Brooklyn Nine-Nine Review: Kicks (Season 5 Episode 3)

I’ll admit, I miss Blonde Boyle, but it is refreshing to see the 99 get back to its natural appearance. Despite looking like their Season 4 selves, Rosa Diaz and Jake Peralta are not who they once were.

Both detectives have been impacted by experiences in prison, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5 Episode 3 “Kicks,” kicks-off our examination of their growth.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine departs from typical tropes when Peralta and Diaz aren’t hardened or haunted by their incarceration stories. Instead, we see a hopeful glimpse of what rehabilitation in a criminal justice system could look like: a chance to see new perspectives, cast away fixed mindsets, and depend on help from trustworthy friends.

Of course, this is possible for Diaz and Peralta because they were framed and are not carrying the deeply complicating factors that many inmates carry.

Still, “Kicks,” steps-up and uses the stories from Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5 Episode 1, “The Big House Pt. 1,” and Season 5 Episode 2, “The Big House Pt. 2,” to develop the empathy and integrity of both Peralta and Diaz. Being on the other end of the handcuffs actually makes Diaz and Peralta better detectives.

Fresh out of incarceration, Peralta wants to celebrate by embracing fantasy foods and getting back on the beat. But, before he can resume solving cases, he must pass Captain Holt’s evaluation.

Boyle and Peralta have that familiar chemistry when they team up to catch a fancy shoe bandit. Quick wit and solid detective work lead the pair to the culprit, but Peralta confronts a challenge he picked up from his time behind bars: self-doubt.

Holt swoops in to assure Peralta that what he thinks of as a fault is actually the very thing that gives him a passing evaluation. Holt provides the Mr. Roger’s message that being able to question himself and explore doubts is not evidence of lost confidence. Instead, it is evidence that Peralta has grown from, not just lived through, being locked-up.

It’s such a tender message, delivered in the most 99 way imaginable, from a deep, crease-less, squat and sealed with a humble five.

Diaz has a compelling love story in Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5 Episode 3, “Kicks”.  Not in Diaz’s relationship with Adrian Pimento though, that mania comes to a close, and none too soon, the over the top shenanigans lost us long ago.

Rosa Diaz is falling in love with the precinct and it is quickly turning into the best ship on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. 

A pre-prison Diaz would resist help and insist on solving problems from the inside. But throughout her time in the Big House, Diaz came to her friends at the 99 for advice and support.

On this episode we see the fruits of that labor. Diaz depends on Terry Jeffords and Amy Santiago to be there for her, beside her as she navigates her rip-roaring life.

No one really understands Diaz. But that’s not the point. It’s not about knowing what Diaz needs to do, it’s about knowing how to show up for her.

Santiago tells Diaz “You know what to do.” Even though Santiago herself can’t predict or advise Diaz, she can be a friend and try to meet her just where she’s at, even if that’s humping on a nearby table.

The thread that was started on the previous episode, when we realize Holt used the help of a criminal to get Peralta and Diaz out of jail, was sadly dropped on this episode.

Hopefully, Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5 will feature an episode that develops Captain Holt’s ethical standards, like this episode did for Diaz and Peralta.

The pangs of longing for Gina continue, but if Season 5 keeps delivering balanced and witty episodes like this, it will be worth all the missing.

What did you think of this episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Tuesdays at 9:30/8:30c on Fox.

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