Everybody’s Having Issues in the ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Season 7 Premiere (RECAP)

[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7, Episode 1, “Manhunt.”]

Daddy issues. Authority issues. Hormonal issues. Paranoia issues. These are but a minute sampling of the woes plaguing the good officers of New York’s (fictional) ninety-ninth precinct — and of course, there’s something much, much bigger and more dangerous going on, too.

“Manhunt,” Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s seventh premiere episode, sees the squad deployed to find a shooter who attempted to assassinate the mayor. Unfortunately, both the Jake (Andy Samberg) and Charles (Joe Lo Truglio) team and the Amy (Melissa Fumero) and Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz) team are having troubles. Jake’s having trouble working with Holt (Andre Braugher), and Holt’s having trouble accepting Jake is now his boss. And lastly, Amy is having trouble accepting that she might be pregnant.

(Eddy Chen/NBC)

Pity Party

Although Jake’s in charge of the manhunt for the would-be assassin, Holt manages to promote himself, in a way. While Jake’s investigating the scene, Holt arrives and steals his thunder; and Jake, realizing they shouldn’t count out Holt’s expertise, allows him to help on the case rather than forcing him to remain at his station. That kindness ends up being a thorn in Jake’s side when Holt repeatedly one-ups him, but when Boyle says he needs to kick Holt back to the curb, he can’t do it. “I feel sorry for him,” Jake says. “His assignment was standing next to tape.” Hey, at least he had the delightfully funny Vanessa Bayer as a partner!

Jake’s pity evaporates when Holt cracks the case and oversteps every single one of his boundaries. Unwilling to be one-upped, Jake reassigns him out of the way while he and Charles go to track down the shooter. They manage to apprehend a suspect that matches the description they were given by a hot dog vendor near the scene, but Holt later insists they have the wrong man, and that hot dog vendor was the shooter.

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On the Right Track, Off the Case

Holt is adamant that they have the wrong guy, but Jake’s equally convinced that his friend/mentor/father figure is only trying to squeeze himself into a more relevant position. Jake gives the order to lift the lockdown, which Holt refuses to follow because he believes the perp is still at large. “Fine, then you’re off the case,” Jake says.

While preparing for his press conference, Jake laments that Holt’s gotten into his head (meanwhile, the latter has gone to do further investigation on his own, defying his orders). He finally admits that his former captain is probably right, and with the help of Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller), they piece together that there’s never been a hot dog stand where one was that day. Holt was right! Unfortunately, when Jake radios him, Holt’s in a bit of a predicament — the perp is pointing a gun at him.

Saving Officer Holt

Meanwhile, after Amy expresses anxiety about her potential pregnancy, Rosa goes to get her a test. The test doesn’t do much good because she’s having trouble, well, going. Rosa tries to help her and Amy drinks lots of water, but Terry believes his pals’ odd behavior is because they’re gossiping about him, so he causes a scene. Eventually, when it becomes apparent that Amy’s troubles are urine-related, he comes around. Amy still doesn’t get to go; Jake arrives and says they need to save Holt.

The squad rushes in and Amy, too antsy to suffer through the perp’s standoff, charges at him. Holt knocks the baddie to the ground, and they get him — the day is saved. Later, Holt goes to talk to Jake at the precinct and apologizes for his behavior. “I hijacked the case because I needed to feel respected,” he says. Jake replies that no matter what uniform Holt wears, he’ll always look up to him. And in the end, they were both right; Jake’s perp and Holt’s perp were in cahoots.

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That night, Amy chats with Jake about her crazy day. As it turns out, she’s not pregnant, but she’s a little sad. “I was secretly bummed when the test came back negative,” she says. Jake’s a little saddened by this turn of events, too. And just like that, even though it’s not how they’d structured things, they decide to start trying. Might a ‘Peraltiago’ baby arrive sometime in Season 7?