Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s “Gintars” saw the arrival of Nikolaj’s weird as hell father and the disappearance of Terry’s eyebrows and sanity because of his obsession with the mites/tiny buggers that live on us without our knowledge. I mean, I’m with you on wanting to get them off Terry, but did you really have to shave your eyebrows, draw them in, and then bleach your goatee?
This episode also Boyle deal with a heavy topic aka the adoption of his son and the blood family that comes along with it. And “Gintars” acted as a journey where he realized that putting his son above all else was important to giving his kid a full, happy, and balanced life.
Amy and Holt wrapped up the episode with a “never meet your idols” scenario that made me realize that A) a scene like this was years in the making and B) these two should be the heroes we look up to and fangirl all over!
The Good – Taking on Adoption Issues
Nikolaj has been part of our Nine-Nine family and that of the Boyle’s for a couple years now. And I always thought that we would experience and know this young boy through the eyes of his adoptive father. I thought he would be part of some funny anecdote or weird story from his dad because Dear Lord, Boyle makes everything sound weird. Boy was I wrong.
This Boyle is more than Charles Boyle’s son. He’s a young man with a birth father that wants to get to know him, leaving Boyle in a spot of confusion because this is his kid and he wants to protect him, but Boyle also needs to support his son. And if that means letting that denim weirdo get to know Nikolaj, Boyle will do it.
Adoption stories, at least the ones that I’ve seen, come from a place of extreme drama or comedy and not from a place of understanding. Yes, this episode was hilarious. And yes, they had Boyle losing it left and right because this was his kid. But we also saw Boyle confronting his fears, talking with a friend to get perspective, before putting the needs of his kid above anything else.
This respect, patience, and storyline focusing on adoption and the woes that come with it when you are stuck in the middle of your child’s blood family and yourself, matters. It matters to me, as a young woman who wasn’t adopted and aged out. It matters to my friends, some who did get adopted and some who didn’t. And it matters to every young adult out there who is being confronted w/ adoption & foster kids for the first time.
It matters.
The Bad – Meeting Your Idol
It’s a tale as old as time, never meet your idols. More than half the time they disappoint you because your expectations were WAYYYYY too high. You see them in a specific and glorious light that makes it so they can do no wrong. But the matter of the fact is that they can do wrong. We all can. And it’s something I really wish Amy and Holt kept in mind when meeting their idol…again.
Honestly, I knew he was going to be a hot mess. I knew he was going to disappoint me, you, Amy, and Holt. What I didn’t expect is the perspective that the doctor’s deceit shined on Amy and Holt. They are the idols. They are the ones that we should look up too. And they are people anyone would be proud to know, work with, or love.
And it’s especially gratifying seeing Amy and Holt becoming fangirls together. These moments were years in the making and I’m so proud of Amy for her perseverance, strength, and gumption in the face of being trained by her idol. Sure, he kind of still is her idol all these years later, but she knows that Holt is problematic and that she doesn’t have anything to prove to him anymore.
That’s growth. That’s development. And I am ridiculously proud of her for it!
The Ugly – Terry’s Eyebrows and Goatee
I appreciate Terry Crews commitment to this storyline. I also want to commend the makeup department for their work. I’m STILL left wondering if they actually shaved his eyebrows off, how many different eyebrow shapes did they use, and did they really bleach his goatee because it really really looks real!
This funny storyline that ran throughout the entirety of this episode is continued proof that Brooklyn Nine-Nine is the kind of comedy that can handle laughs and drama. Tied with Terry’s hair antics was a critical case pertaining to someone’s murder. And the EPs way of delivering this storyline with Terry made it so I never forgot that there were more serious and underlying issues.
They were still there.
Great comedies are hard to find right now. And I think the proven formula for survival is in shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine who understand that our lives aren’t black and white. We aren’t brooding in a corner while trying to solve the latest and craziest case. And we’re not joking around, poking at dead bodies on crime scenes because, “he he. Dude is dead!” and everything is funny. No.
Our lives are shades of grey and things like Terry’s eyebrows in combination with a murder investigation are proof that Brooklyn Nine-Nine understands that we are more.
Favorite Scene from “Gintars”:
Ughh. Sex result. No, Charles. No.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC.