Brooklyn Nine-Nine – “Beach House”

Season Two, Episode Twelve

Grade: B+

—

After the break, we don’t get any new crimes that need to be solved. Instead, we get the whole gang vacationing at a beach house as a part of their time to blow off steam and relax from the day-by-day stress of keeping the streets of Brooklyn safe. Good thing for us, these guys are hilarious.

I’m wondering if the episode would’ve actually been funnier if Captain Holt didn’t crash the party, but then that would’ve robbed us of some of the funniest scenes of the episode. Anyway, everyone’s looking forward to this getaway when Peralta softens up when Holt tells him how he was always left out of these sort of gatherings and was jealous of the comraderie shared at these events. Once again, we see the sensitive side of the usually goofy, childish Peralta. In addition to inviting Captain Hold, Peralta wants to make sure he has a good time. In fact, everyone walks on egg shells around him because he is the boss.

The side-story that I truly enjoyed was seeing Santiago getting drunk, drink by drink being pressured by Gina because she wants to know what six-drink Santiago is like. Melissa Fumero usually has to play the by-the-books, good character unlike the other silly characters on the show, so it was nice to see her let loose and have fun during “Beach House.” Plus, her dance moves are just hilarious. I’d love to see her in any situation where she can show off those dance moves.

Eventually, everyone turns on Peralta for inviting Captain Holt, but he proposes an idea that they could have two parties at the same time. One fun party in the basement and one not-so-fun party with Captain Holt. The idea works out for a little while, but eventually falls apart when Holt realizes what’s being done. This reminded me of the Friends episode when they throw two separate parties for Rachel because she doesn’t want her divorced parents to be in the same room.

We do get a lot of interesting interactions throughout the episode. The Gina/Amy story-line is fun, not only because we get to see Amy get drunk and act a fool, but because we get to see the sensitive side of Gina as well as she takes care of Amy when she drinks too much. Then there’s the Boyle/Rosa story-line that once was a weird romantic plot, but now it’s Boyle helping Rosa text Marcus Holt without scaring him off. The two share a good chemistry with each other in the odd-couple, reversed role sense. Joe Lo Truglio is always capable of stealing the scenes he’s in and he does just that in this episode.

While this wasn’t a typical episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, I completely invite the situation-comedy of “Beach House.” It’s good to take a break from all of the workplace comedy the show provides week-after-week. Sure, it might’ve served a better purpose to not have shown this episode right after a break, but nonetheless it’s a breath of fresh air for an already great comedy. Oh and last but not least, the cold opening with Peralta accusing Captain Holt of sitting in his office with no pants on was hilarious.