New Captain

"New Captain" is the premiere episode of Season Three of the FOX television show Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It aired on September 27, 2015.

Episode Synopsis[]

After Holt is transferred to the NYPD Department of Public Relations, the new captain’s arrival causes the precinct to dissolve into chaos, despite Terry’s best efforts to keep everyone on point. Meanwhile, Jake and Amy face the aftermath of their “for reals” kiss.

Plot[]

The episode picks up right where Johnny and Dora left off as the elevator doors open and the new captain, Seth Dozerman, arrives at the precinct. After introducing himself and establishing that he has very high expectations for the squad, Captain Dozerman has a heart attack and falls to the floor.

Jake Peralta meets with Amy Santiago in the copy room to discuss their kiss from the previous episode and both admit they have feelings for each other. Wanting to keep things casual at work, they establish a set of rules for them to follow while dating involving not telling anyone at work and not having sexual intercourse. Terry Jeffords interrupts them to tell them that Captain Dozerman has recovered and is calling for a briefing. Captain Raymond Holt and Gina Linetti arrive at One Police Plaza for Holt's new appointment as they are met by Madeline Wuntch. After a quick exchange of insults, Holt tells Wuntch that he survived being a homosexual police officer in the 80s and her efforts will not break his spirit. Wuntch introduces him to his new colleagues, maintaining that he is not allowed to introduce any new initiatives until the current workload is finished, which involves naming the new NYPD pigeon mascot. As Gina wonders how long this task could possibly take to accomplish, Wuntch laughs and reveals that this department has been working on finding a name for months. At the briefing room, Dozerman tells the squad that the doctors have informed him that what he suffered from earlier was not due to a heart attack, but because his aortic valve is too narrow, lowering his life expectancy. He begins to hand out what he calls "Dozer-pads", which contain a gps and a timer for them to complete tasks, in order to improve the productivity of the squad. After he leaves, Rosa Diaz tells Terry that Dozerman's guidelines are stupid, but the latter instructs her to comply with them. In the bullpen, Charles Boyle sees Jake making reservations for a restaurant and excitedly asks if Jake is going on a date with Amy. The two of them deny this, with Jake insisting that he is dating a random woman from the gym, and Boyle relents his questioning. On the date, Jake and Amy have an awkward start but, after deciding to get drunk, they end up sleeping with each other.

The next day, Boyle asks Jake about his date ,and Jake tells him that it was fun despite its rocky start. Boyle reacts negatively as he was rooting for Jake to end up with Amy but it seems Jake is genuinely interested in this anonymous woman. Boyle tells Amy that he is sorry about this turn of events but she claims she would never date a colleague, something that Rosa overhears and comments that dating a colleague is something that would be overwhelming for Amy. Terry informs Jake that Dozerman has requested to see him, as he is wondering why Jake's colleagues are gathered around his desk. Jake claims that he was trying to get his work done, but his colleagues were inquiring about his dating life, something which he considers second to his love of efficiency. Not realizing Jake is lying, Dozerman happily tells Jake that he sees the two of them are kindred spirits and orders the squad to stop bothering Jake about his dating life. At One Police Plaza, Holt attempts to present his eight point presentation on community engagement, but Wuntch scheduled his presentation "after everyone leaves, and not a minute later." Two of Holt's new subordinates have narrowed the name of the new mascot to either "Petey" or "Paulie" and Wuntch asks Holt to choose. Holt refuses as this is an unimportant task and the two have a brief standoff before Wuntch uses her position as his superior to order him to name the pigeon, upon which Holt names the pigeon "Paulie" in defeat. At the precinct evidence room, Jake tells Amy that he has managed to convince Dozerman to outlaw all personal talk at work and the two of them excitedly discuss how their relationship is going great despite breaking one of their set rules by sleeping with each other. They decide to break another rule and Amy decides to break the "no making out at work" rule before leading Jake away to a corner. In the bullpen, Rosa has stashed her Dozer-pad in the ceiling and explains that she kept it there for safety so that coffee would not be spilled on it, before deliberately pouring coffee over it. Meanwhile, Dozerman enters the evidence room as Jake and Amy's Dozer-pads show they have been in there for a while, and sees the two of them kissing. He exclaims that interpersonal relationships in the department must be why efficiency is low and begins a rant on how Jake and Amy's relationship is over as long as he is the captain of the precinct, when he suffers a genuine heart attack. As Amy runs to get help, Dozerman tells Jake to tells his wife he loves her work ethic, before dying.

As Dozerman's body is wheeled away by the coroner, Terry asks Jake and Amy if they know what could have startled him, but they insist that they have no idea. Since Dozerman had known health problems, Terry decides to let the matter rest but asks them to show him the surveillance tapes. The two of them begin to act nervously and finally admit to the squad that they are dating, and Boyle excitedly hugs them. Terry tells them that while he approves of the relationship, he is disappointed that they did not maintain a professional work environment and storms off, as Boyle and Rosa decide to go look at the surveillance tapes showing Jake and Amy kissing. At One Police Plaza, Holt meets Wuntch in his office to ask for a truce as he can turn this department around but his talents are being wasted because of their feud. Wuntch then mockingly tells him she wants him to be able to spread his wings, and tells him that part of his new job will be to wear the pigeon mascot costume. At the precinct, Terry is still using a Dozer-Pad to stay on task, and explains to Rosa that despite his flaws, Dozerman was just trying to improve efficiency, and Terry himself is trying to keep the precinct running smoothly. Meanwhile, Amy tells Jake that they should break up and go back to colleagues, since their relationship has already run into many setbacks while it is still beginning.

At Jake's apartment that night, Jake has told Boyle about the breakup, which greatly upsets Boyle. As Jake tells Boyle that they tried keeping the relationship "light and breezy", Boyle angrily hits Jake and tells him that the relationship failed because both he and Amy were not fully committed to it. Jake realizes that Boyle is right and is advised to go to Amy's apartment to tell her how he feels. As he opens the door, he is startled by Amy, who was about to knock. Amy explains that she wanted to talk to someone about everything that happened, but then realized Jake is the only person she wants to talk to about this. The two of them decide to continue their relationship and to be fully committed this time, and are congratulated by Boyle. The next day, Gina finds a despondent Holt in his pigeon costume standing inside an elementary school bathroom. Holt tells Gina that he has been defeated by Wuntch, but Gina insists that she followed him to his new position because she believes that everything Holt interacts with becomes better, and encourages him not to give up. Encouraged, Holt puts on the full pigeon costume and decides to give his eight point presentation to the elementary school students. The next day at the precinct briefing, Rosa shows Terry she earned a "Great Job" comment from her Dozer-pad for being six hours ahead of schedule. After Terry compliments her and assures that the two of them are on good terms, she proceeds to destroy the Dozer-pad with a hammer. Terry then begins the briefing, explaining that a new captain is arriving today as an unseen person walks through the bullpen. As Terry leads the squad on a "Nine-Nine" cheer, the new captain to their horror is revealed to be The Vulture, who promises to make their lives miserable.

Cast[]

Actor		Character
Andy Samberg	...	Jake Peralta
Stephanie Beatriz	...	Rosa Diaz
Terry Crews	...	Terry Jeffords
Melissa Fumero	...	Amy Santiago
Joe Lo Truglio	...	Charles Boyle
Chelsea Peretti	...	Gina Linetti
Andre Braugher	...	Captain Ray Holt
Dirk Blocker	...	Michael Hitchcock
Joel McKinnon Miller	...	Norm Scully
Kyra Sedgwick	...	Madeline Wuntch
Bill Hader	...	Captain Seth Dozerman
Andrew Patrick Ralston	...	Bryce
Phil Augusta Jackson	...	Trent

Running Gags[]

Title of Amy's Sex Tape[]

Read full article on Titles of Amy's Sex Tape

After Amy remarks that she hopes that she and Jake sleeping together wasn't a mistake, Jake says "I Hope It Wasn't a Mistake, title of your sex tape...Title of our sex tape!"

Washing Lover's Hair[]

Read full article on Washing Lover's Hair

Trying to help Jake get back together with Amy, Charles suggests that Jake "bring a fancy bottle of lavender shampoo, because shampooing a woman's head is the most erotic thing you could ever possibly-" but is cut off by Jake before he can finish.

Cultural References[]

Holt acts surprised to see Wuntch at his new public relations job. He says he thought she would still be crushed under a house in Munchkinland. This is a reference to the Wicked Witch of the East from The Wizard of Oz.
Gina tells Wuntch that Holt is a "Timberlake" and that she is treating him alike a "Fatone." Justin Timberlake is the lead singer and most successful member of the boy band *NSYNC, which also featured Joey Fatone.
Charles tells Jake that he and Amy are supposed to grow old together and die holding each other as their cruise ship slowly take on water. This is likely a reference to a scene from Titanic where an elderly couple accepts their fate in a similar manner.

Trivia[]

This episode starts with a sequence recapping the events at the end of Johnny and Dora, where it shows the final moment of the episode before the screen cuts to black. The scene changes to a shot of the elevator doors opening to reveal Captain Dozerman.