Brooklyn Nine-Nine 6.10 Recap: Nikolaj’s Real Father Shows Up

Best friends, Jake and Charles are walking down the street when Jake notices a shady character following them. The two cops blend in with a group of tourists to lose their tail and surprise him. When confronted, the suspect reveals his name is Gintars and that he is the biological father of Charles’ son, Nikolaj.

[*Spoilers For 6.10 Ahead!]

Gintars tracked down Charles through Nikolaj’s brother back in Latvia. Initially, he felt ashamed since he could not support his son after he was born. Now, he is a successful businessman with a burgeoning clothing brand called “Gape”. He feels he is respectable enough that he can meet his son. Gintars assures Charles that he has no intention of taking Nikolaj away but only wants to see him.

Boyle feels insecure about allowing his son to meet his birth father but reluctantly agrees to the meet under one condition. Gintars cannot reveal his true relationship to Nikolaj. Things go awry when the Latvian breaks and admits he is the younger Boyle’s real dad. Charles even fears losing his son and being replaced when after bonding, Nikolaj makes reference to Daddy Gintars.

Trying to help out his friend, Jake decides to set Gintars up for selling bootleg merchandise. First, he wears a wire to record the Latvian admitting that Gape is a knock off of the popular American clothing brand. Then the following day, he arranges to purchase a pair of the jeans where police swoop in and arrest Gintars. All this occurs in front of the horrified eyes of Nikolaj and Boyle, who has warmed up to the biological father for the sake of his son. Though Nikolaj and Gintars spend some quality time at a Chilis Too before the latter is deported, Charles is angry at Jake for meddling. He understands the complexity of adoptions because he will never be the real father. All he can do is provide love and support like any parent and hope that his son will see him in that way. All is forgiven when Jake apologizes and makes them hats embroidered with “Best Buds”.

Meanwhile, Diaz tries to solve a murder case but needs FBI techs to process a crime scene, which requires the commissioner’s approval. The Nine-Nine still has a strained relationship with the higher ups so Holt brings in famed forensic scientist, Dr. Ronald Yee from last season, to help. It also doesn’t hurt that him and Amy, being nerds, are huge fans of his work. Yee is doing groundbreaking work by breeding flies that detect miniscule amounts of blood that traditional means cannot detect. The flies find no presence of blood at the scene and when questioned, Yee demonstrates their affinity to blood using a swab. Still dubious, Diaz tries to recreate the demonstration and is unsuccessful. She calls Yee out for being a fraud and he confesses that his flies don’t work. The blood he used earlier was really a popsicle. Despite being ineffective, Rosa uses the flies as a bluff and scares a confession out of her suspect closing her case.

It can already be difficult being a regular parent, but when adopting a child there are even more concerns that are introduced. The main plot in this episode, effectively conveyed these complexities as Charles faces doubts once Gintars comes back into the picture. Always the optimistic, his love for his son takes precedent and feels this introduction would help with Nikolaj’s abandonment issues. Elsewhere, when Yee was first introduced to the Nine-Nine, it was in parallel to Jake and Terry fanboying at a convention. Therefore, it is fitting that he receives the same enthusiasm when he returns from science geeks, Holt and Amy. The two provided some silliness as they try to interact and bond with their hero and their facial reactions and hidden, behind the back fist bumps are golden. Piling on the absurdity is Terry gradually removing and cleaning his facial hair when told of microscopic bugs living in it.

My Favorite Lines:

Jake: I don’t recognize him but judging by the head to toe denim, I’d say he’s either not American or deeply American. I’m thinking either Ukraine or Kentucky.

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Terry: Those nasty ass bugs don’t smell blood and they must not smell bull crap either because he’s spewing it everywhere.

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Jake: And I see it’s a 100% denim-ish. Caution! Do not wear near women who are pregnant or are breast feeding.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Thursdays at 9:00 pm on NBC.