Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Lockdown Recap

Summary of 2×07: Peralta is left in charge of the precinct over Thanksgiving when a mysterious powder puts them on lockdown. Jeffords struggles to get along with his brother-in-law Zeke.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

I don’t know if this year’s Thanksgiving episode was as charming as last years, but it was certainly a fun ride that featured some actual character development.

Holt and Jeffords have made plans to go to a conference over Thanksgiving and have asked Peralta to be in charge for the time being. Since Peralta hates Thanksgiving (which Charles is insisting on being called ‘Turkey Day’), he accepts and hopes to coast through the day with no issue. However, that’s easier said than done when the appearance of a mysterious powder puts the precinct on lockdown. Jake is certain that it’s nothing and that everyone will be out of there in no time.

Well, as you can imagine, Holt has as much faith in Peralta as the audience does and asks Jeffords if they can set up in his home office for the time being. Jeffords is hesitant because his brother-in-law Zeke is staying over and Zeke is constantly antagonizing him, calling him names like “Tiny Terry.” Considering how large Terry is, that should tell you how large Zeke is.

Naturally, Zeke is not happy about Terry using his temporary space for work, but when Zeke gets the impression that Holt is a jerk and actually starts being nice to Terry because of it, Terry just runs with it.

Back at the 99, Peralta is trying to keep it peaceful when he gets hit with the news that whatever the powder is, it wasn’t baking powder like he suspected. Santiago tells Peralta to be honest with the civilians that have gotten trapped in the station, but he’s insisting that it will all be fine if he can make everyone happy.

This nearly immediately goes to hell between Gina freaking out about possibly dying, Diaz antagonizing her over it, Hitchcock being trapped outside, Boyle asking to be Jake’s right hand instead of looking at the tapes to see who left the powder, and the civilians making more and more unreasonable demands. It finally all topples over when one of the lawyers stuck in the station tells everyone else that the powder wasn’t baking powder, inciting a riot and setting fire to a couch cushion. Peralta gets it under control, but not without disappointing Holt along the way.

As Holt and Jeffords try to leave the house to go back to the station, Jeffords tells Holt what happened between him and Zeke, asking him to further paint himself as a jerk in front of his family. Instead of persuading him to come clean, Holt agrees and even lets Jeffords paint extra pie that Jeffords ate around his mouth.

Realizing how badly he’s screwed up, Peralta tries to appoint Santiago. She declines, telling him that he’s still just trying to make everyone happy and not trying to do what needs to be done as a leader. With her help (and Boyle getting a confession of the former IT guy who left the powder), he manages to get the station turned around, the civilians in line, and the lockdown over within an hour. Holt and Jeffords are suitably impressed and even with the awkward “Get the hell out” that Peralta gives them, he manages to get everyone home in time for the holiday. There is hope for the boy yet.

While not an over the top episode, ‘Lockdown’ manages to be pretty fun while playing to both Peralta’s strengths and weaknesses as a character. Not to mention the friendship between Holt and Jeffords warms my soul. The emoji line might have been one of the most unexpectedly funny lines of the entire season.