‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Season 7, Episode 8 ‘The Takeback’ Review: Reverse Heist

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is one of the shows that successfully create novelty characters. After one finally says farewell to an old nemesis, another reunites with an old friend. The dynamics of a crook-cop friendship is tricky, and life events make it even trickier. Also, the return to one’s office usually is a joyful occasion. That is until something important goes missing.

On Thursday’s episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) attends Doug Judy’s (Craig Robinson) bachelor party along with Doug’s criminal friends. At the station, Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) haphazardly looks for a missing memento in returning Captain Ray Holt’s (Andre Braugher) office. Meanwhile, Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) listens to Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), Hitchcock (Drik Blocker), and Scully’s (Joel McKinnon Miller) ridiculous proposals for the new vending machine.

Fate

Hitchcock and Scully are well known for being the Nine-Nine’s foodies. These guys know every food joint in New York along with their respective ratings. Also, they even have an episode about them and their love for chicken wings. Amy knew that mentioning the order for a new vending machine would force her to listen to them. Charles, however, accidentally mentions it out loud so the duo rushes to make a presentation. Eventually, they do get the machine that they want, but it is short-lived. The machine overloads and Hitchcock and Scully could do nothing but watch as their precious machine dies. Still, Charles manages to comfort them by showing a trick that lets them have free snacks from one of their existing machines.

Memento

With the six months over, Captain Holt now returns to his beloved office. Terry makes sure that everything is in order since Holt has a keen eye for details. Minor changes were there, sure, but everything seems acceptable to Holt until he notices one thing missing. A business card with pink gum stuck onto it turns out to be the missing item and Terry likely threw it away. With that, Terry and Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz) go through ridiculous lengths to try to replace the thing, going as far as making numerous seemingly identical copies.

Unfortunately, they miss a crucial detail known only to Holt: the text written on the back of the card. They soon find out that the card belongs to Holt’s first unsolved case. It served as a reminder for Holt, so Terry comes up with an idea. Instead of having one unsolved case motivate Holt, Terry finds over thirty business cards from people Holt helped. Holt chooses one and soon realizes that his failure should not define him alone.

Best Man

John P. Fleenor/NBC

Jake and Doug’s reunion only happens when, with the help of Rosa, Jake learns about Doug’s wedding. It was strange of Doug to not invite Jake, so he confronts Doug. Jake’s disappointment quickly fades as Doug invites him to his Miami Bachelor party. Jake had to disguise himself, though, since Doug’s criminal friends Nathan (Omar Adam) Josh (Ty Barnett), and Chuck (Rob James) did not like the idea of Doug’s cop friend. Trudy Judy (Nicole Byer) almost blows Jake’s cover, but the game-changer was when the trio blurts out the heist they just pulled. In a beautiful, funny narrative sequence, Jake, the Judys, and Doug’s friends return the diamonds they stole from a Russian crime boss also staying in their hotel. Once they return, however, the SWAT shows up and arrests the trio, ruining Doug’s Bachelor party.

When Jake returns to the station, Doug shows up and reveals that the Party was a setup. Doug’s fiance, a Judge, did not want to invite Doug’s friends to the wedding, so he purposely had Jake involved so they would get arrested. Also, Jake noticed one crucial detail during their meetup at an art class: Doug painted the words ‘Will you be my Best Man?’ inside the mug he held. They end the episode with Jake and Doug’s trademark duo singing.

‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Season 7, Episode 8 ‘The Takeback’ Final Verdict

Brooklyn Nine-Nine works on the premise of having novelty characters. Doug Judy is one of them, being a character that appears usually once or twice every season. Jake and Doug’s friendship unlikely and unique as it is, making every episode with them memorable. Also, it is nice to see Holt back in his Captain uniform, having the same robot-like attitude and attention to detail. Terry losing it in the end when Rosa takes some credit adds a nice touch to the trio’s sub-plot.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine continues Thursday, March 26th with ‘Dillman’ at 8/7c on NBC.