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Recap / Brooklyn Nine-Nine S 1 E 02 "The Tagger"

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Holt: I've been an openly gay cop since 1987 so you're not the first superior officer to threaten me. You know how I'm still standing here? 'Cause I do my job...and I do it right.
Peralta: Damn, son!
Holt: Don't say son.

Frustrated with Peralta's seeming inability to follow the rules, Holt assigns him to a graffiti case Peralta thinks is beneath him. Complicating matters further is the fact that the titular tagger is the Deputy Police Commissioner's son, facing Peralta with a difficult choice — he arrests the boy and earns the ire of the Commissioner, or he lets him walk, meaning Holt will never get off his back.

In the B-plot, Gina's psychic friend Carlene visits the precinct. Her predictions cause Boyle to be on edge as he, Santiago, and Diaz work to uncover a drug dealing case.

This episode premiered on September 24, 2013.

Tropes present in this episode:

  • Antagonist Title
  • Badass Boast: Holt to Podolski. See page quote.
  • Nepotism: Chief Podolski is more than willing to overlook his son's crimes since he's family.
  • Parental Substitute: The tough-but-fair Holt is contrasted with Podolski's blatant nepotism and disregard.
  • Phony Psychic: Carlene is obviously one of these, but Boyle swallows her predictions hook, line, and sinker.
  • Police Brutality: Rather than arrest Trevor or let him off, Rosa suggests Jake hit him with a phone book somewhere no-one can see.
    Jake: So you're suggesting police brutality?
    Rosa: (realizes) Ha, yeah, I guess so. Why?
  • Sadistic Choice: From Jake's perspective: he can either arrest Trevor and risk tanking his career, or not arrest him and be stuck with Holt "babysitting" him.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Trevor Podolski, the titular tagger, has been caught several times for delinquent acts, but has never been caught because his father, Commissioner Poldolski, keeps bailing him out. Deconstructed, in that when a frustrated Peralta vents about how "lucky" Trevor is, Holt confesses that he actually feels sorry for him, since it suggests that Commissioner Podolski is actually a pretty crappy father:
    Holt: What kind of father cares so little for his son that he lets him get away with everything?
  • Shout-Out:
  • Smug Snake: Trevor Podolski knows very well that he has connections that can get him out of any jam and spends most of the episode acting like a smug, obnoxious little bastard. He quickly changes his tune when Peralta eventually does decide to charge him, however.

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