they have to reset and do it on Valentine's Day, things go wrong again, so then it's an Easter heist, and Rosa wins, revealing that she actually won all three heists, making her a three-time victor and putting her in the lead. I loved this! I loved how the twists built on themselves. When Rosa first started explaining herself, I was kind of rolling my eyes because she made it so unnecessarily complicated for herself. If she had that level of planning and success in the first two rounds, why did she need a third? But then the punchline, that she had actually gathered the gems in all three rounds, made it all make sense!

I think I'll just go through and list some of my favorite comedy moments, now, because honestly that's what this episode was. It was funny, it was fast, and clever, and it didn't have a lot of depth beyond that. But that's great! Sometimes that's exactly what I'm looking for.

- The pair-ups were so funny. Of course Jake and Holt would be competitive, of course Amy would be annoyed with Boyle, who would just want to roll over and take everything lying down. It's so funny to me that Charles hasn't won yet, and I eagerly await his victory next season.

- The return of Cheddar, which everyone expected but Holt still presented like it was a big surprise and a special treat.

- Jake's fake therapist, with Amy hiding in the vents, and Rosa under the couch. Especially Jake's reaction when, after learning that his wife and one of his best friends had been spying on his therapy sessions, he also learns that the therapist is fake! Poor thing, he should go talk to someone for real, now.

- The bunny costumes with the vest and glasses.

- Rosa replacing Scully with a filing cabinet, instead of with Hitchcock, who never gets to play.

- Terry sits on the sidelines but because the heist goes on so long, he starts to feel left out and ends up helping Rosa to win.

- Rosa's evil plan, to get everyone to fight among themselves about who won each heist over the years.

I could go on! This was the perfect antidote to a kind of sucky day, honestly, and it's getting good marks from me.

9.5/10