Entertainment

It's Time For Jake to Pay on 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'

by Laura Rosenfeld

The 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards were the main attraction on TV on Jan. 11, but in case you're already feeling awards show fatigue, you may have sought some other televisual entertainment for your Sunday night. If you chose wisely, you watched Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but if not, you won't have to suffer for long. I've got you covered on all the shenanigans Jake and the gang got into.

This shouldn't be surprising to you, but Jake is not great with money. In fact, he's terrible. But what's even worse is that his friends and co-workers of the 99th Precinct are either too kind or too dumb (or both), and they continue to lend Jake money. So much that they finally ask Jake to pony up in the Jan. 11 episode.

To backtrack a little bit, it really all started when Terry told Jake, "I would appreciate it if you paid me back." That was also the craziest thing Jake had ever heard in his life. Apparently, it actually was crazy because why would Terry ask Jake to pay him the $2,437 he owes him after all these years?

As surprising as this sounds, Jake isn't always as dim-witted as he seems, and he figured out that Terry really needs the money right now because his wide Sharon is having another baby. But it's too early for the couple to tell anyone about it, so Terry makes Jake promise that he won't spill on the baby news.

Now this was already going to be a challenge for Jake, but then the rest of the Brooklyn Nine-Nine crew wanted the thousands of dollars Jake owes returned to them as well. In order to get out of telling the truth, Jake was forced to work off his loan by acquiescing with Gina's request to tell all her loved ones that he's dead just to see how they react and give Scully a massage. You know Jake is really serious about protecting Terry's secret when he actually goes through with that.

But as you can probably guess, things don't go as planned. As much as Jake tries, the secret eventually gets out in a mass email to the precinct with the suggestion that Terry should name his new baby "Hurricane." The gaffe would have at least been worth it if that was actually a good baby name. Come on, Jake. You can do better.

The whole gang eventually ends up deleting the email, but it's no use. Captain Holt congratulates Terry and Sharon on the new baby. He also gives the suggestion that they should name him "Todd." Eh, it's a step up, I guess, but there's still room for improvement. We'll put a pin in that one for now.

However, we can't end this thing without a happy ending, now can we? Jake sells his beloved car in order to make up for his mistake. Terry realizes he's mature and responsible enough to be the godfather of his new child, which makes Jake elated but ultimately confused and terrified at the fact of actually taking care of another human being. God speed, Jake. God speed.

After this second episode since Brooklyn Nine-Nine has returned from hiatus, I'm confident in saying that we're on a pretty good streak, right? These past couple of episodes have really honed in on what makes Brooklyn Nine-Nine so successful. They've taken the spotlight away from the guest stars and put it on this quirky ensemble cast of characters. The real magic of Brooklyn Nine-Nine lies in when Jake, Amy, Captain Holt, et al. are just left to go wild and play off of their kooky selves. That is all I want from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Always.

Image: Ron Eisenberg/FOX; Giphy; the-ninenine/Tumblr