Lights Out is the thirteenth and final episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's seventh season.
The entire squad is on high alert when a massive blackout hits Brooklyn. Jake and Charles venture out to investigate the cause and find themselves being pulled aside constantly to help civilians in need. Back at the precinct, Holt and Terry are stuck in the elevator, so Amy takes charge and ably leads the police response. However, she's also in labor but refuses to abandon her post no matter how much Rosa urges her to go to the hospital.
Hitchcock and Scully, meanwhile, bravely raid the fridge to eat as much of its contents as possible before it all spoils.
This episode provides examples of the following:
- Abusive Parents: Dottie mentions that as a father, the only things that Jake needs to do are provide money, and have a belt big enough to properly beat his child with when they misbehave. Jake is horrified at the suggestion. Also, the bank robber that Jake arrests mentions that his father beat him when he was a child and that he shot his own father when he grew up.
- Big Blackout: Caused by a car crashing into a power station. It later turns out the driver did it on purpose as cover for a bank robbery.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Dottie at first presents herself as a fragile, helpless old woman who wants Jake and Charles to escort her home so she'll be safe. Then she turns out to be a walking personification of
Values Dissonance who eventually took the law into her own hands and shot their perp before torturing him for information. (All Played for Laughs) - Brick Joke: in the Stinger, Terry mentions the multiplication of pedal-pub and their use in bachelorette parties, increasing the cases of female alcohol intoxication. When Jake and Charles' police car is stuck in a traffic jam, they move using a pedal-pub full of drunk women.
- Call-Back:
- The rivalry between police and firefighters is brought up yet again, as Amy is forced to call the fire department to get Holt and Terry off the elevator. Jake is also horrified that a firefighter helped deliver his child.
- Sergeant Peanut Butter reappears for the first time since Season Five's The Venue.
- Chekhov's Gag: At the start of the episode Captain Holt mentions peddle pubs at a morning briefing and the rise of female public urination they've created and later Charles complains about the 99 having to correspond with the precinct of his Animal Nemesis Sgt. Peanutbutter. Both a peddle pub and Sgt. Peanutbutter eventually play a part in Jake's struggle to get to his sons birth.
- Chekhov's Gun: Horse, rather. Jake makes it in time to witness the birth of his son by riding on Lieutenant Peanutbutter while screaming all the way in terror.
- Chekhov's Skill: Terry teaches Holt how to do a hip-hop dance in the elevator. When Amy's in pain and has no access to medication, the duo performs the dance in the interrogation room to distract her.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Granted, it comes with the job, but Jake's need to help every person he comes across during the blackout almost makes him miss the birth of his and Amy's son.
- Clean, Pretty Childbirth: Double subverted. The birth itself is pretty standard for TV, but Rosa keeps talking of how she doesn't want to have to see it for herself and even shows a (pixelated) page from a birthing book to imply how horrific things will be. Jake, meanwhile, is ecstatic at seeing how Amy's labor is progressing.
- It's also noted at the end of the episode that Rosa's clothes got so covered in bodily fluids during the birth that she burned them.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Whatever it is that Amy yells at Hitchcock in the break room is so long and foul that it's bleeped for five solid seconds. It's also so foul that even Rosa is taken aback. Hitchcock retorts with his own lengthy, bleeped out insult.
- Continuity Cavalcade: This episode brings back a lot of established elements and gags for long-time Brooklyn Nine Nine fans. We see the rivalry with firefighters, Jake and Amy's Workaholic tendencies and ability to manage a crisis well, Holt dancing, and even Scully and Hitchcock's Laborious Laziness comes in handy.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After going through a day with impossibly disastrous crises, Jake makes it in time to see Amy deliver a healthy baby. They revel in their child being the "hottest baby ever" in Jake's words and the 99 comes to congratulate them. As an added bonus, Rosa got a video of Holt dancing.
- Elevator Failure: Holt and Terry are trapped in the elevator during the blackout.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Normally the firefighters are happy to show off and trade barbs with the cops. When Amy goes into labor, however, they drop the pettiness and do all they can to help her have a successful delivery. Grudges are one thing but they can't ignore someone who needs their help.
- The censored curse Amy yells at Hitchcock and Scully is so vile that Rosa is taken aback by it.
- Female Misogynist: Implied to be the case with Dottie. When Jake is trying to get back to Amy to be with her while she gives birth, Dottie tells him that "the only male who needs to be in the room is the doctor," implying that she considers the profession to be exclusively male.
- Flashed-Badge Hijack: When traffic keeps Jake and Charles from getting back before Amy has the baby, they commandeer a pedal pub rented to a bachelorette party.
- Foreshadowing: During the Cold Open, the Nine-Nine squad is briefed on the rise of female public urination due to pedal pubs
being used for bachelorette parties. When Jake, Charles, and their arrestees get stuck in traffic and can't walk all the way back to the precinct, they hitch a ride with a bachelorette party on a pub ride, and one of them ends up peeing in public. - Funny Background Event:
- During Amy's cluster F-bomb in the break room, Rosa's shocked expression can be seen.
- Earlier in the episode, when Rosa is told to call the firefighters to get Holt and Terry out of the elevator, you can see her make the sign of the cross as she walks away.
- Honorary Aunt: Rosa is made "Auntie Roro" officially for little Mac. Amy expressly says she was grateful for Rosa being there for her during labor.
- Honorary Uncle: Meanwhile, Charles wants the honor of being "Uncle Chi-chi" though he settles for Uncle Charles. He displays frustration when Rosa gets to call herself "Roro".
- Innocently Insensitive: After Amy's Cluster F-Bomb to Hitchcock and Scully due to labor pains, Hitchcock takes the insult personally and throws it right back at her.Scully: Hey Ames, can we have a second?
Amy: (angrily through labor pain) No, I'm kind of in the middle of something you (long sustained bleep)
Hitchcock: (angrily) Oh, yeah?! Well, (long sustained bleep of identical length) yourself! - Instant Birth: Just Add Labor!: Averted; Amy's water breaks, but she's perfectly calm and points out to a freaking out Rosa that her labour has barely started (she hasn't even lost her mucus plug!) and she's nowhere near giving birth. There's clearly a passage of time as her labour progresses and gets steadily more difficult and painful, rather than Amy being in screaming agony right from the start
- Interservice Rivalry: As in previous episodes, the NYPD can't get along with the FDNY. Rosa can't even say their name without gagging.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: When the drunk-driving suspect clams up, Dottie gets him talking by sticking a finger into his open wound.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Terry keeps Holt calm while trapped in the elevator by teaching him the dance from Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It". When the power comes back up again, Holt says that they must never speak of it again. However, they end up doing it to distract Amy while she gives birth.
- Maternity Crisis: The blackout occurs on the last day before Amy goes on maternity leave, and she happens to go into labor in the middle of taking over while Holt and Terry are trapped in the elevator.
- Never Mess with Granny: Dottie is the one who shakes down the man who crashed into the substation and makes him confess that he did it as part of a bank robbery.
- Pet the Dog:
- The firefighters who help deliver Mac are very supportive of Amy and reassuring her as she goes through excruciating labor. Played for Laughs as Jake says even with washing Mac, they will never forget that a firefighter delivered their baby.
- Also, Hitchcock and Scully jury rig Amy a birthing room in the precinct when she doesn't have time to make it to a hospital with all of the chaos happening in the city.
- Pregnant Badass: Amy organizes emergency response to a city-wide blackout despite her water breaking and continues issuing orders until she goes into labor.
- Power Outage Plot: It's what happens to the Nine-Nine during a city-wide blackout.
- Rank Up: Peanut Butter's been promoted from sergeant to lieutenant since his last appearance.
- Screaming Birth: Due to a lack of painkillers, Amy screams her head off as her contractions get more intense.
- Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Dottie spews many outdated and politically incorrect beliefs.Dottie: All the dad needs to do is make the money and have a nice thick belt for when it's time to teach him a lesson.
- Shout-Out:
- When gunshots ring out right after the power goes out, Jake compares it to The Purge.
- Rosa says she doesn't want to watch Amy's baby "shoot out of [her] like a half-Cuban Jimmy Neutron."
- One of the bachelorette party girls picks up a man she claims is Aquaman.
- Jake and Amy name their son McClane after John McClane.
- Skewed Priorities: The first thing Hitchcock and Scully do when the power goes out is to try and eat all the food in the break room fridge before it spoils.
- Spotting the Thread: After the perp who crashed his car into the power station refuses a drink on account of being two years sober, Jake asks him why there was an empty bottle of vodka in his car. He then figures out that the crash wasn't an accident and that something bigger is going on.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Scully and Hitchcock's self-care routines come in handy to help Amy get ready for labor. They reveal they prepared a relaxing room for her with a comfortable bed and scented candles, with plenty of room for the firefighters to help deliver the baby. Amy is grateful as the contractions get worse.
- Three-Month-Old Newborn: Mac looks a few months older for a baby born mere minutes/hours ago.
- You Are in Command Now: Due to Holt and Terry being stuck in an elevator due to the blackout, Amy, as the most senior officer there, is forced to take charge of the 99th Precinct.
