"Ding Dong" is the seventh episode of Season Seven of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Holt is confronted with shocking news: Madeline Wuntch is dead! Although pleased at outliving his nemesis, he's thrown for a loop when he discovers that Wuntch had planned for this eventuality and is taunting him from beyond the grave.
Jake, meanwhile, received passes to the premiere of the Kwazy Kupkakes movie. Terry and Charles immediately enter into conflict so that they can join Jake along with their children.
Also, Amy is suffering from mood swings due to her fertility medication, only to realize that they're actually being caused by something else.
This episode contains examples of:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Holt has this reaction at Wunch's real funeral service. After the reality of her death starts to sink in, he realizes that he'll actually miss her, and the rivalry that they shared.
- Batman Gambit: Holt planned for Wuntch's machinations and had a fake memorial to throw Adam off the track. He even considered having a second decoy memorial, but decided that if it took two to suss out any traps she had, she deserved to win.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: The episode focuses on the aftermath of Wunch's death, and ends with Amy telling Jake she's pregnant.
- Bold Inflation: Holt wrote his eulogy for Wuntch in all caps because he plans to yell it.
- Bus Crash: Wuntch died offscreen with no reason given.
- Call-Back:
- To Season Four's "Monster in the Closet" and Holt and Rosa's mutual appreciation of balloon arches.
- To the Season Six episode "He Said, She Said." When Holt expresses skepticism at Wunch's death, Boyle reminds him of the time he thought Enrst Zumowski was still alive. Holt fires back by reminding Boyle that Ernst actually was alive.
- Kwazy Kupcakes was introduced back in season one's "Tactical Village"; it's now been made into a movie.
- Jake playing video games and cursing Wario in the final scene is a callback to the previous episode, "Trying".
- Calling Your Attacks: Boyle yells out "Strawberry Basket!" before performing the move both times.
- A Day in the Limelight: For Holt as the A plot revolves on his nemesis' funeral. Jake only has a major role in the B plot.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Holt's reaction to Adam being Wuntch's most hated rival is akin to that of someone finding out they have been cheated on.
- Faking the Dead: Subverted. Holt initially believes that Wunch faked her death to pull one over on him, but upon seeing her dead body, he realizes that she's gone for good.
- Five Stages of Grief: Holt goes through all five stages throughout the episode.
- Denial: Holt assumes Wuntch faked her own death to spite him. He then refuses to acknowledge feeling any grief over her death.
- Anger: When Holt finds out he had been made the host of Wuntch's memorial service.
- Bargaining: Holt compromises by foregoing the petty eulogy he wrote and work on a more respectful one for the sake of his career.
- Depression: Holt goes into one when he finds out Wuntch had another arch-nemesis.
- Acceptance: Holt finally acknowledges that his rivalry with Wuntch is over and that he'll miss it.
- Foreshadowing: A recurring point Terry and Boyle make when Jake points out how crazy they'd been acting over the tickets is that he doesn't understand what it's like, because he doesn't have kids, come the end of the episode he learns that Amy is pregnant.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: Amy takes on the role of Good Angel, trying to get Holt to deal with Wuntch's death maturely and respectfully. Rosa, meanwhile, is the Bad Angel, cheering Holt on as he petulantly tries to come out on top.
- Gambit Pileup: Even in death, Wuntch continues to torment Holt and he finds he has to anticipate moves she planned well in advance.
- Groin Attack: Nana Boyle's signature "Strawberry Basket" punch turns out to be a quick blow to the opponent's groin.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: A side effect of the fertility hormones Amy's on. Or so we were meant to think, when actually it was pregnancy hormones.
- Heads or Tails?: Jake tries to decide who to take to the movie premiere by flipping a coin. Terry grabs the coin in midair and bends it.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: Holt is aghast when he finds out he wasn't Wuntch's only nemesis.
- Judgment of Solomon: Jake tries to invoke this by suggesting that he break the tickets in half. He fully expected that either Terry or Charles would object, thus making the decision for him. Doesn't quite work out that way.Jake: Stupid Bible and its stupid lessons! Never solved crap!
- Killed Off for Real: The moment that Holt says "Oh, she dead" confirms that Wuntch isn't faking her death and is officially not coming back.
- Last Disrespects: Holt's plans for Wuntch's memorial is a disrespectful affair. His planned eulogy is one long rant against her. Of course, that was part of Wuntch's plan, to have Holt humiliate himself and get kicked off the force.
- The Mole: Adam was actually Wuntch's nephew, who planned to have Holt let his guard down and humiliate himself.
- Mood Whiplash: In the final seconds the episode cuts from the genuinely heartwarming moment between Jake and Amy to the funny/ creepy scene with Boyle (see My Significance Sense Is Tingling)
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: As Jake and Amy find out they're having a baby, Boyle suddenly sits up in bed.Boyle: It happened!
- Not So Above It All: The usual stoic Rosa cracks up a few times at a few of Holt's remarks about Wuntch.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Jake proclaims at the end that Charles and Terry have missed out on the most exciting movie premiere happening in the state of New York on Saturday for that week.
- Speak Ill of the Dead: Holt and Rosa spend most of the episode firing off zingers at Wuntch's expense, much to Amy's discomfort. Once Holt accepts that it's really over, the fun goes out of it for him.Holt: No, it's not the same. Now it just feels like I'm insulting a helpless dead person.
Amy: You are. It's what you've been doing all week.
Rosa: Yeah. It's been tight. - Take a Third Option: Holt can't give a eulogy insulting her or he'd shame himself in front of the force, but his attempts to lie through it results in him throwing up. In the end, he gives a sincere eulogy admitting that they were bitter rivals, but that she was a Worthy Opponent who he will miss.
- Title Drop: Upon learning that Wunch is actually, for real, dead; Holt marches into the office giving everyone bagels and singing "Ding Dong the Wuntch is Dead."
- Unishment: Jake finally gets sick of Terry and Boyle fighting over who gets tickets to take their kids to the Kwazy Kupkakes movie. He announces that he's going to take the kids to the movie by himself, and neither of the dads will get to go. Neither of them had actually wanted to see it, and this "punishment" meant that their kids would get to see it, and Jake had effectively volunteered to babysit three kids all afternoon.Boyle: People without kids are so stupid.
Terry: They're gonna destroy him.
Boyle: Yeah. - Worthy Opponent: Holt eventually comes to admit that for all their mutual hatred, he enjoyed and felt invigorated by their sparring and will miss it now it's gone. He also acknowledges that had he been required to set up two fake memorial services just to smoke out any traps that she may have laid for him, she would have deserved the victory anyway.
