'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Season 7 Episode 4 Review: The Jimmy Jab Games are back, so is Jake's denial to grow up
Spoiler alert for Season 7 Episode 4 'The Jimmy Jab Games II'
The phenomenal Jimmy Jab Games finally makes its return in 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Season 7 Episode 4 and gone are the days of eating expired Chinese food and going undercover.
It is time for an expertly articulated Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) showmanship, some new meat throwing, and old anti-bomb suit races, and of course — the emotional twist in Rosa Diaz's (Stephanie Beatriz) fate that manages to bring her and ex-Captain Raymon Holt (Andre Braugher) closer.
But what touches even closer home is Jake Peralta's (Andy Samberg) constant denial of being an adult, which is so intense that this time, he ends up making yet another reckless bet only made worse by Michael Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) being the other person involved in the bet. Hilarious and touching in equal parts, the second Jimmy Jab Games is made even more significant by the mere fact that as opposed to trying his hardest at moving on from Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), this time Jake is trying his best to move on from his childhood as the couple tiptoes into the territory of parenthood.
The episode begins with Sargeant Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) once again needing to be away from work, specifically at a seminar, much to Amy's excitement. But Amy eventually can't tag along because of her best detective-slash-genius husband, Jake, who is in charge of the precinct.
Like the previous time, when they were left unsupervised by Terry, and then-captain Holt, Jake decides there's no better time to hold the second edition of the eponymous event wherein the detectives at the precinct participate in a bunch of bizarre contests for the prize of a bonus day off in the end. But taking the wheel as he might be, Jake's plight is triggered by the sheer fact that Terry thinks he is a responsible adult now that he and Amy are trying to conceive.
Always a manchild with intense daddy issues, Jake's ultimate cover in the precinct has been both Terry and Holt, and sometimes even his wife, Amy too. In Terry, Jake finds the protective elder brother he never had, who doesn't shy from giving him reality checks, affectionately, every now and then.
In Holt, Jake found his Captain Dad, the closest thing to a father figure he has ever experienced in his hilariously traumatized existence. In Amy, he sees pretty much everything combined in the form of a partner who has always got his back, thus allowing Jake to comfortably continue being the goofball manchild he is, while also caring and nurturing the people he loves, in his own dysfunctional way, subtly.
So naturally, posed with the concept of being responsible for an actual child makes Jake look at his imminent adulthood approaching too fast. And in the fit of denial that keeps making him make one awful decision after the other through the course of the games, he ends up betting their newly bought car to Hitchcock and being target by their precinct ceiling.
When not highlighting Jake's tribulations with stepping into adulthood and the realization settling in, the episode showcases Charles as the bearded lady from 'The Greatest Showman' — full with his props and costume changes within the games' rounds — and an undefeated optimism towards their new recruit, Debbie (Vanessa Byers).
Lo Truglio's spirit as Charles is unmatched in this episode as he brings about a summation of all the little nitty-gritties that makes Charles the human he is: Uninhibited and loud in his showmanship. The twist in the tale is that newly pumped with all that Boyle energy, Debbie does what she seemingly had come to do at the nine-nine and steals a bunch of drugs and guns from the evidence room of the precinct. Who would've thought, right?!
But speaking of reaching deep into who they are, there's a tiny little subplot running alongside the games that highlight the niches of Rosa and Holt's bond unlike ever before. The two cops have often bonded over their shared battles with sexuality and low levels of social tolerance, but this time, Holt is actually able to figure out why Rosa wants the winning prize of a day off so bad, wrongly so, thus only making their relationship more wholesome.
Turns out, Rosa got dumped by her girlfriend Jocelyn and just wanted a day off to herself where she could listen to loud metal music and be sad alone at peace. Holt assumed it was because Rosa wanted to propose to Jocelyn. But instead of being weirded out by the facts, he offers to withdraw from the game with Rosa and give her quiet company while listening to death metal, even though he self-admittedly hates it.
'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Season 7 airs on Thursdays at 8 pm only on NBC.