‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’: Can Jake Break the Peralta Family Curse? (RECAP)

[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7, Episode 10, “Admiral Peralta.”]

Anyone who has watched a season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine knows Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) has some serious daddy issues. Blame it on growing up with a dad who was constantly cheating on his mom — and then walked out on the family, thus leaving his son scarred for life in a myriad of ways.

Now, having announced Amy’s pregnancy to the precinct, Jake’s faced with being a father himself … and his dad, Roger (Bradley Whitford), informs him Peralta fathers have always been terrible at the whole parenting thing. “It’s the Peralta family curse,” he says. So Jake has that to worry about, but in order to disprove it, he suggests his dad repair things with his dad/Jake’s grandpa Walter, a.k.a. “the admiral.” What could go wrong? A lot. A lot could go wrong.

Grand-daddy Issues

It’s been years since Jake’s seen his grandpa, so he invites him, and Roger, to his apartment to talk. There’s a good reason Walter said his son wouldn’t want to see him; the minute Roger lays eyes on his father, he tries to punch him … but he accidentally punches Jake instead.

With a little encouragement, Jake eventually gets the men to bond over a happy memory. They fondly recall a time they played catch and, more importantly, other people’s broken bones they’ve seen — a thing they apparently find hilarious. “You guys are both monsters, but this is going great,” Jake says.

Bring in the Boyle

It ceases to go great when, in a toss of a beer gone wrong, they knock over a cake on the counter. That cake was supposed to reveal the gender of the Peraltiago baby, and now none of them can clean up without spoiling the surprise. The surprise ends up spoiled, indeed. Jake’s having a boy.

Their attempt to clean leaves Jake’s place a mess, and they’re in need of a cake. To fix both issues, they bring in Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio). They all get the job done, except it’s a job poorly done. When Jake and Amy cut into the cake that night at the gender reveal party, it’s green. This leads to insults exchanged between Walter and Roger, the former storms out, and the latter accidentally cuts off his thumb. Again. (He first did it in the episode “Two Turkeys,” where Jake and Amy introduce their parents to each other.)

Related

Where Are Your Favorite TV Shows Filmed? (PHOTOS)

Constructive Critique

In the lead-up to that moment, the rest of the precinct dealt with various issues — Amy (Melissa Fumero) and Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz) step in to try and solve a case Amy gave to Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller), which ends with the realization that they aren’t totally insensitive buffoons.

Terry (Terry Crews) learns the flute and Holt (Andre Braugher) steps in to help by offering “constructive criticism,” which was more like military-style ordering and yelling, but he does end up getting into the NYPD band.

At the hospital, Jake and his dad talk about the “Peralta curse.” On the surface, it appears to be true. The admiral won’t come to the hospital to see Roger, and he apparently told Jake Roger is a useless screw-up. This, Jake feels, dooms him to be a terrible father, but his dad disagrees. “I was wrong. There’s no curse,” he says. “My dad was just a selfish d**k, and I was, too.” He tells Jake he’s going to be a great dad, and his son is going to love him.

At work the next day, Jake pulls Amy into the break room to give her a smaller cake that reveals the gender of their baby: in all the chaos and green cake, she never found out. Unfortunately, Scully and Hitchcock ate the cake. Fortunately, there was some cake around Scully’s mouth: blue cake.

Related

How Will TV Networks Handle Coronavirus Shutdowns? The 2007–2008 WGA Strike Holds Clues