Your Honor is the nineteenth episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's fourth season. It aired back-to-back with "The Slaughterhouse".
Laverne Holt, a judge on the 2nd Court of Appeals and Captain Holt's mother, stops by the precinct to report that her home has been burgled. Holt assigns Jake, to Amy's chagrin, to assist him in investigating the case. As they do so, Jake finds himself caught up in Holt family drama and having to force his commander to face some uncomfortable truths.
Back at the precinct, Terry managed to gather some funds to clean up and refurnish the Nine-Nine's grungy break room and teams up with Charles and Rosa to give the place a stylish makeover. Not everyone is happy with the changes, however, with Hitchcock and Scully being the most vocal.
Also, Amy decides to help Gina become a more empowered woman by teaching her colleague how to change a tire. Of course since Gina is Gina, Hilarity Ensues.
This episode provides examples of the following:
- Bookends/Brick Joke: The doorknob breaking on the interrogation room, trapping the claustrophobic Jake inside. It first happens on the Cold Open, then on The Stinger.
- Cassandra Truth: Terry, Charles, and Rosa brush off Hitchcock and Scully's complaints about the break room renovation being a bad idea. Then the three see that the entire precinct would rather hang out in the uncomfortable kitchen than go into their creation.
- Chekhov's Gun: The fake address Jake gives at the wine club function. As it turns out, that location was robbed later that same night, giving Jake the clue he needed to identify the culprits.
- Cool, but Impractical: The renovated break room looks like a fashionable "Swedish airport" but even those responsible for it end up admitting that the furnishings are uncomfortable and the vending machines are frustratingly inaccessible.
- Detachable Doorknob: The Cold Open sees Jake, Terry, and Charles questioning a robbery suspect named Marcos. When Jake goes in to interrogate him, the door handle falls off after it slams shut, locking them both inside the room. The door can't be opened from the outside and requires the precinct's facility services to unlock it. Jake then proceeds to Freak Out and hyperventilate, which unnerves Marcos enough to confess to his robbery, where Jake tries to brush it off as All According to Plan.Jake: Boom! And that's how it's done! I was faking the whole time! I could have stayed in here forever.
Terry: Good, cause facilities' gonna be a couple hours.
Jake: WE'RE GONNA DIE IN HERE! - Dumbass Has a Point: Everyone blows off Scully and Hitchcock's warnings that the old break room was perfect and that the new design that Jeffords, Diaz and Boyle have arranged is ruining it because, well, it's Scully and Hitchcock saying it. Then it turns out that the new design is pretentious and impractical and everyone hates it.
- Embarrassing Old Photo: When investigating the crime scene in Laverne's home, Jake squees upon seeing a preschool photo of little Holt in a bowtie and holding a ruler. Given that it's Holt his embarrassment is understated, but he's still clearly not pleased with Jake seeing it and tries to move them on quickly.Laverne: That was his first slide-rule; he carried it with him all over preschool.
Raymond: And then I learned to do trigonometric functions in my head, like a big boy. Let's continue with the investigation. - Fantastic Fragility: "Brown Betty" the old break room sofa was so worn down that it crumbled into dust the moment it hit natural sunlight.
- First-Name Basis: Laverne lets Jake call her by her first name, which Jake rubs in Holt's face.
- Lampshade Hanging: The show finally calls attention to the fact that the break room has a bumper pool table that no one ever seems to use.
- Odd Friendship: Despite Holt's warnings that Jake and his mother are fundamentally different people, the two actually do end up getting on quite well together.
- Parent with New Paramour: Laverne has been seeing George for two years but never told Holt because she didn't know how her son would react.
- Parents as People: Laverne eventually admits to Raymond how difficult things were for her as a single mother in the wake of his father's death, and that she had deliberately hidden her struggles in order to put on a front of strength for him and his sister.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Amy succeeds in getting Gina to learn how to change a tire, but slashed a random woman's tire, and Gina learned from practicing on Amy's car.
- Red Herring: Jake and Holt zero in on George after he acts uneasy and excuses himself. Then Laverne tells Jake that George couldn't be the thief because they were having a date at the time of the break in.
- Shared Family Quirks: Laverne is every bit as stoic as Holt. They also share a sense of humor that is so incredibly deadpan that Jake can't tell when either is making a joke or being serious.
- Talking the Monster to Death: In the Cold Open, Jake plans to get a suspect to confess. But then the doorknob comes off the interrogation room door, and Jake starts freaking out. Eventually, the suspect confesses just to get Jake to stop freaking out.
- Tranquil Fury: Holt, with typical stoicism, claims that he's fine on discovering that Laverne and George are in a relationship. Then he marches into his office and, again with typical stoicism, tries to arrest his own mother for obstruction.
- Vandalism Backfire: Amy stabs a tire on Gina's car to force her into changing it. Only she did it to a car that looked just like Gina's instead.
