S04.E16: Moo Moo

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Sergeant Jeffords is stopped by a fellow police officer while off-duty in his own neighborhood. When the incident escalates, Terry wants to file an official complaint against him, but Captain Holt has other ideas. Meanwhile, Jake and Amy get a glimpse into the difficulties of parenthood and answer some tough questions when they babysit Terry's kids.

 

 

[ClareWalks]

I was impressed that B99 tackled such a heavy issue. I thought the babysitting capers were pretty amusing. "What's an orgasm?" "AAAAH!" I also loved Holt's description of Scottsdale Margo as a "class A drip."

[betweenthebanter]

That was such a great episode and I'm so proud of the show for doing it. I feel like I'm going to have to watch the episode again, in order to fully be able to discuss the Holt/Terry storyline more in-depth, but there are a few main things that I took away from first watch:

I love how this episode referenced Holt and Terry's respective histories to show us where they're coming from in their stance on Terry filing the complaint. They both were ultimately on the same side, just with different ways of going about it based on their experiences. I loved Terry's speech and how Terry/Holt were able to come together at the end. Terry not getting the career opportunity because of his complaint was sad, but it also made the episode feel even more real.

Terry's daughters are adorable. and I love Jake/Amy's parenting experience this episode.

Also, I love that a black man (Phil Augusta Jackson) wrote this episode and that the writers chose for Jake to be more of a supporting character in this episode.

Starting next week Brooklyn 99 will be airing back to back episodes every Tuesday, for the next three weeks, til its season finale on May 23rd.

Edited May 3, 2017 by betweenthebanter

[Dots And Stripes]

I liked this episode too and I'm glad they went there. I hope in the future, I assuming they get picked up, they mix in a little more social commentary in that way. I think they both had a point of view but were trying not to be decisive. Parks and Rec walked that line a lot. I don't this show needs to do it quite as often as Parks did, but every now and then could be effective.

Did we see Amy and Jake getting a little bit of baby fever at the end? It will be interesting to see if writers were planting seeds there for a storyline about moving their relationship forward or if that was only to set up Charles' reaction.

[hendersonrocks]

Brilliantly done, 99. So much respect and so much love for this show, and especially for the writers, Terry Crews, and Andre Braugher for making this critically important story work within the context of this particular show.

Now please excuse me while I go scoff at Margot and her squeaky Scottsdale shoes.

[Traveller519]

Tonight, on a very special Brooklyn 99...

Seiously though, they pulled that off exceptionally well. They balanced the heavier material with the comedy well. This is the most serious I've seen Mike Schur be in his content, at least outside of manufactured relationship drama, and I loved it. He is among the best show runners out there.

So glad to see Mr. 9-9 had his Sarge's back, "Get woke, Scully! "

[Mama No Life]

9 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

I was impressed that B99 tackled such a heavy issue. I thought the babysitting capers were pretty amusing. "What's an orgasm?" "AAAAH!" I also loved Holt's description of Scottsdale Margo as a "class A drip."

My favorite line of the night.  I will be calling at least one person a "class A drip" today.  "You're really worked up about Margo".  bwahahahaha

[NutmegsDad]

Agreed all around and above, with one additional observation:

The story did not wrap up with Gina ending institutionalize racism.

[highway61]

A little preachy. It would have been better if Terry's initial instinct, to work it out with the bad cop, had succeeded. Or even Holt's initial instinct to not file the complaint.

But how did we get from "I want more responsibility" to "Go apply for a different job"?

[wknt3]

I have to agree with all the kudos. This was brilliantly written. It deftly handled a serious subject while avoiding being excessively preachy or serious and keeping everybody in character. And it gave us plenty of the usual humor as well. Probably the best episode of the season so far. I was especially impressed by Terry Crews. Not that Andre Braugher wasn't excellent, but I've seen him do it before so many times that I knew he would be great. Also while I loved everything that has already been mentioned - I have to add that the ending was great too!

[hendersonrocks]

Quote

But how did we get from "I want more responsibility" to "Go apply for a different job"?

I don't think it was a different job - it was a special assignment in addition to his current job.

[bethy]

I really appreciated that Cagney and Lacey were not stereotypical sitcom kids. The weren't rolling their eyes at either Jake or Amy - I loved that they answered Amy's nerdy question as enthusiastically as they answered Jake's self-serving questions. 

I liked that they looked at both Terry's and Holt's different approaches and the motivation behind each. Initially I was wishing that there had been more conversation with the profiling cop and that Terry had been able to talk with that officer, instead of having it just be "Oh, you're an evil racist." But the more I think about it, the more I realize that the point of the episode was illustrating the African-American community's experience with profiling and not really having a dialogue about this issue. Which is fair enough. Well done, B99. 

[Uncle Benzene]

3 hours ago, highway61 said:

A little preachy. It would have been better if Terry's initial instinct, to work it out with the bad cop, had succeeded. Or even Holt's initial instinct to not file the complaint.

So it would have been better if either A) the racist cop manages to convince the profiling victim that the cop is actually a good guy after all, or B) the victim decides to just get over it, and the racist cop gets off without penalty?

Alrighty then.

Perhaps they could have had Terry give him a nice cold Pepsi.

[Maximum Taco]

3 hours ago, highway61 said:

A little preachy. It would have been better if Terry's initial instinct, to work it out with the bad cop, had succeeded. Or even Holt's initial instinct to not file the complaint.

But how did we get from "I want more responsibility" to "Go apply for a different job"?

It's not a different job, he'd still have his current position.

It's an added assignment. He'd be 1PP's liaison to the City Council in addition to his responsibilities at the 99.

Kind of like when Amy became the precinct's union representative in season 2, she didn't stop being a detective when she became the union rep, it was an added responsibility.

Edited May 3, 2017 by Maximum Taco

[meep.meep]

Little Terry spoke in 3rd person.  Cagney and Lacey are played by the two cutest kids ever.

[highway61]

Quote

So it would have been better if either A) the racist cop manages to convince the profiling victim that the cop is actually a good guy after all, or B) the victim decides to just get over it, and the racist cop gets off without penalty?

C: Terry helps the bad cop become a better cop. That's leadership.

[Rinaldo]

1 hour ago, bethy said:

I liked that they looked at both Terry's and Holt's different approaches and the motivation behind each. Initially I was wishing that there had been more conversation with the profiling cop and that Terry had been able to talk with that officer, instead of having it just be "Oh, you're an evil racist." 

To me, it didn't come down quite that simply about the profiling cop. Because he clearly quite sincerely was under the illusion he wasn't racist (probably has black friends etc. etc. etc.) and was responding appropriately in the situation. Getting through to someone like that who remains oblivious to his own bigotry is one of the (many) heartbreaking things about such situations.

One of the best appreciations I've seen of this episode came, unsurprisingly, from Alan Sepinwall. He considers the success of various sitcoms in venturing into more serious episodes, and the (well-avoided) pitfalls with one like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which is nearly totally silly most of the time.

[hendersonrocks]

Quote

C: Terry helps the bad cop become a better cop. That's leadership.

Do you remember the part of the episode where he tried do to that, and the "bad cop" refused? That's when Terry realized that he needed to do something else, for the well being of the people in that precinct. THAT'S leadership.

And why are people of color always expected to help white people become better and less racist out of the goodness of their hearts, behind the scenes, in ways that don't hurt or cause a fuss? That approach obviously hasn't eradicated racism in the last 100 years - I see no reason to think that it will in the next 100 either.

[ClareWalks]

26 minutes ago, hendersonrocks said:

And why are people of color always expected to help white people become better and less racist out of the goodness of their hearts, behind the scenes, in ways that don't hurt or cause a fuss? That approach obviously hasn't eradicated racism in the last 100 years - I see no reason to think that it will in the next 100 either.

Agreed. It's not Terry's job to gently coax a white cop in his 30s-40s (who doesn't even work in Terry's precinct) to be less of a racist shit. That doesn't mean Terry lacks leadership. It means some folks don't want to be lead.

Edited May 3, 2017 by ClareWalks

[iMonrey]

I never expected B99 to get real about something. I thought it was extremely well done but this isn't a show I've ever seen tackle a serious issue before - not in a serious way. It was really jarring because Terry, out of uniform, probably does look exactly like someone who would get hassled because he's such a big, scary looking guy. I was waiting for the situation to turn into some silly joke but it didn't and it was kind of jarring. There are certain shows you just don't expect to "get real" about anything, and this is one of them. Not that I didn't like it because I did.

The writers seem to have the phrase "vis a vis" on the brain. Last week Holt used it and this week Rosa did ("where are we vis a vis tires and slashing?"). 

The side plot with Jake, Amy and Terry's kids was kind of sweet but I was a little annoyed that Terry himself had not talked to his kids about this. That's his job, not theirs. 

As always, flashbacks of "little Terry" referring to himself in the third person are gold.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

15 hours ago, betweenthebanter said:

Terry not getting the career opportunity because of his complaint was sad, but it also made the episode feel even more real.

I think it would have been more in character for Holt to ultimately advise waiting until the results on the liaison application were in, and then file the complaint.  It had already been a day or two since the event, so a short delay wouldn't have mattered, and then Terry could have potentially made a difference on two fronts.

This episode should definitely be submitted for all the awards, in my opinion, although it is more powerful when taken in the context of the whole show.

[Thriftykins]

Terry's subplot was boring and heavy handed.  I had trouble feeling a lot of sympathy.  Someone was rude to you, then you went inside to your nice house and went to your comfy, secure job the next day.  It sucks that happened to Terry, but people are rude to other people all the time.  When it happens to certain classes of people, of course, it's a big social issue.

And oh yeah, kudos and awards to a sitcom that took the bold step of expressing a popular opinion to a receptive and friendly audience.  It takes serious guts to do that!

[UNOSEZ]

Well done episode didn't expect b99 to take it there... And with quotables like get woke scully and class a drip I'm in heaven

[peeayebee]

I thought this was very well done. The serious part of the ep wasn't predictable -- no happy endings -- or too intense for a comedy. I liked that Holt at first advised Terry not to file a report on the white cop. I read that it was Andre B's suggestion that Holt's past experience would give him a different perspective from Terry's. 

But there was lots of funny, too. I liked the "conversation" Jake and Terry were having while Terry was waiting for Holt to be available. The end was great:

Terry: Whoop! Gotta go. Die Hard. Explosions. Whatever.
Jake: Wait! NO! Just when the conversation was getting interesting!

Then of course when Terry enters Holt's office:

Terry: Hello Captain Raymond Holt. It is I, Sergeant Terrence Jeffords, your friend but more importantly, your employee.
Holt: I've never heard you speak like this, sergeant. I like it. Each sentence so rife with information. Go on, please.

[Mockingbird]

4 hours ago, hendersonrocks said:

Do you remember the part of the episode where he tried do to that, and the "bad cop" refused? That's when Terry realized that he needed to do something else, for the well being of the people in that precinct. THAT'S leadership.

And why are people of color always expected to help white people become better and less racist out of the goodness of their hearts, behind the scenes, in ways that don't hurt or cause a fuss? That approach obviously hasn't eradicated racism in the last 100 years - I see no reason to think that it will in the next 100 either.

So well put! If Terry had managed to cure that cop's racism with one talk, I would have been really angry with the show. 

3 hours ago, Thriftykins said:

Terry's subplot was boring and heavy handed.  I had trouble feeling a lot of sympathy.  Someone was rude to you, then you went inside to your nice house and went to your comfy, secure job the next day.  It sucks that happened to Terry, but people are rude to other people all the time.  When it happens to certain classes of people, of course, it's a big social issue.

And oh yeah, kudos and awards to a sitcom that took the bold step of expressing a popular opinion to a receptive and friendly audience.  It takes serious guts to do that!

So racism is just people being rude? Wow. And the episode has been attacked for being too "PC" on Facebook because, you know, there's that subset of the internet that believes if anyone talks about a person who might be treated differently (worse) due to something that's beyond their control, that's being PC rather than addressing issues we as a country should be discussing. 

[wknt3]

3 hours ago, Thriftykins said:

Terry's subplot was boring and heavy handed.  I had trouble feeling a lot of sympathy.  Someone was rude to you, then you went inside to your nice house and went to your comfy, secure job the next day.  It sucks that happened to Terry, but people are rude to other people all the time.  When it happens to certain classes of people, of course, it's a big social issue.

And oh yeah, kudos and awards to a sitcom that took the bold step of expressing a popular opinion to a receptive and friendly audience.  It takes serious guts to do that!

Actually as one of the people doing the congratulations it's more like "kudos and awards to a sitcom that took the bold step of departing from it's usual content a bit to address an important topic and did so with more subtlety and nuance than many dramas that have covered the same ground, remained funny and avoided the "very special episode" traps, managed to stay true to it's usual style, kept everyone in character, and was just generally very well acted and well written. I don't think it's especially brave or bold, just very well done.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

3 hours ago, Thriftykins said:

It sucks that happened to Terry, but people are rude to other people all the time.  When it happens to certain classes of people, of course, it's a big social issue.

"Rude" with all the power and a gun.

[ClareWalks]

3 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

"Rude" with all the power and a gun.

Exactly. "Rude" is butting in line at Walmart. Racially profiling someone who is doing nothing even slightly shady is far beyond "rude."

[meep.meep]

Doing it where your two young children can witness it, is well beyond "rude."

[LadyNebula]

So I missed where Terry's wife was.  Did she have the baby with her?

[tennisgurl]

So...that got real. I guess this was inevitable, considering its a show about cops, and I know the show has dealt with real world issues before, but this is probably the one they did that was the most serious. I thought they did it really well, dealing with a sensitive social issue without turning into a preachy Very Special Episode. I cant say I want this show to turn into a full on dramedy, but I can appreciate a comedy making a few more serious points. While the conversation about turning in or not turning in the report between Holt and Terry was probably the set piece of the episode, I really found the scene where Jake and Amy have to awkwardly discuss racism with Cagney and Lacey. Its never fun to talk about unpleasant things with kids, and I thought they did a good job showing how while its awkward, its good to be honest with kids, as well as comforting.

Anyway, this show also had tons of funny scenes and lines. Favorites included Jake and Amy figuring out the key to parenting being cake and movies, "GET WOKE SCULLY" (extra funny to me because I've been binge watching Dear White People, and they use a various of that phrase a LOT), and Jake saying that Cake and Movies were his two parents, only to realize how depressing it sounds and Amy rubbing his arm. I can always appreciate when a show can do something serious, while also keeping up the laughs.

Also, the shipper in me was basically losing my mind over Jake and Amy realizing that they might want to be parents. I was basically Boyle throughout the whole episode, squeeeeeing all over the place about Jake/Amy adorableness.

[biakbiak]

3 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Doing it where your two young children can witness it, is well beyond "rude."

The kids must have just overheard him talking about it because they weren't right out in front of the house so they couldn't have seen it.

That said racially profiling isn't rude and has lead to death.

[Utpe]

Can't say that I'm the least bit thrilled about them handling such a serious issue.  I tune into B99 to unwind for the day and have a few laughs.  I don't feel like watching some after school special because the writers need to force their political correctness into a comedy.

I get it, racism is rampant.  Always has been, always will be.  Deal with it in some other manner, i.e. social media and/or news outlets.

Oh well, at least the kids were absolutely hilarious and adorable.  The scenes with Jake and Amy made me smile.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

It sucks that happened to Terry, but people are rude to other people all the time.  When it happens to certain classes of people, of course, it's a big social issue.

When someone is rude to you specifically BECAUSE you're in a certain class of people, it IS a big social issue.

[thuganomics85]

More serious then normal, but pretty good for a "very special episode."  I think what really made it work was how it wasn't just about Terry dealing with being profiled, but him and Holt disagreeing on how to approach it.  I certainly understand the logic behind Holt's approach of risking through the ranks so you can make change from above, but I also understand why Terry felt like he needed to say something now, because the racist cop wasn't going anywhere, and was never going to change.  And Holt acknowledging that part of their differences came from him being older and from a different time (and not having a supportive captain or leader), was a pretty interesting point.  In the end, it went the only way it probably could have, where they went through with filing the complaint, but Terry lost out on a potential job because of it.  I'm sure he'll get more chances in the future.

Still plenty of funny going on though.  I always love seeing Holt unleash his petty side, and his random distain for this Margo character and Scottsdale was hilarious.  Jake and Amy babysitting Cagney and Lacey, and realizing that taking care of kids is easier said then done was a fun B-plot (and a decent serious moment, when they realize that they can keep dodging talking about race to them with cake and movies!) Rosa wanting to slash the cop's tires.  And, of course, "Get woke, Scully!"

For better or worse, Desmond Harrington sure does get cast playing scummy characters.  And I really think he went way beyond "rude."  He was being pretty forceful with Terry and there was clearly no cause for it.  It was profiling, straight and simple, and something that easily could have become dangerous and violent, due to this guy's prejudices.  And he wouldn't even apologize for it.  No way was this a case of Terry overreacting because someone was being a jerk to him.

Gold star to both Terry Crews and Andre Braugher for this one.

[Kanner]

18 hours ago, Thriftykins said:

Terry's subplot was boring and heavy handed.  I had trouble feeling a lot of sympathy.  Someone was rude to you, then you went inside to your nice house and went to your comfy, secure job the next day.  It sucks that happened to Terry, but people are rude to other people all the time.  When it happens to certain classes of people, of course, it's a big social issue.

And oh yeah, kudos and awards to a sitcom that took the bold step of expressing a popular opinion to a receptive and friendly audience.  It takes serious guts to do that!

It wasn't just "someone" who was rude to Terry.  It was a person in authority (with a gun) who is supposed to protect the community.  This situation is all about the power dynamic. This same dynamic doesn't exist with random strangers. In addition, the rudeness was only based on Terry's color.  So that takes it out of the "rude" category.

[UNOSEZ]

I'm not sure which scenario is worse in regards to the comments about the cop being "rude" either like the cop some here believe that nothing wrong happened and it was a relatively harmless mistake... Or you know very well what that scene was and decided it just wasn't important... Either way its sad... 

[Danny Franks]

"Get woke, Scully"? Man, who even knew Hitchcock was woke?

I had my reservations about this episode. Wasn't sure that the subject was really going to work. But I was sold from the moment they had Jake say "nothing like that has ever happened to me, and I've done some pretty suspicious things in the street". They didn't feel the need to spell out why. 

Terry Crews' character in The Newsroom touched on this as well. There was a scene where he was stopped by police, and told not to do anything that would make them nervous. His response? "Nothing I can do about being big and black at the same time." That felt like a large part of the reason the cop stopped Terry here. Not only was he black, in a nice neighbourhood, but he was also big and physically intimidating. I wouldn't be surprised if Terry Crews has been in a similar situation in real life.

The non-apology of the other cop, which soon turned into victim-blaming, felt sadly real. I can honestly hear Fox News cretins saying those exact words in a case like this. 'It was his fault for not having his badge on him'.

Again, it was immediately apparent why Holt thought filing the complaint was a mistake. Because of course Holt would have had to make this decision himself. A gay, black detective in the NYPD of the 80s? That dichotomy between their approaches really works with Terry and Holt, I think. Holt is the guy who quietly took the abuse, doing small things like founding AAGLNYCPA (yes, I looked that up) while he moved himself up the ladder. Terry is more confrontational, more driven by passion. But we also saw how awesome Holt is, realising that this is what he worked for, to be able to fight these issues.

I also liked that they didn't try to pretend that they can fix things by doing the right thing. Don't shy away from reality. There's no magic fix, because it's not like that cop is a virulent racist, he just holds what really amounts to an institutional, cultural view, that you can't fix without generational dedication to it.

The stuff with Jake and Amy and their problem solving parenting was fun. And the show loves to lampshade the tropes they're playing with, by using Charles to point it out. Their disgust with him doing it just makes it funnier. 

But they still managed to include it in the theme of the episode, by having two ostensibly white characters have to articulate the issue. They did it in a solid enough way, without getting too mired in the deeper social issues that kids wouldn't understand. And Amy's reaction to "what's an orgasm?" was pure gold.

Edited May 4, 2017 by Danny Franks

[VCRTracking]

I hope Terry Crews gets nominated for an Emmy because he was great, especially his scene at Holt's house. That scene did a great job of also being funny without undercutting it: “There are no highlights in Scottsdale, Margo!”

Also love the scenes with Jake and Amy with Terry's kids and them realizing they might like to have some of their own one day.

"Get woke Scully!" I've said it in last week's episode, I like how Hitchcock is the slightly smarter of the two.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

12 hours ago, LadyNebula said:

So I missed where Terry's wife was.  Did she have the baby with her?

Terry said she was out of town with the baby.

[MaryMitch]

1 hour ago, VCRTracking said:

I hope Terry Crews gets nominated for an Emmy because he was great, especially his scene at Holt's house.

That actually made me tear up. Wonderful scene.

And I have to be contrary about something: I thought Boyle "wore it best". 

[iMonrey]

Quote

Can't say that I'm the least bit thrilled about them handling such a serious issue.  I tune into B99 to unwind for the day and have a few laughs.  I don't feel like watching some after school special because the writers need to force their political correctness into a comedy.

While I disagree with this opinion, I do understand it to a certain extent. B99 is not the type of show you expect to deal with serious issues. Not even once in awhile. The episode surprised me. I liked it, but it was jarring. It's like tuning into I Love Lucy and seeing an episode about rape. You just don't think that's going to happen on certain shows. B99 has always kind of been like that - a show that's just silly, period. So to some extent I understand the grumbling.

That said I hope Terry Crews gets some Emmy love for this.

[QTBlueMoon]

It's a sit-COM, not a sit-DRAM. There's a time and place for this, and for me, this isn't it.

[biakbiak]

55 minutes ago, QTBlueMoon said:

It's a sit-COM, not a sit-DRAM. There's a time and place for this, and for me, this isn't it.

I laughed many times this episode, more than many other sitcoms I watched this week.

[shoregirl]

33 minutes ago, QTBlueMoon said:

It's a sit-COM, not a sit-DRAM. There's a time and place for this, and for me, this isn't it.

Plenty of sitcoms have had serious moments. Scrubs and MASH did it plenty of times for example. I think i the best Sitcoms (and dramas) have not necessarily a straight 50/50  balance bit use both comedy and drama. Regardless of that I thought there were plenty of funny moments in this episode. 

[ainon]

2 hours ago, QTBlueMoon said:

It's a sit-COM, not a sit-DRAM. There's a time and place for this, and for me, this isn't it.

The show has done dramatic moments before, I thought. Like Jake growing to understand and accept who his parents were last season, complete with Jake's whispered threat in his dad's ear to never break his mom's heart ever again. That line was definitely played for drama, not laughs.  

[ClareWalks]

I actually liked that they had a dramatic storyline...it almost made the comedic plots funnier, because of the absurdity of their wacky goings-on amid this serious, real life issue. I also loved Hitchcock's "get WOKE, Scully!"

This episode reminded me very much of the Fresh Prince episode where Will's father comes to town briefly and leaves again, and Will gives that (AMAZING) monologue at the end about how he doesn't need his dad, but "how come he don't want me, man?" and cries into Uncle Phil's arms. That was powerful stuff. It's good to see that these folks can really pull off this kind of material. ETA a link to the Fresh Prince scene.

Edited May 4, 2017 by ClareWalks

[formerlyfreedom]

The conversation here is about the episode. Please keep it about that. Post have been, and will be removed that aren't primarily about the episode.

[Irlandesa]

On 5/3/2017 at 0:59 PM, Thriftykins said:

And oh yeah, kudos and awards to a sitcom that took the bold step of expressing a popular opinion to a receptive and friendly audience.  It takes serious guts to do that!

Guts?  Not really but handling it well is a surprisingly difficult challenge for TV shows.  They either overplay the cop with extremely overt racism or they tell the story from the POV of white characters. So deciding to tell it with two black characters working out how to best handle it while having the cop be oblivious in what he did wrong was, IMO, the perfect touch.  The opposite of heavy handed.

On 5/3/2017 at 4:54 PM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

"Rude" with all the power and a gun.

Not all the power.  Terry actually does have power in this situation because he's a cop.  If some random teen files a complaint against the cop, 99.999999% of the time the cop's POV will be trusted and believed. But Terry isn't a random teen or black man.  He's a respected officer with integrity whose perspective won't easily be dismissed.  It was refreshing that the show focused less on Terry's reaction to being a victim and more on his indecision about how to use his power to prevent something similar happening to that random black man---at least by the same cop that did it to him.

His first instinct was to give the cop a chance to explain and work things out over dinner.  The second step is the complaint but, as we saw, rocking the boat rarely comes free and clear even if it's the right thing to do.

22 hours ago, Utpe said:

I get it, racism is rampant.  Always has been, always will be.  Deal with it in some other manner, i.e. social media and/or news outlets.

Except TV shows like this have power.  It's the kind of story that could make the cop, who probably doesn't consider himself racist, possibly think twice.  Or at least might keep adding up the more he's exposed to similar stories.

7 hours ago, biakbiak said:

I laughed many times this episode, more than many other sitcoms I watched this week.

Exactly.  That's why I don't like calling it a "very special episode."  I remember those from the 80's.  Those had music. And drama.  And then weren't careful to add comedy like Scottsdale Margot. 

[possibilities]

Even if it doesn't change anyone's mind (though TV shows DO influence the way people think, sometimes), it's supportive to people who are experiencing various types of experiences, to see those things represented well on TV. That's an important relax and unwind valve just like pure silliness can be. Also, I thought it was funny in a lot of places.

What does Mike Schur have against Scottsdale, I wonder? They used it as the butt of jokes in The Office, too.

I thought Terry's kids making thank you cards for Amy and Jake was so sweet. I hate that many people don't teach their children manners anymore.