Cheddar is the eighteenth episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's third season.
Captain Holt is reluctant to go on a trip to Paris to visit Kevin because the dogsitter for Cheddar, their Corgi, had to cancel. Jake helpfully offers to dog/housesit for the time Holt will be gone and ropes (a very willing) Amy into his plans while also planning to take care of Charles after LASIK surgery. Unfortunately, Amy's dog allergies, Charles' post-surgery blindness, and an errant space heater result in Cheddar running off, Holt cancelling his trip, and Jake having to call in the rest of the Nine-Nine to help find the dog before Holt comes home.
Gina borrows Jake's car to pick up Holt from the airport and promises to do everything she can to delay Holt while also guaranteeing that she'll total the car.
Meanwhile, Adrian Pimento and Rosa build on the attraction she started feeling in the previous episode. Terry is squicked every time he walks in on the two of them.
This episode provides examples of:
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Rosa and Pimento spend most of the episode teasing each other with barely-disguised flirting. Terry finds it incredibly hard to watch.
- Blind Mistake: Charles has a lot of these, particularly when he mistakes a wild opossum for Cheddar.
- Commitment Issues: For all his inappropriate flirting with Rosa, when she asks to stop the foreplay and date her already, Adrian turns tail and runs, due to his severe psychological issues and feeling undeserving of a relationship. Terry helps him get over it, and is surprised at how easy it is.
- Continuity Nod: (And a brilliant case of Show, Don't Tell.) Amy looks terrible while she's in Holt's house, with red-rimmed eyes and a runny nose, because she's allergic to dogs and she's spent a lot of time near Cheddar.
- Description Cut: Whenever Jake dramatically acts as if Cheddar is a "slippery little bastard" who's running some kind of complex evil scheme, the scene cuts to Cheddar happily bumbling around the neighborhood like the adorable little corgi he actually is.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The sexual tension between Rosa and Pimento was so obvious that everyone noticed it, even the arrested criminals.Terry: Yeah, I noticed it! Everyone's noticed it! A convicted pervert asked me if you guys could cool it.
- Eating Pet Food: Jake puts Hitchcock and Scully in charge of putting out dog treats to lure Cheddar back, but thinks better of it when Scully mentions that they needed more salt.
- Just Testing You: Jake, on the hunt for Cheddar:Jake: Now, some of you are probably thinking "Who cares? He's just a pet."
Terry: No one was thinking that, you monster.
Jake: ... Good. That was a test. - O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Apparently Cheddar is normally as stoic as Holt because the captain is genuinely shocked by the corgi's overt displays of affection.Holt: [As Cheddar licks his chin] You really are acting out!
- Overly Long Gag:
- Jake's attempt to figure out how to let Holt into his car after Gina tampers with the wiring.
- Rosa and Pimento's aggressive flirting techniques seem to get longer and more uncomfortable every time they encounter each other.
- Precious Puppy: While Jake paints Cheddar as a villain, the show keeps cutting away to the Corgi doing adorable things.
- Retcon: Jake doesn't know about Blockbuster going out of business in this episode, but in "Unsolvable" in Season 1, he mentions that there is "No more Blockbuster" alongside other changes since the last time he and Terry worked the titular unsolved case.
- Serious Business: Jake seems to treat finding Cheddar as if he's getting into the mind of a vicious serial-killer criminal mastermind arch-nemesis, as opposed to a cute little corgi.
- Sherlock Scan: As a last resort, Jake has the squad put on Holt's clothes and walk around hoping it would attract Cheddar. Just as they're heading out, Holt arrives, takes a quick glance at the others, and instantly deduces that Cheddar ran away.
- Taught by Experience: When Jake offers to house-sit for the captain, Holt assumes Amy will be doing all the work.Jake: What, why? Oh, right, because of our track records and personalities...
- Third Wheel: Terry is constantly and unwillingly around to witness Rosa and Pimento's aggressively off-putting flirtations.
- This Is My Human: Charles tells Jake and Amy when trying to handle Cheddar that "the trick with dogs is establishing alpha" then starts begging him to obey in a soft voice prompting this response from Jake. "Oh, so Cheddar is the alpha".
- Unexpected Inheritance: The Cold Open has Jake receive an inheritance. It turns out to be a million shares... of Blockbuster Video stock.
- Watch the Paint Job: Gina states outright at the beginning that she will total Jake's car. She returns it with all four tires punctured and all the wires removed.
