Trust was a major theme in last night’s episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, as Jake had to rely on Rosa and Amy to clear his name while at the same time Terry and Holt weighed the consequences of lying or being honest with Gina. Working on a squad requires a certain amount of trust with the high stakes they face every day and the teamwork often required to succeed. As I mentioned last week, the group has become very much like a family, and each time they have each other’s back, that trust grows. But no team or family is perfect and everyone has moments where they question each other, unable to rely solely on someone else. For Jake, that happened last night, but as usual, it resulted in the Brooklyn Nine-Nine gang strengthening their trust in each other even more.
When Jake fails a drug test and is suspended, it is up to Rosa and Amy to prove his innocence. Jake is convinced that someone has been messing with him, making him late for work and now altering his urine sample. Naturally, he doesn’t want to sit back and do nothing about the situation, so he continually tries to help the two ladies despite his suspension. Protocol dictates that they must check to make sure Jake’s tardiness and failed drug test weren’t legitimate, leaving him questioning their trust in him. At the same time, they believe he doesn’t trust them to do their job and prove him innocent.
All these complications between the three lead to a falling out. In a setting where trust is so important, there’s a real sense of betrayal when any of these characters feel as though someone doesn’t have faith in them. Even though this wasn’t the case for Jake or Amy and Rosa (they were all simply doing what they thought they had to), it felt to the other side as if it was. In the end, this led to a fantastic resolution to the episode, with Rosa and Amy realizing that Jake had been kidnapped. They rescued him, and by doing so, proved that they never actually believed he was guilty. This also regained the trust he had in them, strengthening them as a team overall.
In a different way, trust was also a central theme to the plotline between Terry, Holt, and Gina. Terry and Holt had been unable to attend a dance recital of Gina’s, one that was very important to her, and the two had different opinions on how they should handle it. For Terry, telling a white lie for the benefit of the other person is completely acceptable. When questioned by Gina, he acts as though he was at the recital, heaping praise upon her.
Holt isn’t so willing to lie though, only believing it’s acceptable if someone is in danger. Consequently, he tells Gina the truth, that neither of them were able to attend the recital. Immediately, Holt is faced with the result of being completely honest, as Gina swears off dancing forever. Her trust in them is broken, and she is hurt by their actions. This poses the question of whether or not lying is justified if it will spare the other person’s feelings, even if it is a breach of trust. In the end, Holt realizes that maybe it is justified and he does what he can to regain Gina’s friendship and help her get back to dancing.
The C-plot of this episode was not as focused on this theme, but it did provide most of the comedy. With Jake suspended, Charles was forced to work with Hitchcock and Scully, who are both notorious for being awful at their job. However, they proved themselves to be not as inept as they might appear, solving the case that Charles hadn’t had any success with. We got a slight look into their thought process, as it became clear that they purposefully come across as idiots most of the time so that they aren’t assigned more work. These two characters are a lot of fun to watch as they screw up time and time again, and thankfully, this momentary success will not put an end to that.
Favorite Moments:
– “I believe in you Jake, but come on, he’s going after tests.” Never change, Amy.
– “Sarcasm: a coward’s lie.”
– Gina’s dance moves and Terry’s attempt at imitating them.
[Photo via FOX]
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