'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Recap: "Sabotage"

Jake, Amy, Rosa and Hoytsman

For a show about people with such a dangerous job, Brooklyn Nine-Nine rarely has any serious stakes. This week's episode is probably the highest stakes thing that has happened so far, with an actual kidnapping and murder threat on Jake, and the show does a pretty good job at making it threatening while still keeping the episode light and fun.

As the episode opens we see things going wrong for Jake all week, with him being late for various reasons and then failing the drug test at work. He suspects someone is sabotaging him, one of the many people he's locked up come back for revenge. So while Jake is suspended, Rosa and Amy go on the case.

Of course, Jake is way too into his job and this case to just go home and relax. Like the Leslie Knope of police work, Jake comes into work and follows Amy and Rosa around trying to help them, pretending he just happens to be going sightseeing at the urinalysis lab. The episode deals with a serious issue of trust, with Jake refusing to trust that Rosa and Amy are capable of handling the case, and Rosa and Amy not trusting that Jake's hunch is correct.

We soon find out that Jake is indeed being sabotaged by Geoffrey Hoytsman (Chris Parnell), who Jake caught doing drugs on the job a few weeks ago. Hoytsman kidnaps Jake and gets him to make a confession tape and is fully planning to murder him.

This is definitely the biggest threat on one of the main characters we've had so far, with Jake's life actually at risk. The situation is still hilarious though, with Hoytsman being pretty incompetent and at one point giving Jake advice about his future before remembering that he's planning to murder him.

In the end Rosa and Amy are able to track down Hoytsman and rescue Jake, and Jake has realized that he should have trusted them. His intensity and inability to put his faith in other people had been driving people away. Rosa and Amy also learn that they should have trusted Jake's hunch. The episode ends with the three becoming more willing to trust each other, and Hoytsman being taken away. Let's hope this isn't the last we see of him though, because Parnell plays this character so brilliantly that I'd love for him to be a recurring perp.

Holt, Terry and Gina

Meanwhile, Gina had a show with her dance team that Holt and Terry forgot to go to. Terry lies to her and tries to pretend they were there, but of course Holt refuses to lie. He tells Gina the truth and calls her dancing a hobby, which in Holt's mind is just a practical assessment of the fact that she doesn't get paid to do it but ends up really hurting Gina. Holt's bluntness may come across to him like it's just straightforward practical thinking, but as we can see here it can end up backfiring and hurting people.

Terry takes this as a lesson that Holt should just lie, but he's able to find some middle ground without comprising his principals. Instead of lying to Gina, he pays her to perform for the at risk youth program, and so by his definition she is now a professional dancer. This storyline is some pretty solid progression for Holt, who is still the same Holt we know and love but is perhaps becoming a bit more aware of the affect his bluntness can have on others. And as we can see, he isn't totally emotionless and unconcerned with what other people think: he genuinely cares about the people he works with.

Boyle, Hitchcock and Scully

Meanwhile, this episode also provides some great progression for Hitchcock and Scully. So far, these characters have been the bumbling idiots of the office and the punching bag for everyone else, but this episode implies there's much more going on there.

Boyle is working on a case and is assigned Hitchcock and Scully as partners, which he of course is upset about because they're so incompetent. And as expected, when they're first going over the case the two are completely clueless. But later on, after Boyle has grown completely sick of them and we've been laughing at how terrible they are, they actually come back with the case solved and a full confession.

We learn that Hitchcock and Scully actually are pretty competent detectives when they want to be; it's just that they prefer to keep a low profile and do paperwork than be out busting their asses like Jake. They're both kind of bumbling idiots, but they also are good detectives when they want to be, and are fully aware of the office's perception of them. In their minds that's a good thing, because then they won't get any of the hard cases. It's a great progression for these characters and makes far more sense than these two complete idiots somehow getting this far in the NYPD.

Other highlights:
-"Sure a couple of my teeth are loose, but that's from dental neglect, not meth."
-In another example of Brooklyn Nine-Nine hilariously contrasting police movies with the real world, Jake wants to do the classic scene of slamming down his gun and badge, when in reality he has to fill out a bunch of boring paperwork and file his weapon away officially.
-Holt only lies when a child asks him about Santa, in which case he tells them about the logical impossibility of proving a negative. Sentimental drivel.
-"Oh my god, talking about your finances makes me sweat behind the knees."
-"I really wish you could come look at urine with us, but..."
-"I guess I'll just get myself off! Context...context was important with that one."
-Holt's hobby is antique globe collecting.
-"This guy's name keeps cropping up in this case." "...because he's the victim."
-"Sarcasm: the coward's lie."
-"You called is zeroes in the sack." "That never happened." "Oh, well someone said it to me last night. Must have been my wife."