‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Reunites One of Its Most-Beloved Duos in ‘PB&J’ (RECAP)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

PB&J

Season 8 • Episode 5

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Balancing

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The Setup

[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 8 Episode 5, “PB&J.”]

It wouldn’t have been right for Brooklyn Nine-Nine to go out without reuniting the Pontiac Bandit (Craig Robinson) and Jake (Andy Samberg) one last time — and that’s exactly what happens in “PB&J.”

But unfortunately, there’s a tragic twist.

As the episode opens, Trudy Judy (Nicole Byer) goes to inform Jake that Doug’s headed to prison. Jake’s shocked to hear that: He thought Doug had gone straight! He had, but that didn’t let him off the hook for his old crimes, and one of them caught up with him. And thus, he’s landed himself in deep trouble — trouble Jake can’t get him out of.

But adopting the mantra “it’s the journey, not the destination,” Jake offers to drive his buddy to prison. They’re having plenty of fun on the way in coordinating outfits, belting out rap tunes and eating a wide variety of fast foods… until they’re intercepted by Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), who isn’t willing to leave his friend alone with Doug Judy. He thinks Doug is going to try and escape, and he’ll take advantage of both Jake’s goodwill and the fact that he escaped Jake multiple times in the past.

NBC

And as it turns out, Boyle is right. Doug is planning something, and he was all along; he changed the numbers in Jake’s phone so he can’t contact anyone from the precinct, but thankfully, Boyle’s phone is fine. He calls Holt (Andre Braugher), who tells him that if Doug escapes, he can’t help Jake, and he’ll be fired. But he can send state troopers to assist, which he does; meanwhile, Jake gets a new car to throw Trudy off their scent, but Boyle stays behind.

The troopers arrive, but at that point, Jake’s utterly paranoid — he thinks the troopers are Doug’s people and that he messed with Holt’s phone. In a panic, he swerves away from them and goes down a side street, and Doug reveals they were never driving to the prison: He changed the destination in Jake’s phone, too. They arrive to find a trio of armed men and Trudy, and things have gone very, very badly for Jake.

The goons say they’re going to kill Jake, which moves Doug to action. He and Jake attack the goons, but backup really was on the way, and while Jake is safe and Trudy escapes, Doug heads to prison. Or so we think…?

NBC

In the final minutes of the episode, Jake gets a call from his friend. At first, because of the way Doug is dressed and the phone he’s calling on, it looks like he’s incarcerated. But as the camera pans out, it’s revealed he’s in Amsterdam! After he was taken into custody, he escaped — thanks to a pen Jake may or may not have slipped in his pocket. As he and Doug say goodbye, Jake looks resigned. He’s either worried because he helped Doug escape, or because it really was an accident — but either way, his job could be on the line.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Season 8, Thursdays, NBC