Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 3 episode 10 caps off its Die Hard homage with Charles' misquote "Yippie kayak, other buckets," and its glorious. Die Hard is a classic action film that has an interesting backstory. The movie is based on thriller novel Nothing Last Forever by author Roderick Thorp, with the main character Joe Leland first appearing in Thorp's The Detective. The latter was turned into a movie in 1968 starring Frank Sinatra. When producers wanted to turn Nothing Last Forever into a movie, they contractually had to offer the part to Sinatra first; by that point, the legendary crooner had retired from acting.
Bruce Willis was far from the first choice for Die Hard, and the project had passed from Burt Reynolds to Arnold Schwarrzzengger and everyone in-between; contrary to rumors, the script was never in consideration for the unmade Commando II. Willis eventually accepted a large payday for Die Hard and the movie's mix of action, humor, and insanely quotable dialogue made it a resounding success. Willis would return for four sequels of gradually decreasing quality, and while a prequel/sequel script dubbed McClane exists, it's unknown if or when it will move ahead.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a sitcom that stars Andy Samberg as Jake Peralta, a talented cop in the titular precinct who is also pretty childish and immature. His favorite movie is Die Hard and he rarely misses a chance to quote or reference it. In season 3 episode 10 "Yippie Kayak," all his Christmases' come at once when he's trapped in a store during a hostage takeover. The episode finds Jake having to buy best friend Boyle a Christmas gift, as he'd forgotten to pick one up. He and Gina head to the store, only for Boyle to tag along too.
It doesn't take long for Brooklyn Nine-Nine's "Yippie Kayak" to kick into gear, as mere minutes after they enter, armed thugs take over the store. Jake calls Terry about the robbery, who quickly arrives on the scene and butts heads with known butthead The Vulture (Dean Winters, Oz), who acts as the show's version of Dwayne T. Robinson. While the robbery is happening, Amy is joining Holt and Rosa on a cold swim - despite hating the cold - and quickly wusses out once her feet touch the icy water. She later braves the water to angrily inform the Captain of the hostage situation.
Meanwhile, Jake is in heaven living out his Die Hard fantasy. He does recon and writes the names of the bad guys on his arm - who he dubs with stereotypical German names - while improvising weapons out of random items. When Gina is taken hostage he and Charles knock out most of the captors, and Jake lets himself get captured too to save Charles. Just when Jake is about to be executed Charles emerges from the vents to save the day, knocking out the remaining villains and capping it off with the TV-friendly misquote "Yippie kayak, other buckets."
Brooklyn Nine-Nine "Yippee Kayak" also sees Terry stand up to The Vulture, who just wants to leave and go on his "massage tour of Southeast Asia". Terry forcibly takes over the operation and manages to capture the last of the fleeing robbers. The episode ends with Amy and Jake reunited while the latter explains the gift situation to Boyle, who naturally forgives him.