Brooklyn Nine-Nine: New Captain

September 27, 2015 6:28 PM - Season 3, Episode 1

Season Premiere! After Capt. Holt is unavoidably promoted to a Public Relations desk job and leaves the precinct with assistant Gina in tow, the Nine-Nine meet their new efficiency-freak captain, Seth Dozerman (new regular cast member Bill Hader!). Meanwhile, Jake and Amy try to keep their newly-minted dating relationship a secret from their office cohorts, and Holt and Gina get their new department to settle on a name for the NYPD mascot.

EXTRA B99 STUFF:

The Wrap: ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s’ Andy Samberg Reveals Why Season 3 Could Use ‘Lunatic’ Captain Bill Hader

Hollywood Reporter: 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Boss on Avoiding the 'Moonlighting' Curse With Jake and Amy (spoiler warning)

AV Club: Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Joe Lo Truglio and Stephanie Beatriz pitch Watched Pot: Will It Boyle?

SPOILERS BELOW:
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OK, so Dozerman's tenure was a bit abbreviated. As much as I enjoy Bill Hader in basically everything, I'm happy to see The Vulture (Dean Winters) come back into the mix. What's everyone's favorite Dean Winters role?

posted by Strange Interlude (15 comments total)

I just want to say publicly how insanely glad I am this show is back. It is consistently the funniest part of my week.
posted by WidgetAlley at 7:02 PM on September 27, 2015

I missed it so much!

I really dig the way they keep side-stepping romantic-pairing tropes with Jake and Amy. They made it look like they were going to tease it then put it in the freezer until the next sweeps week. Then nope, we should just do it now.

Beyond that the episode was a bit all over the place. Watching Wunch knock Holt around isn't really fun or funny.
posted by dry white toast at 8:47 PM on September 27, 2015

Yeah, it was kind of weird with Bill Hader being super over the top and then dropping dead. It was kind of a giant WTF.

I wanted to see Holt's pigeon speech.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:53 PM on September 27, 2015

"Title of your sex tape....*expression of pure, stunned glee* title of OUR sex tape!" was the highlight of the episode.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:47 AM on September 28, 2015 [20 favorites]

I like the Wunch stuff but this was a little hard to reconcile. She's just going to order a captain into a mascot suit? I much prefer her maneuvering on a grander scale. That said, dejected Holt in the suit was a riot.

I was fine with Hader's quick come and go. Oh he's dead. Nope, not really. Oh except he is. So now the draconian awful captain who will abuse them all turned out to not be true. Except it still is.

And not only did they subvert the relationship tease, they upended or equalized so many other awful tv relationship things. Amy got to be the passionate one who came over to Jake when it looked like it was going to be all Jake's action going to her and pushing the reluctant partner into a thing. And when she said let's go for it they were both on board and realized this was something they wanted - nobody talks a resistant partner into a relationship.

Violating their rule and sleeping together? They never go on the this was a mistake track. It was fun and they both enjoyed it. Amy is the one praising her own performance. Jake clearly doesn't love the "let's not sleep together thing right away" thing when Amy proposes it and then shuts his mouth and accepts it rather than wheedling and suggesting they drop the restriction at every opportunity.

And it was still funny.
posted by phearlez at 8:13 AM on September 28, 2015 [9 favorites]

I agree, they've (the characters and the writers) come a long way since the pilot, in terms of relationship dynamics. The Jake of the early episodes was more of a sleaze, and the change in his approach to Amy reflects how he's noticeably matured over the course of the series. The same goes for Amy, who seems much more comfortable with herself now than she did at the beginning. And the fact that both of these developments can rightly be tied to the heart of the show -- Holt's mentorship -- makes it even better.

(I also love how Boyle and Diaz -- whose early plotline on the show was also a bit cringeable -- have evolved into more or less equal co-conspirators in the Jake-Amy shipping game.)
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:50 AM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

"Light and breezy is how you describe a linen suit, not a relationship!" Props to Boyle for his actually good relationship advice for once (except the shampoo. That was terrible). Boyle and Diaz equally smiling at the thought of viewing the surveillance tapes were great. We can't even fault them, because we're an audience enjoying watching this on the show.

A lot of really great things about this episode. Everything with Jake and Amy was lovely, with the subverting of tropes and whatnot (they may just be a worthy successor to Leslie and Ben). I thought the Diaz/Terry subplot was pretty sweet, if a little short, as was Gina's speech to Holt. I'm really looking forward to seeing the part where Jake and Amy talk with less awkwardness, though; it makes perfect sense why they're awkward right now, but I'm hoping that they don't go to the awkwardness comedy well so much that we forget how great of a rapport they can have (and it will be interesting to see how that develops outside of work).

I thought Dozerman could have been a good addition if they had made him less one-note; his scene with Jake made me think eventually he could have been very interesting and adapted to the family. I guess they thought the one joke + death was worth it, as he's just one impediment to seeing Holt back, but it's always a shame to me when shows go for the quick joke, especially when they're so grounded in characters like this show is. No, this show isn't entirely realistic, but it brings me out of it when there's a cheap laugh about a character whose purpose is to die. Hader's character was never going to have the depth of a Holt, but we can see what the show can do with some nuance to a character who comes on to cause friction. The Vulture may be better for this.

It's clearly Pauley the pigeon (Pauley = Police). As much as I enjoyed Andre Braugher's majestic voice emanating from the pigeon, and his comebacks, Wunch just has to go, or something new needs to be made of it.
posted by ilana at 2:18 PM on September 28, 2015

"Title of your sex tape....*expression of pure, stunned glee* title of OUR sex tape!" was the highlight of the episode.

Yeah, I think that was my favorite bit too. Talking to a co-worker today who watched the show for the first time last night, I tried to explain the running joke behind that line. Thankfully there was already an edit of all the S1&2 sex tape jokes on YouTube that I could forward him, I couldn't do it justice with just an explanation.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:01 PM on September 28, 2015

Amy got to be the passionate one who came over to Jake when it looked like it was going to be all Jake's action going to her and pushing the reluctant partner into a thing. And when she said let's go for it they were both on board and realized this was something they wanted - nobody talks a resistant partner into a relationship.

Violating their rule and sleeping together? They never go on the this was a mistake track. It was fun and they both enjoyed it. Amy is the one praising her own performance. Jake clearly doesn't love the "let's not sleep together thing right away" thing when Amy proposes it and then shuts his mouth and accepts it rather than wheedling and suggesting they drop the restriction at every opportunity.

And it was still funny.

Loved this equal footing. And that Jake didn't push back against Amy's initial choice. So much positivity here.
posted by dry white toast at 8:53 PM on September 28, 2015

Off to a good start!
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:00 PM on September 28, 2015

I kinda want the B- or C-plot of every episode this season to be a new captain and the increasingly insane ways he or she disappears at the end of each episode.

"Wait, he got trampled by a what?"
"Runaway rhinoceros."
"Man, I told him the zoo isn't even in our precinct."
posted by Etrigan at 6:44 AM on September 29, 2015 [6 favorites]

One of the new captains should also moonlight as a drummer for Spinal Tap.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:49 AM on September 29, 2015 [2 favorites]

YES both for increasing levels of ridiculous hilarity and constant opportunities for guest stars and/or cameos from classic cop procedural characters.

god what would i give for a hank azaria cameo where he does the voice of chief wiggum the whole time, i would sell you all right to satan
posted by poffin boffin at 9:47 AM on September 29, 2015 [5 favorites]

Nobody else was incredibly depressed that their favorite show was ruined right up until Hader died? Anybody else incredibly sick of Bill Hader?


Also the only way I could be on board with Dennis Duffy showing up would be if it were actually Dennis Duffy.
posted by bleep at 8:38 PM on September 29, 2015

I loved Gina this entire episode. I was laughing so hard at "This man is a Timberlake, you need to stop treating him like a Fatone" that I had to pause the Tivo and rewind it. I'm so glad she followed Holt.
posted by librarianamy at 4:26 AM on September 30, 2015 [5 favorites]