Awesome / Brooklyn Nine-Nine

This page is Spoilers Off.

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Season 1

• The climax of the Pilot, which had the team arresting a murderer.
  Jake: That's how we do it in the Nine-Nine, sir. Catch bad guys and look good doing it.
• In "The Tagger", Captain Holt stands up to Deputy Commissioner Padalsky rather awesomely after Peralta arrests the commissioner's son for vandalizing police vehicles:
  Deputy Commissioner Padalsky: [To Peralta] You're being stupid, Peralta, don't be stupid. I can make your life miserable.
  Holt: Commissioner, please don't talk to my detective in that tone. If you have a complaint, you can take it up with me.
  Deputy Commissioner Pedalsky: You just made yourself a very powerful enemy, Holt. I'm gonna be watching you. Both of you. Like a hawk.
  Holt: You're gonna have to try a little harder if you want to scare me. I've been an openly gay cop since 1987, so you're not the first superior officer to threaten me. You know why I'm still standing here? Because I do my job. And I do it right.
  Peralta: [Deeply impressed and gloating] Daymn, son!
  Holt: Don't say 'son'.
  Peralta: Sorry, sir.
• Peralta's plan to steal Holt's Medal of Valor in "Halloween". Even Holt is genuinely impressed.
  • Holt himself comes out of the bet well, given his graceful and good-humoured response to defeat.
• Peralta punching Brogan in the face after Brogan referred to Holt as "that homo".
  • Doubly awesome because Peralta, in an effort to placate Brogan, had just patiently endured Brogan being dismissive and insulting towards himself. Peralta was willing to let insults towards himself slide, but homophobia towards his captain?
  Peralta: [wincing] I really wish you hadn't just said that.
  Brogan: [confused] What — "homo"?
  Peralta: [decks him]
• At the climax of "Christmas", a killer that Holt put away is out to kill him, and he manages to get the drop on both him and Peralta. Right as he's about to pull the trigger, Jeffords tackles him, finally proving he's ready for active duty again.
  • Boyle also jumps in front of a gun aimed at Diaz in the climax of "Christmas".
    • Boyle later admits to Rosa (with the help of some serious strength painkillers) that he didn't know it was her when he jumped in front of a bullet, saving her life. As he says he "just saw the NYPD jacket." He didn't do it because he's in love with Rosa, but because he'd do it for any of his colleagues.
• In "The Bet", Peralta gets one just for the sheer amount of effort he put into his awful date with Amy. Anybody can take a girl on a terrible date, but can just anybody hire a choir to serenade the girl about how much she sucks, and hire a stripper to perform for her at work? Jake doesn't do anything by halves.
• In the opening of "Operation: Broken Feather", the Detective squad works together to try and stop the Vulture from poaching another case that is in the bag. Peralta tries to get the guy to confess, Boyle spills coffee on the Vulture, Diaz tries to flirt with him, and Scully foolishly detonates a tear gas grenade in the office. The Vulture is equally awesome in this scene, bypassing all obstacles, including the tear gas-by donning shades, putting a scarf to his mouth and saying "The phoenix rises from the ashes." before kicking in the door to the interrogation room to steal Peralta's suspect. He's too late and even the suspect who just confessed to murder joins Peralta in taunting him. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny.
• In "Full Boyle," we discover that Holt started and is in charge of an organization for the support of gay, black members of the NYPD, and that he started it twenty-five years prior. When he initially asked for the funds, he was met with derisive, mocking laughter... but no one ever actually said the word "no," so he just took the money and did it anyway. Yes, young Raymond Holt, just barely out of the closet at that point^note Holt says he's been out since 1987, and twenty-five years prior to the airing of the episode would've been 1989, went against the very heavily implied wishes of his superiors to create what would've been (and still would be, in some areas) a very controversial organization to support his fellow members of the LGBTQ and black communities. In the eighties. The fact that he not only pulled it off but didn't get fired immediately is just awesome, as is the fact that the organization is still functioning and has grown to 50 members and counting.
• Admit it, Peralta and Santiago's run through the Tactical Village was cool as hell.
• Scully and Hitchcock for once actually showing decent observational and deductive skills, although in service of a secret bathroom rather than actually being detectives.
• Peralta solving a case long considered unsolvable. Ditzy Genius at its finest. Plus he perfectly deflates the murderer's protests about 'doing it for love' with the succinct "Cool motive. Still murder."

Season 2

• At the end of "The Jimmy Jab Games," Holt and Terry catch the detectives engaged in the final round of the titular games. Instead of covering up what they were doing, though, Rosa unapologetically tells Holt exactly what they were doing and why. Her no-bullshit approach makes Terry suggest to Holt that she would make a great leader for the Giggle Pig task force.
• In "Halloween 2," the bet between Jake and Captain Holt this time is to steal Holt's watch by midnight. Jake wins, Holt has to do his paperwork for a week like last time. If Holt wins, then Jake has to do five weeks of free overtime. Turns out that even for all of Jake's careful planning...Holt has been planning his revenge all last year!
  Jake: But be warned, I started planning next year's heist just this minute.
  Captain Holt: Good. Then you're only three months behind.
• Holt's speech about his frustration over the events in "The Mole" is absolutely amazing thanks to Andre Braugher delivering it with absolute conviction.
  Holt: Nothing's okay. Wuntch...circling me like a shark frenzied by chum. The task force turning into a career-threatening quagmire. An Internal Affairs investigation casting doubt on my integrity! And you ask if everything is okay? I am buffeted by the winds of my foe's enmity and cast about by the towering waves of cruel fate! Yet I! A captain! No longer able to command my vessel, my precinct, from my customary helm: my office! And you ask: 'Is everything okay?' I've worked the better part of my years on Earth overcoming every prejudice and fighting for the position I hold. And now I feel it being ripped from my grasp! And with it...the very essence of what defines me as a man!"
• Jake and Holt figuring out who the mole is in "The Mole": the IAB lieutenant.
  Jake: The only thing you need to know about Capt. Holt is—
  Holt: I have a flair for the dramatic!"
  • Also, Holt's Awesomeness by Analysis when he deduces in about a second why Jake is unnerved at not knowing his precinct fellow officers.
• Rosa calling Jake out when he goes against her orders in "USPIS."
  Jake: Okay, I know I didn't do it exactly the way you asked me to—
  Rosa: The way I ordered you to, as leader of the task force. Do you think just because we're friends, you can do whatever you want?! Danger's furious. He's on his way over here now because they're taking over the case.
  Jake: What? He can't do that.
  Rosa: Yeah, he can. They're a federal agency. From now on, any bust that comes from this, including Delroy, goes to USPIS. My task force gets nothing. So, thanks, friend.
• Doug Judy outsmarting Jake again and escaping in The Pontiac Bandit Returns. Bonus points for the Sadistic Choice of Jake catching him or the Giggle Pig ringleader.
• Windbreaker City, the entire episode.
  Terry: You took all our guns, taped us to a bunch of chairs, called us fat, and we still took out almost all of you out.
• The Wednesday Incident has Holt beat up three muggers, one of them armed, and walk away with only a light stab wound.
• Jake calling out his dad for abandoning him and his team in the bar after they saved him from being charged with drug smuggling in "Captain Peralta"
  Jake: I've been making excuses for you my whole life, but you're a pretty crappy father. And until you're ready to be a good one...don't call me. Also, I'm taking your captain hat, because it's cool and I want it. [Jake puts on the hat and struts out]
• Jake's attempted escape from Hoytsman in "Sabotage". Okay, he fails, but it's the thought that counts.
  • And then, Rosa and Amy's rescue of him from Hoytsman.
• Played with in "AC/DC". After Jake receives several broken ribs, toes and a hairline fracture in his thumb after a pursuit of a suspect goes wrong, Terry orders him to go home. Jake demands to take a heavy cardboard box of evidence home with him, and Terry skeptically informs him that he can take the box if he can bend down and pick it up. Against all odds, Jake quite impressively manages to do — but the muffled scream of agony he makes while he does so and the sweaty, wide-eyed and horrified look of pain on his face afterwards makes it quite clear that it really, really wasn't worth it.
  Jake: [whispered and agonised] See, I'm fine.
  • In a similar example, Gina returns to work in "The Audit" after being hit by a bus, and is forced to wear a Halo brace to keep her spine in position. When questioned by a skeptical Jeffords about whether she's actually okay to be back at work, she seeks to prove how on top of everything she is by dancing to Salt 'n' Pepa's "Push It". It would be very impressive... if she wasn't screaming in agony and the brace wasn't making an alarming squeaky-grinding noise all throughout.
• The A-plot of the Chopper:
  • Jake, Holt, and Charles going out of the helicopter and doing a power walk in slow-mo, with Jake referring to himself and Charles as their "call signs" Death Blade and Sidewinder.
  • After it turns out the suspect they took a chopper to get to has been killed by the other suspect, who played them and escaped from custody, Holt is furious at Jake, who actually calls him out. And it works.
    Jake: [gingerly] Hey, Captain. What you thinking about?
    Holt: Mostly about how Madeline Wuntch will destroy me because you wanted a helicopter to play action movie.
    Jake: I needed the helicopter because I was chasing a bad guy because I'm a cop.
    Holt: Really? It wasn't just to make this case epic?
    Jake: This case is epic. You're just too wrapped up in the politics to see it. Sir, we're tracking a triple murderer who stole $21 million, and all you can think about is Madeline Wuntch.
    Holt: ...You're right.
    Jake: What's that now?
    Holt: Before I came to the Nine-Nine, I was rotting away behind a desk in the public relations department. All I wanted was the chance to do good police work again. I just got it, and I blew it thinking about that devil toad. I'm tired of politics. Let's get that punk!
  • Holt playing along with Jake's cop fantasy at the end.
    Holt: Maybe we should take the chopper.
    Jake: [gasps] You said chopper!
    Holt: DEATH BLADE! SIDEWINDER! IT'S GO TIME!
    Jake: Roger that, Wet Blanket!
    Holt: No. From now on, call me... Velvet. Thunder.
    Jake: [in absolute awe] Oh-kay!
• Chris Parnell is surprisingly effective at playing an insane, drug-addled, terrifying criminal.

Season 3

• In "The Oolong Slayer", Jake and Holt catching and arresting a serial killer the NYPD has been tracking down for over a decade.
  Jake: Okay, slayer. Prepare to go to jail for Oolong time.
  Holt: Now say "punk."
  Jake: Punk!
  Holt: Punk.
  Jake: I just said it!
  • Gina pulls a Stealth Hi/Bye, reappearing at her desk in a burst of confetti.
    Gina: Or was I never really gone?
  • An understated one: Jake manages to find and arrest the Oolong Slayer with some help from Holt and Gina (although Holt pretty much abandons the case after Wuntch and the Vulture dress him and Jake down), in less than a month. To put this in perspective, it's something that Garmin, the Chief of Detectives, failed to do even though he had an entire task force at his disposal, not to mention far more resources than a mere detective and nearly ten years to work the case. Jake then uses this success to parlay the reinstatement of Holt as Captain of the Nine-Nine.
• Rosa stealing the crown out of a suitcase in "Halloween — Part III" in under a minute. She somersaults through a window. Twice!
  • Amy Santiago putting one over on both Peralta and Holt, stealing the crown from both of them without either being the wiser until the reveal at the end.
  • Then CMOH happens as Jake and Holt crowns her queen and declares her Greatest Detective/Genuis; Especially with Jake smiling at her ingenuity.
• All of "Yippee Kayak", which was Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Die Hard episode. Shout-out goes to Charles saving Jake, who was being held hostage along with civilians, from getting killed by the Big Bad of the episode then getting John McClane's catchphrase wrong. Mind you, this is the person that Terry described in the pilot as being not physically gifted.
  • Terry also gets one for finally standing up to his jerkish brother-in-law Zeke.
  • Terry gets another when he hauls the Vulture away over his shoulder, in full view of press and police officers, when he stood a chance at jeopardizing the lives of the hostages. This is the first time that someone truly got the best of the Vulture in one of his appearances, and Terry gets off with a slap on the wrist and his own Captain's support for promotion.
  • Amy gets one after having demonstrated that she cannot stand being in cold water for even a second: when she realizes that Jake's in a hostage situation she immediately plunges into the river and wades after Holt and Diaz so that they'll come and support.
    Amy: Guys! Captain? Rosa? Oh, please hear me from land! Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! [wades into the water, teeth chattering] Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God! Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh!
    Holt: Ahh. Welcome to the frozen...
    Amy: SHUT YOUR DUMB POEM MOUTH! I'm so sorry. No, I'm not! We have a crisis. We have to go. Let's go. [turns and wades out again] Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold.
• Gina trolling Holt to make a point when he irrationally blames Boyle for scratching his beloved car after he parks it poorly — she leaves a cupcake on Holt's chair, which he sits on and ruins his trousers. She then demonstrates the parallels between the two situations, forcing Holt to admit he is in the wrong.
  • And then hilariously subverts her own awesomeness by insisting that Holt still owes her for the cupcake.
• In "The 98", Scully and Hitchcock manage to sneak the microwave up to the roof without alerting a single member of either the 98 or 99 precinct.
• In "Terry Kitties", Jake helps Terry solve a 20-year-old case and prove that his initial suspect was the right one.
  • Pimento is being abusive of Boyle, who doesn't have enough of a spine to stand up to him... So Gina out-alphas him into backing off. Then, Boyle undermines her confidence by implying he manipulated Gina by being so beta she'd take pity on him. She ends up thoroughly mind-fucked.
• Amy's entire time going undercover in the prison in Texas in "Maximum Security" and "Bureau".
• In the third season finale, "Greg and Larry", Jake, Holt, Rosa and Terry manage to finally get Bob Annderson to confess to being a mole by setting up an elaborate scheme where they make the lights go out in Rosa's apartment to scare Bob into thinking that Figgis found them and convincing him to give them a full confession.
  • Also, the fact that Rosa's private information, including the location of her apartment, is so secure, that Figgis, a man with many moles in the FBI, couldn't find her apartment before the team busted Bob.
  • Earlier in the episode, the way the team manages to not only find Holt and where Bob was keeping him hostage, but also rescue Holt and capture Bob for interrogation.

Season 4

• The end of the fourth season premiere. Holt admits that tracking down the woman who took a video of him and Jake earlier was the first time he'd felt alive during their time in Florida and gets back the case files he had taken away from Jake. The two then upload the video to the Internet themselves, essentially daring Figgis to come for them. A perfect, double He's Back! and Bring It all in one.
• The entire Figgis takedown in "Coral Palms, Part 3":
  • Rosa emerging from the ballpit and knocking out one of Figgis's henchmen with his own gun.
  • Amy and Charles knocking out two other henchmen.
  • When the team is almost arrested by a Florida cop who doesn't believe their claims of being NYPD detectives, Rosa provides an opening for the rest of the team by pretending to show the cop her badge and then beating up and disarming the Florida cop. She then tosses the cop's gun to Amy.
  • When Amy goes after Jake, who has been apprehended by Figgis, Figgis aims a gun at Jake's head to make her choose between shooting Figgis and therefore risking Figgis shooting Jake or letting Figgis go. Amy takes a third option and shoots Jake in the leg, shocking Figgis into letting Jake go.
  • And then, Gina drives a trailer truck into Figgis's getaway car!
• Gina makes Pimento back down meekly upon trying to take one of her jellybeans. PIMENTO.
• Boyle of all people pulls off a Xanatos Gambit on Gina in "Skyfire Cycle." Gina wanted to have the family vacation in Aruba, Boyle in its traditional Iowa. Boyle gives Gina just enough information on the Council of Cousins to get her to realize she has to butter them up personally to sway the vote. If Boyle won the vacation would have stayed in Iowa. When Gina won and they got to go to Aruba like she wanted, it was because she got to know the family better and learned how to treat them well, which is something else Boyle wanted. This also makes it a Pyrrhic Victory for Gina as she realizes how close it brought her to the Boyle clan.
• Doubling as a funny moment, in "The Last Ride" Hitchcock and Scully arrest the man who came in to report a stolen phone when they overheard him gloating to someone on his phone in the precinct toilet room. Turns out, he broke his phone but he couldn't get an insurance refund unless it was reported stolen.
  Hitchcock: You're under arrest, jerko.
  Scully comes out of the other stall with his handgun drawn as the perp tries to make a break for it.
  Scully: Don't even think about it.
• Gina saving the entire Nine-Nine using her social media presence in "The Last Ride".

Season 5

• The 99 squad managing to gather enough evidence to bring down Hawkins and her operation and bring Jake and Rosa out of prison. While it's a bit sullied as it's revealed Holt had to make a deal with a mob boss, it doesn't negate this Bond One-Liner.
  Holt: It's over Hawkins. Pawn to King square five, King's Knight to the third square on the Bishop's mile, Queen takes on F7! It's checkmate! Now that's a chess move. Bye-Bye now.
• "Kicks": After getting out of prison, Jake demands an evaluation to get back into the field, then spends the entire episode trying to wow Holt with his detective skills, finds a suspect, then panics about the possibility of putting an innocent man in jail. Holt reveals that Jake's detective skills were never the issue, he was worried about his emotional state, the fact that Jake was now willing to second-guess himself proved that he'd actually learned from being in prison.
  Holt: When you demanded to be put back in the field, I was worried that you were being flippant about your time in prison. I thought you would be reckless, but I was wrong. Prison has made you more cautious.
  Jake: Yeah, but what if I'm too cautious now? I mean, I used to see everything as black and white, and now, it's looking real gray to me.
  Holt: I wish every cop had a voice in their head asking, "What if he's innocent?" You see it as a weakness, but it means you're growing. It makes you a better detective. So, you passed your evaluation. You can go back in the field.
• Episode 4: Jake proves to be the bigger Chessmaster this year by deceiving everyone in the squad. Even more impressive when his plan was hindered by Charles' betrayal, he still manages to send everyone but Amy on a fool's errand, and tricks the latter into finding the wrong belt.
  • The reason he was so determined to win this year ? He used the heist to propose to Amy.
• Episode 9. During a funeral, Holt and Jake finds out that the position of NYPD Commissioner is now open for interview and Holt is one of its candidates. Excited that Holt is getting closer to his dreams, Jake plans for the whole team to follow Holt and support the interview. Several mishaps later, Jake finds out that Holt had been sabotaging the entire trip out of fear what winning the commissioner position would do with regards to the mob boss deal. After some Rousing Speech, Jake convinces Holt otherwise, but the whole team is now stranded hours away from the commissioner's interview with no transport. Jake then turns to Amy and weaponizes her Schedule Fanatic tendencies to devise a way to reach said interview with time to spare:
  Jake: Amy?
  Amy: What up, bro?
  Jake: I need you to climb back on that strungness ladder and I need you to climb pretty high.
  Amy: How high?
  Jake: Remember that time we went to the deli for cold cuts and the ticket machine was broken; so you found out what time everyone arrived and made them get in a single-file line from earliest to latest?
  Amy: Yeah.
  Jake: Higher.
  Amy: (turned on) Copy that.
  Jake: You might wanna stand back for this, sir; it can get pretty intense.
  Amy: (begins to yell and then slaps her face. In the background 'The Final Countdown' Song Begins).
  Amy: All right, you mooks, our union health plan has 100% reimbursement for out-of-state ambulance rides. Scully will fake a medical emergency.
  Scully: Don't need to fake it. Always having at least one.
  Amy: Great. You call an ambulance, and have it take us here to Monroe, Louisiana. The ambulance can drive 25 miles over the posted speed limit, so we'll get there by 9:00 p.m. There's a small airport there, mostly servicing crop dusters. Of course, they can't take passengers, but thanks to a loophole in H.R. 377551, police officers are allowed to commandeer any plane in the interest of national security. The crop duster will land at an airstrip...outside of Finksburg, Maryland. We'll take a cab to Baltimore, jump on the 6:48 a.m. train to New York, arriving at 9:26. Kevin will meet us at Penn Station with a fresh captain's uniform. From there, it's a 29-minute cab ride to One Police Plaza. You change on the way, and we should get to your meeting with five minutes to spare.
  Everyone: (Starts Clapping in Awe)
  Amy: Stop clapping, you idiots! We gotta move, move, move!
  Jake: I love her.
• From "Game Night":
  • When Rosa realizes her parents would honestly rather she be The Mistress than gay, she completely forgoes her fear of coming out, and basically tells them to shove it.
    Rosa: I'm not straight. I'm bisexual. And I don't care what you think of it. Screw This, I'm Outta Here (she grabs her coat and storms off)
  • During the Diazes' family game night, when Rosa learns that her parents are only okay with her being bisexual because they think it's just a phase:
    Oscar: There's no such thing as being bisexual.
    Rosa: Yes, there is. I know there is because that's who I am.
  • Just the minor fact that the word "bisexual" was used. So often characters who are bisexual in media never get to call themselves that and usually stick to "I don't like labels" or "sexually fluid," but in this episode, Rosa referred to herself as bi and bisexual multiple times, and Charles and Jake call her bisexual a couple times, as well. According to Stephanie Beatriz, this was completely deliberate.
    Beatriz: But there were things that we wanted and thought would be really important — like the word itself: bisexual... For Rosa, there was a point for her where she heard that word somewhere along the line and she saw herself in that word, so for her, it was important for her to identify in that way. I suggested that that word was really important to Rosa and that it also would be really important to the bi community to have that word said aloud on TV. Not just a suggestion that she dates girls now, but a clarity on this character: This is who I am, and I’d like you to know it — and accept it.
• Kevin Cozner’s Big Damn Heroes moment from “Safe House.” After sending Kevin away for his own safety, Jake & Holt are taken hostage by Seamus Murphy. Just when it seems backup won’t be coming to save them, Kevin plows a van through the building’s wall, taking out Murphy’s backup men before jumping out to tackle Murphy himself. It’s extremely satisfying to watch Kev throat-punch the mobster who’s been harassing his husband for half the season.
  • Scully's jigsaw skills, for context Amy subpoena's the shreds from the shredding company that Seamus Murphy uses, which fills the break room to around chest height, she and Terry spend hours trying to and manage to piece 3 words together, Scully arrives, takes an interest, and in mere moments has half a letter.
    Amy: He is the one.
• "The Box" — Peralta finally getting a confession out of Davidson after having tried everything in the book, by exploiting Davidson's smugness. As a bonus, he gets three "Oh Damns" from Holt.
  • He also gets the confession by combining his and Holt’s methods. Jake’s lie about knowing Philip’s motive hinged on Holt painting Jake as the Dumb Cop earlier in the interrogation. Philip looking down on Jake was part of what made him break when Jake claimed Philip lucked into covering up the murder.
  • For a villainous example, Davidson himself is a pretty awesome antagonist. He meticulously plotted his crime to the last detail and is prepared for almost every question Jake and Holt throw at him. If it wasn't for his arrogance, no court would have been able to convict him.
• Amy catches a criminal while wearing a wedding dress and uses the sash to restrain him.
  • To reiterate: Amy and Rosa are in the dress shop when they hear about a robbery in progress. Amy then jumps over a couch, out the door, and down the street after the perp, and manages to dodge passersby and jump over the hood of a car. And then There's the Bond One-Liner when Rosa catches up with her gear:
  Amy: Maybe I do like the sash.
• Boyle managing to create a last minute wedding altar outside the precinct in less than 30 minutes!

Season 6

• "Honeymoon" has a fantastic moment Amy goes ballistic on Holt for calling Jake selfish for trying to help him feel better, especially since Holt had ended up intruding on their Honeymoon and the newlyweds had sacrificed a lot of their time to make him feel better after he had lost the Commissioner's position.
• This flashback to Hitchcock and Scully in their prime is a sight to behold.
  • In the present, the pair don't hesitate for a second to take a shot meant for Marissa Costa when her husband, Mafia boss Gio Costa, tries to kill her for betraying him back in the 80s.
• "The Honeypot" has another one for Holt. When Gordon turned out to be a triple agent, and ratted out to Commissioner Kelly about Holt and Jake's plan, Holt revealed that he planned ahead on that, and revealed hidden microphones and cameras around the coffee shop that captured the entire conversation. It's not only strong enough to force Kelly to finally get off the 99's back, but the normal bullpen is once again uncluttered with uniformed officers.
• Jake tearing Amy's mom several new ones at the end of "The Golden Child," calling her out on her blatant favoritism of David over Amy, and her general rudeness. The icing on top is David, silently watching and eating his dinner with a smirk. Even he thought Mrs. Santiago had it coming.
• Also in the B-plot of "The Golden Child", Boyle has a rare moment of pure Awesome. His attempt to run an investigation like it's a high school theatre production (driving both Holt and Terry mad with his constant notes and interference) turns out to be a brilliant tactic: he had to let Holt fail, and force Terry to lose his temper with him, so that the perp would think he (Boyle) was an incompetent idiot, and would never suspect in a million years that Rosa, who Boyle knows is a far better actor than either of them, was in fact the real plant.
• The calm, professional manner that Jake utilizes to talk-down the bomb-wielding Pam in "Casecation". You can tell Jake is terrified throughout the whole conversation, but he never loses his cool. Watch how he keeps eye contact with her the whole time and slowly approaches her as he gains her trust. Jake may be immature sometimes, but he is damn good at his job.
• How casually Holt and Jake disarm and subdue Knox when he's distracted by the fire alarm going off in "Ticking Clocks", with Holt pulling the gun out of his hand and Jake knocking him prone with a rolling chopblock and then pinning him down.
• Kevin sticking up for Holt to the dean he works for in "The Bimbo". He tells the dean that while Holt may not be an academic, he's still out there saving people's lives every day, and it's beautiful.
• In "The Suicide Squad" — the Nine-Nine are in holding, Commissioner Kelly has Holt at his mercy, and Peralta is about to face interrogation. Just as Kelly is taunting a humiliated Holt... Madeline Wuntch reveals that she'd got him to let his guard down, allowing her to obtain proof of his abuse of power. Wuntch got him to hand over his phone, with all the evidence on it, and downloaded it right under his nose. She was one of the few people to outwit Holt and get away with it — this time we get to see her use her cunning for the good of the NYPD.

Season 7

• In "Ding-Dong," it seems like Adam's managed to outwit Holt and ruin his reputation on the force as Wuntch's final plan... and then Holt starts smiling. As it turns out he was already on to Adam, and since he couldn't plan for whatever Wutnch's final scheme was, he hatched a counter-scheme that could foil any scheme: he created an entire fake memorial service so her plan would fizzle out in a controlled environment. Even Wuntch's own nephew was fooled!
  • Let's not forget the Kwazy Kupcakes movie subplot: Jake decides to let fate choose whether Boyle or Terry gets the movie tickets for their kids and tries to flip a coin. Terry snatches it out of the air and literally folds the quarter in half with one hand.
    Terry: Fate's a bitch. You make the choice.
    Jake: ...How did he do that?!
• Dillman: Boyle successfully solving the mystery of the destroyed evidence before both Jake and Dillman, the latter described as the single best detective Holt had ever worked with.
• Valloweaster: In keeping with the escalating nature of the previous Halloween heists, this one turns out to be a year-long Xanatos Gambit by Rosa, in which she causes the heist to be delayed twice, so that she can win the third one (by jumping off a roof and writing her name on the street in fire), then casually reveal that she actually won the previous two iterations, making her the only three-time champ.
• Ransom: Holt delivering an epic beatdown on Kingston for kidnapping Cheddar and later, Jake. Moral of the story: Don't ever steal Holt's fluffy boy!
  Holt: Oh! You have a knife... but what you need is an umbrella!
  Jake: (super excited) Tell him why. Tell him why!
  Holt: 'Cause there's a sh*tstorm bout to rain down on you... punk!

• Lights Out:
  • Amy managing to organize people during the citywide blackout, even after her water breaks.
  • Dottie, an old lady who Jake was trying to help, gets a guy to confess to causing the blackout.
  • Jake manages to stop a bank robbery and help a bunch of random people and makes it just in time for his son's birth.
  • Crossing over with Heartwarming, everyone (including Hitchcock and Scully!) coming together to help Amy when she's about to give birth.

Season 8

• The Good Ones:
  • The season begins with Rosa quitting the 99 after the murder of George Floyd to become a private investigator for victims of police brutality.
  • One for the writers; they peppered dialogue throughout the entire episode, delivered by main characters and antagonists alike, illustrating how cops get away with abuse of power (destroying body cam footage, leaning on the police union, working with prosecutors, etc). They knew people would be watching to see how they handle the subject, so they decided to give the audience a crash course.
• Blue Flu:
  • Holt manages to pull one over on O'Sullivan by pointing out how the lack of cops working because of "sickness" has actually benefited the community with fewer bad arrests, fewer complaints towards the police, and crime didn't go up, it plateaued. Lending credence to the idea that "less cops = better policing" and Holt suggests outright firing cops. O'Sullivan declares the "Blue Flu" over, which is what Holt wanted, but when he tries to renege on that, Holt plans to fire the cops. Realizing Holt wins either way, O'Sullivan caves.
  • Earlier in the episode, to avoid O'Sullivan twisting his words, Holt decides to just launch a Cluster Bleep-Bomb at him. Unprofessional or not, it was pretty awesome.
• Balancing
  • Tiny one for Mac but when Amy gives him a smartphone to watch videos, he tosses it with enough force to shatter the phone. As Jake puts it, "We deserved that."
  • Franzia is quite clever. To taunt the precinct, he poses as a babysitting applicant and offers a toy supposedly as a means of getting the job, knowing Jake would pass it onto his child. Jake and Boyle don't realize it until one of his recorded phone calls has audio of Mac cooing.
  • The moment where Jake realizes it as Boyle shows him the phone call audios and they're singing their conversation to keep Mac asleep. He takes out the stuffed lion and rips off the head. A bug is inside. He and Boyle sing "Son of a bitch" in harmony.
• The Set Up
  • When O'Sullivan manages to maneuver things so that Jake (and a uniformed cop who helped him) won't face any consequences for arresting an innocent man without cause, and then stalking him. Holt delivers an epic response accusing him of caring more about protecting bad cops than about the integrity of the police force. The timing of this episode (coming in the wake of the George Floyd murder, and other high-profile cases of police violence) is very much intentional.
    "Do you know what happens when you refuse to punish cops for their mistakes? When police are treated as a separate class of citizen above the law? It breeds a lack of trust in the community and that lack of trust means people won't help us with our investigations or testify or even call us when they are in danger. It makes them more scared of us than the criminals and gangsters. It makes them run when we approach them even though they've done nothing wrong. It makes the people see us as the enemy, which leads to more confrontation, more distrust. You wonder how Peralta can do his job when he's held accountable for his actions? I wonder how any of us can do our jobs if he's not!"
  • Peralta cutting off O'Sullivan's attempts to get him off the hook by taking responsibility for everything he's done in the episode. It gets him suspended for five months, but he's not going to play any of the Police Union's games.
• The Last Day
  • Terry gets a well-deserved promotion to the new captain of the Nine-Nine.
  • Hitchcock of all people wins the final heist simply by bribing Bill while everyone else's schemes trapped them in a Gambit Pile Up.
    • That is not to say that he didn't have a plan. He had never retired. That was part of his plan to win the heist. Only him and Scully actually knew that.
  • The final scene showing that Jake and the whole original squad will continue the heist tradition even if their lives move in different directions because they are all forever a part of each other’s lives.
  • The appropriate final words of the series:
    Jake: So what do you say, Captain? Are we doing this?
    Terry: What I say is…NINE-NINE!
    Whole Squad (new and old): NINE-NINE!

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