One wonders why Cpt. Holt, who stops at Terry’s en route to a charity event in Brighton Beach to keep tabs on the precinct trauma, doesn’t just decide to head back or give Amy the role she clearly deserves more than Jake. In a realm not run by sitcom conventions, Cpt. Holt would have abandoned his journey and time at Terry’s and gone back to deal with the craziness on his own. It is a fussy little plot hole that didn’t make a lot of sense.
However, his stop over at Terry’s was more refreshing than tiresome police shenanigans. Terry is still intimidated by his even beefier, bass voiced brother-in-law, Zeke (Jamal Duff, a former NFL defensive end), who calls Terry nicknames that make fun of his comparatively diminutive size. Zeke is over for the holiday weekend and since the best spot to get Wi-Fi is in Zeke’s room, Terry and Cpt. Holt only aggravate the tough-looking visitor even further. One does have to inquire: why can’t Zeke DVR the football game if Cpt. Holt wants to watch the television? One can easily record a show while someone watches a different one. It is strange inconsistencies like these that take one out of the humorous setup.
In an attempt for camaraderie, Terry realizes that Zeke likes to complain about his boss and so the officer fakes a difficult relationship with the captain to get on his relative’s good side. (Funniest part: Terry complaining about the captain’s meticulous sandwich selection to Zeke, only to cut to the former stuffing his face when back upstairs.) “Lockdown” has no shortage of zany moments like that, but the familiar feel of the episode meant that they showed up as interjections to the drama, meaning this Turkey Day felt overstuffed with material.
However, between Boyle’s convincingly suave rendition of the “Single Ladies” dance and Gina’s overreaction prompting her to change up her will (“Charles, I leave you the memory of my supple form”), much of the character-based humor was intact this week. Meanwhile, Braugher is always a treat to watch in slightly odd scenarios, such as conducting his business while sitting upon a bouncy gym ball. (His core is engaged, for the record.) Sadly, despite Rosa’s preference for Nancy Meyers movies, she still remains a riddle wrapped in a delightfully dour deadpan. Stephanie Beatriz knows how to modulate her feelings of rage and cheer, and so her nearly non-existent role in the precinct so far this season has been a waste. She deserves to be getting better material, especially since she was a season one stand-out.
Distrust between the class clown and the authority figure has led to many hilarious conflicts in some of the best sitcoms, although Jake and Cpt. Holt’s love/hate relationship could use some re-energizing. With the occasional laugh-out-loud moments courtesy of Braugher, Lo Truglio and Perretti, this was a tame and derivative Turkey Day episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.