- For the episode, see Adrian Pimento (episode).
Adrian Pimento (portrayed by Jason Mantzoukas) is a former detective at 99th Precinct who was previously undercover for 12 years with Jimmy "The Butcher" Figgis. He is also Rosa Diaz's ex-fiancee.
He first appeared in Season 3, in his titular episode, Adrian Pimento and last appeared in the series finale, The Last Day Pt 1.
Biography[]
Adrian Pimento was a detective in the NYPD's 99th precinct prior to the arrival of Amy Santiago, Charles Boyle, Gina Linetti, Jake Peralta, Raymond Holt, Rosa Diaz and Terry Jeffords. He went on an undercover mission as Paul Sneed for years that affected his mental stability, credit score, ability to trust, and sense of self.
Prior to working for the NYPD, Pimento worked as a grocery store bagger which he returned to when he was struggling to identify with his role in the NYPD after coming back from his undercover work. He found different ways to cope with his trauma like practicing Tai Chi.
Personality[]
After years of working in the mob under Jimmy Figgis, Adrian is tough, brave, and mentally unstable. While is shown to have an unsettling personality, often accidentally appearing frightening or threatening to people. He is also extremely violent, casually laughing about the fact that he once had to use someone's blood to keep his eyes moist as he wasn't blinking.
Throughout the Series[]
Season Three[]
His debut episode was Adrian Pimento, where he has just re-emerged from undercover work for Jimmy "The Butcher" Figgis, an "A-list mobster" according to Jake, for twelve years. Adrian was once forced by Jimmy "The Butcher" to drive a croquet wicket through a guy's eyes into his brain. Jake asks to work with him as he went undercover in the mafia, and he understands Adrian. However, Rosa warns Jake that she has a bad feeling about Adrian sneaking into an old warehouse and taking something. Later, Jake and Rosa follow Adrian home and see him doing Tai Chi. Jake looks in the trunk of his car, but Adrian catches him and says he hired a double. He says that he was retrieving personal photos so his family couldn't be tracked while in hiding and that he bought a burner phone due to his terrible credit score from being undercover for so many years. Adrian is annoyed that Jake doesn't trust him and quits the force. He later returns to his old job as a bagger at a supermarket, where Jake finds him. He tells him that he doesn't understand Adrian's experience. Adrian doesn't want to come back and tells Jake to leave. Later, he returns to the force as he trusts Jake's judgment.
In Cheddar, Adrian and Rosa are shown to be heavily flirting, making everybody very uncomfortable. Jake calls them to help him find Holt and Kevin's dog, Cheddar. He assigns Adrian, Rosa, and Terry to put posters up (although Terry protests). Rosa suggests they begin a relationship, which scares Adrian, and he runs away, making Rosa furious. Terry talks to Adrian and convinces him to ask Rosa out. Adrian misunderstands and proposes to Rosa. Rosa rejects him and angrily tells Terry that his advice didn't work (although Terry barely said anything). Rosa says that she won't marry him but she will go for a drink. The two then passionately make out in a car.
In Terry Kitties, Adrian has been living in the break room as his landlord kicked him out. Charles offers to help. Adrian takes this as an invitation to move in, but Charles is afraid and agrees. Adrian is happy as he had a great night's sleep at Charles, although Charles had a horrible night. Gina encourages Charles to tell Adrian that he wants him to move out. However, Adrian frightens Charles with his response, and he backs out. Later, Gina confronts Adrian and convinces him to move out of Charles' house.
In Paranoia, Adrian proposes to Rosa, and she accepts. He asks Jake to be his best man, and he accepts. Rosa asks Jake to convince Terry that her relationship with Adrian is okay as Terry doesn't trust Adrian and thinks he is bad for Rosa, and Jake agrees. For Adrian's bachelor party, they hire a bus and invite Jake, Terry, Hitchcock, and Scully. However, Adrian doesn't turn up, and Jake goes to see what's wrong. Adrian takes control of the bus, claiming a hitman is after him. Terry and Adrian clash and Jake is forced to have a calm word with them. However, at a restaurant, they discover there really is a hitman after Adrian. The hitman reveals that Jimmy Figgis hired him to kill Adrian. The others decide to fake Adrian's death, and they provide "evidence" of his death to Jimmy Figgis's men. They follow Figgis's man's car and find that it leads to the FBI, meaning Figgis has a mole in the FBI. Adrian decides to go off the grid until Figgis is gone. Adrian finds Rosa and kisses her goodbye before leaving indefinitely.
In Maximum Security, the others hold a fake funeral for Adrian and fake his death (using Hitchcock as a corpse).
Season Four[]
In Monster in the Closet, Adrian returns from hiding and goes to Charles's home to freshen up before seeing Rosa. He is found by Charles's newly adopted son Nikolaj and scares the boy. Charles brings him to the precinct, where he reunites with Rosa, and the pair decide to marry the next day. He enlists Jake's help and is joined by Gina to retrieve his grandmother's earrings from a pawnshop. They find that the pawnshop burned down years before, and Pimento takes it as a sign from the universe not to marry Rosa. However, Jake urges him to go to the owner, and he realizes that the woman likely still has the earrings because she is wearing a necklace he also pawned before. He went on to steal back the earrings. Jake's car broke down on the way back, and Pimento believed it to be another sign. They take a charter plane to the venue, but moments before the wedding, Jake speaks to him, and he and Rosa decide to postpone it to get to know each other first.
In Mr. Santiago, Adrian tells Holt at Thanksgiving at Amy's place that he wasn't allowed to return to the force due to going AWOL. Holt suggested that he try his hand at being a Private Investigator, and Pimento liked the idea but knew he had no money to get the license. Holt lent him money to cover it, but Pimento, wanting to pay him back sooner, bet the money on a dog show. Though Holt was skeptical about the dog he placed his bet on, the dog won, winning their money back.
In The Bank Job, Adrian allows Jake and Rosa to beat him up to make Melanie Hawkins think they are dirty cops so they can get on her crew undercover to expose her for being a dirty cop.
Season Five[]
In The Big House Pt. 1, Rosa is in jail and asks Capt. Holt to send an email to Adrian on her behalf. Holt said that Adrian wrote back right away; his reply was an '8', a lot of '=,' and a 'D' (the emoticons to portray a penis).
In Kicks, Rosa thinks Adrian is cheating on her and goes on to investigate. She finds out Adrian went to a nice restaurant with another woman and shared a flan. Rosa is mad at Adrian and confronts him. He lies and says he has never heard of this restaurant. Rosa follows him around and sees him meeting another woman. Later, she breaks up with him, and Adrian tells her the woman is a Spanish teacher and that he is learning Spanish to impress her father. Rosa later realizes that she doesn't want to be together with Adrian anymore and was hoping the cheating was true the entire time; she then breaks up with Adrian.
In Gray Star Mutual, Adrian is now an insurance investigator, and after Charles' food truck burns down, he investigates and instantly blames Charles for burning his own truck down. Charles and Jake convince Adrian that Charles didn't do it, and they investigate further. Still, Adrian finds out he's missed out on a lot of stuff while being gone and gets angry that he wasn't invited to Jake and Amy's wedding. He denies the insurance application from Charles' food truck burning down because of that.
Jake and Charles ended up going to the insurance company to file a complaint against Adrian, citing a conflict of interest. Adrian finds out and gets mad, but they make up and become friends again. In an off-hand comment, Adrian reveals he has a new family, which Jake responds to with an expression of surprise. Adrian then gets fired from his job. The three of them then go into the suspect’s home, where they catch the arsonist. Later, Adrian meets Jake and Charles in Shaw's and reveals he got a new job as a security guard at a hand lotion store.
Season Seven[]
In Pimemento, Adrian seeks help from Jake and Charles as he believes that someone wants to kill him. He also appears to suffer from short-term memory loss, which is likened to the films Memento and Finding Dory. When Jake and Charles discover someone is trying to kill Adrian, they realize Adrian’s doctor has been causing his short-term memory as revenge on Adrian. Adrian’s Doctor kidnaps him. Jake and Charles arrive to arrest the doctor, only to find Adrian on the ledge outside the window. They walk out and bring Adrian to safety.
Season Eight[]
In The Last Day Pt 1, Adrian helps Rosa in her attempt to win the final heist by having her ride on his motorcycle to escape from Amy with the pneumatic tube before he heads to the airport to catch a flight to Northern Canada. He says that he is going there to protect a diamond mind that is being terrorized by a pack of wolves and since hunting wolves is illegal he has to "tear them apart limb from limb." He stated that he would be there until he could "find the alpha, kill it, take control of the pack, and then decemate the diamond mind." It is unknown whether he is still there.
Relationships[]
While in the mob, he fell for a bartender named Katya. However, Adrian's criminal boss impaled her.
Rosa Diaz[]
Rosa and Adrian had a romantic relationship that made most people, especially Terry, uncomfortable. In Cheddar, the two are shown to be aggressively flirting and making the entire precinct uncomfortable. The two promptly get engaged, but their relationship is halted when Adrian has to fake his own death and go into hiding from Figgis. Rosa is shown to be very upset by this but is confident that he will return. Rosa breaks up with Adrian in Kicks.
Jake Peralta[]
Jake and Adrian bond after Adrian makes him reveal a secret. Jake helps Adrian trust him again, and Adrian does as he believes that if Jake says life will get better, then he believes that it will. Adrian and Jake are shown to be close as Adrian asks Jake to be his best man. Jake also admires Adrian and is impressed by his years working undercover with a dangerous mobster.
Trivia[]
- His desk was given to Detective Jake Peralta when he was undercover.
- He plays a little bit of Bouzouki.
- The oval is his favorite shape.
- He is a fan of Lady Gaga.[1]
- Both of his parents passed away in separate incidents involving light houses which gave him a fear of heights.
- He lost his virginity in the Summer of '91 at a screening of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
- He lost his sense of smell in a shipwreck.
- Pimento is a recreational drug user. In the episode Gray Star Mutual, he tells his boss, "What is this about the time I did Molly with your daughter?"
- As seen in The Bank Job, and his failed attempts to fake snorting cocaine.