Boyle's Hunch

In its original American broadcast, "Boyle's Hunch" was seen by an estimated 2.75 million household viewers and gained a 1.3/4 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research.[1] This was a 33% decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 4.10 million viewers with a 1.9/5 in the 18-49 demographics.[2] This means that 1.3 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 4 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it. With these ratings, Brooklyn Nine-Nine was the third most watched show on FOX for the night, beating Bob's Burgers and The Last Man on Earth, but behind Family Guy and The Simpsons, fifth on its timeslot and eight for the night, behind Family Guy, The Simpsons, Madam Secretary, Once Upon a Time, Quantico, 60 Minutes, and Sunday Night Football.

"Boyle's Hunch" received generally positive reviews from critics. LaToya Ferguson of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B−" grade and wrote, "After two episodes of new captain shenanigans, Brooklyn Nine-Nine decides to get back into the groove of 'normalcy,' focusing more on the every day work life of the characters than the characters' reactions to all of these changes."[3] Allie Pape from Vulture gave the show a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Of course, one of the things that makes B99 such an enjoyable watch is that it can address these issues before comfortably shifting back into a goofy and pure-fun C-plot like having Terry and Rosa catch Hitchcock, and Scully stealing Rosa’s Moose Tracks."[4]

Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote, "By now, 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' is a stage where it has a lot of old reliables, joke-wise. Anytime a scene needs a laugh, the show can always lean on Terry announcing his like of something unexpected, or Holt uttering an amusing word or phrase, or Santiago struggling to contain her enthusiasm for something no one else cares about."[5] Andy Crump of Paste gave the episode an 8.4 rating and wrote, "'Boyle's Hunch' is a solid half hour of television. It isn't flawless — you'd think the show would put just a tad more effort into changing the tone of the department now that The Vulture is in charge, and that Holt wouldn't be interacting so much with his former employees as he has been — but whether Jake and Boyle are throwing around spider puns on celebrity names, or singing their own detective-based version of 'My Humps,' or Rosa is threatening to bring agonizing doom down upon Hitchcock and Scully, it's very, very funny."[6]