Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 7 episode 4 review: And the winner of the Jimmy Jab Games is…
This week’s episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine brought back the Jimmy Jab games… and gave Jake a pretty compelling reason to win them.
The seventh season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine may be airing on a new network, but it’s sticking with the show’s many traditions. Last week’s episode showed the return of the always-entertaining Adrian Pimento, and this week brought back one of the 99th Precinct’s favorite events: the Jimmy Jab Games. Introduced back in season two, the Jimmy Jab Games is a competition the squad has whenever they have too much free time and too little supervision. It’s full of ridiculous challenges, and the winner gets bragging rights until the next time the Jimmy Jabs happen — along with whatever other crazy prizes the gang can come up with.
And the stakes are high during this year’s competition, as Hitchcock taunts Jake into putting his and Amy’s new car on the line. Given that Jake is feeling too old and responsible now that he and Amy are attempting to have a kid, it’s fairly easy to persuade him to do something irresponsible — though he does spend the rest of the episode trying to make up for the mistake (and trying to keep the car, obv).
Charles hosts the Jimmy Jab Games this time around, insisting on turning it into his own rendition of The Last Showman. Charles is always extra, but he’s extra extra throughout this week’s episode, and we love him for it. We never thought we’d say this, but who needs Hugh Jackman when you can have Charles Boyle?
And viewers weren’t the only ones appreciating Charles during last night’s episode. Newcomer Debbie also gets a confidence boost from him during the games, which she almost doesn’t participate in because “having fun with friends” is a little too high stakes for her. Granted, her reluctance makes sense, especially since she winds up having an allergic reaction to turkey of all things, forcing her to sit out of the games anyway.
Holt and Rosa also end up forfeiting after the latter’s emotional outburst that her girlfriend has broken up with her. We all know that Holt isn’t the best at handling emotions, but this episode really shines a spotlight on his friendship with Rosa. (We’re still sorry to hear about Jocelyn’s exit, however.)
As could be expected, the final challenge comes down to Jake and Hitchcock, and both are in bad shape by the time they get there. Hitchcock beat the other challenges by taking a bunch of prescription drugs with positive side effects — but as he laments near the end, taking so many drugs is actually quite unhealthy! Jake, on the other hand, had two too many incidents with the ceiling, first falling from it and then having it fall on top of him.
Still, Amy convinces Jake to complete the final challenge of bashing a door down (okay, with the help of some EpiPen adrenaline), and Jake wins this round of the Jimmy Jab Games. It’s impressive how well this show handles Jake and Amy’s relationship, never overdoing the drama and always keeping the pair healthy for one another, even through their arguments. Their romance is the true winner of the Jimmy Jab Games (and of Brooklyn Nine-Nine in general).
Next. Terry Crews and Joe Lo Truglio talk masculinity on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. dark