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prettylittlearrowfangirl · 6 years ago

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Final Thoughts: “Four Movements”

Terry’s right: it’s hard to imagine the precinct without Gina around. While we’ll certainly see Chelsea Peretti again in a guest spot, this is the end of her time as a series regular. As such, no one should be surprised that this is a Gina-centric episode. In the “Gina Moments” she gave to her friends, we really saw pillars of who Gina is as a person. Based on the structure of this episode, I’m going to break my Final Thoughts down by movement.

Movement 1: Gina and Holt

Gina’s relationship with Holt has been one of her strongest over the course of the show. She got to a first name basis with Kevin, she went with Holt to PR, and she has always helped him in her own way. Even if Holt doesn’t understand why Gina does what she does, he’ll still support her. When Holt says that chess and life are very similar, a lot of the implicit connections become explicit. Holt is very rules and structure-oriented, and he’s been teaching Gina this structured game for four years. But Gina has never been known to stay inside a box and follow the prescribed rules. She lives life one day at a time and always has. She understands and knows all the benefits that come from staying inside that box, including healthcare and a steady paycheck, but it’s not what she wants. She knows herself, and she knows that her best chance at success and living her best life is to be reckless and step outside of the box without a plan, making the rules up as she goes. This scene really shows the confidence that’s always been an essential part of the character.

Movement 2: Gina and Amy and Rosa

Gina’s relationship with Amy has always been mocking her for her nerdiness and emotions, but never with true malice. In the most backhanded way possible, Gina is encouraging Amy to stay true to herself, and that’s what makes this segment work. Gina has been there for all the times Amy’s been nervous or trying to prove herself or be someone else, like when the squad was staging Pimento’s death and Amy wanted to be badass like Rosa but couldn’t bring herself to notarize the certificate, so Gina just pushed Amy’s hand down to stamp it. She knows that Amy is not that type of person, and while she may make fun of her a lot, she secretly loves and appreciates who Amy is. Gina has always unabashedly been herself, and she wants Amy to do the same.

Gina’s relationship with Rosa is more understated. Here, it’s strongest in their parallels. They’re both seldom outwardly affectionate toward their friends, though they both care deeply. I can see why people ship them, Chelsea Peretti and Stephanie Beatriz among the top. There’s a reason Gina gives Rosa a flower in the fourth movement. Gina doesn’t try to pull a big Gina Moment on Rosa, because she knows Rosa is comfortably herself and they get each other.

Also, the hug that these three ladies share is one of my favorite moments in the episode. It just shows the love of the Sister Squad and is so pure.

Movement 3: Gina and Jake

Even though we got an episode that emphasized Jake and Gina’s friendship last week, it makes sense that this is the longest of the segments (it’s about 7 minutes, while the other movements are 4-5 minutes). There are likely two reasons for this: first, Jake is technically the protagonist of the show. But secondly and more importantly, though this relationship was long put on the back burner, it is one of the oldest friendships on the show. This segment ends with Gina valuing friendship over pizzazz. When the glitter and confetti fade, Gina wants her friends by her side. This segment also allows for an outlandish and fun adventure that culminates in Gina doing the blatantly insane act of turning Mario Lopez away.

Movement 4: Gina and the precinct

The Gina Moments in here were smaller and more classic callbacks. The Boyle family mother dough. Terry and yogurt. A video message. The other movements had narrower focus, while this was more about finality. Gina, while lingering to await the arrival of her statue, does many things to erase herself from the precinct: cleaning out her desk, showing Holt her “filing system”, removing her smell from the air. I think this shows that, while she’s clearly still attached to the people, she’s no longer attached to the precinct itself. She definitely won’t be forgotten. If nothing else, that statue won’t let anyone forget her.

It’ll be interesting to see what the show does without her. Whether Gina was a favorite of yours or not, this is a fitting and great sendoff. Until next time, Linetti. LinOUTti!

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