Jake & Boyle Deal With Daddy Drama on ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ (RECAP)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 6, Episode 10 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, “Gintars.”]

Remember when Boyle said he found Nikolaj’s middle-aged brother? Yeah, that comes back to bite him in the latest Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode, “Gintars.”

Based on information he got from Dragomir, Nikolaj’s birth father (played by Ike Barinholtz) has traveled to New York City and wants to meet his son. The only problem with this whole idea is that it’s the opposite of what Boyle wants; Boyle’s scared that his son will feel he doesn’t compare to his “real dad.” Seeing his friend’s trepidation, Jake sets a plan in motion to make things better — but he might end up making them worse.

Who’s Your Daddy?

The episode opens with Boyle and Jake being followed. They ask the guy why he’s following them, and the man tells them he’s Gintars, Nikolaj’s birth father. Boyle is so shaken by this news that he passes out on the street.

Back at the precinct, Gintars explains that Dragomir told him all about Boyle, and that he is now a “very successful businessman” who owns a clothing company called “The Gape.” Gintars doesn’t want Nikolaj back for good, but he does want to meet him once. Boyle’s not willing to comply, so Gintars responds in kind: he says he won’t leave the country until he gets to meet Nikolaj.

This results in Gintars causing a racket in the waiting area at the precinct, so Jake suggests to Boyle that he can have Nikolaj meet his dad without telling him he’s his birth father. They go with Jake’s plan and introduce the two at a playground without telling them they’re related, but it backfires when Gintars blabs and tells Nikolaj, almost instantly, that he is his dad.

Daddy Gintars

Boyle confronts Gintars about his revelation, and the latter practically begs Boyle to let him spend more time with his son. This sends Boyle into a crisis — he tells Jake that Nikolaj’s been asking whether Boyle is really his dad. Jake reassures him, but he’s worried that if Boyle keeps his son from his birth father, his son will end up blaming Boyle for keeping them apart.

As a result of Jake’s advice, Boyle allows birth father and son to play basketball together. He and Jake watch, and Jake tells his friend a terrible story about the day he was forced to spend with one of his dad’s girlfriends. “Nothing has ever made me love my real mom more,” Jake says. Unfortunately, Gintars and Nikolaj’s time together doesn’t end that way — he runs over to Boyle and asks if they can leave, so Gintars can buy him a jacket exactly like “daddy Gintars’.” Oh no!

Back at the precinct, Boyle’s (loudly) going through yet another crisis. Upset to see his friend suffering, Jake figures out a way to get rid of Gintars — he can get him deported for his knockoff clothing brand. Jake meets him at a public bathhouse with a recorder under his towel, and he gets Gintars to talk about his brand. Gintars ends up admitting that he stole the whole thing.

Helping, Unhelpfully

Jake sets Gintars up as the latter delivers the goods, but unexpectedly, Boyle brings Nikolaj to see his birth father at the scene. Apparently Nikolaj has been pretty happy since Gintars came back. Unfortunately, Boyle and Nikolaj are just in time to see Gintars getting arrested for selling counterfeit goods. Boyle gets angry at Jake for his plan, and he says Nikolaj feels like he’s being abandoned again.

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Boyle couldn’t stop Gintars from being deported, though Nikolaj did get to spend a little more time with his birth father at the airport. Jake apologizes for messing things up, and to make amends, he gives Boyle a pair of matching best friend hats he made.

“You shouldn’t have done anything without asking me,” Boyle says. He explains that adoption is complicated and that no matter how much he wants to be, he’ll never be Nikolaj’s real dad. “Well, I think Nikolaj is very lucky to have you,” Jake says. They make up, and put on their (too-small) best friend hats.

The Flies Lie

Rosa needs some forensic help with a case, and she wants to bring in the feds. Amy and Holt, on the other hand, want to bring in Dr. Yee — he recently bred a species of fly that could be helpful on the case.

Yee arrives with several hundred of his bugs that could detect blood. Amy and Holt fangirl over their hero, but Rosa and Terry are less amused. “How effective is your box of bugs?” she asks. Rosa doesn’t think he’s effective at all, based on the fact that they don’t react at the crime scene. Amy and Holt are adamant that “the flies don’t lie,” but seeing she’s unconvinced, Yee gives them a demonstration to show how they react when they do sense blood; they swarm around it.

Rosa tests the flies later and finds out they don’t react to blood, which doesn’t go over well with Amy and Holt… but it does end up being true. Yee admits he spent millions on a federal grant and got nowhere, so he used melted popsicle to make it look like the flies worked. Holt and Amy later apologize for their actions. Holt offers to get the feds on the case, but Rosa says that won’t be necessary; she already solved it by using the threat of flies that could smell blood — and the flies themselves — as leverage to get the perp to talk.

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Other Observations

• I was happy to see Boyle getting some time to shine this episode, since it felt like we hadn’t really seen him so far this season. His interactions with Jake are always fun, and it was nice to see their friendship dynamic shift a bit with Jake asking Boyle’s forgiveness.
• I almost felt like this B-story didn’t need to be in this episode? I found myself wanting more time spent on Gintars and Nikolaj and less on the Dr. Yee stuff. It was amusing, but it didn’t measure up to that character’s first appearance. The best thing about it was Terry’s shaved — and then drawn on — eyebrows.
• Are we going to get another overarching story this season? One of the things I liked best about Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s previous seasons was that there was a larger thread tying them all together; that doesn’t seem to be the case so far. I enjoy the individual episodes, but I miss having an evolving storyline to follow.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC