‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’: Holt’s New Assistant Is No Gina Linetti (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 6, Episode 7 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, “The Honeypot.”]
We all knew it’d be hard to find another Gina on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but no one could have predicted how wrong the search for her replacement would go.
When Holt struggles to find someone to fill the open spot and even suggests eliminating it, Jake steps up to help — but his new hire might end up causing more problems than solutions. Meanwhile, Amy tries to get the cluttered precinct organized.
A Reckless Flirt?
The episode opens with Jake meeting Holt’s new assistant, whom Holt immediately fires for abbreviating a one-syllable word. None of the candidates are catching his eye, though Jake encourages him not to give up. Jake offers to find a new assistant for Holt, and Holt realizes he can just fire whoever Jake hires, so they commence the operation.
Jake finds a new assistant pretty quickly: a man named Gordon Lunt. He walks in and is extremely businesslike from the get-go — he says he doesn’t want a fun office, and Holt assures him the precinct is no fun. They have a straightforward conversation of nothing but facts, and excited, Jake says it went well. Holt, on the other hand, thinks the man is flirting with him. “He did everything but lick his lips and purr,” Holt says, and he asks Jake to find someone else.
Barrels of Deception
Jake wasn’t willing to give up on Gordon, so he called all the places Gordon used to work… and finds out he never worked at the Philadelphia P.D. and lied on his resume. Jake’s new theory is that Gordon was planted by Commissioner Kelly to infiltrate the Nine-Nine. Holt doesn’t believe it, but when Jake pulls out a photo of Gordon and Kelly working together at their old precinct, his mind is changed.
Holt and Jake meet in the bathroom to discuss their plan regarding Gordon. Holt wants to fire him, but Jake suggests they should launch a counter-spying mission. If they can prove Kelly sent a spy into the precinct to seduce Holt, it’ll look horrible. Jake says there would be evidence on Gordon’s laptop, and they think of a way to get him to check his bag somewhere — the barrel exhibit at the museum, which Gordon previously suggested Holt and he should visit, would do the trick.
The Spy Who Loved Me
They attend the exhibit and Gordon checks his bag. Jake pays the attendant and takes the bag, then clones the hard drive. It’ll take three hours, so Holt will have to distract Gordon until then, which isn’t a problem for him, but Jake just might die of boredom. Later, Holt asks Jake what he found… and he found nothing. Obviously frustrated, Holt berates Jake until Gordon interrupts and admits he was spying for Kelly. He then says he won’t help Kelly, because he’s fallen in love with Holt.
The plan, Gordon says, was to weaken Holt’s defenses with his “brazen sexuality.” The barrel museum, he says, made him fall hard. Gordon tries to resign, but Jake says they could turn Gordon into a double agent. He says they could have Gordon arrange a meeting between him and Kelly, and he could wear a wire. Thus, they could expose Kelly’s deception.
Triple-Crossed
Holt and Jake wait outside in a surveillance van while Gordon meets with Kelly, and at first, everything seems to be going well. But as they listen in on the conversation, Gordon triple-crosses them and tells Kelly about Holt and Jake’s plan. Uh-oh!
The pair burst into the restaurant and confront Kelly and Gordon, but Kelly says the footage from Gordon’s wire will prove Holt was spying on him: not the other way around. Kelly calls for Holt’s resignation and Jake apologizes, but Holt says he planned a backup operation — he knew Kelly would cross them, so he planted microphones in the condiments and cameras around the restaurant. “This is the coolest thing that has ever happened,” Jake says.
De-Cluttering the Precinct
Terry calls a precinct meeting and says the office has turned into a junkyard. While he doesn’t want to fire anyone, he says they do need to clean up the place. Boyle doesn’t have much confidence in their abilities, but Terry knows just the woman for the job: Amy. Amy adopts Marie Kondo’s system; if it doesn’t bring joy, the precinct should toss it. Unfortunately, it backfires. Her co-workers are saying everything brings them joy.
Amy suggests a new system that involves getting rid of all personal possessions except one. “When you cling to these things, you cling to the past and don’t make room for new experiences,” she says. She encourages all of them to get rid of the things they enjoy, then they move onto the second stage, which involves burning the personal possessions they don’t need. With Rosa’s archery help, they burn their possessions.
Significant Suspenders
Amy walks around the precinct and takes photos so that she could be featured in Organizers Quarterly, but as she snaps her photos she finds Terry hadn’t thrown away his suspenders. He says he bought them to wear on his first day after he passed the lieutenant’s exam, but then he didn’t pass it. Upset, he says he might as well throw them away now because he won’t ever become a lieutenant. He dumps them in the trash and walks away.
Amy apologizes for how she acted and gives Terry a new pair of suspenders; she tells him he’ll pass the exam and become a lieutenant. She allows them to keep personal possessions in the office again.
A Victory For Holt
Jake and Holt talk in the elevator on their way to work. Holt tells Jake he gave Kelly a list of his demands, and Kelly said he’d back off of the vigilant policing. He also got Kelly to reopen the first floor! Holt asks Jake if he’d want to go out to dinner to thank him for his help, but Jake says he already has plans with Amy.
As it turns out, Jake takes her to the barrel museum, which she…really enjoys. Those newlyweds certainly know each other well!
Other Observations:
- Finally, some advancement in the overall plot of the season! I was happy to see the story of Holt vs. Kelly getting off the ground again, and in such a creative (and hilarious) way.
- It was also nice to see the rest of the precinct getting some lines this episode as well — it felt like it had been a while since we heard from Boyle and Amy, especially. The “organization” topic was certainly timely!
- With that, I have to wonder if the conflict between Holt and Kelly has ended. Holt has gotten pretty much everything he wanted — the elimination of “vigilant policing” and the first floor reopened — but he still doesn’t have the commissioner job. It’ll be interesting to see if Nine-Nine keeps that thread moving forward, or if that’s the end of that.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC
