'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Recap: "The Wednesday Incident"

Jake, Holt, Kevin and Gina

Though they have a decent professional relationship, things always get dicey when Jake tries to get involved with Holt beyond just being a coworker. That's what happens in "The Wednesday Incident," where Jake just can't help himself from meddling in Holt's personal life, both out of a desire to help his friend and out of his instincts to crack a case.

Holt is in a bad mood, taking out his anger at everyone in the office, and so the precinct tries to figure out what set him off. It wasn't, as everyone suspects, when Jake accidentally set off the sprinklers in Holt's office. So Jake goes on a mission to figure out what made Holt angry, starting with a visit to his husband Kevin. And since Kevin hates Jake, he takes Gina along.

As with a lot of Brooklyn Nine-Nine episodes, "The Wednesday Incident" is one where we're constantly frustrated with Jake because what he's doing seems pretty obviously stupid, but it ends up working out in the end. It seems like such a bad idea to meddle in Holt's personal life when he's already in a bad mood, but even if it's a little stupid, it's all out of Jake's genuine desire to help, and that's a pretty sweet sentiment.

After retracing Holt's steps, Jake eventually cracks the case when he finds footage from a security camera near where Holt was walking. Jake finds out that Holt was mugged, and he was upset and embarrassed because he stupidly tried to fight the three guys and was stabbed. The fact that Holt has been lying upsets Kevin, and Jake leaves the Captain's house with a big mess he has to clean up.

But it all ends up okay when Jake tracks down the guy who stabbed Holt, which I'm not quite sure if I really buy. Someone getting involved in Holt's personal life seems like such a big problem for him that it seems a bit odd how easily it's wrapped up. It does make sense for Holt to realize he shouldn't have been taking out his anger at the precinct, but I feel like he would still be angry that Jake actually went to his house without his permission and got his husband upset. I guess Holt is just used to Jake's ways of doing stupid things with a good heart and still actually getting the job done, and so maybe he's less inclined to be mad at Jake now than he was in Season 1.

But in the end, things end up okay for Holt and Kevin, and Jake seems to learn a lesson about not discussing private matters with people like Kevin. But we all know that Jake is the kind of person who would definitely do something like this again if it means solving a good mystery and, most importantly, helping out a friend.

Boyle, Amy, Rosa and Marvin

The most fun storyline of this episode is actually this B-story. Boyle brings in a perp, Marvin, who he says is a bank robber they've been looking for for weeks. But Rosa and Amy are surprised when it's a frail, sweet old man, and so they obviously assume Boyle got it wrong.

But things get fun when Marvin immediately admits to Boyle that he robbed the banks. He says he doesn't even need the money, he just likes to watch the bank tellers squirm. Seeing Garry Marshall play a guy switching between a nice old man and a freaking psychopath is so endlessly entertaining, and definitely the highlight of this episode.

Of course, it's not quite clear why Boyle doesn't just hide tape recorder somewhere seeing as how Marvin continuously admits to being the robber every time he and Boyle are alone. It seems weird that Boyle doesn't even try that. But it's still super fun to see Boyle so frustrated against an insane villain like this, as much as it is frustrating that Amy and Rosa don't believe him.

It also is kind of odd that Amy and Rosa distrust Boyle so much. It seems like the arc of this episode would be the two of them eventually believing Boyle because they trust in him as a good detective, which would be kind of a nice redemption for him, but instead they only believe Boyle when Amy finds evidence herself. The end does kind of come across as redemptive for Boyle, but it really isn't. Amy doesn't believe him because of anything he did, she just happened to also find evidence herself. It's true that she wouldn't have looked for evidence if she didn't slightly believe that Boyle could be right, but that seems more to do with Amy being so thorough than her actually trusting Boyle.

Still, even if it doesn't amount to much for Boyle, this is still a super fun storyline. It's too bad Garry Marshall's character ends up dying, because it would have been amazing to see him come back again like the Pontiac bandit.

Other highlights

-Some guys come in to take away materials from Jake's case in the cold open, and Jake is sure Holt will defend him. “We’ll see what my captain has to say about this.” “Thank you for taking the materials.”
-“What’s wrong with pictures?” “If you love someone, you’ll remember what they look like.”
-“He’s not that old. His nurse isn’t even full time.”
-“That’s hurtful, I thought we had a special bond. I was your secret Santa last year.” “And I already thanked you for the who farted baseball cap.”
-“But you know who IS his husband?” “His husband?” “His husband—I was a little slow.”
-Jake cashes in an IOU with Gina, sliding a receipt for almonds to her because he wanted to dramatically slide something across the table.
-Kevin says Holt left the house in a great mood: “He was still chuckling at last night’s Charlie Rose.”
-Jake goes to Holt's favorite breakfast place. “He’s always raving about how they don’t have specials.”
-“Dammit Diane, what are you doing after this?”
-“Jake why don’t you just do the right thing and jump out a window?”
-“Yeah, I might buy my shoes at a kids store, and yeah I might be afraid of geese…”
-"I’m just holding a road flare, stepping on some oat meal, just doing me.”
-"367 paintings of one rock? This guy parties!"