Entertainment

Is Love in the Air on 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'?

by Laura Rosenfeld

Just before the opening theme and credits of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Season 2 premiere, Jake hugged Captain Holt as he said, "I've missed us." And boy, have I missed Brooklyn Nine-Nine, too. Season 2 kicked off tonight with a little bit of new with the show now being on Sunday nights and Jake's new role as an undercover cop. However, the novelty quickly wore off, and we were back in the thick of where we left off last season, which included returning to some romantic drama between four members of Brooklyn's 99th precinct.

In case you need to be re-briefed on the case, during the Season 1 finale, Jake finally revealed his true romantic feelings toward Amy, which the entire season had been building toward. I mean, who didn't feel the sexual tension between them during a "snacky" stakeout and basically every episode thereafter? Boyle and Gina also got into a little romantic entanglement when they woke up and realized they slept together after a drunken stupor.

So after a long summer without Brooklyn Nine-Nine in our lives, we were all dying to know what the status of both of these relationships would be, one that seems like it could go somewhere and one that seemed like just a one-night stand. And being the wonderful show that it is, Brooklyn Nine-Nine answered our burning questions right from the start... sort of.

After his stint as an undercover cop, Jake returned to his old job at the precinct, which meant he would be working alongside Amy once again. That meant he had to address his major revelation or continue to make things really awkward between them, which never happens on a sitcom, right? Much to my chagrin, Amy confirmed that she's still with Teddy (boo), and Jake said he didn't mean any of what he said to her anyway.

We all know that's not true, but it still hurt nonetheless. These two seem like such great pals, and the chemistry is there. Why oh why is Amy still getting with Teddy? But knowing that Jake was probably lying here, I figured this wouldn't be the last we heard on the subject during the episode, so I could handle the temporary disappointment.

Now let's turn to Boyle and Gina. Judging by the way they screamed after learning they slept with each other, it's clear that there's no romantic chemistry between them and this was a one-time mistake, right? The two are on the same page and agree to keep their tryst on the down-low and especially a secret from Jake. Gina has her reputation of only sleeping with bike messengers or better, and Boyle doesn't want to be known as "the office slut," after all.

Even though this all looks resolved, Gina can't help but feel ashamed. For some reason, sleeping with Boyle is (unfairly) beneath her, and she feels like she deserves to hang out with the lowly Hitchcock and Scully and adopt a new spirit animal, "God's disgusting mistake," the naked mole rat.

But as sitcoms go, just when you think we've resolved something, it comes back around to open up a whole new can of Kwazy Cupcakes. Jake admits to Amy that he really does have romantic feelings for her. Unfortunately, Amy said she's still with Teddy, and she will not let anything happen to mess that up. Either I'm cynical or I've watched too much TV to know that those are very famous last words. I would be shocked, shocked I tell you, if Jake and Amy didn't end up getting together or at least kissing this season. It's only a matter of time.

But will they get as much action as Boyle and Gina? As the episode ends with a bar scene with the Brooklyn Nine-Nine team, Boyle and Gina have a friendly chat over a drink. Cut to the pair waking up in terror that they've slept with each other yet again. Clearly, there is some chemistry here that we're just not seeing, but hopefully it will be hilariously explored as the season continues.

Images: Eddy Chen/FOX; jakeperalta, gifthetv/Tumblr