Sunday, March 25, 2018

Brooklyn Nine-Nine 5x12 Recap: “Safe House” (Keeping Kevin Safe) [Contributor: Alisa Williams]


“Safe House” 
Original Airdate: March 18, 2018

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is finally back from its winter hiatus. We left off with Seamus Murphy threatening Captain Holt’s husband, Kevin. So now that we’re back, the team is working hard to keep Kevin safe. After an elaborate undercover operation to sneak him out of the university where he works, they stow him in a safe house. The organized crime unit says they’ll need about two months before they have enough evidence to go after Murphy, so Jake will watch Kevin until the FBI is ready for the take down.

As soon as Jake arrives at the safe house, Holt confiscates his cell phone lest someone track him. Under Holt’s orders they also aren’t allowed internet access so streaming videos is out, but Jake’s brought his DVD collection. Unfortunately, his collection consists of the entirety of Nicholas Cage’s body of work and Kevin is completely disinterested in such lowbrow films. With nothing else to do, however, he eventually breaks down and watches them all.

After about a month, Holt shows up to tell Jake and Kevin that the organized crime unit is ready to move on Murphy now. Jake’s so excited he invites the whole team over to the safe house where he’ll be streaming a live feed of the raid. Unfortunately, the raid is a bust. Murphy’s house is empty, which means Kevin is still in danger.

The latest intel is that Murphy may be hiding out at his mistress’s place. She’s a hairdresser so Rosa reluctantly goes undercover as a new client, hoping to get her to talk. Rosa’s mission is to gossip about her love life and hope Nikki will do the same. Rosa’s not much of a talker, so Gina sits in the surveillance van outside and talks to Rosa through an inconspicuous earpiece. Just as Nikki’s finally about to open up, she tells Rosa her hair is done and they’ll have to chat next time. Desperate to keep Nikki talking, Rosa asks to go blonde, ensuring a few more hours in the salon.

Meanwhile, Amy found the place that provides shredding services for all of Murphy’s companies and subpoenaed those shredded documents. She enlists Terry’s help to piece them back together. An entire room has been filled to shoulder height with all the shreds, and after hours of work, they’ve only managed to find three pieces that go together. Hitchcock and Scully venture in, wanting to know if Amy and Terry have created a napping nest. Amy explains and Scully offers to help, saying he’s great at jigsaw puzzles. Amy’s dubious but within a matter of seconds, Scully has a whole page pieced back together.

Things are not going well at the safe house. Kevin and Holt are fighting in the low key, super polite way they do. Kevin feels stifled under Holt’s tedious, over-the-top rules, and wants out for just a couple hours so he can go to a library and work on his research. Holt refuses. Kevin persists and Holt says he’s just concerned with keeping his husband safe. Kevin replies that Holt may not have a husband when all this is over. Holt assures Kevin he’s not going to die at the hands of Murphy, but Kevin says that’s not what he meant. Holt storms out.

Not wanting to see Holt and Kevin’s relationship deteriorate, Jake decides to sneak Kevin out to the library for a couple hours while Holt is busy in meetings. They disguise themselves as “weird perverts” to better fit in with the other library patrons. They get so into their roles, they manage to scare everyone else out of the library. But then Jake hears a noise. When he goes to investigate, Holt jumps out and reminds Jake that had he been Murphy, both Jake and Kevin would be dead right now. Holt is furious that Jake disobeyed his orders and put Kevin in danger, and demands they head back to the safe house immediately.

Back at the beauty salon, Rosa’s gone platinum blonde and learned from Nikki that Murphy skipped town a couple weeks ago and she hasn’t seen him. Before they can chat about where he might be hiding, Nikki says Rosa’s all done. Panicking, Gina tells Rosa to ask for a perm next to keep Nikki talking. Rosa’s clearly horrified by the thought but does what she must.

Meanwhile, Holt, Kevin, and Jake take the bus back to the safe house. They all sit separately so they draw less attention. Holt texts Jake to let him know a man who was at the library is on the bus. He tells Jake to grab Kevin and make a hasty exit at the next stop. They do, and the man tries to follow but Holt intercepts him. He pulls a gun on Holt and tells him to stay on the bus. It pulls away, Kevin and Jake safely on the sidewalk and Holt stuck on the bus with the gunman.

Jake calls the team. Rosa’s just gotten done with her perm and tells them Nikki thinks Murphy is staying up at a place he has in Rhinebeck, New York. Scully was able to piece together some shredding with a Rhinebeck address. Jake and Kevin get there and Kevin says he’s going in with Jake to look for Holt. Jake tells him absolutely not. Kevin is to take the car back to the safe house and wait.

After Kevin drives off, Jake circles the old factory building and sees Holt is being held inside. Unfortunately, the gunman from the bus sneaks up and captures him, too. Now both Jake and Holt are tied up. Holt demands to know where Kevin is but Jake says not to worry because Kevin is headed back to the safe house right now. Except he’s not! Just as Murphy is threatening to kill both Holt and Jake, Kevin crashes the car through the building. Kevin jumps out and punches Murphy in the throat.
Thanks to Murphy kidnapping them, the FBI now has enough to put him and his entire organization away for good. Kevin is safe, his and Holt’s relationship is saved, and he now has a new appreciation for Nicholas Cage.

Bullets on the Bulletin Board:
  • “I broke down and watched one of Peralta’s action films. I’m lying. I watched them all.”
  • “How am I not a cop, Terry? Because I don’t have a badge? Being a cop is a state of mind.” “It’s definitely not.” 
  • “Sorry, I couldn’t bring myself to call him a ‘dirt bag.’” “And why would you? A dirt bag is a very useful part of a vacuum. It’s a compliment.”

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