The Wednesday Incident is the sixteenth episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's second season.
Captain Holt is in a properly foul mood and is lashing out at the detective squad. Jake and Gina team up with Kevin, Holt's husband, to find out what is bothering the Captain while Terry tries to make sure that there's nothing in the precinct that could possibly anger Holt.
Charles arrests a notorious bank robber who's stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars. The perp turns out to be Marvin Miller, a frail old man who puts on a grandfatherly facade in front of Amy and Rosa while unrepentantly confessing when only Charles is around to hear.
This episode provides examples of:
- Alliterative Name: Marvin Miller.
- Ambiguously Bi: Jake asks Holt's art teacher out, although it's not made clear whether it's a serious proposal. Given that both times Jake asked someone out, male or female, was after they'd revealed that Holt had vented at length about him, he could also be trying to make friends and give them his version of events or even just trying to learn exactly what Holt said about him.
- Anger Born of Worry: Kevin is furious when he finds out why Holt has been acting so strangely.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Marvin Miller charms Amy and Rosa but is an unabashed jerk when only Charles is within earshot.Marvin: My system's a little unsettled. Could I trouble you for a Ginger Ale?
Amy: Of course, sir. We'll get you that and a comfy chair to sit in. Yeah?
[Amy and Rosa walk off. Marvin gestures for Charles to come closer]
Marvin: I robbed those banks. I don't even need the money, but I like to see the tellers squirm. I get off on violence.
Charles: Oh God...
[Amy returns with a Ginger Ale]
Amy: Here you go!
Marvin: Oh, thank you so much! You're such a doll. I must pay you. No no! I insist. Right here. You remind me of my granddaughter.
Amy: Oh! You are so sweet!
[Amy walks away glaring at Charles]
Marvin: I haven't got a granddaughter. - Bittersweet Ending: For Boyle. Marvin Miller dies before Boyle manages to extract a proper confession from him, but the dollar he gave Amy for the ginger ale she bought him turns out to have come from one of the robberies he committed, thus vindicating Boyle. Amy and Rosa are thus forced to apologise to Boyle and acknowledge that they were idiots for not looking at Miller beyond his 'harmless old man' act.
- Chekhov's Gun: The dollar Marvin gives Amy for the ginger ale she buys him turns out to have come from one of the robberies he committed.
- Death Glare: Charles gives Marvin one every time Marvin drops his kindly old man act. This is probably the first episode where Charles is outright angry at someone.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Scully and Hitchcock trying to use a road flare to cook oatmeal is an absolutely stupid idea but as Hitchcock points out Terry didn't give them a lot of options when he banned everyone from the kitchen.
- Evil Gloating: Every time Amy and Rosa move out of earshot, Marvin starts smugly bragging to Charles about his crimes.
- Evil Old Folks: Marvin might look like a kindly, befuddled grandpa, but he's really a nasty old bastard who gets off on violence.
- First-Name Basis: Gina had been working on her relationship with Kevin to the point that he calls her by her first name, and warns Jake not to jeopardize it. When Kevin quits working with them, he calls Gina "Linetti" and she takes it out on Jake. Eventually Kevin goes back to calling Gina by her first name again.
- From Bad to Worse: The precinct is already on edge because no one wants to set Holt off. Then Hitchcock and Scully somehow manage to set oatmeal (not the paper bowl but the actual oatmeal) on fire with a road flare.
- Jurisdiction Friction: Subverted. When Organized Crime takes over Jake's case in the cold open, he expects the captain to back him up on this being his case. However, not only did Holt invite Organized Crime to take the case, he reminds them to take any pertinent paperwork Jake has on his desk as well.
- Kick the Dog:
- Amy and Rosa's skepticism of Charles's insistence that he's guilty can take on a slightly mean-spirited edge at times.
- Gina suggests that Jake commit suicide by jumping out a window so that she can avoid getting fired.
- Mugging the Monster: Three mooks, one armed with a knife, try to mug Holt. He takes them all down, only getting "lightly stabbed" in the process.
- No Sympathy:
- Even considering that Charles's suspect is quite an elderly man, Amy and Rosa aren't willing to give Charles an inch of the benefit of the doubt over whether or not he might be guilty. They do end up having to eat crow and admit both that he was right and that they were fools for not bothering to look beyond his 'harmless old man' act, however.
- Jake also receives this from everyone when they refuse to believe that, for once, he is not responsible for Holt's foul mood.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Scully quietly gets up and moves when Hitchcock starts laughing over the Youtube video he's watching, as a very angry Holt gets closer.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Kevin is unwillingly dragged along as Jake tries to figure out what is bothering Holt. Gina is also an unwilling participant because she doesn't want to do anything to jeopardize the tentative friendship she's developing with Kevin.
- The Unsmile: Holt reaches a level of anger where he glares at people while smiling in a manner that is normally associated with people suffering from the effects of Joker toxin.
- You Have to Believe Me!: Boyle can't convince Amy or Rosa that Marvin is guilty, and no one is around when Marvin says anything incriminating.
- You Owe Me: Jake gets Gina to help him investigate what caused Holt's bad mood by saying that she owed him a favor from when he got her the job at the precinct.
