Brooklyn Nine-Nine Review: 99 (Season 5 Episode 9)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5 Episode 9, “99,” is the 99th episode. But with it, Brooklyn Nine-Nine earns 99 out of 99 points: 100%. The episode is perfection.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is most powerful when the 99 is all together. The whole team, minus Gina (#IMissGina), is together for the entire “99”episode, and it is magic.

Captain Holt proves himself once again to be a long-game mastermind when he derails the 99’s trip back to Brooklyn by manipulating Jake Peralta.

Old habits “Die Hard,” and Jake can’t resist visiting a famous Die Hard building to take 600 photos as evidence of his fandom. The team gets trapped and misses their flights, catapulting them on a wonky and endearing cross-country road trip.

Several key relationships between members of the 99 are featured, and the nuanced presentation gives all the feels without any of the eye-rolls.

Rosa wears her heart so far from her sleeve, sometimes it is unclear if she wears it at all. Boyle can wiggle through the densest of layers, though, and “99” beautifully displays how important it is for friends to have the patience to get through to the hidden, but certainly beating, hearts beneath.

During the opening funeral scenes on “99,” Boyle’s nosy nature brings him to discover that Rosa has a new significant other.

As compared to Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5 Episode 8 (where Boyle’s character traits were used more bluntly and redundantly), on this episode his persistent caring and overblown adoration for friends and family hits a charming balance.

It shows that Boyle is how he is because he is invested in the people he loves, even if he’s never met them before. It’s a beautiful quality — one that is worthy of some teasing but also worthy of trust. Rosa gives him that trust in “99,” and it results in the episode delivering an incredible coming out storyline for her.

Rosa is bisexual. She comes out to Boyle, only after several conversations where she is reticent to share. Her arc provides a stunning example of how challenging coming out can be for introverts. It also shows how important it is for allies to be a safe space for people to come out on their own terms.

Boyle cares deeply for Rosa. To him, she is family. He has taken the time to invest in his relationship with her and as a result, his nosiness is not a gesture of prying or voyeurism. It is a gesture of love.

This, I think, is a good guide for people wanting to know about another person’s love life or romantic preferences. Pressing on someone to open up might be appropriate, but only if you are like Boyle: patient, sincere, and trusted by the someone.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine also gives us an important message about acceptance and inclusion of LGBTQIA stories. Boyle persists with Rosa in the same way he would if he was talking to a straight character. He doesn’t back away and become more hands-off when Rosa comes out as bisexual. Instead, he acts as he normally would — continuing to be his nosy self and try to guess Rosa’s new girlfriend’s name. I hope it’s Moana.

There’s real beauty in that. LGBTQIA characters shouldn’t be treated with a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach. Bisexual characters shouldn’t be expected to live their personal lives in hushed voices behind closed doors. That is not how non-LGBTQIA characters are treated.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine models how a person can be respectful and sensitive to a person coming out, while simultaneously providing them the respect of treating them exactly the same (peppering with annoying questions) as a heterosexual person who is dating someone new.

It is also important to note that Rosa Diaz is a bisexual woman of color, portrayed by a bisexual woman of color, Stephanie Beatriz. Such representation is almost unheard of, and it adds new delight to the episode.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is breaking barriers and progressing inclusive storytelling this season, without making it obvious. The show is delicately letting us see what a show can be like when it embraces diversity as contributing to a character’s identity, but not being a character’s sole identity. Again, the episode is an A+.

In the early fall, I wrote in my review or Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 3 Episode 5 “Kicks” about how I hoped Captain Holt’s rather out of character move to use a criminal informant in order to get Rosa and Jake out of jail wouldn’t be just a dropped thread. “99” solidifies my trust in the Brooklyn Nine-Nine squad, because the thread is picked up in the most beautiful way possible.

Captain Holt tries to sabotage getting back to his interview to become Lord High Commander of all Justice, because he is afraid that his improper use of an informant will come out. He is willing, and actively attempts, to forgo his career-long dream because of his love for and devotion to the members of his precinct.

Jake has no idea, and while he is in the dark about Holt’s true intentions, he does everything he can think of to make it to the interview, including a group sleepover with the Texas Boyles.

While laying next to each other in sleeping bags, Jake gently admits to Captain Holt that he has changed Jake’s life. Captain Holt has made Jake Peralta want to be a better man.

It’s almost too tender and true to bear.

Along with calling Holt “Daptain,” the small moments between Peralta and Holt warm my heart and make me giddy with adoration for the entire ensemble. I repeat, 4.0 episode.

Terry Jeffords is so relatable on “99.” He is so excited to be First Class Terry that when he misses the flight, he steals a first class mint that he doesn’t put down until the very last moment, when Captain Holt requires fresh breath.

He tries to mimic the experience he was looking forward to by wetting napkins with warm water.

Terry taking the wet paper napkins off his face, leaving little napkin debris all over his cheeks, is hands-down one of the funniest images I have seen on television.

Terry Crews, the actor who plays Terry Jeffords, adds excitement and presence to every line and scene, no matter how brief.

He excitedly exclaims that he is excited to watch Bridget Jones’s Baby on the plane, and instantly the scene is kicked up a notch to unforgettable status.

Amy Santiago was also deeply herself on the episode. She tries to lower her high-strung personality. But as Jake points out, Santiago is not TOO high-strung, she just IS high-strung, and that is a part of her that everyone loves.

The height of Amy’s high-strung-ness ends up saving the day, as she expertly “Type A’s” in order to get the squad back to Brooklyn. She’s a hero when she is herself, and that is a message worth codifying #legalizeit.

“99” is a five-star, out-of-the park episode, complete with some hilarious zingers. Here are a few of the best:

• “Mishy Elliot, Mishes Doubtfire”- Peralta
• “I should be sitting next to a semi-famous person I can’t quite place right now.”- Jeffords
• “We call it giving each other road head.” – Boyle
• “MERVYNS!”

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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