Brooklyn Nine-Nine, “AC/DC,” (2.20) - TV Review

April 26th, 2015, 8:30 PM, FOX

Jake gets injured on the job by falling through a sun roof while chasing after a perp. His broken ribs, fractured thumb, injured tailbone, bruised bladder, injured ankle and shattered toe force him to follow the case from his desk, but when he refuses to take it easy and only hurts himself even worse, and is thus forced to take time off from the force. Even then Sergeant Jeffords’ request falls on deaf ears as Jake comes back to the station after avoiding a week’s time to collect Charles for an Atlantic City vacation – but actually spirits his friend off to a week’s vacation at a motel where they can observe Jake’s quarry. Terry intercepts them and he tries to send a squad car in to clean up the mess but Jake ends up witnessing the perp’s doing something illegal through the bathroom window – and ends up stuck outside on the balcony with no way back in. He, Charles and Terry all find themselves trying to track down the perp alone, and it’s all up to Jake whether or not he’ll be able to rise, shine, run, kick butt and help Charles with his abandoned case. He fills his time with like dressing up like a clown.
Meanwhile, Kevin and Holt invite Marcus and Rosa to a dinner party at Holt’s house and the two are forced to mix business with pleasure and put aside their natural reticence for that ultimate horror – small talk. Holt thinks he has the solution to the problem and throws up a social buffer in the persons of Amy and Gina, the former of whom tries not to freak out over the fact that she’s been invited to stay at her idol’s place in an informal social gathering. Unfortunately Gina and Amy get stuck on the subway and Rosa and Holt find themselves squirming away at the table until Rosa has to break away from the entire ordeal – and in the processes reveals something very intimate to Ray.

Sitcom clichés are the order of the day for this week’s Brooklyn Nine Nine – and by some miracle, the show manages to poke fun and make something original out of what would, in another sitcom’s hands, be cheap retrograde pabulum.

Jake’s stubbornly fighting off his injury is something the show’s already visited in the form of Rosa’s cold earlier in the season, but the sliding scale of injury and the general calamity of his attempts at trying to keep healthy and together passably funny. Terry is in full dad mode, with Charles having very little to do with the story beyond feeling betrayed when Jake cancels their vacation to track the perp. The plot is generally funny and touched with the littlest, tiniest hint of suspense.

The Rosa/Holt side of the plot is more fun; Holt and Rosa’s reluctant friendship has been aces since Rosa started dating his nephew; watching the two most emotionally constipated characters relate to each other over something extremely intimate is a surefire comedy bonanza; the acting of the principals capitalize on it and makes the storyline a delight without bending the characters’ core personalities. An added bonus is Marcus and Kevin’s friendship, which was a surprising and funny, if brief, boon to the plot. Gina and Amy’s friendship continues apace meanwhile, and Gina continues to loosen Amy up, though their travails don’t consume much of the plot.

The end result is an excellent episode, one of the season’s better outings.

The Roundup

• “That is not a pimp walk! That’s a limp walk!”
• Low points in Charles’ life: promised a luxurious Atlantic City vacation, ends up in hole-in-the-wall motel with his injured best friend and his very angry boss.
• Jake hasn’t been to the doctor’s in eleven years.
• Four days pass between Jake’s being sent home by Terry and his returning to the station.
• Amy is a terrible cook – but she brought her mother’s famous nicoise salad along anyway.
• Rosa’s father is a teacher; she has two sisters and the whole family grew up in Bensonhurst.


• ”I should be taking care of my real babies, not my work baby!”


• “How do you take care of those things?! WHY ARE THEIR HEADS SO SOFT?!”


• Terry hired Jake to perform as a clown at his twin’s birthday party. “Jingles” strangled a balloon animal while reaching a realization about his case.


• “All of my bleeding was internal! That’s the best kind!”


• His stubbornness stems for his having taken time off during another case - resulting in two civilians getting shot. He hasn’t taken time off since.


• What Jake did on his time off: caught up on daytime TV, tried grapefruit juice for the first time (and he hated it) and he bought the newspaper.


• Next Week: Jake is thrilled to work with a hot-shot detective, until he finds out that that detective intends to ask Amy out. Meanwhile, Charles and Gina try to talk Terry into turning down a job offer from a private firm in “Det. Dave Majors.”