All 4 Christmas Episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Ranked

There are only four Christmas-themed episodes included over the eight-season run of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but they’re all hilarious chapters in the series’ history. Brooklyn Nine-Nine ran for 153 episodes on both Fox and NBC from 2013 to 2021, following the adventures of the detective crew of Brooklyn’s 99th NYPD precinct. The series received critical acclaim throughout its run, and received high praise for its portrayal of LGBTQ+ themes and for focusing on the issues surrounding contemporary policing in the United States, but it blended these real moments of drama with some fantastic comedy—especially at the Holidays.

While Halloween was a regularly-celebrated Holiday in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and we often saw the crew gathering for Thanksgiving, Christmas was only celebrated four times in the series’ eight-year history. Only Brooklyn Nine-Nine seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4 included Christmas episodes, while season 5 didn’t celebrate Christmas in the mid-season finale, and seasons 6, 7, and 8 were all shorter and released earlier in the year. The four Christmas episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine were brilliant, however, but it’s still easy to figure out which ones of these are the best.

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4) “Captain Latvia” (Season 4, Episode 10)

Season 4, episode 10, “Captain Latvia,” released as the last Christmas episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine on December 13, 2016. “Captain Latvia” primarily followed Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) after the latter promised his son an imported Captain Latvia toy for Christmas, only for it to be connected to the Latvian mob. This story was lackluster, but provided funny moments, including when Boyle smashes mugs with his bare hands. The B-story of the rest of the crew trying to defeat the MTA during the annual Christmas singing competition was brilliant, and ended with a heartfelt message.

3) “Christmas” (Season 1, Episode 11)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s first Christmas episode, aptly titled “Christmas,” released on December 3, 2013. This episode only loosely explored the Christmas period, with Peralta and Boyle breaking up a brawl between two Santas in the cold open. The bulk of the story focused on Captain Holt (Andre Braugher—who was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in this episode) receiving death threats, and Peralta being assigned to protection duty. “Christmas” developed the bond between Peralta and Holt, and ended in Boyle’s game-changing sacrifice to save Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz) by taking two bullets to the butt.

2) “The Pontiac Bandit Returns” (Season 2, Episode 10)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 2, episode 10, brought back Craig Robinson as Doug Judy, aka the Pontiac Bandit. After being captured by Peralta—disguised as Santa Claus—Judy teams up with the Nine-Nine to catch Tito Ruiz (Luis Moncada), the ringleader behind Giggle Pig. B-stories involving Boyle and Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti) attending a gift exchange with their newly-romantic parents, and Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) making a gift for Holt that leads to her discovering a mistake in one of his old cases, are fantastic, and make “The Pontiac Bandit Returns” from December 7, 2014, one of the series’ best episodes.

1) “Yippie Kayak” (Season 3, Episode 10)

While all four of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Christmas episodes have their strengths, season 3’s “Yippie Kayak,” originally released on December 13, 2015, is surely the strongest. Peralta finds himself living in his favorite movie, Die Hard, when villains attack a department store just before Christmas, trapping him, Gina, and Boyle—who he’d forgotten to buy a gift for—inside. High-octane, intense, hilarious, thrilling, and showcasing the best qualities of all its characters, even Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) and the Vulture (Dean Winters), “Yippie Kayak” received critical acclaim, and has been celebrated as one of the best episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

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