Jake’s excitement at being called in as a hostage negotiator is ruined by the reappearance of Doug Judy!

Brooklyn Nine-Nine 5×13 “The Negotiator” on FOX  brought back an old favorite. Doug Judy (Craig Robinson) returned to the show to once again give Jake (Andy Samberg) grief. When Jake and Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz) are called in for a hostage negotiation, Jake is pulled into a tangled web that could have easily ended with him losing his job! We all know Jake doesn’t make the best decisions when Doug Judy is involved. Add Doug’s penchant for taking off into the mix and you’ve got yourself a recipe for disaster. But Jake wasn’t the only one fooled this week as we all had the brief thought that maybe Doug would stay true to his word this time around. It didn’t take long for us to be rudely brought back down to the real world. But at least Doug returned the diamonds so Jake could keep his job, right?

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Back at the precinct, Holt (Andre Braugher) and Terry (Terry Crews) have their work cut out for them trying to give Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) a makeover. A woman from the Commissioner’s office is looking to speak with one of Holt’s detectives about what kind of Captain Holt is. Then there’s the matter of Charles (Joe Lo Truglio) and his food truck. Amy (Melissa Fumero) goes to check on her investment, only to see Charles struggling. Trying to help him out, Amy and Gina (Chelsea Peretti) attempt to be employees. It doesn’t take them long to discover it was a horrible decision.

Let’s break it down with our roundtable guests of the week!

Christina (@OddlyUnromantic) –Massive obsessive fan of movies, TV, music, and YouTube.

Kaysi (@julietknope) – Trash for good television.

Aurora (@AurorasBlog) – Marathon runner and equity actress, currently running 882 miles for the 882 daily victims of assault for Project882!

Marilyn (@Marilyn72568293) – Cosmetologist and lover of fun! Enjoy watching the best shows I can find!

Pamela (@CharlesonPamela) – Teacher, aunt, and sister who also loves watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine!

1. Were you excited to see that Doug Judy, AKA The Pontiac Bandit, was back once again?

Christina (@OddlyUnromantic): I think Doug is funny, but I’m kind of over the Pontiac Bandit. Especially since Jake acts like an idiot and is always made a fool by him.

Kaysi (@julietknope): I was so happy that Doug Judy was back! It’s always fun to see Craig Robinson on the show!

Aurora (@aurorasblog): So excited! Who doesn’t love a good Doug Judy episode?

Marilyn (@Marilyn72568293): Doug Judy is one of my favorite people. You kind of forget how big of a criminal he is when he first appears on screen! But you certainly remember by the end of the episode!

Pamela (@CharlesonPamela): I was pretty excited to see Doug come back, but was once again disappointed in the way he pulled one over on Jake. Again.

2. There were multiple references made to both Stranger Things and Big Little Lies. What did you think about the references made and Jake’s love of both shows?

Christina: It’s hilarious that Jake loves Big Little Lies, but I’m not surprised he likes Stranger Things. Who doesn’t like Stranger Things?!

Kaysi: I always enjoy when characters mention the shows that they enjoy so it was fun to see how passionate Jake was about the two.

Aurora: I think references like that make the show continue to feel current and tapped into the cultural zeitgeist. It makes us totally feel like we know these people.

Marilyn: Oh my gosh, I thought it was great! The fact that this show does that kind of thing often, shows how involved they are with pop culture. Awesome!

Pamela: I am so not surprised Jake watches both of these shows. But I love it when they make these kinds of references. It really makes the show seem more natural and gives it a great flow!

3. Did Charles’ food truck endeavor go the way you expected it to, or did the outcome surprise you?

Christina: We all know Charles is passionate about food, but geez he’s insane! I never thought I’d see the day where Amy was the chill one and Charles was yelling at her!

Kaysi: I expected things in the food truck to go a bit awry, but I was surprised at how controlling he ended up being.

Aurora: It definitely surprised me! I didn’t see mean Charles coming at all.

Marilyn: I’ve had a feeling since the beginning of this endeavor that it wasn’t going to go well. But I never thought Charles was capable of being mean. Over the top, yes. But controlling, no way!

Pamela: Charles has always let the precinct know how much he loves and appreciates culinary art. But this seemed a little over the top.

4. Jake’s plan did take down a big criminal, but do you think the way Jake went about the case was right?

Christina: Jake can’t help himself when it comes to Doug Judy. He sees someone he can goof off with. I think he messed it up. He was showing hostages, people he should be helping and protecting, that he’s friends with the bad guy. That wasn’t smart at all in my opinion.

Kaysi: No, he tried his best but whenever he puts his trust in Judy, there always ends up being a problem! He had to have known there was a chance it would backfire!

Aurora: He tried to go about it a different way! But that super lame negotiator got in the way. So, he had to do what he had to do!

Marilyn: Personally, I agreed with how Jake handled things. But I understand how on a professional level his superiors would be upset. Definitely not the best move in that sense.

Pamela: I think Jake did the best he could in the given situation. He did what he could with what he was given. I was just glad he thought to at least bring Rosa in on it!

5. Did it surprise you to see a meaner side of Charles when it came to preparing the food as he is usually so meek and kind?

Christina: It kind of did surprise me, but at the same time it didn’t really.

Kaysi: Definitely! I understand that he wanted everything to be perfect, but I didn’t expect him to be so mean to Amy and Gina.

Aurora: It shocked me! It was so out of character from someone we’ve known for years now. People are so layered!

Marilyn: Completely shocked! If there’s anyone capable of keeping their cool in any given situation, it’s Charles. Or at least it used to be! This totally came out of left field!

Pamela: A mean Charles is a little on the scary side! At first I thought it was funny that Amy couldn’t slice the roll to his standards, but things escalated so quickly. Soon, I was staring at the screen slack jawed.

6.  What did you think of the makeover project Terry and Holt performed on Hitchcock?

Christina: I thought it was hilarious! Hitchcock always surprises me, he’s so dang funny.

Kaysi: I enjoyed it! It was fun seeing Hitchcock act a bit more put-together than we normally see him.

Aurora: That was also shocking! This was a really shocking episode for seeing sides of people you didn’t know were possible.

Marilyn: This episode seemed to have a running theme of seeing new sides to these people we’ve kind of known for five years. I’m shocked to admit that I really liked a clean and tidy Hitchcock!

Pamela: They did a great job! But more than that, I was shocked that Hitchcock was even capable of being so high functioning and for so long!

7. Doug once again gave Jake the slip. Do you think Jake will ever learn when it comes to Doug Judy?

Christina: I’m hoping Jake will eventually learn his lesson when it comes to Doug Judy.

Kaysi: Probably not. If he hasn’t learned better when it comes to Doug already, he probably never will!

Aurora: No. I don’t think he ever will. But I don’t know if I ever will either? I wanted Jake to do what he did in this episode! I’m glad he caught the crime boss. I might be naive, but I think Doug Judy was going to turn himself in, and was presented with an opportunity not to. So, no, I don’t think Jake will learn, but weirdly, I’m glad about that, and kind of hope he never does.

Marilyn: I’m going to say Jake will never learn when it comes to Doug Judy. There is clearly some type of strong bond between the two of them. Weird, but true.

Pamela: We see Doug Judy every season. If Jake hasn’t learned by now, he’s never going to. It’s like Doug has some kind of invisible pull on Jake where he forgets the guy is a criminal until the end when Doug has already escaped!

Final Verdict: While it was nice to see a familiar face return, there were just too many things going on at once this week!

While it wasn’t a huge surprise that Doug Judy would be the old nemesis reappearing because of advertisements, it was still fun! We are five years into this show, and the writers still know how to keep things both fresh and fun. Even when they are bringing back a guest star. It was great to see another side of Charles as well. To get to know these characters after so long and still realize there is more to learn about them is both refreshing and entertaining! We absolutely loved Charles channeling his inner Gordon Ramsey! Please keep it coming.

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With such a big cast, sometimes there can be too many different storylines going on at once. This episode was pulling us in three different directions and because the show is only a half hour long, none of the segments got much time. Things always seem to run better on this show when the majority of the team is working on the same case or problem. Not that we don’t love everyone getting more time to themselves, but maybe things would run a little smoother if there were only one or two story lines per episode. Though, we understand that time and the number of episodes don’t always allow that to be possible.

Speaking of having only one story line going on at once, next week seems to be just that! It’s going to be all about Holt and Jake and that is the recipe for our favorite episodes. Not to mention it will be all about the two of them pulling an all-nighter in search of a confession. We all love Jake’s techniques in getting suspects to spill the beans when he’s on a time crunch! Screaming guitar playing, anyone? On top of that, we get the added entertainment of Holt being along for the ride, so we’re basically guaranteed a gold standard episode! Bring it on, because we are so here for it!

Brooklyn Nine-Nine returns Sunday, April 1st, 2018 on FOX