The Final Season of Brooklyn-99

By Ali S.

October 31, 2021

In April 2020, police sitcom Brooklyn-99 released the finale of their seventh season. The episode would go on to become the third highest rated episode of the series at the time, a needed win for the struggling sitcom. Production of the new eighth season halted due to the pandemic, and the writers started running out of ideas on how to keep the show fresh. It tumbled down even further when the public opinion of the police force changed due to the BLM movement. Even for a show that touted progressive ideals of policing, producing another season would be extremely difficult. 

At its most basic form, Brooklyn-99 is just a sitcom about a precinct in the  NYPD. It’s style can be likened to a more upbeat version of The Office or Parks and Recreation. Jake Peralta, the show’s main character, is a cheerful yet slightly childish detective who's at odds with his precinct’s stern new captain, Raymond Holt. The two create an excellent dynamic, each trying to get ahead of the other’s antics. The dynamic extends to the other characters of the show as each detective represents a very specific role. This is all brought together with the show’s excellent writing. Each episode finds the detectives in a new scenario: sometimes in high stakes action-packed cases, and other times fooling around and playing games in the workplace. The series also has recurring episodes, in which the detectives would participate in yearly traditions, such as the famous “Halloween Heist.” While it does tackle serious issues occasionally, the show rarely takes itself seriously, which is a part of the reason it has such a wide appeal. 

The BLM movement brought solemness to the roles and responsibility of the police and the writers faced a new dilemma: how could they reference the movement in a serious manner while still retaining the comedy? Well, this would be no new ground to them. Season 4, Episode 16 was about the controversial topic of racism in the police force, and still managed to be one of the highest rated episodes in the entire series. Could the writers repeat the formula, and for a whole season at that? To their advocacy, they tried. 

Season 8, Episode 1 released on August 12, 2021...and immediately flopped. It became the worst performing episode in Brooklyn-99 history via IMDB ratings, with a 4.9/10 rating (for context, the next worst performing episode scored a 6.4). What went wrong? One IMDB reviewer perfectly summarized the main problem: “the comedy was missing from a comedy show.” The writers failed at integrating actual humor into the first episode and the attempt to discuss real issues was awfully received by audiences. For a show whose biggest strength was excellent writing, the failure of this episode hit really hard.

Fortunately, the rest of the season did at least somewhat better. Season 8, Episode 3 was able to revisit the issues while writing in a similar style of the old Brooklyn-99 episodes. And it was still funny, with plenty of laughs and good situational comedy. But the true nature of the show culminated in the finale, a two-episode long heist that brought the series to a meaningful and resolute conclusion. Both episodes made the top 5 of Brooklyn-99 IMDB ratings (9.5 and 9.6) with overwhelmingly positive fan and critic reviews.  

So how did Season 8 do? It was a mixed bag of good and bad, and the reviews show. Numerous reviews fail to remain unbiased, often letting their political stances write the reviews for them. But at the end of the day, Brooklyn-99 proved that it was possible to create a good show addressing important issues while still retaining their comedic elements.

Sources Used: 

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/brooklyn_nine_nine/s08

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?series=tt2467372&view=simple&sort=user_rating,desc

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11291232/reviews?sort=userRating&dir=desc&ratingFilter=0