Brooklyn Nine-Nine Review: The Venue (Season 5 Episode 6)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5 Episode 6, “The Venue,” focuses on the “toit ship” between Amy Santiago and Jake Peralta. #Peraltiago once again proves that long term couples can still give us butterflies, even after the big get-together.
On “The Venue,” Amy and Jake take time away from work to plan their toit nups. They manage to find a venue in the city during the month of May, which is quite the feat for engaged couples in New York.
The adventurous wedding planning sequences show us how in sync Amy and Jake are as a couple. They are on the same page with all things wedding, including their chosen abrevs.
It feels natural, joyful, and easy.
Enter The Vulture. Brilliantly, The Vulture disrupts the couple’s plans, but not the couple themselves. In fact, The Vulture’s yucky schemes push us closer to Jake and Amy, as we see them have similar emotional reactions to the events.
“The Venue” reaffirms what #Peraltiago has been showing for the whole series: silly and nerdy ships do not have to be superficial.
While the writing and direction of the episode are stellar, it’s the acting talents of Andy Samberg and Melissa Fumero that take the ship to a deeper level.
The situations these two find themselves in are ridiculous. Their acting softens the ridiculousness, makes the characters relate-able, and then reaches through the screen to take grip of viewers’ heart strings and tug, tug, tug.
Samberg and Fumero manage to remain subtle, utilizing a wide range of facial expressions and tones. The chemistry feels authentic and endearing. What a work of art on a rather unassuming comedy show.
The main plot of “The Venue” involves The Vulture stealing Amy and Jake’s wedding venue. He is engaged to a heart-of-gold do-gooder named Jean Munhroe.
When Jake and Amy learn (via the gross realization that Hitchcock’s been using a Tinder-esque dating app that pings when a hook-up is available) that The Vulture is cheating on Jean and is just marrying her for money, the couple set out to take The Vulture’s relationship down.
The itty-bitty, less important, side benefit is that they can get their venue back.
Jake and Amy decide to do some blackmail at a double-date dinner, where they will keep The Vulture’s secret if they get back the venue. But the nuptial team have too much heart to go through with it, confirming that they’re a couple worth shipping.
At the dinner, Jake explains how he came to ask Amy to marry him, and his explanation is perfect. He explains when he knew, but he doesn’t share the details. This shows his loyalty and special closeness to their friends at the 99, because he did explain exactly when he knew he was going to propose during Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5 Episode 4, “HalloVeen.”
He doesn’t spill all the deets to just anyone, because he recognizes how precious their story is.
He also doesn’t flinch or stumble through his explanation. He is self-assured and soft. It is a showcase of his deep, enduring, unshakable love for Amy. SWOON.
When Amy and Jake realize that this lovely woman in front of them thinks she has the same thing with The Vulture (not knowing he is having trysts with reality TV loving, spray tan laden women), they set aside their venue grab-back plans.
Amys shows the dick pics The Vulture sent on the app to the unsuspecting Jean, saving her from a life of lies with The Vulture.
It is a sweet move, but it gets even sweeter when Amy and Jake explain the outcome of losing their venue to the precinct.
Amy and Jake have a new venue, deep in Staten Island. It sounds janky, cheap, and more than a little bit off from their previous plans. But the joy and unity the couple exhibits when they share the news warms our hearts.
Jake tells Amy he would marry her in a dumpster, and that confession brings me to tears. Brooklyn Nine-Nine continues to make great moves with its characters, and I fell in love all over again this week.
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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Janelle Ureta
Janelle Ureta is equal parts Veronica Mars, Raven Reyes, and Rebecca Bunch, but she aspires to add some Tammy Taylor to the mix. An attorney turned teacher, Janelle believes in the power of a well-told story. She is currently exploring how to tell short stories, 140 characters or less, on twitter. She loves to talk about TV, and right now she can't shut up about Timeless, Dear White People, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The 100, or Younger.