Captain Raymond Holt was the robotic heart and soul of the precinct on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. As the series went on, fans got a glimpse into the man behind the wooden exterior. But one Season 7 episode in particular showed fans what Captain Holt was like at his absolute best and his absolute worst. And it also may have implied something incredibly amazing about him and his connection to a major action movie franchise.
When Holt joined the 99th Precinct as the new captain in Season 1, Episode 1, he fulfilled a lifelong dream. Holt joined the NYPD in the late 1970s, but rising up the ranks was difficult for him as a gay, Black man. Many of his co-workers were racist, homophobic, or both. It was a long time before the NYPD even appeared to accept him. Then, it was even longer before they put him in a real position of authority.
By his nature, Captain Holt's personality was more than a little wooden. But the more time he spent with the detectives of the 99, the more he opened up. Make no mistake, the man was still borderline robotic at times. Still, he became increasingly comfortable with the people he worked with, building a new type of family in the NYPD that he had never experienced before. He also had a family in his personal life, namely his husband Kevin and their corgi Cheddar.
Kevin and Cheddar became fixtures around the 99th Precinct. So when Cheddar was kidnapped in Season 7, Episode 12 to try and pressure Holt into releasing some information, no one was surprised when he took it poorly. It was an interesting episode because it was by far the most Holt had ever emoted in the entire series. He was distraught by the fact that his fluffy boy was missing and it was heartbreaking, real, and raw.
At the same time, the man also went completely off the rails. There was a point where he just loaded up on grenades, though no one really knew what his plans for them were. Fortunately, Jake stepped in and made Holt put the grenades back before he blew something up. This was, by far, the most unhinged Holt became throughout the run of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Keeping in mind that it was funny, it also wasn't exactly a good look on him.
Eventually Jake managed to free Cheddar, though he was captured in the process. Holt arrived to rescue him, fighting the kidnapper singlehandedly until the rest of the NYPD arrived to clean up what was left of the perpetrator. At one point, Holt was riding on the roof of the car the bad guy was speeding away in with Jake. It's important to note that Holt was more interested in catching the guy who took Cheddar than he was in rescuing Jake.
This episode was an odd look into an emotional Holt from two different perspectives, one more positive than the other. But at the end of the adventure, Holt added another wrinkle into the mix when he heavily implied that he was the inspiration for Sgt. Murtagh from Lethal Weapon. Given the big-time action moves Holt pulled off in this episode, it might be more likely that Holt was the inspiration for Riggs.