Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 6, episode 5: A Tale of Two Bandits

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is back after last week’s farewell to Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti). Would the return of the Pontiac Bandit cheer us up? How about two Pontiac Bandits? Let’s recap.

“A Tale of Two Bandits,” written by Luke Del Tredici (30 Rock) and directed by Cortney Carillo (Everybody Hates Chris), has a clear theme of pitting family against each other on this episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Two members of the Judy family square off for bandit righteousness. The NYPD (really, just the Nine-Nine) fights the FDNY for the rights to Shaw’s. And Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) fights his own pallet for the love of the squad.

This episode is the most self-referential of the new season. It’s funny and moves at a quick pace. It doesn’t make the same emotion or momentum as “The Honeymoon,” “Hitchcock and Scully,” or “Four Movements.”

Butt Implants

Terry (Terry Crews) believes that Doug Judy (Craig Robinson), aka The Pontiac Burglar, has returned after a string of car thefts fit his M.O. Jake (Andy Samberg) is convinced that he is on the straight and narrow path. Terry wants to investigate. Jake tells him to contact the family, but reminds him that they know him as a member of a special branch of NASA that is designing LeBron James’ school system. Terry takes this in and identifies himself as “the man from Black NASA.”

The conversation is brief. Jake was right. Doug Judy is not back to his old tricks. Because he’s dead. Terry and Jake go to the wake. It’s clear that Jake, aka Mangy Carl, is there to grieve for his soulmate. Terry basically wants to make sure he’s dead.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine-A Tale of Two Bandits-Courtesy of Vivian Zink/NBC

Terry and Jake are greeted by Trudy Judy (Nicole Byer), Doug’s sister. I straight up did not know Nicole Byer was going to be in this episode. Just seeing her made me smile and prepare myself for the hilarity that would ensue.

Trudy Judy offers Jake the option of eulogizing her brother or singing a song in memoriam. Since the eulogy would include tales of how Doug helped Mangy Carl reform from being a toothless prostitute with infected mulch implants in his booty cheeks, Jake decides to sing.

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The song moves Trudy Judy, while upsetting almost everyone else in attendance, including Terry. He laments, “He gave himself a chord change…” The song ends on an extremely high note that Mangy Carl is not capable of hitting. Was this an unneeded overreach? Nope. Jake sees Doug Judy, very much alive, in the back of the chapel. He motions for Jake to join him in the back.

Terry believes Doug is up to his old tricks. But, Doug says that he’s being framed. Someone stole the car of a big-timer named Stefano, who put a price on Doug’s head.  So he faked his own death till he could clear his name. Doug and Jake hatch a plan to catch the real bandit.

Nursing School

Doug is a man of his word, so before he, Jake, and Terry head to their sting operation, Doug deejays a bar mitzvah he had booked months ago. While there, another parking lot is cleaned out. Doug is excited because his name is cleared. Terry believes that Doug staged this to give himself an alibi. Everyone is shocked when the bandit is revealed to be Trudy Judy. Man, alive!

Nursing school was expensive. Trudy Judy needed to make ends meet. When she found Doug’s old Pontiac Bandit notebooks, she decided to make that money. In order to reduce her sentence, Trudy Judy agrees to participate in another sting. Stings are a thing!

At the second sting, the car Trudy Judy was driving explodes as soon as she gets out of it. All personnel rush the scene. they discover Stefano’s car. But, Trudy Judy is gone! She used the explosion as a distraction to get away.

But why? Via cell phone, Trudy Judy explains herself. Nursing school was actually boring. She went to, like, two classes. Trudy Judy had been running online scams. That was fine until she found Doug’s notebooks. She genuinely did not know she was getting her brother in trouble stealing Stefano’s car. Also, a reduced sentence is still a sentence. So, Trudy Judy peaces out until she sees the fam at Christmas.

Doug asks Jake if this what getting burned feels like. Jake says yes and Doug looks like he realizes what he’s put Jake through. At least he’s contemplating it. I mean, Doug will probably play Jake again. Let’s be honest with each other, here.

The Battle for Dennis Leary

Trudy Judy and Doug Judy took up most of the episode. But there was also the battle for Shaw’s. The bar that’s hosted weddings, farewells, and drunken hangouts has been claimed by Rob Dulubnik (Rob Riggle) and FDNY. They mark their territory with the patron saint of television firefighters: an 8 x 10 of Dennis Leary.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine-A Tale of Two Bandits-Courtesy of Evans Vestal Ward/NBC

Amy (Melissa Fumero), Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz), and Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) will not let this stand. They decided to have a tab-off. Whoever can drink the biggest bar tab by midnight wins the bar. Captain Holt leaves immediately because their other bars with win that isn’t called “barbonnay.”

The Nine-Nine do their best, but are coming up short with time running out. At the last minute, Captain Holt returns. Shaken to his core by a drunk voicemail from Rosa that said he doesn’t care about them, Holt pounds two bottles of barbonnay and wins the contest. The Nine-Nine is happy. Hank (Kevin Dorff) the bar owner is paid. And the FDNY takes their portrait of Dennis Leary and leaves.

Again, this wasn’t the best episode of the new season. But Brooklyn Nine-Nine is still on a winning streak to start the season.

Did you watch “A Tale of Two Bandits?” Are you enjoying the new season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine? Let’s discuss in the comments!