Why ‘Brooklyn NIne-Nine’ had the year’s best Thanksgiving special

Every year, we like to imagine that there is some sort of pretend competition over which holiday special is the best in between Christmas, Halloween, or in this case Thanksgiving. There are some episodes that vaguely mention the holiday in the context of the larger story, and then those that put it front and center.

Last night on Fox, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” which is getting closer and closer to being the funniest show on all TV, delivered with an episode called “Thanksgiving” that really made us want to be thankful. Following a disappointing “The Big Bang Theory” special years in the making and before a “New Girl” even that was simply okay, this was absolutely fantastic through and through. The story taught us why Jake hates Thanksgiving, had a few sentimental moments, and reminded us that Andre Braugher needs an Emmy nomination for his role as Ray Holt. All of this in half an hour’s time.

Not only that, but the show did not let the specter of the holiday overshadow anything with the characters. We had a chance to see every member of the precinct shine in some way, from Terry’s hunger to what was going on with Amy and her new desperate attempt to impress Holt. What’s probably the most interesting about the episode is that when you think about it, nothing really happened. Heck, nothing has really happened on the show all season. There are no long-term storylines, and every episode is pretty procedural. Yet, we still look forward to watching this show every week, and it understood that the importance of a Thanksgiving episode is to take some of the traditional parts of the holiday, but then add just enough to make it unique.

Overall, this is the episode of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” that you should remember for quite a while in that it did almost everything you could want. It was sweet, it was funny, and it made us want more. Ten episodes in, and this show is already firing on all cylinders. Grade: A.