Editor’s note: this article contains spoilers for NBC’s Brooklyn 99.
We’re finally back to solving crimes! After a slow start to the season, Brooklyn 99 raises the bar with hilarious, detective hijinks. This episode showed a whole new side to detectives Hitchcock and Scully, both known for loving unhealthy food and desk duty rather than being good detectives. Like, a whole new side.
Once studs always studs👍🏻 #Brooklyn99 pic.twitter.com/NiJjeFzON6
— Joel McKinnon Miller (@JoelMcKMiller) January 18, 2019
The cold open flashes back to 1986, when Hitchcock and Scully busted a large cocaine deal. Let me tell you, 1986 Hitchcock and Scully looked good; they called themselves the “studs” of the 99 and they weren’t wrong. Even Jake and Charles admit they looked attractive later on in the episode. What was especially crazy to me was how similar the actors who played young Hitchcock and Scully were to the older Hitchcock and Scully. Their faces and hairline were very accurate and so were their mannerisms, albeit the youngsters were a bit more suave. I thought it was A+ casting.
Back in the present, Holt receives a call from Internal Affairs: they want to look into the cocaine case from 1986. Holt asks Jake and Charles to look into it and make sure the commissioner isn’t trying use a bit of mismanagement against Holt. Cue Jake and Charles looking into the case and deciding whether young Hitchcock was more ‘bang-able’ than young Scully (“Meow!” or so they reacted).
The main conflict of this episode was Jake’s suspicion: Charles points out that Jake always suspects the worst outcome in any situation. Evidence A: When Charles wants to adopt Nikolaj’s half brother (Nikolaj, Charles’s adopted son), Jake tells him that Nikolaj’s ‘half brother’ was really just a 45 year-old scamming them (to be fair, Jake’s response was logical, given the image Charles shows him clearly depicts a middle-aged man). Evidence B: When Jake and Charles look over the 1986 case, they find that although there were three bags full of cash that were reported, there was a fourth bag on the crime scene. Jake immediately suspects Hitchcock and Scully stole the bag for their own use.
Hitchcock and Scully lead them back to a truck straight out of the 80s, known as the ‘Beaver Trap’ (lewd, though Hitchcock and Scully insist the name has nothing to do with women). Jake and Charles look through the truck and find the bag, but, it’s empty. The door slams– Hitchcock and Scully trapped Jake and Charles in the van!
Presented without comment. #Brooklyn99 pic.twitter.com/tWbnlK4Kyw
— Stephanie Beatriz (@iamstephbeatz) January 18, 2019
Using some expert lockpicking skills, Jake and Charles manage to break out of the van and track Hitchcock and Scully. It seems that Jake left his phone in the car they used to drive to the truck and Charles tracks Jake’s phone (funny, but weird). The duo find Hitchcock and Scully at Wing Sluts, a fast food wings restaurant.
Turns out that, when solving the cocaine bust in ’86, Hitchcock and Scully used an informant. However, she wasn’t able to get witness protection. So, Hitchcock and Scully used the extra bag of cash to help her start a new life. This is a completely new side of Hitchcock and Scully. The fact that they helped someone out when they could have got in trouble really sheds a new light on their characters.
They admit all of this when Jake and Charles confront them. However, it turns out the Internal Affairs call was a farce! It was just so the dealer Hitchcock and Scully locked up could find the informant and kill her. Cue the good-old shout out that Brooklyn 99 is famous for.
We’re watching together @nbc ! Where are you watching from? #Brooklyn99 pic.twitter.com/ZF7BuM7KjI
— Joel McKinnon Miller (@JoelMcKMiller) January 18, 2019
Honestly, I really missed the thrill of solving crimes along with the characters of the 99. This episode really felt like a breath of fresh air to me.
Watch the next episode, the Tattler, on Jan. 24 at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.
