By Cassidy Delahunty, executive entertainment editor
This will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever spoken to me, but I am a huge fan of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, a comedy show from Fox about a group of police officers working in Brooklyn. Because of my frankly over the top obsession, I was ready to be disappointed by the first episode of season four, as I knew it was unlikely that a 20 minute introductory episode would fulfill all of my expectations that had built up since the season three finale sent fan favorites Jake Peralta and Captain Raymond Holt to witness protection all the way back in April.
I am happy to say now that I was dead wrong.
Set in the small town of Coral Palms, Florida, the first episode conveyed all the distress of two cops who love their jobs being trapped in steamy, sticky Florida, while at the same time being laugh-out-loud hilarious.
While it was a little disappointing not to see the rest of the cast besides Holt and Jake, it helped to convey just how separated they were from their friends and family. As the audience, you don’t get to know any more than they do about how their loved ones are, if they’re coping in their absence, if they’ve gotten hurt.
Despite all this, the episode still manages ingeniously to make you laugh through it all.
Right after admitting to Holt his anxieties about having his true identity discovered, Jake reveals that he once sprained his wrist petting a horse too hard, a moment that perfectly defines his entire character in just one sentence.
One of my main concerns going into the episode was that Jake and Holt wouldn’t be acting like Jake and Holt. After all, they have just spent six months pretending to be people who so fundamentally different than who they were in their previous lives.
However, the show managed to pull this off perfectly. Even though they’re both pretending to be interested in ATVs and speed walking clubs, JKe and Holt still stay the same people. The only things that change are their names and their jobs.
In short, season four is looking up to be one of the best seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine so far. In just one episode, I was reminded of every single reason I’ve been waiting so impatiently for season four to start. Based on the fact that I’ve already watched the episode twice only one day after its release, waiting until next Tuesday for episode 2 might be just as hard as it was to wait 5 months for episode one.