Brooklyn Nine-Nine made extensive headlines last week with its sudden sitcom Lazarus act, moving from “beloved fifth-season comedy series” to “unjustly canceled martyr” to “proud member of the NBC fall line-up” in the span of just 24 hours. But where does this sudden burst of Nine-Nine interest leave everybody who’s never actually watched the show, and who now find themselves lost in the midst of a cloud of enthusiasm, questions, and hype? Questions like, “Why do people keep saying ‘Noice’?” “Didn’t they all move to Florida one time?” and “What’s the deal with Joe Lo Truglio’s hair?”
Luckily, Hollywood superhero Terry Crews is here to save us once again. Vanity Fair recently got Crews—who plays yogurt-loving Sergeant Terry Jeffords on the series—to give an enthusiastically loud run-down of the show’s various plots, helping get newcomers up to speed before it returns to NBC for a sixth season later this year. Admittedly, the show’s pleasures have less to do with plotting than with its writing and characters—and if we’re being honest, we’d probably be just as jazzed by a seven-minute video of Crews happily yelling at us about any topic you’d care to name—but it’s still a good primer for anybody whose interest has been piqued by the series’ recent high-profile ups and downs.