There is no actor more perfect to play Joe Lo Truglio’s dad than Stephen Root; and there is no actress more perfect to play Chelsea Peretti’s mom than Sandra Bernhard. So an episode explicitly named for the marital union between Lynn Boyle and Darlene Linetti attains perfection on at least two different planes, which gives “Boyle-Linetti Wedding” a whole lot of juice even before the pre-credits skit reaches its conclusion. We know from the outset that we’re going to get ample helpings of Root and Bernhard, here, and frankly the fact that we’ve arrived at their big day after their first meeting in “Jake and Sophia” feels like a huge payoff in and of itself.
Speaking of “Jake and Sophia,” we’re still feeling the aftershocks of their split, which is probably at least a little bit normal. Jake is the obsessive type, after all, and to a degree it feels appropriate that Brooklyn Nine-Nine should obsess about the biggest relationship he’s had in the series’ lifetime. But as Lynn and Darlene make their gradual, and in his case panicked, walk to the altar, the continued fixation on Jake’s lovelorn side almost feels tedious. Of course the wedding can’t go off without a hitch; of course Jake, the guy who absolutely must be the center of attention at all times, manages to find a way to gravitate everyone’s concentration onto him (at least for as long as it takes Terry to break Peralta’s ring finger).
But if we’re going to play the old “will they, won’t they” game, please let’s try and make it interesting. The A-plot here naturally revolves around Gina’s slowly crumbling preparations for her mom’s nuptials; as is always the case in sitcom weddings, people keep screwing up or flaking out. The minister can’t make it, and Terrbear is too much of a marshmallow to replace him. The smoke machine won’t work, and the idea of Scully replacing it is just appalling. It’s a real laundry list of catastrophes, for sure, and worst of all, Lynn has practically sub-zero feet after an innocuous chat with Rosa (who is struggling with her feelings for Nick Cannon’s Marcus) sets him on edge. Last but not least there’s the matter of the ring, which Jake and Amy have been dispatched to retrieve, and let’s close our eyes and imagine how much of a disaster that turns out to be.
There’s almost too much emphasis placed on the team-up between Jake and Amy here. Worst of all, the intention behind the pairing feels ambiguous; Jake is aware that the girl he missed out on a chance to slow dance with at prom many moons ago is in attendance at the wedding, and thus is hell-bent on scheming his way into her arms at the reception. This is awfully gauche given that his season one confession to Amy is directly referenced in “Boyle-Linetti Wedding”s early going, but as their mission goes awry—culminating in a warehouse shootout with Amy’s criminal nemesis—the “stuff” of their schoolyard flirtations becomes muddled. At this point these two kids feel more like goofy best buds than a potential romantic duo, so why the show feels the need to continue pushing that angle is unclear. Maybe they will get together, and maybe it’ll be wonderful, but this thread misses a lot of opportunities to build toward any amour between them.
But everything else that “Boyle-Linetti Wedding” has to offer is just delightful. Even though Brooklyn Nine-Nine hasn’t done a great job investing us in the Rosa/Marcus storyline, Stephanie Beatriz’s big revelatory moments feel big and revelatory when they could have fallen flat; literally everything Lo Truglio does is pure gold, whether he’s butt-bumping Stephen Root, attempting to steal air kisses, or just straight-up pratfalling like a pro; Peretti continues to show her deft skill at turning the pronunciation of a single word into a gut busting punchline; and Andre Braugher once again steals the entire show with his ineffably matter-of-fact comic stylings. (Can we get more of Braugher and Marc Evan Jackson together please? They’re the most wonderfully dry couple of all time.) That the main event of “Boyle-Linetti Wedding” is so good to make up for its shortcomings says a lot about the quality of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s writing, though as usual the show works even at its weakest. At the same time, we know how good it can be at the height of its excellence. Seeing it dip from that peak even a little is inevitably going to feel a tad disappointing.
Boston-based critic Andy Crump has been writing about film for the web since 2009, and has been contributing to Paste Magazine since 2013. He also writes for Screen Rant and Movie Mezzanine. You can follow him on Twitter. Currently, he has given up on shaving.