“Terry Crews In Brooklyn Nine-Nine Is Modern Masculinity At Its Best”

Terry Crews isn’t the star of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” but he’s pretty much the show’s heart and soul. And its muscle. And its fretting grandma. Continue reading →

Review: Win it All, 2017, dir. Joe Swanberg

Joe Swanberg did a thing, and I liked the thing that Joe Swanberg did. This is not unusual. I have liked Joe Swanberg things in the past. I have also not liked Joe Swanberg things in the past, because improvisational filmmaking has its ups as well as its downs, the former being the life that … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 4.05, “Halloween IV”

I’m starting to sound like a broken record with Brooklyn Nine-Nine – “Predictable! Predictable!” – and it’s not just in the show’s fourth season. “Predictable” is exactly how I described the show’s Halloween episode back in 2015, too! The thing is, predictable isn’t the same thing as bad, and so, just like with last year, predicting … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 4.03, “Coral Palms, Pt. 3”

And: Boom. It’s done. The Coral Palms arc is over, and we’re back to New York City. I’m not upset about that, per se, because it was inevitable, but I kinda wish we’d gotten to spend just a little more time down in sweaty stinky butt Florida, because that diversion was super fun. I’ll live. So … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 4.02, “Coral Palms, Pt. 2”

Finally, what all of you Jake/Holt shippers have been waiting for: The kiss. Except that the kiss isn’t a real kiss, just a decoy kiss, and seriously, there are no Jake/Holt shippers, so forget it. (There actually may be, because everything is someone’s kink, but that’s neither here nor there.) Brooklyn Nine-Nine continues its winning ways by … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.17, “Adrian Pimento”

“Guest stars have been a thing for Brooklyn Nine-Nine since the very beginning, when Stacy Keach, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Patton Oswalt showed up for one-offs, and Craig Robinson, Marilu Henner, and Kyle Bornheimer each stepped into limited but recurring roles. (Remember: Doug Judy is still around!) But after season two took several paces back … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.14, “Karen Peralta”

“There are so many stray observations worth making about Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s latest installment that figuring out where to start is like ice-skating uphill. Stephanie Beatriz deserves to be cast in an action movie so she can kick asses full time; only Joe Lo Truglio can over-enunciate “phở” with devastating comic effect; we don’t actually know … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.11, “Hostage Situation”

“Here’s a new twist on an old favorite: Boyle and Jake, buddies now, buddies forever, quantifiably grow up after having a wacky off-duty adventure that ends with the promise of a potentially amazing multi-episode story arc. If Dan Goor and Michael Schur know what’s good for them (and the show, really), they’ll use this opportunity … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.10, “Yippie Kayak”

“What gift should you buy for the Diehard-obsessed NYPD detective who has everything? How about this: don’t buy him a gift at all, just let him wander into a real-life Diehard situation so that he can live out his John McClane fantasy. By the time “Yippie Kayak” ends, you half-expect someone (probably Boyle) involved in … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.09, “The Swedes”

“Everything’s been coming up Rosa lately, hasn’t it? It’s been a few episodes since she broke up with Marcus and subsequently broke down with Holt, and only a couple since Terry taught her a valuable lesson in compassion and forgiveness, despite a cavalcade of oopsies and screw-ups; after the season’s decidedly Rosa-light first half, she’s … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.03, “Boyle’s Hunch”

“What do you want out of your sitcom? Twenty two-ish minutes of escalating hilarity that, in the end, ties everything up as neatly as a bow knotted by Martha Stewart’s own fastidious hands? Do you want to invest yourself in the characters, or is pointlessly chuckling your chief concern? Are you interested in material with … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.03, “The Funeral”

“Boyle is back, baby! Okay, maybe the resuscitation of Charles Boyle’s latent dating life is, in the grand scheme of things, Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s least important third season development thus far, but after last week’s “New Captain,” there hung in the air a question as to what the show intended for him in a post-Jamy world. … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.01, “New Captain”

“Talking about “New Captain,” the first episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s third season, without disclosing the particulars of its more delightful surprises isn’t easy. If you’ve seen TV promos for the premiere, then Fox has already done the grim task of spoiling [actor]’s appearance as [character] for you, and, rightly, you’re probably a little bummed. But … Continue reading →

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

“We now break our usual third-person omniscient mode in service to a desperate first-person plea: Can somebody please make me a pair of .gifs of Rosa’s and Holt’s amazing mid-episode reaction shots during their ill-fated double date with Marcus and Kevin? Stephanie Beatriz and Andre Braugher are both great at wry humor and articulating hilarity … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 2.17, “Boyle-Linetti Wedding”

“There is no actor more perfect to play Joe Lo Truglio’s dad than Stephen Root; and there is no actress more perfect to play Chelsea Peretti’s mom than Sandra Bernhard. So an episode explicitly named for the marital union between Lynn Boyle and Darlene Linetti attains perfection on at least two different planes, which gives … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 2.14, “Defense Rests”

“After a brief absence and a criminally unfunny opening sequence, “Defense Rests” gets Brooklyn Nine-Nine on the right track, with a trio of overarching plot developments… but man is that opener a letdown. Seriously, ants? That’s what we get after skipping a Sunday in the dead of winter? Ants? What, are rodent infestations just too … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 2.11, “Stakeout”

“Before any discussion of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s mid-season finale (an over exaggeration in terms, if there ever was one) can be broached, I must begin this review by saying “oops.” In all things Kyra Sedgwick, I have been proven false time and again; when it looked like her total appearances on the show would add to … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 2.09, “The Road Trip”

“What happens when Jake Peralta’s breathtaking lack of propriety collides with Amy Santiago’s control freak neuroses? “The Road Trip,” perhaps the single best episode in Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s entire second season. That’s high praise in light of “USPIS”, last week’s truly terrific offering, which represents a high point in the show’s sophomore slump. There’s no denying … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 2.08, “USPIS”

“And just like that, with a flurry of story, a guest stint from Ed Helms, and a helping of penis humor, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is back on track. “USPIS” perfectly highlights what the show does so, so well as compared to Season Two’s less successful episodes (“Lockdown,” “Halloween II”)—finding something valuable for each and every member … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 2.07, “Lockdown”

“Brooklyn Nine-Nine has really been whiffing on its holiday episodes this season; first it was “Halloween II,” now it’s “Lockdown.” These episodes suffer from the exact same storytelling problems, both superficial and fundamental. Neither manage to outdo their predecessors from yesteryear, but in all honesty that’s not a huge issue—if either managed to just be … Continue reading →