Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Boyle-Linetti Wedding - Review

Weddings always make people examine their own relationship (I’m assuming -- I ‘ve never been to one), and the wedding between Lynn Boyle and Darlene Linetti causes Rosa to freak out a bit. Her (off-screen) relationship with Marcus seems to be going well. So well, in fact, that she’s fairly certain/terrified that if Marcus comes to the wedding with her, he’s going to say “I love you.” Her hesitancy in her own relationship must set off something in Lynn Boyle, because when she tries to make small talk while doing up his cuff links, he starts to spiral -- hard -- and second guess the wedding. Gina eventually steps in to save the day and snap him out of it, helping Rosa to realize that by avoiding the word “love” she’s just being a coward. And we all know that Rosa Diaz is not a coward, so she calls Marcus to meet her at the wedding, where she tells him that she loves him, and he reciprocates. He probably would have said it sooner if he didn’t think Rosa would freak out about it.

The fact that Rosa not only brought Marcus to the wedding, but was the first to admit to love, shows a lot of bravery on the part of the emotionally closed-off detective. It’s fun to watch Rosa try to navigate the waters of romance and feelings, because it’s so out of character for her to open herself up in that way -- the joy of “out of character” only works when someone has a really clearly defined character the rest of the time, and this is very true with Rosa. The negative part of the story is that it separates her from the Nine-Nine, because half of the story is always outside, off-screen, and therefore it’s a lot of reflection and not a lot of action. It’s nice for Rosa herself that she’s in a happy relationship, but I really want to see some more Detective Diaz with the rest of the precinct.

When Gina tries to recruit a replacement officiant, she turns to Sarge and Holt, and tells them to work it out. While the obvious choice is Sarge, due to his ability to show emotion, it turns out that if he tries to talk about anything deeper than gym metaphors, he can't seem to stop crying. Which leaves Robot Captain in charge. Which in turn leads to what is perhaps my favorite Holt moment of all time: his extemporaneous "love sustains us, like oatmeal" line...which actually took him 2 hours to write. He suddenly becomes very human as he admits that his attempt to be spontaneous was actually quite planned. It seems as though Holt is good at a lot of things -- rhetorical speeches do not make that list. But in the end he pulls it off, as he decides to say what he wished could have been said at his wedding. Emily Dickinson really came through! (In this case, the nickname is used to emphasize Holt’s poetic abilities.)

Acting as officiant for someone else’s wedding causes Holt to reflect more on his own, and he talks to Kevin about perhaps having a more celebratory wedding. When they actually got married, they were more focused on having a marriage than a wedding, since they were worried it was going to be taken away from them. Hopefully now they can have a more festive wedding/vow renewal that celebrates the Holt-Cozner marriage in all its adorable Jeopardy-filled dorkiness. Seriously, they are such a sweet couple, and I always love seeing Marc Evan Jackson on the show.

Has anyone ever seen Gina work so hard or productively as she does at the wedding? Maybe when it came to Floorgasm, but even in her own dance troupe she skipped rehearsals. Regina Linetti must really love her mom if she’s going through so much trouble to fix the never-ending series of problems at this wedding. Gina became Concierge for day! (Any The Awesomes fans out there? No? Moving on.) This shows that she can work, if she feels like it. It is nice to see a Gina-centric story where she seems a little bit more human. This isn’t the apathetic, solipsistic Gina at the Nine-Nine (which is fun in small doses) -- she feels a little more rounded out as she busts her butt to make her mom’s day special.

And finally, the dynamic badass crimefighting duo with style: James Bond and Maxi Pads. *Spy music* For all you Jake/Amy fans out there, this was a big week for you! Jake and Amy have had QUITE a long stretch apart, probably because if they couldn’t just have a regular story together without discussing that whole mutual crush situation -- since they never had an on-screen postmortem since the reveal. And clearly the B99 folks haven't wanted to jump back into that arena yet -- until now. Since Gina and Jake are childhood friends, Jake’s major childhood/lifelong crush Jenny Gildenhorn, who abandoned him for his mortal enemy Eddie Fung at his bar mitzvah, is going to the wedding! And since she’s single for the first time since that fateful day, he’s finally got a shot. Long story short, Jake and Amy have a fun little Bond-lite adventure, capture Amy’s nemesis, Minsk, ruin their clothes, lose the ring, have a faux proposal, get stuck in the ring, and then Jake misses his window, once again, with Jenny Gildenhorn.

While last season I was relatively against any sort of Jake/Amy romantic pairing, I’ve really enjoyed what they’ve done with them so far this season, and this episode was a great example of how to play that story. Since the series is so ensemble-focused, it doesn’t feel like the Jake/Amy relationship is anywhere near the center of the program, so it doesn’t hold so much weight that it really affects the show in a major way. Their dynamic is pretty fun and flirty in a sufficiently awkward way, and the only annoying thing about their hint of romance, is that the writers seem a little reluctant to pair them together without bringing up some mention of the tension between the two. At times it feels like they could have some really fun stories together, but instead their screentime is totally separate in order to avoid the “will they/won’t they” storyline. But regardless, the detectives seemed to have quite the time together, and end the night with a dance-- PSYCH! Good one, Amy, you almost had me there for a second. Instead of offering to dance with Jake as he watches Jenny from the sidelines, she gives him a great-aunt of Gina’s with whom to dance away the night.

What did you think of the episode? Do Amy and Jake perhaps hold any lingering feelings for one another? How weird is it that Boyle and Gina are now step-siblings? What do you think Holt and Kevin’s dream wedding would look like? Let us know below!

About the Author - Kimberly

Kimberly is a big TV nerd - willing to talk any show, any time. Her tastes are various and sundry, but she’s got a soft spot for comedy. She currently writes the SpoilerTV reviews for Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and About a Boy.

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