NutriBoom
Jake and Charles infiltrate a pyramid scheme.
"NutriBoom" is the 16th episode of the fifth season of the American television police sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and the 106th overall episode. It was written by David Phillips and directed by Trent O'Donnell, airing on Fox on April 15, 2018, back-to-back with the next episode, "DFW". The episode features guest appearances from Jay Chandrasekhar, Winston Story, and Drew Tarver.
Quick Facts
- Series
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- Season
- 5
- Episode
- 16
- Director
- Trent O'Donnell
- Writer
- David Phillips
- Photographer
- Giovani Lampassi
- Editor
- Jason Gill
- Production
- 515
Facts from the source article.
Plot
In the cold open, Jake sets up an elaborate trap to get a pigeon to fly out of the office, but it backfires when the pigeon flies into a fan. Jake is visited by Bill, the NutriBoom representative who made him sign a contract, and is reminded of his obligations. Tired of NutriBoom, Jake and Charles decide to confront the heads of the company. At headquarters, Jake learns he must pay $10,000 to end the contract or become a benefactor, which he refuses.
They infiltrate NutriBoom to find evidence regarding the possible homicide of CEO David Stovelman's wife Debbie, aided by comedian and filmmaker Jay Chandrasekhar, who is forced to be the face of NutriBoom's ads. They discover Debbie is alive and secretly running the organization, having paid a private company to make her disappear and avoid federal investigation. She taunts Jake that the company has no proof of their activities and bribes him to back down, but he refuses and reports her to the FBI.
NutriBoom begins surveilling Jake and Amy to intimidate them. Meanwhile, Amy becomes Sergeant and starts teaching new recruits, but finds recruit Gary Jennings annoying and an upbeat overachiever. Recognizing him as a version of herself from her early days, she tries various ways to avoid him, consulting Rosa, Terry, and Gina for suggestions, all of which fail. Raymond Holt advises her to listen to Gary's ideas, as he did with her. Amy apologizes to Gary and decides to listen to him more.
Reception
According to Nielsen Media Research, the original American broadcast of "NutriBoom" drew an estimated 1.79 million household viewers and earned a 0.8/3 ratings share among adults aged 18 to 49. This represented a slight uptick from the prior episode, which had 1.74 million viewers and the same 0.8/3 demographic rating. The 0.8 figure means 0.8 percent of all television-owning households watched the episode, while the 3 indicates that 3 percent of households actively watching TV at that time tuned in.
That night on FOX, "NutriBoom" ranked as the third highest-rated show, ahead of The Last Man on Earth but behind Bob's Burgers and The Simpsons. It placed fifth in its timeslot and ninth overall for the night, trailing programs such as Little Big Shots, Bob's Burgers, The Simpsons, 60 Minutes, America's Funniest Home Videos, American Idol, a James Comey interview, and the 53rd Academy of Country Music Awards. Critics responded positively. LaToya Ferguson of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, observing that the show revisited its pyramid scheme storyline and that earlier Halloween Heist episodes had included a detail about the founder's wife appearing happy and healthy, a red flag the episode acknowledges.
Alan Sepinwall of Uproxx noted that the NutriBoom case highlighted the series' strong roster of recurring characters, building an entire A-story around Bill, the Boyle lookalike, and that a combination of Scientology and a pyramid scheme as Jake's new recurring antagonist suited the show's tone better than past gangsters and crooked cops.
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