TL;DR – Honeymoon brings everyone back together, hits all the right beats, and propels the show forward, so a great opening episode of a season.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Review –

I have been around long enough that the list of shows that I love that got cancelled without closure is a decently long list. When it happens you always hear of trying to get it picked up by another network, but this barely ever happens. So when Brooklyn Nine-Nine got cancelled, I lamented the stupid decision, but I knew it was unlikely to change, and if there was ever a time I was happy to be wrong this is it. Well, now we are back and even more extraordinary we have a full season pick up, so let’s dive into the first episode of the season Honeymoon.  

So to set the scene, at the end of Season Five, Jake (Andy Samberg) and Amy (Melissa Fumero) just got married and the whole team was celebrating when Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) announced that he knew if he was the commissioner or not. Well, jumping right back where we started, we discover that Holt had misread his email, and also that Jake has terrible timing, I think we already knew the last one. Well, the team has to work through this new reality at work, but Amy and Jake had wedding insurance, so they now can honeymoon in a more exotic location, and they pick a resort in Mexico that Gina (Chelsea Peretti) recommends. All is good until they stumble upon a familiar face in Mexico that turns their honeymoon upside-down. Just a reminder as we dive into the episode as a whole, that there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

The first thing that we see with Honeymoon, is just how familiar everything feels, like coming home after a long trip. Every one of the actors is so comfortable with their characters that they hit each beat perfectly. This creates a rhythm for the show where everything just feels natural, even if that means Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) repeating the word labia over and over again. Because of this, everything in this episode is just fun, like Holt wearing increasingly more ridiculous t-shirts, or Amy dressing up as someone from Die Hard, or even Charles’ (Joe Lo Truglio) box of nightmares. All of this makes you want to savour every episode and makes you grateful because every new episode of B99 is one that we almost didn’t get.        

However, when a show is brought back from the brink by fan support, and what fan support there was, there can be this danger that writers will focus in on what people liked about the show which creates stagnation. From Honeymoon, we can see that not only is the show back, but they also are not afraid to continue the evolution of the characters and the premise of the show. From the character perspective in this episode, you can clearly see that from both Amy and Gina. For Amy, it is coming to terms with her own strength in relation to others, and taking a stand when people needed her too. With Gina, we see that while she is still that rascal that we love, she does really care for people, even Charles and his numerous unintended innuendoes.

More importantly, the show itself is not willing just to be the status quo and we see this with the plot line that will likely dominate at least the first half of the season. Now we are going to talk about the end of the episode, so if you ignored the [SPOILER] warning above, this is your last warning. One of the plot threads throughout the episode is Holt coming to terms with the fact that even though he did everything right, didn’t make any waves, he still lost out on the Commissioners job to the dramatically less qualified but safer candidate. So, he has to learn not to give a hoot and ruffle some feathers if he has to. But when you cause a splash there are often times consequences and as the end of the episode shows, even when they are wrong, people will still fight back, and Holt and the squad now have the biggest battle on their hands so far.

In the end, do we recommend Honeymoon? Yes, Yes, and Yes. Any B99 is good TV, and when it is firing on all cylinders like tonight, well you can’t go past it. If you have never had a chance to watch an episode, now is the time to jump in and join in on the fun. Oh, and from me personally, a big thanks to every single fan that rallied together to make this season a reality: NINE NINE!!!      

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Brooklyn Nine-Nine yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Trailer – Click Here to View (all trailers have heavy spoilers)
Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Directed by – Giovani Lampassi
Written by – Neil Campbell
Created by – Dan Goor & Michael Schur  
Starring in Season Five – Andy Samberg, Stephanie Beatriz, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Chelsea Peretti, Joe Lo Truglio, Dirk Blocker, Joel McKinnon Miller & Andre Braugher