'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Season 7 Episode 10 Review: Jake’s plan to break Peralta father-son curse fails epically
Spoilers for 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Season 7 Episode 10: 'Admiral Peralta'
Jake Peralta's (Andy Samberg) daddy issues are no stranger to the show's list of running gags. From being abandoned by his father at the young age of seven to having his father infrequently present in his life, Roger Peralta (Bradley Whitford) builds less and damages more every time he shows up. But to add to our concerns of Jake undergoing some traumatic memory or the other, this time, in season 7 episode 10, Roger appears with his progenitor - the titular 'Admiral Peralta' who, as Roger claims, is an even worse father than even him. Thus we are introduced to the infamous Peralta curse where every generation is cursed with male children that they somehow just can't have a good relationship with. And as Jake braves his daddy issues on the brink of becoming a new father, Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) tackles Captain Raymond Holt's (Andre Braugher) mentorship.
The episode kicks off with Jake and his wife, Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), announcing to the precinct that they are having a baby. They don't get the reaction they were expecting because well - they didn't exactly do the best job at keeping it hidden by actually overdoing it, so now the onus to make a big deal out of everything is on Jake, through a gender reveal party. Invited to this party is Jake's dad Roger who just can't seem to go on and on about the Peralta curse and the Peralta men's long history of being absolutely ruthless and terrible at parenting their sons - from abandoning to verbally abusing them to a point of no redemption. This just makes things worse for Jake because he already has severe trauma from abandonment issues, and now there's added anxiety about screwing up his relationship with a prospective son too.
So Jake does what any panicked mess would do and invites over his father's dad, Admiral Peralta, so his father could fix his relationship, thus assuring Jake that everything will turn out fine when his time comes. Sadly, things don't work out because Roger wasn't exaggerating. From accusing his son of being hospitalized to taking constant digs at his infamous promiscuity, the admiral barely makes any attempts at resolving things between them, and Roger only makes it worse. Dysfunctional doesn't even cut the surface of the giant mess that is Roger and his father's relationship and it is only made worse by the gender reveal cake falling on the ground and exploding to reveal the color.
To Jake's horror, the color is blue - meaning he's having a boy and the Peralta curse lives on. Luckily for him though, he gets to do this with Amy - the most sorted and organized person at everything ever. Amy gives Jake the assurance that him caring enough to make all of this work shows how he'll always be different from the Peralta fathers before him, and Samberg's changing moods has Jake going from panicked to calm to disgusted and horrified because his dad accidentally chops his thumb off while cutting the cake, which is priceless. Whitford brings his A-game as Roger as well, and as a rare recurring appearance, Roger Peralta has been missed quite a lot.
However, in what seems like a mindless but hilarious filler to an otherwise dramatic episode, reassurance comes to Terry after copious amounts of 'Whiplash'. In a recreation of the Oscar-nominated movie, we see Terry interested in joining the NYPD band as a flutist with Captain Raymond Holt expressing distaste at first, and later an unforeseen interest in mentoring Terry. Holt goes from calm and poised to a raging, demeaning maniac in a matter of seconds and it only makes us marvel at what the show would be without the conflicted, reserved and yet absolutely crazy portrayal by Braugher.
'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' Season 7 airs Thursdays at 8:30 pm only on NBC.