Brooklyn Nine-Nine Review: The Fugitive, Parts 1 & 2 (Season 4 Episodes 11 & 12)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a workplace comedy, but since the workplace is a police precinct, sometimes the characters are after criminals who have done some terrible things.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 4 Episode 11 and Episode 12, which make up the two-part winter finale “The Fugitive,” show how great the writers are at balancing the comedy when dealing with a more serious crime-of-the-week storyline.
The writers have proved in the past that they can diffuse a serious situation with comedy. They don’t shy away from talking about how serious the situation is, but they’re able to keep things light with jokes, without making the jokes seem inappropriate.
The criminals in “The Fugitive” are dangerous people, so Brooklyn Nine-Nine turns to one of its favorite things to lighten the mood — a competition. Jake and Amy’s bet turns catching the fugitives into a game, but it doesn’t completely ignore how serious the situation is.
At one point, one of the fugitives says he was probably going to kill Terry and let Jake shoot him. Jake simply says, “Oh my god. Well, I should have been way more scared” before the focus is quickly shifted back to the competition. It’s a dark joke, but it’s a reminder of the danger they’re facing.
Aside from the bet itself, the first half of the episode also uses Jake and Amy’s relationship to keep things light.
There are some sweet moments for the couple, with Jake saying he’s reading the Harry Potter books because Amy loves them so much, and him forfeiting the competition and agreeing to move into her apartment because he loves her and wants her to be happy.
With the competition over, the second half of the episode brings back recurring character Doug Judy, a.k.a. the Pontiac Bandit, to keep things light as they search for the last, and most dangerous, fugitive.
Jake and Judy’s weird friendship is always entertaining, and adding Holt into the mix helps to give it a different spin from Judy’s previous appearances.
Overall, the main arc of “The Fugitive” is proof that the Nine-Nine can tackle serious police work while still being entertaining and funny. It’s also a great use of a super-sized episode, especially when compared to Season 4’s uneven earlier attempt at a multi-episode arc — the three-part “Coral Palms” season premiere.
“The Fugitive” does have one weak spot — the B-plot in the second half involving Amy, Gina, Boyle and an office group text.
The winter finale aired as one one-hour episode, but the title is technically “The Fugitive, Parts 1 & 2),” and the sudden emergence of this new B-plot is really the only indicator that Part 2 has started.
The main arc continues smoothly from Part 1 to Part 2, and the other new B-plot introduced in Part 2, about Terry’s fear of aging, is related to the fugitive case, so it’s a little jarring when the completely unrelated texting B-plot suddenly begins.
B-plots are usually completely unrelated to the main plot, yes, but since everyone in the precinct was involved in the fugitive case for the first 20 minutes of the episode, it’s odd when suddenly Amy and Gina are teaching Boyle how to text appropriately. It’s funny enough, but it feels like it belongs in a different episode.
This B-plot also leads to the surprising cliffhanger.
After all of the detectives manage to recapture the fugitives without any scrapes, Gina gets hit by a bus when she stops in the middle of the street to read a text from Boyle. (Earlier in the episode, she actually mentions she would rather get hit by a bus than get another text from him.)
People have gotten hurt on Brooklyn Nine-Nine before — in Season 2, Jake was badly hurt after getting hit by a car, and Holt was “lightly” stabbed during an attempted mugging. Both Boyle and Jake have been shot, in Season 1 and Season 4, respectively.
But none of those episodes ended with them getting hurt.
We at least got to see that they were okay, and in every instance, a few jokes were made about the injuries. After Gina gets hit, all we get is “To Be Continued…”
FOX hasn’t yet set a return date for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, so fans may have to wait a while to find out Gina’s fate.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
- Some of the best jokes in “The Fugitive” just came from the pop culture references, between the references to the movie “The Fugitive,” Harry Potter, Westworld and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- Not knowing anything about guest star Marshawn Lynch may have killed a little bit of the humor of his appearance, but Rosa’s horrified reaction to his rambling and over-sharing was still pretty funny.
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine continues to portray Jake and Amy as a healthy, supportive, loving couple, and it’s wonderful. Their major relationship milestones aren’t being rushed, and they’re not being torn apart for the sake of keeping things interesting. I wouldn’t hesitate to call them one of the best couples currently on TV, especially on a comedy.
What did you think of “The Fugitive, Parts 1 & 2”? Do you think Gina’s okay? Share with us in the comments below!
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Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on FOX.
Katie Houlis
Katie is a recent college graduate who spent most of her free time at school binge-watching shows like Battlestar Galactica, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fringe, and Hannibal. She has watched every single episode of Lost at least ten times each (yes, even “Stranger In A Strange Land”). Current favorites include a bunch of comedies, lots of superhero shows, and a few shows with quite a bit of murder in them.