This Brooklyn Nine-Nine review contains spoilers.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7 Episode 4
It’s been a while since we last Jimmy Jabbed, but clearly these games should have made a comeback a lot sooner. “The Jimmy Jab Games II” is the first standout episode of Season 7, reveling in the high-stakes world of having fun with your friends. Really, that’s what the episode is all about; hanging out with the characters we enjoy and watching them in increasingly silly situations. A fun competition or game, like the Halloween Heist or Tactical Village, really brings out the best in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and it’s no different here.
The games come about because Jake is left in charge of the precinct when Terry and Amy plan on leaving for the day for a conference. Jake expects to be lectured on behaving, but Terry gives Jake the benefit of the doubt, noting that he’s matured a lot since his younger days. Jake immediately takes being called responsible (a compliment) as a challenge to his rebellious side, naturally, and goes about planning the Jimmy Jab games before Terry and Amy even have a chance to leave. Hilarity ensues.
No, actually a lot of funny stuff does happen, including the return of Debbie and her allergic reaction to turkey, Jake falling from the ceiling, then having a ceiling fall on him, and Hitchcock ingesting random pills. Jake doubles down on reckless behavior when Hitchcock bets him that if he’s able to beat Jake in the games, Jake must give him his brand-new, sensible car. Knowing that’s irresponsible and stupid, Amy sticks around to make sure Jake doesn’t lose their brand-new sedan, and she takes a spot in the games too.
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Throughout the competition, Rosa and Holt identify each other as threats, considering that their brains are made out of brains, and get ultra-competitive with one another. Rosa and Holt are an under-utilized tandem, probably because it’s tough to have a scene with that much monotone. I kid; I actually think Rosa and Holt share enough similarities but radical differences that make them a really interesting pair and I wish we could see them in side plots together more often. Holt takes his competitive spirit too far and ends up uncovering that Rosa just suffered a nasty breakup, and being the caring friend that he is, he decides to console Rosa instead of taking part in finishing the games.
Meanwhile, Charles Is in all of his glory as the show host, channeling The Greatest Showman to his delight and everyone else’s chagrin. The only person that’s truly impressed by his showmanship is Debbie, and Charles takes that avenue as a chance to sort of mentor Debbie and push her to participate in the games. Having Charles be the “suave” one in their pair instantly makes me love the Charles and Debbie scenes, and Charles is so effective at inspiring Debbie to step out of her shell, that she ends up robbing the precinct of all its drugs by the end of the episode! Not only is this a shift in how most episodes on this show resolve, but it also suggests that this story will continue, and I always encourage this series to play around with some more serialized elements.
As stated above, Jake injures himself throughout the games, and he must contend with Hitchcock, who is “doping” by taking a bunch of Scully’s pills. Before the come down from the pills narrows the playing field for Jake and they both limp their way through the final obstacle course, Jake tells Amy he only made the bet so he could eventually spend more time with their kid. When Jake literally needs an extra boost at the end of the challenge, Amy is right by his side with one of Debbie’s EpiPens to ensure that they don’t lose their car. If that aint love, what is?
“The Jimmy Jab Games II” was a well-paced, fun installment of Brooklyn Nine-Nine where pretty much everyone was given time to shine. I wouldn’t be mad if we saw the games return again in Season 8. I’m excited to see how they follow-up with that twist ending and whether Debbie’s turn to crime will have any impact on getting Holt restored to Captain, or whether he’ll remain a uniformed officer for a little while longer.
Nick Harley is a tortured Cleveland sports fan, thinks Douglas Sirk would have made a killer Batman movie, Spider-Man should be a big-budget HBO series, and Wes Anderson and Paul Thomas Anderson should direct a script written by one another. For more thoughts like these, read Nick’s work here at Den of Geek or follow him on Twitter.