Special Note: This week’s recap of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s tenth episode, “Gintars” will also feature a special photo tribute documenting the evolution of Terry’s facial hair throughout the episode. #SorryNotSorry.
Boyle and Peralta are walking down the street when Peralta clues Boyle into a man who has been following them for several blocks. He looks suspicious and is dressed head to toe in denim (“that much denim means he’s either not American or deeply American. I’m thinking the Ukraine or Kentucky.” – Peralta) When they stop to confront him, he declares his name is Gintars (played by Ike Barinholtz), and he has been following Boyle because he is Nikolaj’s biological father. Boyle faints at the news. When he awakens, he asks Gintars how he was able to track him down because the orphanage was supposed to keep that information confidential. Gintars explains that he got the story out of Dragomir, who happens to be both his and Nikolaj’s brother. Turns out there is some complicated incest going on in Latvia. (“We are contemporary blended family, would make for very good TV show!”) He explains that he was too poor to keep Nikolaj when he was born, but he is back now that he is a successful businessman. He runs a counterfeit (though he denies it) clothing brand called “The Gape.” He claims that he does not want to take Nikolaj from Boyle, he just wants to meet him one time. (“Please he is my sex result!” “Yeah, well I walk your sex result to school every morning!”) Boyle refuses and Gintars tells him that he will wait as long as it takes until Boyle relents and lets him meet the boy.
Back in the precinct, Diaz has gone to Captain Holt to request an FBI forensics team be brought into a room that she is convinced is the location of her murder case. The Nine-Nine forensic team was unable to find any evidence of the crime, but she thinks based off of the other facts that it is the only location the murder could have taken place. However, contacting the FBI for the request means that Holt would first have to get permission from Kelly. Holt and Santiago suggest that before they resort to the FBI, they contact the forensic entomological expert Dr. Yee (They both shout in unison “We need Yee!!”) for his help. The thought sends both Holt and Santiago into a fit of fandom squeeing and terrible joke making that has Diaz and Terry dismayed. Apparently Dr. Yee has been developing a special breed of fly that has increased sensitivity to blood, they can sense even trace amounts that have been cleaned with bleach. (“Or masked with animal urine” “Hey, “I was building to that!”) Terry is extremely freaked out by anything to do with bugs. This is made worse when Holt points out that “there are thousands of tiny mites living in your eyebrows keeping them from being weighed down by oils?” “YES!” screams Terry. Diaz remains skeptical and dreads having to deal with Holt and Santiago being insufferable fans of Dr. Yee for the next few days.
Meanwhile, Gintars has set up camp in the bullpen watching episodes of “Mad About You” on “Latvian Hulu.” Realizing how committed Gintars is, (and how many episodes of “Mad About You” there are) Peralta convinces Boyle to let him meet Nikolaj. Boyle concedes, provided Gintars hide his identity and not tell Nikolaj the truth. Gintars agrees, claiming his new name is “Billy Hannukah.” They meet Boyle as he is picking Nikolaj up from school. Nikolaj greets everyone by telling them he loves them (“he really is a Boyle, isn’t he.”) Unfortunately, Gintars immediately cracks and tells Nikolaj that he is his real father. Nikolaj is confused and Peralta tells him to go play with a leftover receipt he frantically pulls out of his pocket. Nikolaj runs off it with in delight (“wow kids are really basic, is being a dad super easy?”) Gintars apologizes for breaking so quickly and pleads for more time with his son. Boyle refuses and storms off.
Diaz, Holt, Santiago, and Terry prepare to meet Dr. Yee. Terry, in a fit of bug-phobia, shaved off his brows. It is not a good look. Maybe a worse look than Santiago and Holt preening and prepping for Yee. Maybe. Yee arrives and shows off his container of blood flies (“oh my god I’m starstruck!” shouts Santiago looking at the bugs.) Holt and Santiago laugh loudly at Yee’s bad jokes and secretly fist bump when he praises their knowledge of crime scene forensics.
Boyle is having a meltdown and crying to Scully when Peralta intervenes by giving him his favorite tea (“duck broth!”) in an attempt to calm him down. Boyle confesses that he is upset because he has worked so hard to get Nikolaj to think of him as his father and he is worried that meeting Gintars has undone all of his hard work. Peralta assures him that Nikolaj is already a mini-Boyle (“he’s the only eight year old boy who’s favorite movie is “Bullets Over Broadway”) and that him spending time with Gintars will not change that. He also tells Boyle that if Nikolaj is not able to spend time with Gintars, he will build up an unrealistic fantasy version of his birth father in his mind, and that will be far worse for him in the long run.
At Diaz’s crime scene, the rest of the team are gathered around watching Dr. Yee hover his container of blood flies over everything in the apartment. Santiago is filming Dr. Yee work on her cell phone. When Terry chastises her, Holt shames him for his drawn on eyebrows. Diaz tells him he looks like a “mean drag queen.” (“I knew I should have done a flatter arch. This is a night time look!”) To Diaz’s disappointment and frustration, the flies do not react, and Yee claims that must mean that there is no trace blood and therefore this is not where the murder was committed. Diaz insists that because of the timeline, this is the only place the murder could have been committed. Santiago smugly tells her “the flies don’t lie” and Yee loves it, claiming it for his catchphrase. Diaz pushes back, questioning the accuracy of the flies and how often they work. Holt is outraged, but Yee gladly pulls out a vial of blood to demonstrate. He holds the vial up to the container of flies, and they all flock toward the vial as if drawn by a magnet. Holt and Santiago are now even more convinced.
Boyle and Peralta are at the basketball courts with Gintars and Nikolaj. Peralta tries to keep Boyle calm by telling him the story of meeting his dad’s nightmare of a girlfriend when he was a child. His mother was worried that the new girlfriend would replace her in his eyes, until the girlfriend stole a bunch of blouses from the mall and then tried to get Peralta involved in her scheme by sending him in to return them for cash. “And to celebrate I got to pull her cinnabon apart because her fingernails were too long and curly for her to do it herself.” The point, Peralta claims, was that spending time with her made him love his own mother even more. He is sure the same will happen for Nikolaj. Unfortunately, when Nikolaj and Gintars approach, Nikolaj wants to leave so that he can go buy a denim jacket “just like Daddy Gintars!”
Back at the precinct, Boyle is laid across an interrogation table and wailing. Peralta goes to Terry for help. Terry now has much larger eyebrows drawn on (“ok Sergeant Crazy Brows”). Peralta points out that mites would also be living in Terry’s goatee. Terry does not love hearing this. Peralta, trying to help Boyle get rid of Gintars, asks Terry if he still has a connection in the counterfeit task force. If Peralta can get Gintars to admit his clothing is counterfeit on tape they will terminate his visa and deport him. Terry points out that this is extreme, but Peralta says he will do anything to help Boyle and get rid of Gintars. Peralta decides to wear a wire and meet Gintars at his favorite place, the russian bath house. At the bath house though, Gintars insists that Peralta get full naked. Peralta lies and claims that he cannot take off the towel because his genitals are “horribly mutilated” and he is embarrassed. After this confession, Gintars admits that “The Gape” is actually counterfeit. Gintars makes him hug it out.
When Diaz next meets Terry, his goatee is now bleached. Diaz then points out they could still be living in his nose hairs (“Aw man, Terry forgot about his nose!”) Yee has come to hand in his case report in person (because Holt and Santiago were trying to trick him into having lunch with them.) He also brought his container of flies, which he leaves outside of Holt’s office. Diaz has an idea, but it needs fresh blood. Luckily at that moment, Hitchcock walks up with a bloody arm. (“This is terrible, but perfect.”) She swabs Hitchcock’s arm and holds it up to the flies and they do not react. Yee’s flies are a lie. Diaz and Terry confront Yee about the fake flies in front of Santiago and Holt. Holt is outraged and fires Diaz. However, Yee confesses that they are right and the flies are in fact a lie. He admits that he lied because he spent $6 million dollars of grant money on the experiment and got nowhere. The only thing the flies would respond to was melted popsicle. Which it turns out, is what was in the vial he brought to the crime scene.
Peralta meets up with Gintars to buy the counterfeit jeans and have him arrested when Boyle approaches with Nikolaj. Boyle admits that he was being selfish in trying to keep Gintars away from Nikolaj, and that if it keeps making Nikolaj happy then he wants Gintars to be a part of his life. Unfortunately, Peralta’s plan can not be called off, and cops pull up and arrest Gintars for selling counterfeit goods. Boyle is furious at Peralta because Nikolaj is devastated and feels like he has been abandoned all over again. Holt and Santiago apologize to Diaz and Terry for their behavior and for not trusting their instincts. Terry wants an apology for what happened to his face but Holt refuses (“that mess is on you.”) Holt agrees to ask Commissioner Kelly for permission to bring in the FBI forensic team. However, Diaz tells them that that is unnecessary. She was able to use the flies to scare the murder suspect into confessing. Yee’s flies helped after all!
Peralta apologizes to Boyle, and even gives him baseball caps that say “Best Bud #1” and “Best Bud #2.” Unfortunately, the deportation can not be undone, and Boyle is still upset with Peralta for his constant interference. He explains that adoption is complicated, and he needs Peralta to listen to him more. They ultimately makeup with Boyle choosing to be “Best Bud #2” (“I want you to listen more, not change our whole dynamic!”)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Thursdays at 8pm on NBC.
