Every Brooklyn 99 Thanksgiving Episode

Whether it’s a Die Hard-inspired Christmas or a Halloween heist Brooklyn Nine-Nine loves holiday special episodes, but how many Thanksgiving episodes has the long-running workplace sitcom done? Beginning in 2013, the cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine has mined 7 seasons and over 140 episodes of laughs out of the titular precinct’s ragtag group of cops and the various sitcom scrapes they get into on a weekly basis.

Buoyed by a stellar ensemble cast, career-bet deadpan comedy from screen veteran Andre Braugher, and superb chemistry between leads Melissa Fumero and Andy Samberg, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has enjoyed critical acclaim throughout its 7 season run even as the show’s ratings have faltered from time to time. A sucker for specials, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has an impressive string of Halloween and Christmas episodes to its name, and it’s certainly no slouch when it comes to marking the all-American holiday of Thanksgiving, too.

All-in-all, there are five Brooklyn Nine-Nine Thanksgiving episodes dotted throughout the show’s 7 seasons, with one special per year for the first 5 seasons and radio silence since then. It’s an impressive number that even fellow classic sitcoms such as How I Met Your Mother and Friends are just about able to compare with, with Friends managing to best the 99 with a peerless 9 Thanksgiving episodes while the usually holiday-mad How I Met Your Mother only managed to reach 5 despite the series running for 2 seasons longer than Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Unlike both of those classic shows, though, almost all of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Thanksgiving episodes are important additions to the show’s continuity. The series treats the holiday like The Office used Christmas specials, with even the lesser Thanksgiving episodes featuring big character developments, offering insight into the lives of the 99, and introducing important figures like Amy’s dad.

‘Thanksgiving’

The first Thanksgiving special from Brooklyn Nine-Nine remains a solid character farce/crime comedy mash-up which epitomized the show’s strange appeal early on. ‘Thanksgiving’ sees Santiago attempts to impress Holt by inviting the entire squad over for a meticulously prepared Thanksgiving feast, only for a precinct break-in that occurs mid-dinner to thwart this scheme. Of course, as Amy’s plan falls apart the break-in ends up bringing the self-serious Holt and immature Jake Peralta closer together, as the pair stop butting heads for a moment to leave Santiago’s place and hunt down those responsible for the robbery. This installment, directed by Samberg’s fellow Lonely Island member Jorma Taccone, fuses the classic sitcom antics of Amy attempting to impress her boss with a fancy dinner with the more dramatic break-in subplot’s to combine the show’s cozy sitcom appeal and the more dynamic cop comedy elements, and the episode as a whole offers an early glimpse of Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s ability to combine both comedy sub-genres to great success.

‘Lockdown’

From the title alone, it’s pretty clear that Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s season 2 outing would run into some issues for contemporary viewers. Unfortunately the second Thanksgiving special from the show, ’Lockdown’, is one that viewers are unlikely to revisit soon, although unlike Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s handling of the Black Lives Matter Movement, it’s not the writer’s fault that this particular episode’s themes have proven timely. This anarchic, surprisingly tense episode sees Jake is left in charge of the precinct when Holt is celebrating the holidays, only for the whole place to end up quarantined and the characters rapidly descending into chaos thanks to Boyle spilling an unidentified substance on his way out the door. It’s a joke that was funnier pre-2020, and although there’s no way the writers could have predicted how relevant the terms “lockdown” and “quarantine” would become years after this episode’s original air date, this is nonetheless one that is probably better saved for next year’s rewatch.

‘Ava’

Directed by sitcom legend Tristam Shapeero, season 3’s ’Ava’ is a classic which sees the entire Brooklyn Nine-Nine cast firing on all cylinders. It’s an installment where none of the storylines fall flat, although the obvious stand out is the A-plot which sees the famously unreliable Jake being left to help out Terry’s heavily pregnant wife Sharon, only for her to (inevitably) finally give birth without a doula in sight and only the immature protagonist to assist the process. Meanwhile, Santiago and Boyle attempt to ride out an Internet outage by doing reams of paperwork entirely by hand, as Holt is forced to confront an ex, two B-plots which both pay off nicely. Between this episode’s premise and ‘Lockdown’, it’s unclear just why Jake Peralta keeps being left in charge of everything, but if the formula produces Brooklyn Nine-Nine episodes this solid, who cares?

‘Mr. Santiago’

The first of two parent-centric Brooklyn Nine-Nine Thanksgiving specials (and the first to address the character’s families despite Thanksgiving being a famously family-oriented holiday), season 4’s ‘Mr. Santiago’ introduces Jimmy Smits as the titular tough guy that Jake is eager to impress. This prompts a cute plot wherein Smits’ intimidating in-law-to-be and Jake bond as they investigate a cold case from decades ago, only for their newfound friendship to turn sour when the investigation runs into a snag. Amy and Jake get a cute moment of reconciliation over the phone wherein the pair solve the case and win her old man’s blessing in one fell swoop. However, none of this admittedly sweet stuff is as memorable as The Good Place/Parks & Rec veteran Jason Mantzoukas’s unhinged Adrian Pimento betting an entire loan from Holt on a greyhound race. Alongside Boyle’s beleaguered attempts to kill a Thanksgiving turkey for the squad’s meal, it’s an inspired, goofy B-story that nicely compliments the episode’s more grounded and emotionally resonant main action.

’Two Tukeys’

Despite airing back in 2017 during Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s season 5, ’Two Tukeys’ is currently the most recent Thanksgiving episode of the series. It’s a strong outing to end on, as Smits’ Victor Santiago and West Wing veteran Bradley Whitford’s Peralta Senior clash over dinner despite their offspring’s best attempts at establishing peace between the two families. Eventually, fathers Santiago and Peralta reconcile, although only after Whitford’s character ends up in hospital after lopping off his thumb in an ill-advised drunken turkey carving session (between this and Get Out, Whitford’s in-law roles are an unfortunate bunch). This isn’t the strongest Thanksgiving episode in the history of Brooklyn Nine-Nine (the B-story about Holt’s missing Thanksgiving pie doesn’t really lead anywhere), but it’s still a solid final holiday installment for the show so far and a bevy of guest stars including Smits, Whitford, and Futurama’s Katey Sagal ensure there isn’t a minute of wasted screen time in this one.

About The Author

Cathal Gunning
(1446 Articles Published)

See also  10 Disney Villains With The Most Sympathetic Backstories, Ranked

Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies and TV online since 2020. His obsessions include The Simpsons, Stephen King, the Scream series, and the horror genre in general. He has spent more time thinking about Stranger Things than the writers of Stranger Things, and he has never seen a Star War.

More From Cathal Gunning