“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 →

“Renew Brooklyn Nine-Nine or Bust!”

I started reviewing Brooklyn Nine-Nine for Paste Magazine way back in the day, about four years ago in fact, so if anyone is going to write an editorial about Fox’s jaw-dropping failure to renew the series for a sixth season it’s going to be me. Which is basically a convoluted way of saying that I wrote an … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 4.17 & 4.18, “Cop Con”/”Chasing Amy”

Get ready to be bummed, gang: This is my last Brooklyn Nine-Nine write-up. For now! For now. Easy there, you didn’t let me finish. This is my last Brooklyn Nine-Nine write-up for now, as I’ll be unable to cover the rest of the season (ending on the 23rd). But it’s all good! You can still tune into … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 4.16, “Moo Moo”

I know neither how nor why I have managed to forget to share my review of last week’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine. For as long as I’ve been writing about this show, my write-up for “Moo Moo” stands out as one of my favorites, much as “Moo Moo” itself stands out as one of the best episodes in the … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 4.15, “The Last Ride”

Spoiler alert: The title of this week’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a lie. Just thought I should tell you that upfront, because there is just no way anyone could have guessed that on their own, no sir. (This is my shorthand, smartass way of saying that I dug “The Last Ride” in spite of its predictability, because … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 4.14, “Serve And Protect”

Honest admission: I’m not sure if my critique of this week’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine is fair or if I’m just reaching for something critical to say about a pound-for-pound solid episode. It is a little bit of a bummer that the real dramatic “stuff” of the episode is shunted to the side to make space for an A-plot … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 4.13, “The Audit”

I say this a lot, particularly whenever Brooklyn Nine-Nine returns to air after its mid-season break or its season ender, but: Brooklyn Nine-Nine is back, baby! Just like Gina Linetti! I failed, in my recap of “The Audit” for Paste Magazine, to properly salute Dirk Blocker for his perfect delivery of that exact line upon Gina’s return … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episodes 4.10/4.11, “The Fugitive Part 1/Part 2”

How weird. I’m slowly becoming disenchanted with Brooklyn Nine-Nine, one of my go-to favorites for unwinding during the week. Not that the New Year two-parter is bad (though I am disturbed at how often I find myself repeating this sentiment), but as with the New Girl crossover, it feels unnecessary. If the show wanted to do a … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 4.06, “Monster in the Closet”

…oh, thank god Brooklyn Nine-Nine is back. This is a nail I hammer home often, but for the most part any Brooklyn Nine-Nine is good Brooklyn Nine-Nine, even the Brooklyn Nine-Nine that isn’t as good as the best Brooklyn Nine-Nine; it’s even better when Brooklyn Nine-Nine hasn’t been on the air for a while, whether because the season is over or … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Episode 4.04, “The Night Shift”

The best part of “The Night Shift,” last week’s episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, is that its crossover with New Girl didn’t totally sink it. It barely made a dent in it, in fact, but that’s because the crossover is minimal. (There’s more crossover in New Girl itself than in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, in point of fact.) But I still hated … 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, 3.22 & 3.23, “Bureau”/”Greg and Larry”

I’ll say this about Brookly Nine-Nine‘s third season in a macro context: I liked it quite a bit overall and think that it’s solid with just a few rough patches here and there in its twenty three episode span. On the subject of its final two episodes, my thoughts are somewhat more complex, and I suggest … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.21, “Maximum Security”

Quick, take a picture: It’s an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine that I didn’t out-and-out love. This, of course, has happened before, and it is also worth noting that I would not exactly describe “Maximum Security” as “bad” as much as “disappointing,” and perhaps “stunted.” There aren’t that many episodes left in season three, and this feels … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.20, “Paranoia”

“We talk an awful lot about what kind of show Brooklyn Nine-Nine is, and how its genre, tone, and sensibility generally excuse it from having to be anything more than funny to succeed. This holds true for “Paranoia,” which is often uproarious, but the episode stresses that emotion is just as important a component to … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.19, “Terry Kitties”

If you follow me on any kind of social media, you already know how I feel about this week’s episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine: it is valuable and wonderful simply because it demands that Terry Crews act like a complete asshole to cute kittens. This is why I watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Hell, it’s why I watch television. I’ll spare … Continue reading →

TV Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 3.18, “Cheddar”

“Don’t let the incomprehensibly adorable little corgi who supplies “Cheddar” with its title fool you: this week, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is about something more substantial than cute puppies doing cute things, even though it is mostly about that. “Cheddar” is for the most part a fluff episode (no pun intended, though Cheddar is pretty fluffy), a … 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, 3.10, “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 →