Captain Latvia is the tenth episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's fourth season.
With Christmas fast approaching, Charles is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Captain Latvia, an action figure Nikolaj, his adopted son, badly desires. Having been given the runaround by the shipping company, Charles is discouraged, but Jake encourages his friend to tap into his paternal instincts to make sure that Nikolaj's first ever Christmas is as perfect as possible. Unfortunately, this results in them getting caught up in the Latvian mafia's gun smuggling scheme and they face more danger than either expected.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Nine-Nine try to figure out a way they can win this year's Christmas caroling contest in the face of strong competition from their arch-nemesis: the MTA. The only problem is that, with the exception of Scully, not one member of the Nine-Nine can sing. Desperate not to lose face, they decide to try and bring in a ringer: a drunk who was arrested for peeing on two snowmen...and a real man.
Also, Gina has tickets to Hamilton and she ditches everyone to go see the show.
This episode provides examples of:
- A Glass in the Hand: Charles goes through several glass mugs intimidating the warehouse manager. Jake tries to do the same but cuts his hand.
- Captain Geographic: The Captain Latvia action figure Charles buys for Nikolaj.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Charles covers Nikolaj's ears while he and Genevieve discuss her bra.
- Continuity Snarl: Boyle's "bubble butt" has been a Running Gag since the beginning of the series. For the purposes of this episode, Boyle's ass is flat, "like a sexy piece of drywall."
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Charles, normally humiliated in any sort of conflict, practically turns into a supercop this episode, successfully seducing a manager and even taking down a much larger man (who'd just thrown Jake across the room) with little trouble.
- Generic Ethnic Crime Gang: The "Gals Skepu"*, a Latvian mafia group, are the main baddies of this episode.
- I Have to Go Iron My Dog: When the Nine-Nine's first attempt to sing at the caroling competition grinds to a halt, Holt excuses the squad by claiming there's been a bomb threat.
- In Vino Veritas: The guy the Nine-Nine use as a ringer has stage fright, and can only sing in public when drunk. Amy gets him drunk enough to sing, but he ends up insulting the audience as well before passing out.
- It Was with You All Along: Defied, Charles has made a habit of saying things had been "inside us all along" its gotten to the point he's saying this about acts like lighting a Christmas tree. Jake corrects him angrily.
- Judo Chop: Captain Latvia's signature move, the Riga Hammer. Jake later uses it on Charles and remarks on how efficient it is.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: A very large mobster throws Jake across the room and turns to take down Charles, a cop who's never come out on top in a fight (and was rendered sterile in one instance) due to his lack of physical prowess. But Charles, for once, doesn't back down and whips out a baton.
- Mama Bear: Charles considers himself this, despite Jake's insistence that he's a Papa Wolf instead.
- My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: Played with. Charles speaks Latvian when going up against a mobster from that country, but because all he knows are affectionate phrases he uses with his son he says things like "I love you, my son", "You're a special boy", and "It's potty time" while beating the mobster's head in with an extendable baton.
- Only Sane Man:
- Jake has to try and rein in Charles' enthusiasm towards facing the Latvian mafia by himself, eventually resorting to physically knocking his friend out.
- Terry can't believe that sticklers like Holt and Amy would be willing to break the rules of the caroling competition in order to win. He finally gives in when the MTA's taunting gets to be too much, however.
- For once Scully gets to be this. He's the only person to understand that the caroling competition is supposed to be in good fun but his protestations fall on deaf ears. In the end, he decides to go out caroling on his own to try and spread some Christmas cheer.
- Remember the New Guy?: The Nine-Nine treats the MTA as rivals with whom they've been clashing for years. However, this is the MTA's first appearance on the show and, until now, the show never even touched upon New York's public transportation system.
- Retcon: Charles and Genevieve discuss the beauty of Charles' "flat ass"... except his curvaceous "bubble butt" was mentioned several times in the previous season.
- Running Gag: Jake asking if his shirt is racist.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Gina bails on the singing competition because she has tickets to Hamilton the same night.
- Shout-Out: Charles's unsolicited suggestions on Jake getting Amy pregnant are from The Big Lebowski.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: The MTA to the Nine-Nine, at least when it comes to caroling.
- Soft Glass: In the Cold Open, Terry jumps through the glass in the break room without suffering so much as a scratch.
- Take That!: While Jake is trying to cheer up Boyle, some shade is thrown at the
most reviled sequel to Jake's favorite franchise.Jake: (reassuringly) Trust me, it's gonna be fine.
Charles: Really? You said that about Die Hard 5, Jake.
Jake: (Oh, Crap! look) Oh. It's not gonna be fine. - That Came Out Wrong: Charles obliviously says all sorts of things that can be construed as obscene, to Jake's discomfort and displeasure.Charles: Oh, so you're saying I should tap into my mommy strength.
Jake: Yeah, or daddy strength. Whatever.
Charles: Right. Time to put some daddy into my mommy.
Jake: Gotta be a better way to phrase that, let’s go. - Too Much Information: Charles and Genevieve, for whatever reason, can't stop talking about Genevieve's amazing bra in front of Jake and Nikolaj (Charles does, at least, cover Nikolaj's ears for the duration), and she begins an email with a paragraph about said bra in bold capitals. Later, when sharing a tender moment, Genevieve says the following gem:Genevieve: Oh, honey! That flat ass is perched right on top of my ute!
Jake: I'm gonna pretend none of that was said for the sake of the child. - Trauma Conga Line: Nikolaj did not have an easy life prior to being adopted. This is his first proper Christmas because of constant disasters.Genevieve: This is Nikolaj’s first Christmas, because the orphanage kept canceling it. Once it was blizzards, once it was fires, once it was…
Nikolaj: Famine.
Genevieve: That’s right. Famine. - Unit Confusion: Jake buys an inflatable tree for the break room, but because the height was in meters, it ends up being too big, taking up the whole room and almost trapping Terry inside.
