Cheddar is kidnapped and Holt and Kevin enlist the help of Jake to get him back. Meanwhile, Amy and Rosa enter a competition to win a fancy new Scandinavian stroller for Amy's baby; and Charles and Terry try to open a business selling the Boyle Bone Broth.
This episode contains examples of:
- Answer Cut: Subverted. The shop attendant makes mention of an incident that happened the previous year and the scene pauses for a beat, which is normally where the show would cut to a flashback. Instead, the scene carries on because she can't reveal what happened, due to a gag order.
- Assurance Backfire: The kidnapper was supposed to call at 8:00. When it's 8:01 and the kidnapper has still not called, both Holt and Kevin immediately assume that Cheddar is dead. When Jake tries to reassure them by suggesting that the kidnapper's watch might be slow, the two of them freak out because, in their minds, only a complete sociopath would have a slow watch.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: Happens during the Cold Open with Hitchcock and Scully talking about how they're the only ones in the office, despite everyone calling them lazy.Scully: But you know who is [here]? Hitchcock and Scully.
Hitchcock: The oafs.
Scully: The bozos.
Hitchcock: The-
Jake: [dressed in a hazmat suit] IDIOTS! What are you doing here?! The building's being fumigated! There were so many emails! - Berserk Button: Taking Cheddar is this for Kevin and especially Holt.
- Big "NO!": Amy’s reaction to Teddy proposing again.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Kevin and Holt coach Jake on how to speak like a dry academic. It takes several hours but eventually Jake does a perfect Kevin imitation.
- Call-Back: Holt absolutely refuses to have Kevin put in danger again, recalling the events of Safe House. Kevin, in a case of O.O.C. Is Serious Business, actually doesn't argue about this.
- Calling Your Attacks: Parodied. By the end of the stroller contest, Rosa is so tired from lack of sleep that her brain can't control her actions any more, so she has to tell her body what to do.
- Celebrity Paradox: Jake briefly mentions John Wick in this episode. Apparently, no one has noticed how The Tick-Tock Man looks suspiciously like Adrian Pimento. Or that Viggo's lawyer, Avi, looks a lot like The Vulture.
- Character Check: After receiving a new form of Flanderization every time he appears, this episode has Teddy demonstrate all four of his established character traits. being dorky in the same ways as Amy, his Pilsner obsession, being boring and being obsessed with Amy.
- Chekhov's Gun: The trackers Kevin bought so they never lose Cheddar again. They are still in his pants when Jake is wearing them, which is how they are able to track him down when he's taken.
- Continuity Nod:
- Jake is still mad he can’t beat Wario, to the point that he’s willing to ask for advice from his kidnapper on how to win.
- Teddy proposes to Amy again after promising not to.
- Even Nerds Have Standards: Amy constantly has this reaction regarding Teddy, she's quite disturbed by the prospect that they sound alike.
- Faked Gift Acceptance: Subverted. After Amy and Rosa spend the whole episode failing to win a fancy Scandinavian stroller for Amy's upcoming baby, Rosa tries to comfort her by saying she already got her a stroller for her baby shower. When she tells her what type it is, Amy obviously tries to hide her disappointment by graciously saying it's a good stroller and thanking her before Rosa tells her she got a gift receipt.Amy: [hastily] Thank you so much.
- Grandma's Recipe: Charles' bone broth is yet another age-old Boyle family recipe.
- Heroic Sacrifice: When the kidnapper busts Jake for not being Kevin at the rendezvous point, Jake distracts him by whacking him with the former's laptop and shouting at Cheddar to run for it. Cheddar does with time to spare and reunites with his humans.
- Innocent Innuendo: The website domain name Charles buys for his and Terry’s bone-broth company startup is WorkplaceBoneBuds.com. Terry’s friend buys it from Boyle at the end to make a hook-up website, and Boyle still doesn’t understand why people think it sounds sexual.Charles: All I hear is friendship and broth.
- Insistent Terminology: Cheddar is a fluffy boy.
- Large Ham: Jake's initial attempt at passing himself off as Kevin is to do a BRIAN BLESSED impersonation. For some reason.
- Major Injury Underreaction: As mentioned above, the reason Hitchcock and Scully are the only ones in the precinct in the Cold Open is because the building is being fumigated. As Scully is mentioning his confusion, he sudenly stiffens up and falls backwards. Hitchock's reaction?Hitchcock: Lightweight.
Jake: That's your takeaway? - No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Holt administers one to the kidnapper for kidnapping his dog and best detective.
- Noodle Incident:
- Apparently there was an incident last year that prohibits pregnant women from competing for strollers ever again. Justified — the worker can't say what happened due to the terms of the settlement.
- Rosa was awake for two whole days before she took part in the stroller contest. She won't tell Amy why.
- Holt apparently did something so awesome in The '80s that it got turned into a movie. He doesn't go into details, but Jake thinks it may have inspired Lethal Weapon.
- Obliviously Evil: Teddy doesn’t realize he’s causing people to drop out of the stroller competition by constantly talking about his boring, boring life.
- Only Sane Man: Jake finds himself having to be the voice of reason because neither Holt nor Kevin can think rationally enough to deal with Cheddar's kidnapping.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The normally unflappable Holt and Kevin are distraught openly, signaling just how scared they are for Cheddar. Holt even starts loading up with grenades and later goes full-action-hero because he wants to utterly destroy the bastard who took Cheddar and welcomes a comparison to John Wick. Jake, who'd normally be ecstatic at seeing Holt gung-ho, has to be the voice of reason. In the meantime, Kevin doesn't call out Holt for his overprotective nature.
- Orphaned Punchline: As part of the Pygmalion Plot, Holt and Kevin teach Jake a joke. We only get to hear Kevin deliver the punchline followed by Jake apparently ruining the beginning.
- Papa Wolf: Don't kidnap Holt and Kevin's dog. Also, don't kidnap Jake when the latter is trying to rescue Cheddar. Holt brings on the pain when he catches up with the kidnapper.Holt: You took the wrong fluffy boy!
- Phone-Trace Race: Failed almost immediately when Holt insults the caller who promptly hangs up within seconds.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: When Holt finally gets to face off with Kingston, he drops this gem:Holt: Oh, I see you have a knife! What you need is an umbrella...
Jake: Tell him why! Tell him why!
Holt: ...'cause there's a shitstorm gonna rain down on you, punk! - Precious Puppies: Holt and Kevin's fluffy boy gets kidnapped and they can barely cope with the loss.
- Pygmalion Plot: Lampshaded as "like Pygmalion" and parodied during the montage where Holt and Kevin attempt to mold Jake into a version of the more cultured Kevin, which includes saying "look, Raymond, a yellow-crested warbler" with the right amount of aloofness and saying "indeed" instead of "cool".
- Shout-Out:
- Jake compares Holt willing to go H.A.M. on whoever kidnapped Cheddar to John Wick. Holt tries to run with the comparison, but he keeps calling the character “John Wicks,” much to Jake’s annoyance.
- When Amy says the best strollers come from Scandinavia because they “don’t hate people for having children,” Rosa says she watched Midsommar and that Scandinavians have their own problems.
- Holt and Kevin compare preparing Jake to take Kevin’s place in the ransom handoff to Pygmalion.
- In the end, Holt says that his past exploits were turned into a Hollywood film and says a family-friendly version of a now-classic line, and Jake thinks that it must be Lethal Weapon. Jake also guesses Passenger 57 and Rush Hour.Holt: I'm too old for this crap!
- Skewed Priorities: Jake gets dragged away by a gun-wielding kidnapper, but he's more concerned with learning how to beat Wario in Mario Party.
- Sleep Deprivation: Rosa hasn't slept for 72 hours. Not from being in the stroller contest, which has only been on for 20 hours, but for unrelated reasons.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- The stroller employee tells Amy she can't compete because pregnant women are not allowed due to an incident from the previous year. Amy waits for an explanation, but hears none. The employee then says she can't talk about it due to the subsequent settlement.
- Pygmalion Plot gets a reality check. The kidnapper demands for Kevin to make the exchange, but Holt refuses to endanger his husband. Jake volunteers to pretend to be Kevin, and the couple spend hours getting him to walk and talk like a dry academic. Even though Jake passes flawlessly and wears a beard as well as Kevin's clothes to complete the disguise, the kidnapper defies Spot the Impostor. Instead, he escorts Jake at gunpoint to a remote location and frisks him for the multiple guns and cop badge, having correctly intuited that Holt would send in an undercover cop rather than his civilian husband.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Downplayed since the dog is boring but Teddy ends up winning the stroller.
- Too Many Cooks Spoil The Broth: Terry tries to improve Charles' bone broth by removing the salt so it's low in sodium. Unfortunately, without salt the mixture is unstable, and the sample jars start exploding.
- Turn in Your Badge: Holt invokes this when he thinks Jake isn't doing enough to get Cheddar back. This is a sign of how desperate Holt is getting, as he previously pointed out that real cops don't just hand their guns and badges over.
- Victory by Endurance: The winner of the stroller is whoever can stand with their hand on it the longest. Teddy wins by constantly talking about the details of his boring life, which causes everyone else to leave out of frustration.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Jake successfully manages to help Cheddar escape, at the price of being kidnapped in turn. When Holt and Kevin grab their dog, they realize that Jake is in trouble. Kevin uses Cheddar's new tracking device to track down the kidnapper.
