Brooklyn Nine-Nine: 10 Things You Completely Missed From Season One
5. Why Is Ethel Familiar?
Because the show's creators, Michael Schur and Dan Goor, were the showrunners over Parks & Recreation, it was no surprise when a couple of familiar faces started making cameos here and there on Brooklyn 99. Nick Offerman appeared as Holt's old flame. Jim O' Heir plays a sanctimonious sheriff.
Although these cameos are obvious and became more commonplace as the series progresses, there is one that a lot of people missed. In the third episode, The Slump, Ray Holt accuses Jake Peralta of slacking with his work. Peralta says his boss is wrong since he just completed a missing person case on an elderly woman called Ethel. When he reintroduces Ethel to her alleged grandson, Peralta realises he screwed up since the pair aren't related in any way.
Although not everyone recognised the actress portraying Ethel, Helen Slayton-Hughes, she appeared in Parks & Rec for three seasons as a courtroom stenographer. As a bonus in-joke, both of her characters have the exact same name - Ethel. (Although it could have been a coincidence. I mean, she does look like an Ethel.)