Trudy prepares to steal this caption from her brother.
"A Tale of Two Bandits" is the fifth episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's sixth season.
Doug Judy's dead! At least, Jake is under that impression when he goes to Doug Judy's funeral, until he sees the man alive and well. It turns out someone else stole Pontiacs, and Jake has to find the real culprit.
Meanwhile, the firefighters want to claim the NYPD's usual bar hangout. Boyle challenges them to a drinkoff; whoever has the highest tab at midnight keeps the hangout.
This episode provides examples of:
- Ambiguously Bi: 4-drink Amy, who flirts with Rosa.
- Anger Born of Worry: Jake tears Doug Judy a new one for Faking the Dead and making him grieve.
- Attending Your Own Funeral: Terry spots Doug Judy enjoying Jake's song at the funeral.
- Bait-and-Switch: As in previous Doug Judy episodes, everyone sees Jake being set up for yet another betrayal by Doug. However, this time, everyone—even Doug—gets the rug pulled out from under them by Trudy Judy, instead.
- Big Brother Instinct: Doug Judy has this for Trudy Judy, his little sister. Shame that she exploits it for selfish reasons.
- Big Damn Heroes: Holt returns to the bar and wins the drinkoff by buying several bottles of "charbonnay" and gulping them down before midnight.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Trudy Judy. Doug believes her story that she only got into car thefts to pay her medical school debts. During her goodbye call, she relates she only attended one class and has been spending years doing online scams and identity theft and been conning them this whole time. Doug is rocked to realize his sister is as big a scam artist as he is.
- Blatant Lies: Trudy Judy says that her brother says he knew Jake by rescuing him from a life of homelessness.
- Brutal Honesty: Trudy Judy tells her brother that she's not a little girl he needs to protect; she has her own life and she's more than happy to pull one on him.
- Call-Back:
- Jake and Rosa's 1,000 push ups bet from Pontiac Bandit, except this time Terry insists on 100,000 push ups.
- The Amy Santiago Scale of Drunkenness.
- Several to Doug's earlier appearances.Jake: Yeah, but he returned the diamonds to me eventually, and it turned out that was the only way to get Giggle Pig off the streets. Wait, I may be confusing our adventures. What year was the cruise?
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Doug seems to have lost this, but like his title of "Pontiac Bandit", his sister Trudy seems to have stolen this from him, too.
- Continuity Snarl: Doug says he doesn't play with fire but in "The Negotiation" he torches Martin Halloway's car.
- Drinking Contest: Between the Nine-Nine and the FDNY. Winner gets dibs on the bar as their official hangout.
- Evil Parents Want Good Kids: More like Evil Older Brothers Want Good Little Sisters; Doug never wanted his sister to be a car thief like him.
- Faking the Dead: Doug Judy faked his own death to get away from a mob boss whose Pontiac was stolen and blamed him.
- Foreshadowing: After five seasons of being on a Last-Name Basis with each other, Jake and Doug finally get on a First-Name Basis, calling each other "Doug" and "Jake." This is both to show that Doug has finally gone fully straight, and because a new "Judy" is poised to take his place.
- The "Fun" in "Funeral": Trudy Judy guilts Jake into singing at Doug Judy's funeral, which he does rather than tell a long story about being a homeless man that Doug Judy "rescued".
- Gilligan Cut: when Trudy Judy sees Peralta at the funeral, she immediately greets him as Mangy Carl and recounts Carl's tragic back story, much to Peralta's chagrin. Eventually she gets around to Carl's "beautiful voice" and asks Peralta if he'd like to sing a song to the memory of Doug Judy.Jake: What a nice thought, but, you know what, I don't have anything prepared.
Trudy: OK, well, if you don't want to sing, you could just tell us the inspiring story of how Doug saved you from being a mulch-butt ho.
[cut]
Jake: I would like to sing a song in honor of my dear friend Doug Judy. - Jerkass Realization:
- After his sister double-crosses him, hangs up and drives away, Doug Judy asks Jake if he's felt similarly hurt and betrayed for all the times Doug Judy has outwitted Jake.
- Holt initially tells the Nine-Nine to write off Shaw's Bar and let the FDNY keep it because it's low-class. After a drunken voicemail from Rosa, he realizes that it's still important to the Nine-Nine, even if it is kind of a dump. He then helps them take it back by downing multiple bottles of "charobonnay" even though he hates it.
- The Joy of X: This episode's title uses the A Tale of Two X pattern: "A Tale of Two Bandits".
- Heel–Face Turn: Doug Judy seems to have fully completed his by this episode. He now has a legitimate job and doesn't betray Jake.
- Hypocrisy Nod: Doug tells Trudy that only low-lifes steal cars, when she points out the hypocrisy of what he says, he admits he is a low-life: "A gorgeous, charming, super smart low-life beloved by all."
- Laser-Guided Karma: Doug Judy has his sister swindle him the same way he has swindled Jake multiple times.
- Moral Pragmatist: Doug Judy says he didn't set up the car to be blown up; fire is too dangerous for him. Despite having torched Martin Halloway's car last season.
- Not Me This Time: Doug Judy didn't steal the Pontiac this time; it was his sister.
- Only Sane Man: Hitchcock, of all people, is the only one still coherent enough to explain the situation to Holt during the final hour of the drink-off.Holt: My God. Hitchcock, are you the only person still making sense?
Hitchcock: Yeah. It's bad. - Post-Victory Collapse: Holt collapses mid-victory speech after downing two bottles of "charbonnay" at once.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: Hitchcock and Scully (Dirk Blocker and Joel McKinnon Miller, respectively), have, unsurprisingly, taken Gina's place in the show's opening credits with her departure.
- Rhymes on a Dime:Doug: I see you looking at Trudy Judy's booty.
Jake: I am not looking at Trudy Judy's booty.
Doug: Oh, you don't think she's a cutie? Don't be snooty.
Jake: She's a beauty, but I'm on duty! - Rousing Speech: Boyle starts to give one when the others consider giving up the drink-off. It's interrupted when Boyle suddenly starts throwing up.
- Running Gag: The Amy Santiago Scale of Drunkenness. In this episode, we learn that 9-drink Amy speaks French.
- Shout-Out: Amy references Cheers when talking about Shaw's by comparing it to the titular bar.Amy: Oh, nothing better after a long shift than coming to Shaw's. It's like Cheers, where everybody knows your name.
- Stereotype Reaction Gag: When a group of firefighters try to take over the Nine-Nine's usual bar, their captain mention that their own usual bar burnt down. The squad mockingly asks the firefighters if the arson was made by one of their team being a pyromaniac and the Fire Lieutenant tells them he's offended by that claim before, quite meekly, mentioning that it's what happened.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: This is the first Doug Judy episode where Jake isn't swindled by Doug Judy. Instead it's Doug's sister that swindles both of them.
- The Unishment: Jake bets Terry 1,000 push-ups that Doug won't betray him this time. Terry asks, with apparent sincerity, whether that's a lot for Jake, and ups the bet to 100,000. When he loses, we see him several thousand push-ups into it, happily commenting that it's good to find time for things he enjoys, and insisting that Jake sit on his back to make it a challenge.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Charles and Holt duck their heads away from the camera when they end up hurling.
