Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 5, Episode 2 Recap: The Nine-Nine Reunited

Jake (Andy Samberg) and Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz) suffer more joys of prison life in “The Big House, Part 2″—and let me tell you, it’s not looking any more pretty. The second half of the “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” Season 5 premiere continues to be darkly humorous and incredibly frustrating. We pick up with Jake trapped between a rock – the indifferent Warden Granville (Tom Huss) – and a hard place – prison boss Jeff Romero (Lou Diamond Phillips). Both men continually test his loyalties, pushing Jake towards his breaking point. Meanwhile, the other members of the Nine-Nine try to corner Hawkins (Gina Gershon) so they can exonerate Jake and Rosa. But desperate times call for (increasingly) desperate measures.

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

The episode starts with our Beef Baby. Jake assumes his role as Granville’s snitch in earnest, even getting locked in solitary confinement to maintain cover. But his balancing act soon begins to take its toll on him. Granville, eager to impress his boss, orders him to uncover Romero’s hidden stash of Blizz (basically meth). But when Jake overeagerly offers to help Romero with his drug trade, the gang boss warns him away. Naturally, this leads Jake to turn to cellmate turned confidante turned friend Caleb the Cannibal (Tim Meadows) for help. Putting his cop training to good use, Jake discovers that Romero has been smuggling in Blizz in the form of soap bars. He takes his discovery to the warden.
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After meeting with the warden, Jake has a harrowing confrontation with Romero. But instead of killing Jake, the gang boss instead brings him into his inner circle and lets him in on the soap secret. Which initially might sound like a good thing. Except Romero reveals that only he and two other people, including Jake, know about the soap. Jake realizes that he’s basically doomed, especially since the warden has already reported the soap to his boss.
Romero confronts Jake in the prison yard and makes to murder the snitch. But in a surprise twist, Caleb the Cannibal takes a shiv for Jake, causing guards to pour into the yard. And, more importantly, buying the cop more time. Soon after, the warden comes for Jake in his cell and lets him out, revealing that he’s a free man. How exactly did that happen?

Desperate Times

With Jack busy at the Jericho Supermax Prison, the rest of the Nine-Nine had their hands full with Hawkins. Somehow, the seasoned cop (and secret drug boss) always seem to keep outsmarting them. In this time of desperation, crime boss Seamus Murphy (Paul Adelstein) approaches Amy (Melissa Fumero) with a deal. He says he’s willing to trade her key information that could free Jake and Rosa – in exchange for a favor. But while Amy is obviously tempted by the deal, Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) shows more trepidation.
Instead of accepting Murphy’s deal, the Nine-Nine instead makes a plan to trap Hawkins. While Rosa distracts Hawkins, Holt – playing another hilarious rendition of a heterosexual man – distracts the guard. Then Amy and Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) go in and successfully hack Hawkins’ phone. Special mention goes to Rosa, who has an elaborate daydream where she breaks through the prison glass and fights Hawkins. Anyway, the Nine-Nine soon learn of a diamond deal going down and try to corner Hawkins. But they arrive at the scene to find nothing and realize that she’s been a step ahead all along.

But not all is lost. Holt figures out that Hawkins has been hiding her diamonds inside pigs, mixing the jewels in their feed and retrieving them later. Disgusting? Definitely. But it’s enough to prove that Hawkins had been the one behind the bank robberies all along, and Jake and Rosa finally reunite with the Nine-Nine. But the episode has one final twist in store. At the celebration party, Holt answers a call on his phone. Who’s on the other end? Why, none other but Seamus Murphy. Turns out Holt had made the deal without the Nine-Nine’s knowing and now he owes the crime boss a favor. Desperate times, indeed.

Just like that, Hawkins is another pawn in the game. #Brooklyn99 pic.twitter.com/kdVzSAI5sl

— Brooklyn Nine-Nine (@nbcbrooklyn99) October 4, 2017