Jake is Trying His Best to Get Over Amy

Once in a while in the fictional world that Brooklyn Nine-Nine exists in, there are apparently no crimes to be solved or criminals to arrest, which gives Jake, Amy, and the rest of Brooklyn Nine-Nine gang time to get into some shenanigans. All right, so even when they do have crime to fight they get into some ridiculous antics every week. However, they've never done anything quite as outlandish as the Jimmy Jab Games.

Captain Holt and Sergeant Jeffords' absence from the precinct for a few hours gives the group freedom to hold the seventh Jimmy Jab Games, whose name comes from a mispronunciation of the former president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It's an Olympics-style competition where Jake, Amy, Charles, Rosa, Hancock, and Scully compete for bragging rights and a desk chair with few stains, sweet lumbar support, and no broken wheels. But there was something way more at stake here for Jake: finding a way to finally get over Amy.

The chemistry and sexual tension between Jake and Amy came to a head during the Season 1 finale, when Jake finally told Amy he has feelings for her. Unfortunately for Jake, Amy has made it clear this season that she is still in a relationship with her boyfriend Teddy, and she's not looking to end that any time soon. So Jake just has to move on, and he uses the Jimmy Jab Games to try to do that, convincing Rosa that if he wins, she has to finally give him the phone number of her friend Katie.

But you and I both know that Jake isn't over Amy yet. How could he be? We're only three episodes into Season 3, and there's no way the central romantic relationship of the series is going to end before we've seen any real conflict or emotion. We're just not going to let Brooklyn Nine-Nine get away with it that easily.

Amy ends up winning the Jimmy Jab Games, and Jake admits to Rosa, who had cleverly picked up on Jake's still-present feelings for Amy, that he threw the competition. And yes, he still has the hots for Amy. Oh yes, that's the Jake we know and love.

I was expecting the episode to end right there, and Jake would just continue to pine for Amy as the episodes went on. However, that wasn't the case, as Rosa handed over her friend's phone number to Jake so that he can get over Amy.

Now this doesn't actually mean Jake will completely move on from liking Amy as the season continues. He may or may not actually end up calling Katie in the future. I suspect we will revisit his feelings and Amy's feelings for Jake later on down the line.

However, I like that Brooklyn Nine-Nine is waiting to make Jake and Amy an official couple. Oftentimes in sitcoms, once the main couple gets together, the thrill of the chase is gone, and the show has lost its spark that kept us coming back week after week. This happened most recently with Nick and Jess on New Girl, and I think that show is actually better this season now that the two of them have broken up.

Not rushing into having Jake and Amy be in a relationship seems natural and gives us one more reason to tune in every week to see how the relationship will develop, if at all. I of course want to see Jake and Amy eventually become a couple, but right now as the show is still fairly new, I think keeping them in the Friend Zone is the best way to go for the characters and the viewers.

Image: Eddy Chen/Fox