TL;DR – Gina is back, and she brings her hectic world with her.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Review –

When it was announced that there was going to be a new season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine there was a sense of jubilation that was only tempered slightly by the fact that it was also announced that Chelsea Peretti would not be doing the full season, but she would be back for guest appearances. Well, today we get the first of those as we get a little insight into the crazy world of Gina Linetti.

So to set the scene, at the end of Four Movements Gina left her job at the 99 to better find herself. Since that time she has been apparently blowing off her former friends, not that Jake (Andy Samberg) notices. But meanwhile, she has built a large media empire and brand that has been exploding across the internet. Well, she is back in New York, so she invites Jake and Terry (Terry Crews) come meet her, only for it to be a work thing. For you see someone has been sending her death threats, and this time it might be serious. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

There is quite a lot I liked about this week’s episode and a lot of that is the crazy energy that Chelsea brings to the show, and also what the writers can get away with when you have Gina as a character. More than that, it felt like a natural reintroduction of the character, as well as how the different characters would react to it. From the show, we know that Jake and Gina have a long history together going back to when they were kids. So I was happy to see that the emotional core of the episode was based around their relationship.

There are times when they reach difficult places because neither one of them is being honest with each other. Gina is becoming more successful and she does not know how to juggle that with her life, but also she shouldn’t have to apologise for that. On the flip side, Jake is feeling hurt that he is missing his friend and because he is Jake he either refuses to see that there is an issue until it becomes such a problem that he can’t process it. This creates a strong dynamic for the two to play off as the episode progresses and we find out that the threat is real and both actors make the most of every moment.

As well as this, I really liked the B-story of Holt (Andre Braugher), Charles (Joe Lo Truglio), and his son Nikolaj (Antonio Raul Corbo). Holt is trying to do a statistical analysis of the precinct and Nikolaj solves his equation. From the outset, I don’t think it will be difficult for people to see where the story is going to head because they make it may be a bit too clear in the outset. However, what this story does is allow the show to have some really good character moments. There are the awkward interactions between Holt and Nikolaj, the touching moments between Charles and his son, and also the far too real moments when describing the state of modern academia.

In the end, do we recommend Return of the King? Yes, we do. It is another solid episode with great character beats. They work Gina’s return into the story organically, allow Chelsea and Andy to play off each other to give the core of the episode, and also it just really funny. It does what you need a Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode to do.     

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.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Directed by – Melissa Fumero
Written by – Phil Augusta Jackson
Created by – Dan Goor & Michael Schur  
Production/Distribution Companies – Fremulon, Dr. Goor Productions, 3 Arts Entertainment, Universal Television, NBCUniversal & SBS Viceland.
Starring in Season Five – Andy Samberg, Stephanie Beatriz, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Joe Lo Truglio, Dirk Blocker, Joel McKinnon Miller & Andre Braugher with Chelsea Peretti, Antonio Raul Corbo, Miranda De Meo, Emma Fassler, Josh Fingerhut & Marcy Jarreau.