Poutine
S2 E18: Captain Peralta
Brooklyn 99, 2015.
In this episode, Jake’s estranged father Roger parachutes back into his life, metaphorically, though given his job as a pilot, it’s entirely possible he owns an actual parachute.
Roger is here to reconnect, or, more accurately, to enlist Jake in clearing his name after Canadian authorities discover an intimate relationship between his snowboard bag and several thousand illegal pills.
Boyle warns Jake not to get sucked in. Jake, meanwhile, is too busy booking a father-son dinner at a Hungarian restaurant that serves a platter of “a thousand sausages,” a dish less about culinary balance and more about intestinal and manly bravery.
Back at the precinct, Captain Holt, like some kind of benevolent sphinx, dangles Beyoncé tickets in exchange for solving an ancient riddle involving twelve identical men and a seesaw. Amy flexes her brain. Terry flexes his actual muscles. Gina flexes her birthright. Hitchcock eats donuts. Balance is not restored.
Our Canadian side-quest includes undercover pilot cosplay (Jake and Boyle in uniform, Scully left behind) and a heroic cameo from Bernard’s, the airport’s best poutine spot. Scully, naturally, cannot resist. But even if fries, cheese curds, gravy, and international intrigue do not always blend well, he doesn’t seem to regret it.
Eventually, Jake proves Roger’s sidepiece framed him. Dad is free. Champagne? No. Poutine? Not right now. But Roger soon ditches Jake’s celebratory party for another flight, reminding Jake that freedom from prison doesn’t guarantee freedom from disappointment. In the end, Jake takes his dad’s captain’s hat, because if you can’t have a functional father, you might as well have the merch.
Meanwhile, Holt reveals he has never solved the riddle either, meaning the island of twelve men remains lost, bobbing forever on a sea of unsolved logic, like a bad cruise no one bought insurance for.