Jake, Boyle and Roger

Brooklyn Nine-Nine has never been a show particularly concerned with emotional moments. It’s primarily about the gags, and it’s rare that the show is really overly serious. That’s why tonight’s episode is so heartbreaking, and it’s by far the show’s most emotionally affecting moment to date.

The main storyline of this week’s episode revolves around Jake and his father Roger, played by Bradley Whitford. We’re seeing him for the first time because he ran out on Jake when he was a kid. Jake is incredibly enthusiastic about his dad visiting, showing him around the office like it’s show and tell and bragging to everyone about how cool he is. We quickly find out that Roger is being investigated for smuggling pills into the U.S., and the real reason he came back was for Jake’s help.

At first Jake is a little taken aback, but he decides to help his dad, convinced he must be innocent. We know where this must be headed, with Jake’s refusal to admit his dad could be a bad person getting in the way of his police work. It seems that the episode is leading towards a heartbreaking conclusion where Jake has to find out that Roger truly is a criminal. But actually, Brooklyn Nine-Nine sort of breaks from expectations on this front. It turns out Jake’s dad actually didn’t do it, and he really was framed, which Jake finds out due to some great police work.

The conclusion of the storyline is even more heartbreaking than I expected. Everything seems to be going fine until Jake’s dad doesn’t show up at the bar like he said he was going to. He’s leaving in the morning, and Jake realizes that although his dad isn't a criminal, he's fully prepared to disappear from his life again, having gotten what he wanted. Jake finally stops pretending everything’s okay and confronts Roger, telling him he’s a selfish person who doesn’t care about being a dad and that he shouldn’t contact Jake until he does. Jake walks away confidently and awesomely to “Spirit in the Sky,” and it’s a total fist bump moment coming right after a total tearjerker.

This is a landmark moment for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and some of the best character development for Jake we’ve seen yet. Jake has been blaming himself his entire life for his dad leaving, but throughout this episode he finally comes to the realization and understanding that it’s not his fault. Sometimes people are downright selfish, and we need to respect ourselves and our happiness enough to not put up with that. By the end of this episode, Jake is no longer emotionally dependent on his father, asserting himself as the one in control of his happiness. It’s the most mature Jake we’ve ever seen, and when Holt tells Jake he’s proud of him at the end of the episode, I think he speaks for all of us. Jake may not have a father in his life, but with Holt and the rest of the precinct, he sure does have a family.

The Riddle

On a lighter note, the B-storyline this week involves Holt posing a riddle to the precinct, which he challenges them all to solve. The prize is tickets to a Beyonce concert, which obviously everyone wants because it’s Beyonce. They split up into two teams: Terry and Amy and Gina and Rosa. These are two pairings we don’t see on the show too often, and so it’s great to see the show messing around with its groupings of characters and seeing how they interact.

How everyone deals with the riddle is also pretty hilariously indicative of who they are as people. Rosa immediately thinks she has it, but her answer just involves being really violent. Amy completely stresses out about it, working through the problem like she’s preparing for the SATs.

It turns out there really isn’t a solution to the riddle, or at least not one that Holt has: he posed the question to them because his old commanding officer posed it to him 20 years ago and he has still not solved it. This is actually kind of oddly sweet in that Holt clearly has enough trust and faith in these people to put this task in their hands that he couldn’t do himself. It is a little odd that basically every single person here took the entire day off from work to do a riddle together, but this is still a pretty fun storyline that pairs a bunch of the leads together with pretty consistently funny results.

Other highlights:

-In the cold open Boyle has a goatee which he calls Bianca. It doesn't last long, as everyone in the office agrees it looks terrible and forcibly shaves it off him.
-Boyle recommends Jake take his father to a restaurant which serves the "platter of 1000 sausages," which is symbolic of our manhood apparently.
-It's really sweet to see Boyle so invested in the situation with Jake's father. He really does consider Jake like a brother to him, and he's as hurt by Roger leaving as anyone.
-Don't tell anyone, but Terry's kids were conceived to Bootylicious.
-"Wasps? Those aren’t even real!"
-"Is this how you want to die, Hitchcock?"
-“You’re the best pilot in the world, I say not knowing anything about the field.”
-"Oh my god Jake, who’s flying the plane?"
-Donuts are Terry's trigger food.
-“I think he did it.” “You’re right, he didn’t do it.”
-“I just captured the exact moment when you realized you had failed.”
-Yet another opportunity for Jake to come up with fake identities. This time he and Boyle are co-pilots named Spike Masters and Wanda Cohen.
-"I’m taking your captain hat because it’s cool and I want it."
-“What are you gonna say to your CO?” “I don’t know. Thanks for bringing it up.”
-Oh, and Scully is still at the airport. Poor guy.