Let me get something out of the way from the start: it is a damn shame that the popular fan-dream of Brooklyn Nine-Nine becoming a workplace sitcom about Post Office workers looks to just be a fantasy. With the last year creating a bold divide between those who believe in the “Black Lives Matter” movement and those who are racist, many folks rallied behind the idea of the likes of Peralta, Holt, Diaz, Santiago, Boyle, Jeffords, Hitchcock, Scully remaining as police officers for the Ninety-Ninth district. While this is a minor let-down, I do trust Michael Schur and Dan Goor to tread carefully given the social and political climate that has evolved so much in the last few months.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine has always conquered and excelled at telling stories that help audiences feel like they are not alone. These include the beautiful story of Rosa Diaz’s (Stephanie Beatriz) coming out as bisexual and Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) feeling ready to tell her story of being sexually harassed. After the last fifteen years, and with the media focusing a lot of their efforts on the murder of George Floyd, the policing institution has been the rightful focus of scrutiny from civil rights activists and citizens alike.
On top of the queer representation and its work done to help victims receive some solace, this show has already touched upon police brutality way back in their fourth season. Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) had been racially profiled outside his own home, and the writers delicately wrote the jokes so that the white officers were unaware something like this could happen, even if they were doing something much more troublesome.
In a GQ Interview, Brooklyn Nine-Nine lead Andy Samberg talked about how their show will be unable to avoid these issues. He goes on to tell the magazine that the writers had to rewrite their now eighth and final season because of 2020’s summer protests for defunding the institution of police and replacing it with something that does not regularly kill Black and brown folks. While I do not need to hear Andy Samberg’s thoughts on these conversations, it is refreshing to read about this interview GQ had with him and how the SNL alum was not confident in what their show can do to help this conflict that has been going on since long before Derek Chauvin murdered a man in the street.
Now, onto the trailer and the eighth season. The first 25 seconds have the same tone that a show like Brooklyn Nine-Nine has had for their entire run. Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) is being romantic about his friendship with Jake Peralta (Samberg) and how he imagined that the two of them would be gray-haired and in a nursing home still being police detectives. With an interlude of clips from seasons passed, cutting from color to black-and-white, the heartstrings are pulled from the jump. The rest of the trailer is filled with snippets from the future ten episodes that instantly increase my excitement for the stories about to be told.
Comic relief characters within a sitcom have to excel beyond the main plot and those big jokes, and that is exactly the role that Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller) fulfill beautifully. Being detectives that eat and sleep their way to solving countless cases and are the slobs of the precinct, an episode that has carbon copies of these two will likely have me belly-laughing throughout. Also, the added element of Peralta and Santiago having their infant son, McClane Peralta, to look after while still being full-time working parents should add some grounded and human elements to this heightened sitcom world.
Even though the ensemble cast of characters always hit their marks, this show has also been known to host its own equally unique guest stars. With quick frames of Chelsea Peretti’s Gina Linetti, Craig Robinson’s Doug Judy, Marc Evan Jackson’s Kevin Cozner, Jason Mantzoukas’s Adrian Pimento, and Nicole Byer’s Trudy Judy. There was also a quick glimpse (and a surprise for me) of the always incredible John C. McGinley. While his role is currently unknown at this time, I am always ready for some Johnny C, no matter the size of his role. These characters, while smaller than the main cast, still played an integral role in making Brooklyn Nine-Ninethe show it is today, so I am very much happy their characters will also receive a send-off.
There are hints at how Michael Schur and Dan Goor will present this show in a world that is not that tolerant of anything regarding cops or the police force. The aforementioned opening 25 seconds drops some hints that the Brooklyn cops will no longer be detectives come the finale. The slogan of “One Last Ride” alludes to this as well, along with Peralta being nostalgic with his coworkers calling them his family— a department the show has documented has hurt him in the past.
This show coming to an end makes sense for a myriad of reasons, most of which are outlined above. There are also not a lot more stories that can be told while still being true to the original vibe established all those years ago. I have trust in the creative minds behind shows like The Office, Parks and Recreation, and The Good Place to stick the landing while still being conscious of their subject matter.
Who knows, maybe they will all become loyal workers for the USPS following the ten episodes?
