Brooklyn Nine-Nine 5.15 Recap: Both Jake & Holt Feel Threatened By New Rivals

Santiago’s results from her sergeant’s exam have arrived. She’s a little hesitant to open it since it’s such a small letter. Much like a college acceptance letter, Amy associates bigger with good news and smaller with bad. In addition, Holt’s and Terry’s results came in larger envelopes when they received theirs. Since she can’t bear to open it due to fear, Diaz does it for her. When Santiago learns she passed, she breaks into her patented, yet awkward, victory dance.
[*Spoilers for 5.15 Ahead!]

Since Amy will be moving on to bigger and better things as a sergeant, Jake picks out the perfect last case to work with his fiancée as detectives. They are to solve a serial arsonist case that has a link to the Saturday crossword puzzle. Not only that, but the puzzles’ author, Melvin Stermley (David Fumero), will aid with the case.
Charles lets his best friend know about his reservations of bringing in Stermley for help. After all, he’s Amy’s celebrity crush. Jake isn’t too concerned since with a name like that and a job like his, he’ll most likely be a big nerd. Much to Peralta’s surprise, when he shows up, he’s a tall, handsome model that goes by Vin.
The arson case pits Jake in direct competition with Stermley. He wants to use good old-fashioned police work to solve the crime while Vin thinks there’s something in the word puzzle approach. The more Vin interacts with Amy, the more insecure Jake becomes. The two seem to work well as a team, she’s always laughing at his jokes, and they have a shared love for propositions. At least he scores a minor victory when Amy decides to go with Peralta’s plan of staking out a game night hosted by Vin and find who has a vendetta against the word expert.

Each using their area of expertise, both Jake and Vin come up with leads. The former finds a disgruntled colleague of Vin that is angry he took his job while the latter discovers the suspect is spelling out a name corresponding to the locations of the crime. This time Santiago chooses Stermley’s proposal to follow up on and narrows down the location of the next arson to four locations.
Jake plays the role of good partner and monitors one of the locations, but he has Boyle follow up on his hunch. He’s so sure he’s right that he leaves to help Charles investigate. Unfortunately, he was wrong and the building he was supposed to be watching is set on fire. Amy is livid that her partner left his post and in the ensuing argument, Jake comes clean and admits his jealousy of Vin.  Santiago assures her fiancée that even though Peralta might not be a word wizard, she loves his bright and sharp detective mind.
During the discussion, Jake has a moment of enlightenment and correctly deduces the culprit is a woman they met at the puzzle night. She had a Fatal Attraction type crush on Vin and wasn’t spelling out her name, but a marriage proposal through the crimes. Impressed by Peralta’s detective skills, Vin proposes they should hang out. This time Boyle becomes the jealous one and quickly sends Stermley on his way. Only Charles can be Jake’s best friend.
Meanwhile, Gina and Holt are sizing up the competition for commissioner before the Captain attends a meet and greet with the other candidates. At least Holt stands out since the other potential contenders are all old white men who want to stay the course and have wives that eerily look like the same person. Two of them even share the same name. If the higher ups are looking for fresh blood with innovative ideas, he should be a shoo in for the position.

Captain Olivia Crawford (Allison Tolman), a young woman, is also in the running for the head of police.  After the two captains meet, Holt is hit with the feeling of being obsolete. She has many forward-thinking views and even uses his own trick against him of pausing to indicate a fake compliment. Threatened, Holt chats with the head of the selection committee to sabotage his new adversary. He learns her nomination was only for show, and the department has no intentions of selecting a woman commissioner. Looking back upon all the times he was discriminated against for being black and gay, Holt blows the whistle and ensures a fairer selective process. The next day he is visited by his new frenemy, Crawford, who expresses her gratitude for what he’s done. Although she has new respect and admiration for the head of the Nine-Nine, she is still going to beat Holt out for the commissioner job.
This episode had two of the main cast dealing with their feelings of inadequacy. Holt was concerned he was another aging dinosaur in the NYPD as he compared himself to the upstart and forward-thinking Captain Crawford. His idea of hiring social media officers paled in comparison to Olivia’s revolutionary idea to eliminate precincts all together. However, if he really wanted to maintain the status quo, he would not have stood up for her. Holt didn’t have many opportunities for advancement because he was different as a black, gay officer. He didn’t want to see the same thing happen to Crawford.  Speaking of Crawford, she comes off as a worthy adversary for Holt moving on. She is a Wuntch light being able to go head to head with Holt, but hopefully she won’t be as hostile. At least being a friend is part of being a frenemy.
Jake on the other hand was feeling insecure working with the total package, Vin. He neither was as good looking, or as book smart. He might not be able to solve a word scramble, but he can solve any case. He has intelligence in other areas, like being a detective. This episode used this relationship drama to reaffirm how close of a bond and loving relationship Jake and Amy have. It was also a nice touch to have Melissa Fumero’s real life husband playing a potential suitor for Santiago.
My favorite three lines: 
Diaz:  Holy crap.  It has a heads up display with built in plate readers.
Scully:  Forget that, it has two built in burrito holders.
Diaz:  Those are cup holders.
Scully:  Oh yeah?  Then what am I supposed to use my thighs for genius?
—
Gina:  Wow, the competition looks even older in person.  What do you think these dinosaurs are talking about?  Where to find Matlock reruns?
Holt:  Be professional, Gina.  Like the home care nurses who will tuck them into bed tonight.
—
Holt:  I paused suggestively before I said “experience” so he would know it wasn’t really a compliment.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Sunday nights at 8:30 pm on Fox.