Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Pontiac Bandit Returns Recap

Summary of 2×10: Right around Christmas, Doug Judy returns to New York and gets caught by Peralta and Diaz. However, he tries to broker a deal when he reveals he knows the Giggle Pig ringleader. Boyle and Gina are traumatized when they find out that their parents are getting serious with each other. Santiago discovers a mistake in one of Holt’s old cases.

Rating: ★★★★☆

It’s Christmas in the 99 again and Peralta starts it off right with arresting his rival Doug Judy aka The Pontiac Bandit! Of course, he does this while dressed as Santa and sets fire to a Christmas tree lot, screaming “THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU’RE NAUGHTY” because it’s Jake Peralta. Do you need anymore explanation?

However, Peralta’s victory is short lived when Judy reveals he knows Tito Ruiz, the ringleader behind Giggle Pig. Needing desperately to win with the task force, Holt agrees to reduce Judy’s sentence to 5 years instead of 20 and to let him stay in a four star hotel during his last few days of freedom, but only if Peralta and Diaz are there to keep an eye on him.

Peralta is on edge about Judy since he’s fairly certain he’s going to try and break free again, even going so far as to put a GPS tracker in his shoe. However, the two end up getting along like a house on fire just like last time as they indulge themselves in lobster and robes in the hotel. Ruiz agrees to meet them and Peralta comes up with a cover story so Judy doesn’t go in alone. It ends up being fairly successful since Ruiz believes Peralta to be Judy’s partner after he manages to break into a car with Judy’s help. As they begin to broker a deal on the Giggle Pig however, a dump truck backs into the building and Judy makes a break for it as the cops arrive. Peralta goes after him, but Judy quickly points out that Ruiz will get away if he goes for him. In a rather tough, yet easy decision, Peralta lets Judy go and arrests Ruiz.

With Diaz’s task force a success that leads to her smiling a whole lot, Peralta is still stinging over Judy’s escape. Diaz promises that they’ll catch him, but not before smiling more. Stephanie Beatriz’s smile is like spring. It’s beautiful.

Wanting to get a gift for Holt somehow, Amy figures she’s found a loophole by making him a scrapbook of his career since it doesn’t cost her any money. This is assuming she already owned everything to make it, which wouldn’t surprise me. However, during her research, she finds that a mistake might have been made in one of his biggest cases. An arsonist named “The Brooklyn Boiler” was charged with setting 12 fires back when Holt had a fro and snappy lines, but Amy realizes he may have not set three of those fires. She mentions this to Terry, who says that criticizing Holt’s career in a scrapbook may be the worst idea ever. However, she still gives it to him, telling him that he might have made a mistake. Holt refuses to look at the rest of the book on principle of it being a gift, but he tells Amy he admires her for being honest and straight up about the case and asks her to help him find who set the other three fires. Naturally, Little Workhorse Amy is ecstatic.

Once again, Boyle and Gina get the weaker plot of the episode. Boyle discovers a gift from his dad to Gina’s mom, which causes the two to freak out about their parents getting serious. They find out the gift is a digital scale, which they expect to go over terribly, but it turns out that Gina’s mom loves it and that the two of them are moving in together. A disgusted Gina goes and gets drunk, but comes back the next day with a new sense of purpose: she’s going to break them up. Jesus guys, it’s not the end of the world. Can’t you be mature adu- Never mind, I’m asking that question about Gina Linetti.

Besides that final plotline, ‘The Pontiac Bandit Returns’ has been one of the strongest episodes of the season so far. Equally funny and touching, I really do hope this episode gets a third part with the resolution Jake needs. Or just to get Craig Robinson on the show again. He’s amazing.