Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 7 episode 8 review: Best man

This week’s episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine sees Jake taking an unexpected vacation — for Doug Judy’s bachelor party.

The seventh season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is bringing back all of the show’s classic storylines and characters, and that includes former Pontiac Bandit, Doug Judy. Fans haven’t heard about Judy in a while, and apparently neither has Jake — because when this week’s episode opens, Jake discovers his friend is getting married. Of course, he’s angry and upset that he wasn’t told about the wedding.

But leave it to Jake to get himself invited anyway, approaching Judy and demanding an explanation for his exclusion. As might be expected, the former criminal tells him he was skeptical about inviting a cop to his wedding when most of his friends are also criminals. And his concerns turn out to be warranted when he invites Jake to his bachelor party, only to have his three friends commit a crime and steal a bunch of diamonds immediately after.

“The Takeback” is one of those episodes that pits Jake’s loyalty against his duties as a cop, as most of the episodes that feature Judy usually do. This time, though, viewers get to watch Jake and the others do a reverse heist — returning the diamonds to the rich Russian they stole them from — before he calls in the cops and has Judy’s companions arrested.

As always, though, Brooklyn Nine-Nine keeps throwing the surprises our way, and despite Judy’s initial anger at Jake, it’s revealed that he actually planned for all of this to happen. Judy knew that Jake would arrest his friends if he discovered their crimes, and his fiancé doesn’t want any of them at the wedding. By having Jake arrest them, he solves that problem and throws his sister off his trail. Plus, he planned on inviting Jake all along — and making him his best man.

This week’s episode is a refreshing Pontiac Bandit installment, as it shows how much Judy has grown over the course of the series. While many of his earlier installments saw him tricking Jake and returning to a life of crime, this week’s demonstrated that he’s actually moving on from all that — and while he still pulled one over on his friend, it’s clear their relationship is stronger now too.

The Case of the Missing Business Card

While Jake deals with Judy and his bachelor party, Holt makes his return as captain of the 99th Precinct — meaning it’s time for Terry to give back his office. Comically, Terry and Rosa attempt to ensure that everything on Holt’s desk is exactly the way he likes it, right down to the exact angle each object sits at.

But there’d be no conflict if something wasn’t missing from Holt’s office, and he immediately asks Terry where a business card with a piece of chewed gum on it has gone. Naturally, Terry thought the card was garbage and threw it in the trash — but he can’t bear to tell Holt that. Instead, he and Rosa spend most of the episode attempting to replicate the card, a plan that goes horribly awry when Holt checks for the writing on the back of it.

When he realizes it’s a fake card, Holt admits the piece of paper has sentimental value to him. It’s one of the people he failed during an earlier case, and he uses it as a reminder of why he needs to be a good cop. It’s always refreshing to see these moments of vulnerability from the usually monotone captain, and it was equally endearing watching Terry and Rosa come up with a solution: giving him the business cards of people he did manage to save — arguably a more uplifting reminder of why he’s a good cop.

(Also, shoutout to all the Holt and Rosa moments during this storyline. Those too seriously have one of the best friendships on the show.)

The Vending Machine Fiasco

The smallest plot of this week’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode involves Amy attempting to buy a third vending machine for the precinct, something that Hitchcock, Scully, and Charles take a deep interest in. And while it’s comical to watch Charles suggest disgusting fish vending machines, while Hitchcock and Scully push for machines that microwave their contents for you, it’s arguably the weakest plotline in “The Takeback.”

Although this storyline delivers when it comes to humor, there’s not much substance to watching the gang persuade Amy to choose the vending machines they want. And after Amy’s big reveal at the end of last week’s episode, it would have been nice to explore how she and Jake are feeling after finding out they’re pregnant. Maybe next episode.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine? Sound off in the comments below.