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Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7 Episode 5 Recap: 'Debbie'

Television

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7 Episode 5 Recap: ‘Debbie’

Debbie becomes the Nine-Nine’s most wanted.

Debbie’s feeling out her coworkers to see if any of them suspect her for the missing coke and guns from the evidence room. She covered her tracks well but returns to work as to not raise suspicions on herself. Sensing she’s in the clear, Debbie makes a phone call in the women’s bathroom to set up a meet. Right after, Hitchcock gathers the group and is ready to tell them Debbie’s secret but only if they don’t ask how he got the information. However, everyone has already deduced Debbie’s involvement due to her erratic and awkward behavior.

[SPOILERS FOR 7.5 AHEAD!]

Terry and Amy try to take Debbie in without making a scene but she makes a run for it. Scully takes her down and they put her in the pen to stew a bit before they question her. The drugs she took belonged to a known criminal kingpin named Silvio Nucci and they think she was hired to steal the evidence to dismiss the case.

Despite their best efforts, Debbie refuses to turn on the crime boss. Jake begins to have sympathy for her since he feels she’s in over her head. On the other hand, Rosa has nothing but tough love since she’s a grown adult and understood the consequences. Diaz than relates a story about her rebellious young days and how she ended up in juvie. Her parents kicked her out of the home and she was forced to overcome her problems by herself. She felt it made her a stronger and better person.

Since Nucci is the big fish and Debbie won’t snitch, Jake plans to “break” her out and follow her and hopefully catch both of the criminals at the exchange. He and Rosa even pretend to be on Nucci’s payroll and take Debbie to a safe house. They learn she was paid one million dollars to steal the evidence and she needed the money to pay for an experimental procedure for her dad.

Debbie becomes bored waiting for Nucci’s texts and samples some of the evidence. This causes her to become more paranoid and questions Rosa’s motives. She draws a machine gun and Diaz attempts to take her down. However, all that coke has instilled Debbie with super powers and she easily incapacitates the tough as nails detective.

They relocate to Debbie’s mansion with six chimneys to wait for Nucci. That morning, she learned her brother paid for her dad’s surgery so she can keep all the money. Wanting to flaunt her new found wealth, she even calls her mother over to see her fancy home and other luxurious items. She wants to prove she’s just as good as her lawyer brother. Now that a civilian is involved, there’s more urgency to disarm Debbie. Jake uses his charms to draw her close but when he makes a move for the gun, she uses her drug induced powers to subdue him too.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7 Episode 5 Recap: 'Debbie'

As Debbie comes down, she faces a dilemma. She knows when Nucci comes, he’ll probably kill Jake and Rosa for being cops but if she releases them, she’ll be arrested and go to jail. Searching for an answer, she turns to her mom for advice but is berated and disowned. Watching Debbie’s mom scold her daughter, Rosa flashbacks to her similar experience when she was younger. Diaz sticks up for Debbie and pledges to help her anyway she can if she frees all of them. Debbie finally comes to her senses and releases them. They then prepare for Nucci’s arrival.

Back at the precinct, the rest of the gang are combing through Debbie’s comprehensive journals to search for any clues about her motives and how she knows Nucci. Holt and Amy, both adept speed readers, have a competition to see who can uncover the most relevant information. Charles has a more “slow and steady wins the race” attitude and questions if his coworkers are even retaining what they’re reading. Together, they’re able to surmise where the exchange is taking place and help take Nucci down.

It’s a little disappointing how Debbie’s story plays out considering how it was built up in the previous episode. Charles helped instill confidence in her to the point where she believes she can do anything so it’s deflating that she turns out to be a crime lord’s lackey rather than something more. It seems the main motivation for her turn was simply money rather than her new found faith in herself.

The moment when Rosa finally relates to Debbie is very impactful. Usually, we see the character as a strong, independent woman of few words and even less emotions. However, in the more recent seasons, we’ve had times where she shows vulnerability and opens up about her feelings like when she came out to her family. Stephanie Beatriz conveys similar acting range here when she admits that though her tough love attitude helped mold her, there were moments where all she really wanted was some affection and support. The embrace she and Debbie share afterwards is the perfect way to end the standoff.

The subplot with the rest of the precinct reading through the diary served as a nice escape from all the Debbie drama. It’s always fun and entertaining when Amy and Holt embrace their nerdier side and the speed-reading contest is no exception. The two even take Charles and his recently found swagger down a step for his inferior reading skills. Overall, a solid episode.

My Favorite Lines:

Hitchcock: It was her. I heard her setting up a drop.
Jake: And why were you in the women’s room?
Hitchcock: It wasn’t for a gross reason. The men’s room was occupied and I needed to dump out.

Holt: I read the entire Urban Dictionary so I could converse with the other uniformed officers. I finished it in 47 minutes.
Amy: I’ve never been so attracted to a gay man before. And I dated several in college.

Debbie Fogle: I’m such a terrible judge of character. I was wrong about Rosa. I missed all the signs with my cousin Jared.
Jake: <whispering> The sandwich guy.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7 Episode 5 Recap: 'Debbie'
Brooklyn Nine-Nine S 7 E 5 "Debbie"
Is it good?
Always fun to see Holt and Amy embrace their nerdier tendencies
Strong perfromance by Stephanie Beatriz
Disappointing to see Debbie's real motivation for stealing the drugs and guns
7

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