Over the course of eight seasons the detectives of Brooklyn Nine-Nine have dealt with a lot of ridiculous people. This is, after all, a series that has featured a recurring character named Bill Hummertrout, who just happens to look a lot like Charles Boyle. But the strangest and most mysterious of them all by far is Adrian Pimento. Little is known about his past, and with the series on the verge of coming to an end, it's unlikely that fans will ever get any answers.

Pimento first appeared in Season 3, Episode 17. After spending more than a decade undercover as Paul Sneed to get information on Jimmy "The Butcher" Figgis, he returned to the Nine-Nine. Not surprisingly, the only people around from before he went undercover were Hitchcock and Scully. Those two have been members of the NYPD longer than anyone seems to know, and spent a large portion of that time asleep at their desks.

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Adrian Pimento wants to start a fire

It became clear extremely quickly how unstable Adrian was. He was random, violent, and prone to acts of extreme absurdity, none of which made sense to anyone other than Rosa Diaz. Her attraction to him was apparent from almost moment one. She connected with him on a level basically no one else did, which was probably for the best. As Rosa put it, her feelings for Adrian were a strong indication of his many problems, something Jake should have listened to.

A lot of people pointed to his time working for Figgis as the reason for his instability, and it's true that Pimento did commit numerous horrific acts while maintaining his cover. But no one knows for sure his undercover work was the reason, as Adrian's past has never been discussed on any substantial level. In the same episode he debuted in, he retrieved some personal effects that seemed to indicate that he had a family before going undercover. No further details were ever provided.

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Television Brooklyn Nine-Nine Adrian Pimento

Another reference to his family popped up in Season 4, Episode 6. Pimento finally came out of hiding after Figgis was captured, with the intention of marrying Rosa. But he refused to do it without his grandmother's earrings, which he had pawned many years earlier. Leaving the insane trip with Gina and Jake to retrieve them aside, this represents one of the extremely few mentions of his actual family or any acknowledgment of his previous life.

The reality is that no one really knows anything about Adrian Pimento, something that extends well beyond his family history. Simply put, he could have been this strange a person before he went undercover. Frankly, it's probably why the NYPD sent him undercover with Figgis in the first place. Pimento was already so unbalanced that he fit right into the mob boss's operations without missing a beat.

At this point, it's highly unlikely that Brooklyn Nine-Nine is going to reveal the truth to Adrian Pimento's pre-undercover life. And that's honestly for the best. Part of what makes his character work is the air of mystery surrounding him and that he has the potential to be anything. Explaining him takes that mystique away, making him that much less engaging. Plus, there is no satisfactory answer to why Pimento is the way he is, anyway.

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