"Ok, fine. I will act as your assistant because I am a wonderful secondary. How gross could it be?"
—Peralta
M.E. Time is the fourth episode of Brooklyn Nine Nine.
When Peralta and Diaz are assigned as Boyle's secondaries on a case, Santiago warns the other two that Peralta's pride makes him a terrible secondary. Upon arriving on the crime scene Peralta quickly declares that the victim died of natural causes, but his resulting dalliance with the medical examiner delays the autopsy and thus, the case. He begins to rethink this, though, when she turns out to be far more than he bargained for, and Boyle begins to suspect that the cause of death may not be natural causes after all.
In the B-plot, Santiago gets Jeffords to stand in for the sketch artist in order to crack a purse snatching case.
This episode premiered on October 8, 2013.
This episode provides examples of:
- A Deadly Affair: Turns out to be the reason the wife murdered her husband — he had affair after affair.
- Dissimile:Amy: (talking about Holt) If anyone can figure out what’s bothering him, it’s me. He and I are exactly the same... except that I’m younger, Cuban, female, single and straight.
- Freudian Slip: Boyle.Jeffords: You’re the primary. You’re in charge. Take Diaz and Peralta.
Boyle: Yes. My fantasy threesome…of cops on a case.
- I Love the Dead: The coroner is turned on by Jake acting cold and dead. It's not explicitly shown what she does with the dead bodies, but you know.
- Insult Backfire: After Amy blames Jake for disrupting the morning meeting:Jake: God, you must have been the worst fourth grader ever.
Amy: Joke's on you. I skipped fourth grade. - Kinky Role-Playing: Jake hooks up with a hot medical examiner who's a little too enthusiastic about her work. It's never stated if she does anything to the bodies in the morgue, but she does have Jake pretend to be a corpse during sex. Amy and Rosa are revolted, and Jake later declares Let Us Never Speak of This Again.
- Rossi: (wearing her stethoscope and very little else) Oh, what do we have here?Jake: (laying sprawled on the floor) A 34-year-old Caucasian male who is dead. Very dead.Rossi: Mmm. Cause of death?Jake: Initial assessment, blunt force trauma.Rossi: But what do I find when I probe a little farther?Jake: Bruising around the neck, and ocean water in the lungs.Rossi: Ooh, how long have you been dead, body?Jake: Four days.Rossi: [shaking her head] Gross. Bloating, odors.Jake: Oh, uh... 24 hours.Rossi: Perfect.
- "No. Just… No" Reaction: Amy and Rosa's — but especially Amy's — reaction to Peralta's date with the probably-a-necrophiliac medical examiner.Amy: [plugging her ears and shaking her head] Stop, stop, stop! WEIRD, WEIRD, WEIRD!
- Not So Stoic: After everyone declares how unreadable Holt is, Scully agrees, except his flashback is...different.Scully: How do you even know he’s in a bad mood? I mean it’s impossible to read that guy.
Flashback Holt: This is the most incompetent, worthless report I have ever read in my life! Get your act together or so help me God, you won’t live to see retirement!
Scully: It’s like, what’s that guy thinking? You know? - Not What It Looks LikeJake: Look, it's not what it seems.
Rosa: Yes, it is.
Jake: Yes, it is. - Opinion Flip Flop: Done by Amy a couple of times regarding Holt:
- Amy: It's a great picture sir.
Holt: I hate it.
Amy: Me too. - Amy: You know, we're birds of a feather, you and I.
Holt: I hate clichés.
Amy: Clichés are the worst.
- Temporary Love Interest: The medical examiner for Jake — by the end of the episode he's been grossed out enough to claim that "the spell has worn off."
- Til Murder Do Us Part: Eventually it's revealed that the wife poisoned her husband for continuously cheating on her.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Multiple characters call Jake out on being a terrible secondary; first Amy, then Rosa, and finally, an exasperated Boyle.
- You Are Fat: Peralta can't stop himself making fat jokes about the victim.
