Brooklyn Nine-Nine, “Det. Dave Majors,” (2.21) - TV Review

May 3rd, 2015, 8:30 PM, FOX

Jake is thrilled to work with a hot-shot detective, Dave Majors, whose arrest record is so massive that it makes Amy weak in the knees. Jake is enthused, that is, until he finds out that that detective intends to ask Amy out once the case is over. Jake must compete with Majors for a solution to the puzzle while trying to convince Amy not to go out with Majors, but when they solve the case without him Jake’s mission eventually becomes a rush to break into an exclusive club where Dave and Amy have rushed off to conduct a date. Meanwhile, Charles and Gina try to talk Terry into turning down a job offer from Gary Shaw, the head recruiter from the private firm Copperhead Security, who’s forever trying to snap up officers from the force. But the benefits are amazingly tempting. What will Terry choose in the long run – Boyle’s home cooking or his shiny new gear? Holt’s attitude – and his insistence on trying to Push Terry ‘out of the nest’ so that he’ll make his own decision - might end up being the key.

You have to give Brooklyn Nine-Nine credit; they’re doing a good job of slow-burning Jake and Amy’s romance to life. Wise enough not to focus the majority of the season on it, show runners have done a good job of blending it carefully into bigger stories about Holt and Kevin’s allowing the rest of the force into their personal lives, Holt’s rivalry with Wuntch, Rosa and Marcus‘s romance, Gina and Boyle’s aborted affair and Terry’s family shenanigans. Almost everyone’s experienced some sort of development this season, and even Scully and Hitchcock have been given something to do this season. Jake was even given an appealing love interest in Sophia for a good chunk of it, and the show did not demonize her in comparison to Amy. Therefore it’s very interesting that, in the last three episodes of this second season, we’ve returned to the crush Jake and Amy harbor for each other, and marvel that the writers in general have managed the delicate art of keeping us wanting more without oversaturating the show with romantic tension, walking a delicate wire between shipper expectations and comedic ones. Even if you’re not invested in the romance you want Jake and Amy to be happy – and find happiness with each other.

But until then the guest spoilers the show has tossed between them have been fun. In this episode, Garrett Dillahunt embodies rough-edged, parodical gravitas as he pops up as a super-tough, super-talented cop with a commendation sheet a mile long; Detective Majors wouldn’t be out of place in an 80s action movie, and he plays that to the hilt. He’s got the sort of ordered competence that makes Amy swoon and is the sort of dedicated, lawless badass that Jake worships, and the three-way tension is genuine yet wonderfully funny. In the end Majors comes off as a good guy –and Jake and Amy move a step closer, though I won’t tell you how.

The subplot is equally strong, with Charles and Gina teaming up in their formidable way to convince Terry to stay with the company. Terry wants and needs relaxation – he’s the father of twins with one on the way after all – so he’s caught between his pride in his career and the promise of security and safety. Crews embodies these conflicts with well-earned brio. Ultimately it’s up to his own feelings about his work to make the choice, and he does so in his own time, while everyone provides able and wonderful comedic assistance around him.

“Det. Dave Majors” is a solid episode of B99 that serves as an excellent building block for the upcoming season finale.
The Roundup

• “ROSA’S WEARING PINK!”
• Low points in Charles’ life: was called Mr. Grape for two years after getting grape juice on his shirt; becomes target for office aggression when Rosa wears pink to the office and everyone’s too afraid to make fun of her for it.
• “What’s his body like, on a scale from Charles to Terry?”
• “Never is not just a crater on Mars!”


• Garrett Dillahunt, best known for his role in Raising Hope, plays Detective Majors.
• Improvements between Terry’s current job and his old one: improved swag, better benefits, better hours, a serious pay raise and his own office (With walls!).


• ”You said since there were twins I shouldn’t bother to take pictures of both of them!” “That doesn’t sound like Auntie Gina…”


• Apparently when Amy really likes a guy she giggles and tucks her hair behind both ears.


• “Get in there. Ruin her night!”


• “And none of that OnDemand crap! Tonight I’m going to sleep in a real movie theatre!”


• Gina wants to be buried with her cellphones.


• “Look at you. You’re like that wise old owl from those lollipop commercials”.


• Next Week: Wuntch lets Jake work his dream case, which leaves Holt worried she’s setting him up to fail. Meanwhile, Amy, Rosa and Gina help Terry host a field trip’s worth of kids to the station in “The Chopper”.