A quick review of tonight’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” coming up just as soon as I make some promises involving lollipops(*) I do not intend to keep…
I feel like season 2 still has yet to find a higher gear and give us an episode (or, better, run of episodes) as great as we saw the show could be last season, but each outing has been fun and smart, and “The Mole” did a strong job with all three plots.
The title story not only kept Holt’s feud with Wuntch (“Meat”) going, but provided a nice opportunity for the captain and Peralta to work together, both in and out of pajamas. As Terry told Holt in the series’ first episode, Jake loves solving puzzles, and it was gratifying and amusing to see him pulling an all-nighter on one with his Sherlock Holmes-esque boss. (Also, Holt’s depressed Shakespearean monologue at the bar was unsurprisingly a thing of Andre Braugher-ian beauty.)
Boyle and Gina’s secret affair came out, to everyone’s horror, but I like that the show didn’t try to pivot them into being an actual couple. They were just fooling around, and they kept it quiet for a long time – both of these things huge steps forward for Charles – and now they move on. Comedies get into trouble when they try to force couplings for their own sake, and I don’t know that I buy those two as anything other than sex buddies. And the silent rave was a clever idea – not to mention giving us the second episode in a row with Diaz and Terry in goofy costumes – while Terry’s fears about his girls’ future gave that subplot an extra layer without simply taking over the whole story and making him look like an idiot.
(*) Andre Braugher saying “lollipop” may in some ways be funnier than him saying “Kwazy.” Also, if you happen to watch “The Walking Dead” right after this, be prepared for a very different lollipop reference.
What did everybody else think?