Monday, November 9, 2015

Brooklyn Nine-Nine 3x06: “Into the Woods” (Sorry for Dropping In) [Contributor: Connie]


"Into the Woods"
Original Airdate: November 8, 2015

This week's Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode "Into the Woods" split the squad up into guys and girls, with Rosa and Holt in the middle. We got to explore the aforementioned and rarely seen character pairing, went out of town with the boys, and also got to experience some classic Amy/Gina. The most enjoyable aspect about this episode was the flawless way Amy and Gina’s story passed the Bechdel Test. It is happening more and more on my favorite shows lately — though it’s still not often enough — so it still deserves recognition when it happens.

Amy and Gina work on young Amy's shoulder flashlight invention that she made so that she could read books after hours, and work to present it to the Police Commissioner's office. Because there doesn’t seem to be a need for it, it doesn't work. But watching Amy and Gina work together was worth it. Plus, Gina gives the invention to a young girl in her building — for as much as Gina teases Amy, she still supports not just her, but girls like her (#LadiesSupportingLadies). Gina had clearly seen this girl in her building, which girl reminded her of Amy, and she gave Amy’s invention to her. Girls like me and Amy and that girl from the building appreciate you, Gina. I can’t help but wonder if the Shoulder Nova will appear later in the season, making this Chekov’s Flashlight.

While Gina and Amy sort of do policework, Jake, Terry, and Boyle all head out of town. Terry is feeling overworked and underappreciated, so Jake attempts to make it up to him, but of course, only makes things worse. They head to a cabin in the woods, and it’s the worst cabin ever. No power, no heat — “Is there running water?” “Of course there’s running water. It’s contaminated. We had three dogs die in the well.” — as well as no food. When Boyle offers to forage for a “sporegasborg,” he goes missing and falls into a sinkhole. This show really has such wacky adventures, and even when plots run similar to that of Parks and Recreation, those adventures still present us with a new perspective. If only Jake had chosen Ron Swanson’s cabin in the woods, or had fallen in the pit behind Ann Perkins’ house!

I think Terry’s wife giving birth must be the mid-season finale, with how much the show is leading up to it. They’ve discussed that more than they have the Jake/Amy (more Jake/Amy PLEASE!) romance, and every time they do, it seems like Sharon is ready to pop. With all this build-up, though, I wonder how this will affect the squad — their support for one another has already spread to Terry, so everyone is going to be pulled in to the birth of Terry’s new baby. I cannot wait to see how the dynamics shift.

In our final (possibly) sighting of Nick Cannon, Rosa breaks up with Marcus, getting help from Captain Holt in the process. Our two tough officers unlock their sensitive sides as Holt tries to get Rosa to take a softer approach with Marcus. A softer approach that does not involve texting him in the middle of the night or climbing out of the window. I like that it was Holt and Rosa who helped each other, rather than, say Amy and Rosa or Charles and Rosa. There’s an emotional equality the two characters share that makes their tears more acceptable than if a softer character such as Amy had tried to pull these emotions out of Rosa. There’s also a equal level of respect that Holt and Rosa have for each other that would have left Rosa more embarrassed to express herself with any other character than it did. So now, Marcus is gone and Rosa and Holt have deepened their relationship.

Next up: we need to explore more of the Holt/Charles dynamic!

 Bullets on the Bulletin Board:

  • The 24-style opening was pretty cool, and led to the perfect review subtitle. 
  • “You could have gone through the door with Charles.” “But then what would my catchphrase have been?”
  • “This is a debacle.” “We have to turn this debacle into a straight up bacle.”
  • I love that Terry loves bloopers, because I do too. “They’re hilarious and relaxing and they humanize my heroes.” I never expected Terry to be the one to say this line when I saw someone tweet it (while I watched Hamilton on 60 Minutes), but I’m glad he’s the one who said it.
  • That’s not helpful, you always make a thousand mistakes.” “That’s what Amy said before she took over for me.” 
  • Amy is Hermione, Jake is Ron, leaving maybe Rosa or Charles as Harry Potter? I personally choose Rosa.
  • “Plus that cabin is probably full of black mold.” “Racist.”
  • Terry really knows his tick-related diseases.
  • “This flashlight and I went all around the world together. The Shire, Sweet Valley High, Terabithia...” “And never to a friend’s house, huh?” “Uncalled for.”
  • “When’s sinkhole season?” “It’s been going on, like, 20 years now. Like a Game of Thrones winter.” Perfect lines are perfect.
  • “I did some research on amicable breakups. i visited w w w dot ladiesgoodhealthmag dot com backslash 6 hyphen relationships backslah 867599904 backslash 943&00.html. Do you know that site?” I had to type it out just to help visual Andre Braugher’s perfect cadence as he said this. Is “reading URLs” the new “reading a phonebook?” It’s certainly more modern.
  • “You want me to change my name to Vanessa?” “Desperately.”
  • “Yes, I brought all of those things, It’s called a cell phone: map, flashlight, compass, an app that makes me sound like T-Pain — nope the battery’s dead, now it’s just a brick.”
  • Jake’s T-Pain impression sounds like Kermit the Frog, apparently.
  • “We’re gonna triple spoon like grownups!”
  • “You look a little d and d. Down and the dumps, respectively.” 
  • “Without product-makers like you, us dazzle-doves would have nothing to shake our wings over.” Guys, I want to use the word dazzle-doves all the time now.
  • I love the little local NYC detail Jake provides in the end: “The fireworks you made me surrender when we re-entered New York?!” Also love that of course Jake brought fireworks and of course Terry made him surrender them. 

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