Recap / Brooklyn Nine-Nine S 6 E 03 "The Tattler"

"The Tattler" is the third episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's sixth season.

Jake and Gina head out on their 20th high school reunion. His old classmates still remember Jake as "the Tattler", for tattling on popular kid Brandon Bliss, so he and Amy set out to clear his name. Meanwhile, Gina lies to people about being a successful screenwriter and software developer.

Back at the precinct, Terry, Holt, Hitchcock, and Scully get into a radio show to identify a mysterious sound, while Boyle helps Rosa with dating troubles as she's caught dating two people at the same time.

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This episode provides examples of:

• Accidental Aesop:
  • Discussed In-Universe when, after all of Terry and Holt's debates on what the mystery sound used in the radio contest was, it turned out to be a bag of chips, something that Hitchcock and Scully had mentioned near the beginning of the episode.
    Terry: Wow! So, the lesson here is to listen to Hitchcock and Scully more?
    Scully: No, that can't be possible.
    Hitchcock: Yeah, I don't think we've earned that, today.
    Holt: Agreed.
  • Amy is less than wild about Jake's reaction to her suggestion that they figure out who the real tattler was:
    Jake: Yes, I love it! Why learn to grow when you can fix the past! This is exactly why I don't need therapy.
    Amy: Not sure that's the lesson I want you to take away from this.
    Jake: Too late!
• Alliterative Name: Brandon Bliss.
• Almost Famous Name: The high school football team has a "Tom Brady". Not the Patriots' Tom Brady, though.
• Ambiguously Bi: Jake, when describing Brandon Bliss to Rosa.
  Rosa: Dope name; sounds hot.
  Jake: He was hot, Rosa.
• Brick Joke: In the season 3 episode "Adrian Pimento", Rosa mentions using bolt cutters to make homemade jewelry. Here, she mentions promoting her homemade jewelry through Instagram.
• Class Reunion: The whole premise of this episode is Jake and Gina's.
• Coordinated Clothes: In high school, Jake and Gina wore identical outfits as the "Dope Denim Crew". This becomes relevant later, as the reason that Jake was accused of being the Tattler is because he was mistaken for Gina, who was the one who really told on Brandon.
• Decade-Themed Party: The dress code for the class reunion is to get dressed as in the 90's.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Brandon Bliss lost his virginity when he was twelve years old. Gina mentions that's horrifying, and Jake wholeheartedly agrees, but back then it was... everything.
• Easily Forgiven: After Jake's initially angry at Gina for letting others think he was The Tattler, he understands why she told on him. He tells her that her talents are being wasted at the 99.
• Embarrassing Nickname: The Tattler for Jake.
• False Friend: Brandon Bliss and his gang were this to Jake. Gina saw this, and tattled on Jake for his own good.
• For Your Own Good: Gina's motivation for tattling on Jake and his high school friends, because she feared they'd get in trouble, which would ruin Jake's plans to become a cop.
• Fun with Acronyms: At the beginning of the episode, Jake and Gina introduce themselves as the D.D.C., which stands for Dope Denim Crew.
• Geeky Turn-On:
  • Amy gets very excited when she sees that Jake had zero absences during his junior year in high school.
  Jake: Alright, keep it in your pants, Santiago.
  Amy (sultrily) Oh, that's where [the report] is going.
  • Also the fact that she thought Jake's nickname as "The Tattler" was actually sexy.
• The Ghost: Brandon Bliss is referred to throughout the episode, but never appears. See Toxic Friend Influence to find out why.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Invoked. When Brandon Bliss isn't at the reunion, Jake keeps coming up with all these ideas as to why, such as he's starring in a beer commercial where the plot is that everyone wants to have sex with him. Then, Gina reveals that he's not at the reunion because he got in trouble with the law, went to prison, and is currently out on parole. He's legally not allowed to leave the state of Delaware.
• Hypocritical Humor: Jake and Gina react with outrage and disgust when Quentin reveals he'd be lying about what he did for a living all night... which they only discovered because Gina had been lying about her life to him all night.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Gina was the one who tattled on Brandon and inadvertently framed Jake as it, but she states she only did it to keep Jake from ruining his life and going down a bad path, which is happened with Brandon, who Gina reveals is serving parole on Delaware.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The reason why Gina tattled on Brandon back in high school was because she did not want Jake going down a bad path.
• Letting the Air out of the Band: When Jake recalls the day Brandon was told on, he is seen walking down the hall and greeting Brandon as Smash Mouth's "All-Star" plays on the sound track. When he remembers an hour later when Brandon gives him a bad look, the music winds down to show Jake's mood souring.
• Not So Above It All: Holt is initially dismissive of Terry, Hitchcock, and Scully's interest in the "Name That Sound" game only to become preoccupied with finding the correct answer.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Jake repeatedly says that they've all moved on from the days he was known as The Tattler...cut to everyone at the reunion calling him that and his subsequent Freak Out.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: Deconstructed. While Gina had good intentions of tattling on Brandon, and her actions made sure Jake never got in any legal or school trouble, it also ruined his reputation in high school. There is also the fact that she inadvertently framed Jake for the tattling and never confessed that it was her for over twenty years. She could have told everyone he was with her since no one else even thought of her. Gina justifies it that Jake would have gotten into a lot of trouble, but Jake has a reason to be angry.
• Red Herring: Jake thinks he has pinpointed the true identity of the Tattler. He interrogates him, but he insists that he saw Jake tell on Brandon. However, the description he gives points Jake to the true culprit: Gina.
• Skewed Priorities: Jake is trying to get to the bottom of a decades' old incident that had turned him into a pariah in high school, but Amy gets sidetracked at the prospect of getting to do high school projects again.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Brandon Bliss persuaded Jake to help him steal a school van and drive to his uncle's cabin and get drunk. The only reason he didn't do it was because someone warned the school of Brandon's plan. It's implied that Jake would have gone through with it if Gina hadn't ratted Bliss out to the school and gotten him suspended. She also reveals that Brandon is absent from the reunion because he's currently serving parole in Delaware.
• Wham Episode: At the end of the episode, Jake and Gina discuss the latter leaving the 99 to pursue other projects as Jake feels that her talents are being wasted.

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