Gray Star Mutual is the eighteenth episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's fifth season.
Charles has become overly-stressed due to running his food truck business on the side. Jake, trying to help his friend (and get Amy's investment back), suggests that maybe Charles should follow the Boyle family tradition of giving up. Their discussion becomes moot, however, when someone torches the food truck. Charles' insurance claim is investigated by a returning Adrian Pimento, who is as deranged as ever. When Pimento declares that the fire is due to arson and that Charles won't be getting a payout the two detectives convince their former colleague to investigate the case further. Hilarity Ensues.
Back at the precinct, Gina and Terry rally to try and help Holt understand the importance of harnessing social media now that he is actively campaigning to be the next NYPD Commissioner. Gina and Terry's attempts are stymied, however, by the fact that Holt's communication methods are so idiosyncratic that he gets immediately suspended from Twitter due to sounding like a bot.
Also, Rosa joins Amy and the Nine-Nine's uniformed officers to try and catch a purse snatcher in the area. Rosa soon becomes more concerned with Amy's nervousness about looking at wedding dresses at work (due to trying to appear tough and professional to her subordinates) and eventually convinces her friend to try one during a break.
This episode provides examples of:
- The Bus Came Back: Adrian Pimento makes a return after being dumped by Rosa earlier in the season.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Early on, Charles mentions firing an employee, who is later shown to be the one who set the truck on fire.
- Comical Overreacting: Pimento doesn't take being kept out of the loop on the goings on at the Nine-Nine very well.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: After being fired from Gray Star Mutual, Pimento asks if his termination is because he did molly with his boss' daughter... which said boss didn't know about, making him threaten to have Adrian arrested if he ever comes back.
- Dirty Old Man: Hitchcock loudly complains that he knows a lot about wedding dresses because they're the only photos he can see online due to the precinct's safety filter.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Pimento threatens to have Charles and Jake arrested for arson just because he didn’t get an invitation to Jake and Amy’s wedding.
- Epic Fail: Holt's Twitter account lasts for exactly one tweet before it's suspended due to him being mistaken for a bot.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even someone as deranged as Pimento thinks Charles firing his only employee in front of his family was a bit much (Charles admits that the whole thing was badly managed).
- Evil Laugh: Pimento lets out an appropriately deranged cackle after denying Charles' insurance claim (though, since he drank some turpentine before that, he's interrupted by a fit of coughing).
- Gilligan Cut: when Peralta and Boyle confront Troy Lunniker as a suspect in the arson case, he swears he's not their guy:Jake: I'm afraid we're going to need to see some proof.
Jake: [to Charles, outside Troy's apartment] Oh my god, he had so much proof! - Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: When the purse snatcher happens to run by while Amy is trying on a wedding dress, she immediately gives chase without stopping to get changed. While pursuing the pursesnatcher, Amy: jumps over a couch, throws a guy out of her way like it's nothing, tumbles over a cart, runs up the hood of a car, fly tackles the perp and uses the dress' sash to disarm and restrain him with classic Vivaldi playing in the background.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Rosa approaches buying wedding dresses with the same level of intensity she approaches dangerous police missions.
- Noodle Incident:
- Pimento mentions having to flee Alaska after killing an endangered buffalo and that he's fought bears. Jake and Charles quickly move the conversation along.
- During the two weeks he worked for Gray Star Mutual, Pimento waterboarded someone, may have broken into his boss' apartment, and definitely did drugs with said boss' daughter.
- At some point, Pimento was in a shipwreck that somehow lost him his sense of smell.
- Not So Above It All: Despite previously writing off social media as inane, Holt ends up making an Instagram account dedicated to Cheddar and enjoys the feeling of having thousands of followers.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The usually meek Charles becomes confrontational and hyper-aggressive when competing against other food truck operators.
- Precious Puppy: Gina and Terry take photos of Holt’s dog Cheddar in funny costumes to post on the internet. Holt is at first against the idea, but later on Kevin sees the photos and they start an Instagram account for Cheddar.
- Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic: Inverted. Holt is normally so unique in how he communicates that Twitter immediately suspends his account after his first tweet because he doesn't sound human.Gina: Twitter thinks you're a bot.
Holt: Why? I'm a human! I'm a human male! - Self-Serving Memory: Pimento claims that he's the one who dumped Rosa; Jake, who knows the real story, questions this recollection. Pimento also remembers Kevin Costner having a "flawless" British accent in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
- Serious Business: The food truck business is surprisingly cutthroat, as Jake finds out when he accompanies Charles as he races another truck for a parking spot.
- Shout-Out: Jake excitedly notes that the world of food trucks is like Mad Max and that the mad dash to find parking is like being on Fury Road.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Rosa is extremely on board with Amy's search for a wedding dress. Even trying on a bridesmaid dress without any seeming disdain. She even ends up encouraging Amy to not hide her own girly streak.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Rosa reminds Amy that she's a great cop and leader who shouldn't let what other people think of her stand in her way.
