Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 6, episode 3 recap: The Tattler

Brooklyn Nine-Nine took us back to high school in “The Tattler.”

High school reunions can be rough, especially if everyone low key hates you. Plus, there’s a heavy dose of ASMR. And, Rosa asks Boyle for relationship advice. Let’s recap!

The first two episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s sixth season were what us genre loving kids like to refer to as cannon heavy.

“The Honeymoon” paid off Jake (Andy Samberg) and Amy’s (Melissa Fumero) relationship, while setting up their marriage to be one of the sweetest and best parts of the show for seasons to come.

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It also introduced Captain Holt’s (Andre Braugher) protest against new Commissioner John Kelly (Phil Reeves) and his stop and frisk policy.

Last week’s “Hitchcock and Scully” flashed back to the Lethal Weapon days of Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller) and Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker). It also warned of the dangers of properly seasoned chicken wings.

“The Tattler” is a classic sitcom episode. It’s funny and continues the current story arcs in referential ways. But, it has a strong, standalone story of its own.

If you wanted to show someone an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine as an example of why they should watch the show, this would it. Everything is nicely contained within the 30-minute airtime. Until Gina (Chelsea Peretti) quits the Nine-Nine during the closing credits.

I’m All About Admin

Jake and Gina reunite as the Jnco Jeans wearing Dope Denim Crew (DDC). They’re getting ready to go to their twentieth high school reunion. Both remember their glory days with fondness. But Jake is reminded of how gloomy his senior year was because he was accused of tattling on the coolest kid in school before a big party. That’s right. Detective Jake Peralta is also known as “The Tattler.”

BROOKLYN NINE-NINE — “The Tattler” Episode 603 — Pictured: (l-r) Andy Samberg as Jake Peralta, Melissa Fumero as Amy Santiago, Paul Rust as Mikey — (Photo by: Vivian Zink/NBC)

Except Jake insists he’s not “The Tattler.” At the reunion, everyone greets Jake as “The Tattler.” It gets under his skin fast. If he really was “The Tattler,” he could get over it. But he’s not “The Tattler.” Luckily, Amy reminds Jake that they’re both cops and can investigate the true identity of “The Tattler.”

Meanwhile, Gina is walking around the reunion telling classmates of her massive, important, and completely made up achievements. Gina tells one classmate that she’s written all the Thor movies. Part four will be named More Thor.

With reverence, Gina explains the process of designing and building The Freedom Tower to another classmate. Finally, Gina longingly talks about the time she convinced her old friend, Steve Jobs, to remove the “-lications” from “applications.”

This last lie generates the interest of software developer Quentin (Yassir Lester). He’s got money to invest. Gina obliges by coming up with a pitch for an app called “Todddddler,” which will obviously connect with consumers in the marketplace because it has five Ds in it. I mean, duh!

Meanwhile, Jake and Amy are looking for clues as to who might be “The Tattler.” They decide to break into the Administration Office of the high school. They look like kids from the late twentieth century. Jake is in Jncos. He’s got that late 90s forward-facing hybrid of the Flock of Seagulls haircut. Amy’s wearing an orange, fitted sundress. She’s also sporting one of those fishnet chokers and eyeliner that’s not thin, but also not heavy. That’s so 1999.

Amy’s most important accessory is her elbow, which she uses to break the glass of the Administration door. She’s completely turned on by the fact that Jake had perfect attendance in school. When the two knock over a science project later on, Amy becomes obsessed with putting it back together. She ultimately ditches Jake and tells him not to wait up for her. She’ll be busy writing book reports in the library.

BROOKLYN NINE-NINE — “The Tattler” Episode 603 — Pictured: (l-r) Andy Samberg as Jake Peralta, Melissa Fumero as Amy Santiago — (Photo by: Vivian Zink/NBC)

But who is “The Tattler.” It turns out that it was Gina, all along. She was afraid that Jake’s friends were going to corrupt him and prevent him from meeting his full potential. Gina never outed herself as “The Tattler” because who would ever want to be known as “The Tattler?”

Although there are a couple of bumps, Gina is seemingly moments away from selling her make-believe app to Quentin. But, Quentin admits that he’s no software developing investment type dude. He just came to the reunion to mess with people as Gina did. And, he did a really awesome job. It’s a pleasure to deceive the deceiver.

In a heart-to-heart with Jake, Gina admits that working at the Nine-Nine does not utilize all of her talents. While the flexibility has been great for her, it’s time for Gina to move on to something bigger and better. As fans, we knew this was coming. Hopefully, there will be a few episodes of Gina left before More Thor goes into production.

That’s the Way the Yogurt Crinkles

Back at the Nine-Nine, Terry (Terry Crews), Scully, and Hitchcock are listening to a morning zoo radio show. They love to play along with a game where you guess the sound. It’s one of those ultra-millennial deals that’s also one of the oldest games in showbiz. No matter what you answer, you’ll always be wrong. Per Captain Holt, this defeats the purpose of why all people go to work: to be productive.

But, Captain Holt gets into it when he opens up a yogurt that makes the exact same sound heard on the radio. That came after Terry, Scully, and Hitchcock spent most of the day eating vending machine delicacies to see if opening them would match the sound. Let’s be real, it was mostly Scully and Hitchcock doing the eating. Terry was obsessed by the quest to match the sound.

When the crew gets on live radio to give their yogurt guess they are told they are wrong. Was it all a waste of time? Maybe. But Captain Holt is the first to have the guys turn on the radio to hear the next sound of the day.

Rosa’s Choice

Sad news, friends. If you’re a newbie, this doesn’t mean much. If you saw last season’s finale, “Jake and Amy,” you know that Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz) met Alicia (Gina Rodriguez). Love was in the air and a relationship that seemed like the answer to our nation’s collective prayers were answered. But, alas, Rosa broke up with Alicia when she moved to London. They tried a long distance thing after that, but they broke up for good. All the sad emojis times ten.

BROOKLYN NINE-NINE — “The Tattler” Episode 603 — Pictured: Stephanie Beatriz as Rosa Diaz — (Photo by: Vivian Zink/NBC)

On the rebound, Rosa started dating two people at once. The two became aware of each other when they scrolled through tagged photos of Rosa on Instagram. Rosa knew tagging herself on the Gram was a little messy, but her brunch friends convinced her it was the only way to get her custom made jewelry line off the ground. What can she do? The obvious answer is to turn to Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) for relationship advice.

Boyle is confused and fascinated by Rosa’s situation. Sure, he’s more interested in if the two potential significant others are boys, girls, or both because this is Boyle. Rosa refuses to give any personal information about her suitors. Rosa and Boyle settle on calling them Quinoa and Couscous. Rosa needs to decide which one she’ll dump.

Sometimes being emotionally stunted is a real asset. Boyle possesses the kind of indecision that makes him wear different shades of the same color almost every day because he’s afraid to choose an outfit. No. That doesn’t make sense. Except it does. Because it doesn’t! Got to love Boyle.

BROOKLYN NINE-NINE — “The Tattler” Episode 603 — Pictured: (l-r) Stephanie Beatriz as Rosa Diaz, Joe Lo Truglio as Charles Boyle — (Photo by: Vivian Zink/NBC)

After an approximately 312 item questionnaire that ends in a tie, Boyle has Rosa hang upside down in hopes that the massive rush of blood to her head will help her choose between Quinoa and Couscous. That also doesn’t help, but it does allow us all to witness Rosa flip off the beam she was hanging on feet first. That was hardcore, bro. Hard. Core.

All of the indecision pays off. Quinoa gets tired of waiting for Rosa’s decision and texts her to break things off. Boyle explains that this is how you avoid making your own choice: delay until the universe makes a decision for you.

“The Tattler” was a wacky fun episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It kept all of the storylines moving quietly. It also aimed a couple of those storylines at each other and had a lot of fun with it. If I rated shows and used stars, “The Tattler” would get most of those stars.

Do you like the new season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine so far? Were you surprised at how quickly Gina is leaving the show? Let’s discuss in the comments!