"The Takeback" is the eighth episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's seventh season.
Jake is taken aback when he discovers that Doug Judy is getting married but that he hasn't been invited to the wedding. Hurt, he confronts his friend/arch-nemesis and gets himself invited to Doug's bachelor party in Miami. However, all the other invitees, including the one and only Trudy Judy, are criminals and Jake finds himself in a conundrum as he wants to fit in and enjoy the trip but finds himself unable to ignore their criminal activity.
Meanwhile, Holt is once again a captain, and is glad to be back in his office. However, Terry moved things around and accidentally threw out one of Holt's mementos and has to find a way to replace it with Rosa's grudging help.
Also, the break room's electrical outlets have finally been fixed so Amy is looking into getting a new vending machine. Cue Charles and Hitchcock and Scully pitching their wacky ideas for what should go in the available space.
This episode provides examples of:
- Alliterative Family: Holt recounts a case involving the Chen siblings, Alex, Alice, Arline, and Anna.
- As Himself: Mark Cuban of Shark Tank makes a brief cameo as himself lending Doug Judy his private jet.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Hitchcock and Skully's pitch for their vending machine consist of them very stiffly and unnaturally reading from scripts, later once they've got the vending machine they continue raving about it with the exact same stiffness causing Amy to tell them they don't need to keep pitching and Charles to reply that this is how they actually talk about Pizza.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: While Terry is trying to return Holt's office to it's original state, he worries over the exact angle of an ornament on the desk, Rosa comments that "it's a five degree difference... so you'd better figure it out!"
- Batman Gambit: Doug pulls a double Batman Gambit in this episode. He books a hotel where a Russian oligarch is staying, knowing his criminal friends won't be able to resist stealing something valuable. He invites Jake knowing that Jake won't be able to ignore criminal activity and make sure those criminal friends are arrested. The end result: Doug's criminal friends can't come to the wedding, which works out for Doug, since he didn't want them there but had to at least invite them. Meanwhile, Jake can attend openly as Doug's best man while Doug comes out of the entire situation unsullied in the eyes of all sides.
- Book Ends: The episode starts and ends with Rosa showing Jake an arrested crook who's got an invite to Doug Judy's wedding on him.
- Broken Treasure: During his time at Holt's desk, Terry threw away a business card with a piece of gum stuck to it that he had found because he reasonably assumed it was garbage. After Holt asks where it is, Terry spends the episode attempting to recreate the card, only for Holt to realize he had done so because what Holt cared about was the words on the back (as the card was a memento of an early failure in his career). Terry comes clean and later surprises Holt with a collection of business cards from people he had helped from successful cases instead.
- Call-Back: Jake insists that he's an expert at planning heists because he proposed to his wife that way. He then begins to tell the whole story, before noticing that no one but Doug is actually interested
- Comically Missing the Point: After his Takoyaki vending machine idea was shot down, Charles comes to the conclusion that instead of a fish ball machine, he should have asked for a fish cake machine, not realizing that it was the fish part that everyone had an issue with.
- Continuity Nod: Jake says he's great at planning heists; he proposed to his wife with one.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Terry gets upset that Holt gives all the praise to Rosa for helping him when Terry did all the legwork.
- Everyone Has Standards: Doug Judy's criminal friends are genuinely disturbed when they thought Jake committed Elder Abuse. Jake himself admitted to picking it to avoid any follow up questions.
- Foreign Queasine: Charles suggests a vending machine that sells Japanese fried seafood balls.
- Ironic Echo: Trudy says she doesn't trust Jake being at Doug's bachelor party because he's probably just there to arrest someone since "Cops always be coppin'", later when he reveals he called the police on Doug's friends for stealing the diamonds he sorrowfully repeats the line.
- My Greatest Failure: The business card with gum that Terry threw away was from someone Holt couldn't help. Holt kept it in his desk as a reminder to do better, and now that it's gone, he feels lost. Terry helps him regain his confidence by producing a box full of the cards of all the people Holt did help.
- Opposites Attract: Doug Judy, a recidivist criminal (who seems to have gone straight), is engaged to Katherine, a federal judge.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Jake is introduced to the cashier as "the most popular male ASMR performer on Twitch".
- Shout-Out: Jake in his summer shirt and fedora is compared to Jason Mraz, Seth Green, and Tom Green.
- Status Quo Is God:
- The moment the third vending machine on the break room is put to use, it breaks down and fries the outlet, putting the number of vending machines back to two. Too bad Scully and Hitchcock, who extensively researched the machine, forgot to check out if its voltage was compatible with the outlet...
- Holt is now back as the Captain of the Nine-Nine.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Rosa had the same ridiculously accurate attention to detail as Captain Holt and is able to perfectly predict his reactions to everything.
- Tragic Keepsake: Holt keeps a business card with some gum stuck to it and the words "thanks for nothing" written on the back. The card belonged to someone whom Holt was unable to help, and he kept it to remind him of his greatest failure.
- Unfolding Plan Montage: Jake's "reverse heist" is laid out as the plan happens.
- What You Are in the Dark: Jake is outnumbered and outside his jurisdiction, but he risks his safety and friendship with Doug to enforce the law.
