Recap / Brooklyn Nine Nine S 1 E 13 The Bet

Jake Peralta has won the bet!

Peralta: (gets down on one knee) Amy Santiago, you have made me the happiest man on earth. I spent one whole dollar on this ring, will you go on the worst date ever with me? You have to say yes.
Santiago: [sulkily] Yes.
Peralta: She said YES! [everyone cheers]

Peralta and Santiago's bet over who can get more felony arrests over the course of a year comes to a head, which means Peralta gets to take her out on what he deems the worst date ever. Meanwhile, Boyle wins a Medal of Valor but is upstaged by a horse, and starts dropping "truth bombs" on everybody else after a particularly strong dose of pain medication thanks to last episode's incident. Holt tries to help Jeffords and his wife come to terms with Jeffords' startling return to the field.

Tropes present in this episode:

• Actually Pretty Funny: When Boyle comes and berates Terry while hitting on Sharon, Sharon is actually amused. She jokingly says that if Terry doesn't shape up then she will take Boyle's offer to share his hot tub.
• Adults Dressed as Children: Peralta admits that the dress he made Santiago wear reminds him of every girl at every Bat Mitzvah he ever had a crush on. He doesn't appear to notice the potential Freudian implications of this.
• As You Know: Peralta has to explain to Holt, his own captain, that a sergeant receives a Medal of Valor after Boyle (a detective) because the former outranks the latter. Of course, this is so Peralta can laugh at Boyle's expense, as he is receiving the same medal as Sgt. Peanut Butter, a horse.
• Bad Date:
  • Actively invoked and exaggerated; Jake deliberately plans the worst possible date for Amy, ostensibly as an elaborate prank. Boyle points out that the amount of effort he put into it makes it painfully obvious that he likes her, despite his protests to the contrary. In the end, the date gets cut short when they're called on a stakeout, and end up actually having a good time.
  • During the stakeout, Jake and Amy discuss their worst dates. Amy's was a date with her aunt's dentist where he started inspecting her teeth while they were eating and then told her "dessert is out of the question". Jake claims he has about a 50-way tie for worst date.
• The Bet: Santiago and Peralta's bet ends this episode, with Peralta pulling a last-minute win.
• Blatant Lies: Gina agrees to help Rosa hide from the drugged-up Boyle. Immediately after, Boyle finds Gina and asks her where Rosa is. How does Gina misdirect him? "Oh, Rosa died eight years ago."
• Brutal Honesty: Boyle's truth-bombs.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  Boyle: Jake, do you know why little boys pull little girls's pigtails?
  Jake: Because they're so easy to grab. They're just begging to be pulled.
  • Also the crooks Jake and Amy arrest, after they drop the 'bickering couple' act and arrest them, are oddly pleased... because it means Jake and Amy are back together.
• Companion Cube: Jake reveals why he likes his car so much even though it's a piece of crap. On his very first arrest fresh out of police academy, he threw the perp against the car and discovered it was for sale. When Amy suggests she would have used the car to learn how to drive stick, she mimics the noise of a clutch grinding and Jake is visibly uncomfortable at the idea.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Every time he tries to apologize for Jeffords to his wife, Holt only seems to get Jeffords in more trouble.
  Holt: Oh, I've caused a problem. I think I am getting a text message. Bloop. Ah, there it is.
• Failed a Spot Check: Apparently Hitchcock was clueless to Peralta and Santiago's bet, despite the fact that, according to Terry, it comes up all the time and there is a visible score written on a prominent whiteboard.
• Fake Texting:
  • Boyle gets super strong pain meds, gets super relaxed and super honest. So he admits he does fake texting.
    Boyle: [to his boss] I'm worried you don't find me interesting. I'm gonna pretend someone texted me. [stares to his phone]
  • Holt pretends he got a text when he wants to back out from an uncomfortable conversation with Jeffords and his wife.
    Holt: I think I am... Getting a text message. Bloop. Ah, there it is.
• First-Name Ultimatum:
  Jeffords: She called me "Terrence". I'm doomed. (downs drink)
• Foreshadowing: Jake warns Amy not to fall in love with him. However, in "Chasing Amy", he admits that this episode is exactly when he fell in love with her.
• Internal Reveal: Near the end of the episode, Amy finds out from Holt what the audience already knows: that Jake lied about why Holt called and extended their time on the rooftop intentionally.
• Loophole Abuse: Jake wins the bet at the last minute by busting up a prostitution ring and arresting a group of men for soliciting sex. When Amy points that the bet was for felony arrests and soliciting sex isn't one, Jake reminds her it is a felony if it's the perp's second offense.
• Manipulative Editing: Jake does it in the middle of an intense showdown with Amy:
  Jake: Santiago, the bet ends today. Are you ready?
  Amy: I was born ready.
  Jake: ...to lose. The whole question was "are you ready to lose" and you said you were born that way.
• Oh, Crap!: Santiago's reaction when she realizes Peralta's last-minute win.
  Santiago: That's right, "oh no"! [dawning horror] Oh no. You don't seem worried. Why don't you seem worried?!
• Retcon:
  • A minor one. In the pilot, Jake is a lot more obviously interested in Amy and it's implied that he's using the bet as an opportunity to seduce her. In this episode, in his mind Jake is using the bet purely as an opportunity to prank her, and the suggestion that he might be doing it because he has feelings for Amy comes as a genuine shock to him.
  • Gina also described the bet to Holt in a manner that it seemed Jake wanted to seduce Amy, saying Jake guaranteed the date will end in sex. Here it is established that Jake only wants to embarrass Amy and wants to take her to her worst date ever, even telling her not to fall in love with him. Although, this being Gina, it can be handwaved that she remembers it that way.
• Romantic Spoonfeeding: Subverted. Amy shares a memory from her worst date. The guys is a dentist who pretends to offer her a piece of his food on a spoon. As she leans in and opens her mouth to eat it, he starts checking her teeth with two spoons. And says that dessert is out of the question.
• Shipper on Deck: The crooks that Jake and Amy go undercover to arrest get very involved in the romantic tribulations of "Susan" and her boyfriend, to the point where...
  Crook: I'm sad y'all arresting me, but I gotta say: I'm glad you're back together.
• What You Are in the Dark: A drugged-up Boyle finds Rosa at the party, seeing how she's been avoiding him. He tells her that he didn't save her because of his crush; he had only seen that the perp was shooting at one of the cops, and would have done it for anyone on his team. What's more, Boyle apologizes to Rosa for making her uncomfortable about him saving her life. Rosa is touched and relieved.

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