Brooklyn Nine-Nine Review: Hitchcock & Scully (Season 6 Episode 2)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 6 Episode 2, “Hitchcock & Scully,” delivers several big laughs but misses the mark on giving us fresh inclusive content that is consistent with the characters we love.
The focus of “Hitchcock & Scully” is actually less Hitchcock and Scully and more Jake and Boyle. The problem with this focus is that it has been done, over and over and over, with the same conflict and resolution pattern.
We know and have known for a while, that Boyle is overly trusting and naive. It is wasting the abundant talent of Joe Lo Truligo to go over this well-trodden territory again, especially with the same person.
The Jake and Boyle pairing does occasionally work well for laughs and character development. For example, the Season 5 finale where Boyle goes full Mission Impossible to ensure that Jake and Amy’s day is a hit, is great.
But, on “Hitchcock & Scully,” the pairing just makes a friendship with Boyle seem like too much work. That’s not funny or heart-warming, and that is how Boyle works best as a character.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 6 Episode 1, “Honeymoon,” worked so well because of its less typical pairings of characters. Gina and Boyle haven’t had a chance to interact much in several seasons. It was refreshing to be reminded of their connection on “Honeymoon.”
Also, Boyle can get it in that Gina wig.
“Hitchcock & Scully” would benefit from keeping in mind the strength of Boyle paired with the women in the precinct.
Rosa, for the second time this season, was really a peripheral character who had one-line type involvement with the plot. She does the dirty work of getting the widow’s signature, but the heart of the upstairs vs downstairs people conflict is between Terry and Amy.
Rosa could easily have been included in the A-plot and that would have allowed her, Boyle, and Jake’s characters to be developed and enriched, rather than just displayed.
If you have always craved more Hitchcock and Scully, then this episode likely hits the spot.
For me, the minor screen time they have is appropriate and works well for the ensemble. I would prefer more time with Gina and Terry, but I also prefer getting to know Hitchcock and Scully more than spending a whole episode with a guest star character.
Overall, Hitchcock and Scully have always been one-note characters. The episode doesn’t do anything to change that, but it does dust up some very entertaining flashbacks of when they were top dogs at the 99.
There have also been a couple times where the show used Hitchcock or Scully to cross a line of appropriateness, without any payoff for the characters or the story.
For example, on the opener of Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5 Episode 21, “White Whale,” Scully was unintentionally exposing his penis to people. That’s not original or particularly funny, and that was pretty much the only thing Scully did on the episode.
I don’t want to minimize what great fun it is to travel back in time and see the fit, hot, capable versions of Hitchcock and Scully. The wet and wild 80s play fabulously on screen and it’s awesome.
I giggle out loud when Young Scully throws a dope wink to Marissa, and I love that Scully uses the wink in current time towards the end of the episode and we get to see how The Freak’s sweet skills have diminished. The casting of Young Hitchcock and Young Scully is perfection.
As always, Dirk Blocker and Joel McKinnon Miller nail it as Scully and Hitchcock.
Still, I have mixed feelings, especially about the reveal on the episode that Wingsltuz’s sauce was the dynamic duo’s undoing and that sauce eventually saves Marissa.
On one hand, that goes against the grain.
Usually, the unrequited love of a woman or an unsolved case would be the reason to lose one’s detective mojo. The shot of young-Hitchcock and young-Scully basically making-out with the wings is hilarious.
On the other hand, the wing obsession really doubles down on the pair being simple-minded and glutenous individuals. That then creates an association between loving “trashy” food and being overweight with overall competence.
Though Jake has a line where he objects to the accusation that he’s body shaming and asserts that he is “personality shaming,” the show continuously connects eating “low-class” foods with Hitchcock and Scully. The smartest thing we see Hitchcock do, maybe ever, is hot box the interrogation room with his lactose intolerant farts.
Not going to lie, I definitely laugh. I also feel it is not providing the best message about being less that superfit.
It is dangerous territory for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, a show that has been criticized for fat-shaming. “Hitchcock & Scully,” is very character specific, but the episode does nothing to counter the message that fat equals dumb. In fact, it can be reasonably interpreted as reinforcing this message.
I’d love to see Brooklyn Nine-Nine step away from its food humor and embrace another fall-guy to illustrate Hitchcock and Scully’s ineptitude. Perhaps social media or technology overall could do the trick?
The little moments and one-liners are my favorite part of the episode.
John Kelly’s interactions with Captain Holt, where he is smiling while being a snake is deeply entertaining.
CAPTAIN HOLT: I don’t like your threats or the cheery manner in which you deliver them.
It captures the horror and intrigue of being around a person of privilege who can really play the political game.
The quick back and forth about Ellen Musk, nee Elon Musk, is fabulous. I want to see Gina and Amy together more. Their differences bring out their funniest qualities.
I take a smidge of an issue with Gina’s television interview. Gina performs very well in those scenarios and the episode shows us a flop of a performance.
It would be more consistent for Gina’s character to have received the most phone complaints but have gone viral on Twitter and Instagram because Generation Z loves her.
I would also have liked to see more of her speech. Then again, there’s never a time where I don’t want more Gina!
“Hitchcock & Scully,” meets the needs for the Nine-Nine community members who have been wanting an episode focused on the two bumbling officers.
It also gives us the sure-to-be-classic Wingslutz and Beaver Trap. For that, I am thankful.
We also get to hear Jake refer to Amy as his wife, and that is always going to bring maximum joy.
Top One Niners
- “My dad and my wife!” – Jake
- “This whole room is a Dutch Oven.” – Hitchcock
- “You’re fake news! Sad!” – Scully
- “Classic downstairs person.” – Terry
What did you think of this episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC.
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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.