Brooklyn Nine-Nine - The Pontiac Bandit Returns - Review

I wish you all a Dougy Christmas and a Judy New Year! Sorry -- I’m just a little distracted right now. Because the Pontiac Bandit has returned!

Jake, as Santa Claus, finally manages to bring in the Pontiac Bandit, aka Doug Judy, which is a big win for the precinct.  (Doug Judy is played once again with fantastic poise and swagger by Craig Robinson.)  Unfortunately, Doug Judy has some major info on the man behind the Giggle Pig operation, which would be an even bigger win for the precinct. And so they head into the interrogation room for “Let’s Make a Deal.” Holt and Rosa acquiesce to Doug’s wishes, even though he has been a “lie guy” to them before. Jake’s a little bitter about giving up his hard-won victory in exchange for a potential win in the Giggle Pig case. Doug Judy plays along and does his part, even helping “Dante Thunderstone” hotwire a car, up until the NYPD have got Tito Ruiz and DJ takes off with his associate Kyle in a garbage truck.

This episode is a really nice companion piece to “USPIS,” as it both continues the Giggle Pig story, as well as shows that Jake actually took the lesson he learned to heart. When it comes down to it, Jake chooses to capture Ruiz instead of Doug Judy, because he knows how important the Giggle Pig win is for the Nine-Nine, and Rosa in particular. Her reaction to the win is priceless: “It means so much and it’s been so stressful and it went so welllllll. Seriously, I cannot stop smiling. How do people do this with their faces?” Oh Rosa, dear, sweet, emotionally guarded Rosa. You’ll become fully human one day.

Back in the Nine-Nine, Holt said no gifts, so of course Amy starts working extra hard on a gift for him. Her loophole logic being that her time is worth nothing, and so it won’t count if she makes him a gift. During the course of the “gift that’s not technically a gift” construction, Amy finds out that Holt made a mistake in one of his high profile cases -- the Brooklyn Broiler. You know, I think I’d consider working in a police station if there was a job that involved naming perps/cases. That would probably be the coolest job…although there’s always the potential that some dangerous and yet-to-be-apprehended criminal would not like his or her name, and would have something to say about it…Anyway, back to Amy’s non-gift drama. She wrestles, for a brief moment, over whether to inform Captain Holt of his mistake. It’s a good thing she chooses to disclose the information in the end because A) that’s the only way Holt would look at the scrapbook, B) the criminal gets a more just sentence for his crimes, C) Amy earns Holt’s respect and extra work! and D) Amy gets to break the tension with some (horrible) Christmas-related puns -- that Holt actually enjoys. Well as much as Holt enjoys anything.

While Amy struggles with her gift situation, Boyle and Gina deal with a gift situation of their own. Or rather, their parents. After the accidentally set-up between Boyle’s dad and Gina’s mom several weeks earlier, the two continued seeing each other -- and apparently in a much more serious capacity than Gina anticipated. Which leads Gina and Boyle to open Boyle Sr.’s present surreptitiously with Gina’s razor nails. (I’m wondering if the Nine-Nine is aware that she could probably slit everyone’s throats with her nails…actually, they could probably guess. It is Gina.) Even though Gina and Boyle are no longer together in…well, whatever sort of relationship they were in, they are a really fun pair to watch together, and I’m rooting for their parents to stick it out for a while if it means they’ll get to scheme as a team. I like seeing them work toward a common goal, and they come across as an odd mix of siblings and love interests. Best line of the story? “Are you going to poison my dad?” Boyle asks, earnestly. Fair question, Boyle, once again, it is Gina.

The case this week was a great mix of Pontiac Bandit, a great episode last season, and the Giggle Pig arc from this year. It looks like with the arrest of the kingpin that the Giggle Pig task force, and story, may be over. It was fun to see some serialization in the comedy this fall. It gave the characters specific job-related arcs, which was nice to see in addition to their relationship arcs. It was really great to see Rosa stepping up during the first half of the season as she led the Giggle Pig Task force, and how her position of power affected her relationship with the other detectives -- especially Jake. Last year she mostly seemed to be the sardonic quipper and object of Boyle’s (relentless) affection, and this arc helped the character to develop a lot more. She was much more enjoyable to watch, at least in my opinion, when her dark wit merged with her competency as a detective and leader.

Obviously after a relationship-centric episode like “The Road Trip,” there are some lingering questions about how Amy’s former (?) feelings for Jake might affect their working relationship and/or their friendship. These questions find no answers in this week’s episode, as Jake runs around town pretending to be an orphaned carjacker born of lightning and pain, and Amy folds the thinnest tape strips for her scrapbook. (I honestly don’t know how she gets those folded pieces of tape to lie so flat -- don’t they cause problems for anyone else?) Chances are Amy and Jake’s story will come up again in the new year, hopefully in bits and pieces like it’s been played this fall. The pacing of their story has been seemingly very methodical this year, and there’s been enough to pique interest in the two, without taking over the show every week.

Once again, well done, Brooklyn Nine-Nine -- this has been a great season so far. That’s all for now folks! I’ll leave you with this final question: What’s your best idea for the title of Santiago’s sex tape?
Until next year!

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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