The 9-8 is the fifteenth episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's third season.
The neighboring Nine-Eight precinct house is temporarily unusable so Captain Holt offers to share the Nine-Nine's precinct house until repairs can be made. The place quickly becomes overcrowded and tempers flare as the Nine-Nine's cops are forced to share desk space with their inconsiderate guests.
Two cops who are happy with this arrangement are Jake and Stevie "Chillin" Shillens, who used to be partners while still beat cops in uniform. Charles is immediately jealous and tries to insert himself into Jake and Stevie's old dynamic. Things come to a head when Charles' typically-cautious approach to a sting operation clashes with Stevie's desire to charge in and sort out the details later.
This episode provides examples of:
- Butt-Monkey: Even by Charles's standards, he gets it in the ear in this episode: he's continually upstaged by Jake's old partner, his attempts at competing fall flat, Jake and Stevie leave him at the precinct at one point and he's the only one who gets slapped when Jake and Stevie do their pre-arrest "slap" ritual.
- Captain Obvious: When Charles begins to tell Jake that he suspects Stevie planted the drugs, Jake accuses him of being jealous of Stevie. Charles retorts that of course he's jealous of Stevie, it was blindingly obvious and he was never trying to hide it.
- Call-Back: Isaac, the "drug pusher for the Bay Ridge Boys" from "Charges and Specs", is hanging out in the Thirsty Ox, where he's recognized by Boyle:Charles: This place is filled with criminals. I brought him in last month.
Isaac: Hey, detective Boyle!
Charles: Hi, Isaac. - Dirty Cop: Stevie plants drugs in a drug dealer's house to try and salvage a bad bust. Charles catches him in the lie and Jake is too good of a cop to let it slide.
- Escalating Brawl: One breaks out after Jake tackles Stevie and everyone starts fighting their desk mates.
- Has Two Thumbs and...: Jake asks who has six thumbs and just arrested a drug dealer. Charles ruins it by not putting up his thumbs along with Jake and Stevie.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Naturally, the emergence of Jake's cool, laid-back ex-partner with whom he really clicks sends Charles spiraling down into this trope.
- In-Joke: An in-universe (sort-of) example. To try and compete with Stevie, Charles yells "would you like some milk?" in a funny voice, which was apparently something that someone they encountered who looked like someone else used to say... but Jake doesn't remember the reference, which just ends up making Charles look even worse.
- Jerkass: Almost every member of the 9-8 is obnoxious and irritating in some way, and collectively they all act as selfish jerks who abuse the generosity and hospitality of the 9-9 in allowing them to use their space.
- Jurisdiction Friction: An intradepartmental example. Everyone involved is an NYPD cop, but the Nine-Nine and the Nine-Eight are so different that the two precincts eventually come to blows.
- The Missus and the Ex: Jake tries to get his two partners to get along but Stevie is dismissive, Charles is jealous, and Jake doesn't make things better by enthusiastically rekindling his old "Beatsie Boys" traditions with Stevie.
- Not So Above It All:
- Terry tries to urge Amy and Rosa to make nice with their deskmates but eventually finds himself driven to anger and joining his detectives in setting up a temporary office on the roof.
- Holt tries to hide the fact that Deputy Inspector Flynn's behavior (and the Nine-Eight by extension) bothers him, but takes advantage of the inter-precinct brawl to break the Nine-Nine's heating system to provide himself with an excuse to get rid of his unwanted guests. Apparently, his breaking point was when Flynn used Holt's letter opener to cut his tuna sandwich in half.
- Despite his initial scoffing, Stevie eventually admits that he enjoys Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart".
- Obfuscating Disability: Amy is frustrated when her new desk-mate from the Nine-Eight has an alleged "service dog" that triggers her allergies when there is no sign that the man is actually injured in any way. The final fight sees Amy force the man to admit that he doesn't need the dog for any reason and its role as a service animal is basically made up.
- Pass the Popcorn: While everyone else is fighting, Hitchcock and Scully sit by and watch the melee while eating lunch.
- Skewed Priorities: When the perp turns out to be clean, Jake's first concern is that they wasted perfectly good one-liners on him during the arrest.
- You're Just Jealous: Jake tries this on Charles when Charles tries to tell him that Stevie is corrupt. Instead of trying to deny it, however, Charles just scathingly points out that this is blindingly obvious, but it doesn't make him wrong.
