Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The 10 Saddest Things About Terry

Terry Jeffords is one of the strongest, buffest, sweetest characters on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but more than anything else, he’s incredibly devoted — to his friends, and especially to his family. He’s the metaphorical glue that holds the team together, he’s the one always given the onus of responsibility by Captain Holt, not just because of his seniority, but because of his no-nonsense attitude when it comes to work.

There is little about Terry that can be considered melancholic, as he generally finds happiness wherever he can, mostly by being the best father he can possibly be. Still, there have been more than a few times in which his behavior can be called into question, and some of his life experiences have left a permanent bad taste in his mouth.

10 Tries To Be Smart

Terry is a sharp tack in many ways, but not necessarily in the fields of academia or film criticism. While he can seemingly hold knowledgeable conversations with other people about French New Wave Cinema director Francois Truffaut’s films, the fact that he indulges in these activities suggests some kind of insecurity.

This behavior is also seen when the squad discusses their best movie choices, as Terry instantly goes for Breathless (1960), which isn’t even thematically based on the cop cinematic narrative.

9 Strong, But Can’t Even Do Yoga

Terry believes so much in his own strength that he often overestimates his abilities (even though he is capable of some fearsome feats of brute force.) He mocks Charles for indulging in Yoga and immediately asserts his proficiency in the complex discipline by mere dint of his weightlifting talents.

Of course, this backfires on him when attempting a fictional “asana” known as the “Yoga Warrior”, but he continues to pretend that his body is completely fine, when he’s actually going through excruciating agony. Terry’s confidence is great, but trying to be cocky in order to prove himself right is just pitiful.

8 Is Rejected By His Japanese Girlfriend

One of the major ghosts of Terry’s past revolves around his romantic relationship with Chiaki, a woman he met while living in Japan several years ago. Unfortunately, while he seems to be entirely in love with her, she doesn’t share the same feelings for him.

This part is completely fine, but there’s no reason that Chiaki had to let poor Terry down so rudely, not to mention denying her involvement in other romances when it’s obvious that she has more than one going on. Honesty would have helped make the experience less miserable for him.

7 His Writing Skills

Terry’s love for fantasy began during his early childhood, during which he falls in love with the Skyfire series by author D.C. Parlov. As an adult, he tries creating his own imaginary world in novel form, penning a disaster of a book that he, for some reason, believes is worth publishing.

Jake deliberates over revealing his criticism so as to avoid hurting his friend but ultimately tells him anyway, hoping that Terry would understand his perspective. The saddest bit about the whole thing is Terry being forced to acknowledge that writing is not one of his better skills.

6 Gets Racially Profiled

Terry’s experience as an African-American police officer is mostly pleasant (as far as the show’s universe goes), so it’s all the more tragic when some patrolling white cop directly accuses him of being “suspicious” while in plain clothes.

If this isn’t horrible enough, Terry later hears, from his own Captain, another proud black man, that the best course of action for the safety of his career would be to overlook it and sweep it under the rug, so to speak.

5 Work Puts A Damper On His Home Life

Terry adores his job as a sergeant (and, later, lieutenant), to the point that he often works considerable hours of overtime. He does this to reduce the burden on the rest of the squad, which is one of the most generous things anyone can do in the NYPD, given their unending series of tasks.

Therefore, it’s a rather sorry state of affairs when he loses time with his precious family to make up for the lack of manpower at the 99. The man thinks his twin daughters are the greatest thing to ever happen to him, and he deserves to be with them more often.

4 His Relationship With Zeke

For all of Terry’s muscle-y domination, his brother-in-law, Zeke (who is far larger than him), regularly teases him for being a metaphorical pipsqueak, at least relatively. This bothers him a lot, especially as an attack on his masculinity, but this has apparently continued for a long time.

Thankfully, the merciless mocking ends when Zeke hears that Terry has been involved in a “Russian Mafia” raid, a white lie performed by Captain Holt from the kindness of his heart.

3 The Case Of The Cat Burglar

Two decades before the current timeline, Terry spectacularly fails to apprehend the criminal involved in a particular case when it turns out that his suspect is a disabled man in a wheelchair. In order to save face, he makes a fool of himself by accusing a pet cat, for which his co-workers have been ridiculing him for years (by having kittens delivered to him.)

As woeful as this might sound, Terry breaks out of this humiliation when Jake successfully assists him in solving the case, which ends up proving the former right from the very beginning.

2 Unable To Handle Mild Hunger Pangs

Terry’s dietary requirement is massive, as expected from someone who works out incessantly. In a single meal, he consumes enough food to feed an entire family for a whole day, because nothing less would satisfy his exercise plan.

Therefore, it is theoretically understandable that he reacts with annoyance when this regimen is interrupted, but certainly not when he goes into unnecessary rages because he misses a few calories every now and then. For someone with such spectacular self-control, Terry really does go overboard.

1 His Childhood Experiences

Most of the 99 have had a complicated childhood: Amy playing second fiddle to her brother and Jake losing his father, for instance, but Terry’s is a shade more distressing. Due to being overweight, he experiences a difficult time at school, as well as at the hands of his father.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for little Terry, either, as he is inspired to become a policeman after one of them rescues him from a group of his peers trying to bully him.

About The Author

Ajay Aravind
(429 Articles Published)

In real life, Ajay disguises himself as an academic, mainly writing textbooks for children — who all hate him for making their lives more miserable. He also writes about TV and film, strewing his opinions across the internet to see if people care (they don’t). You can find him @stain_dprinc_ss on Twitter.

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