Brooklyn Nine-Nine comes to a close with one last jam-packed, star-studded, twist-filled heist
"The Last Day" illustrates the folly of creating a perfect goodbye while reaching for one anyway
TV Reviews Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Sitcom finales appropriately indulge in nostalgia. They’re the last chance for viewers to hang out with beloved characters they’ve been watching for years. It’s as much an opportunity for them to say goodbye to each other as it is to say goodbye to the audience. Naturally, it’s an emotional affair, and any plot mostly exists to service fond farewells. However, the best finales tend to illustrate that life inevitably goes on. Things change, people move on, but everyone keeps plugging away. The only difference is that we no longer get to check in on their progress.
“The Last Day” is far from Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s finest hour, but it deserves credit for checking off every series finale box while telling a fun story without going overboard on saccharine material. It runs through the series’ greatest hits while reuniting the original core ensemble and bringing back numerous guest stars without any of it feeling too labored. It also succeeds in being pretty funny and decently affecting, which is tough for any sitcom running out its eighth year. Most importantly, though, it delivers on expectations while having a sense of humor about those expectations. It’s the equivalent of someone dutifully following through on tradition as they smirk about the silliness of the tradition itself.
In retrospect, there was no way we were going to get through a final Brooklyn Nine-Nine season without one last heist episode. Not only are they fan favorites, but even the weaker ones tend to utilize the entire ensemble very well. But Jake has an ulterior motive for the eighth annual heist (no longer tethered to any holiday, by the way): he’s quitting the Nine-Nine to be a stay-at-home father and wants to plan a perfect goodbye to the squad. Obviously, Jake believes he’s one step ahead of the entire team when he’s really one step behind at least two members at any given moment. Holt also uses the heist to plan his perfect goodbye, Amy uses it to plan a going away party for Jake, and everyone else wants to win the crown.
Like many (great, good, and terrible) heist movies, the plot is needlessly complicated and absurd. Twists and double/triple crosses pile on top of each other with reckless abandon to the point where it becomes very difficult to follow. (Of course, it doesn’t really matter.) There are riddles, an armored vehicle, magnet suits, drones, fireworks, multiple Cheddar appearances, and a fake coma scare leading into a Mission: Impossible parody. Gina returns for some sweater-based shenanigans, but she’s not the only one. Caleb the Cannibal (Tim Meadows), Adrian Pimento (Jason Mantzoukas), Teddy Ramos (Kyle Bornheimer), Mlepnos (Fred Armisen) all make brief, memorable appearances, as well as the resident Charles Boyle impersonator Bill (Winston Story), who returns to creep up the joint one last time.
In short, there’s a lot going on. “The Last Day” feels downright manic and rushed for at least the first half hour. It genuinely seems like either the dialogue has been artificially sped up in post-production or every actor delivers their lines at hyper speed in order to keep each scene under time. It’s mildly impressive how many locations and set-ups and characters the Brooklyn Nine-Nine packs into 40+ minutes of television, but the flip side to that is how little room some scenes and jokes have to breathe. I’m loath to ding a show for rapid-fire humor at a time when we’re in such low supply of it, but in this case, it really does feel like some punchlines have no landing room. This tactic will likely pay off for anyone who wants to re-watch the finale to pick up on series callbacks or jokes they’ve missed, but watching it live felt kind of dizzying.
One good aspect of the quick pace and overstuffed plot is that “The Last Day” can’t get too bogged down in too much sentimentality. An early scene when Jake reveals his decision to quit the force to Amy led me to believe the entire episode would take a similar approach, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine mostly restrains itself. After all, the show has said goodbye a couple times before, so there’s no real reason to run it back again and again. Jake gives Charles one last pep talk. Holt supports and encourages Terry’s dream to be captain. Amy doles out advice to Rosa, even though she doesn’t really need it. It’s executed with maximum sincerity but never becomes maudlin.
With that said, Brooklyn Nine-Nine waits until its final minutes for the potentially tear-jerking moments, including a final scene between Jake and Holt. There’s really no way for the show to mine any novel feeling out of their surrogate father-son relationship, so they don’t really try. Holt tells him that he’s glad to have watched him grow up and that he’s proud of him before cracking a robot and a “Title of Your Sex Tape” joke. (Being Holt, he calls it a “sex movie.”) It shouldn’t work all that well, and yet watching Andy Samberg get fully choked up and try to hold it together puts the scene over the top.
It’s admirable how much “The Last Day” is about the folly of creating a perfect goodbye, which can easily be extended to the folly of creating a perfect series finale. Along with being inherently sad, goodbyes are often messy and never as satisfying as you expect them to be. In the end, Hitchcock, who was never actually in Brazil, wins the crowd by paying off Bill and the squad has a drink in the precinct instead of at Shaw’s. All the gifts Jake, Holt, and Amy planned to give everyone got scrambled together during the heist and the affair never once reached perfection. Yet, they muddled through it together anyway, which is exactly the point of last hurrahs. Plus, no ending is as final as we think. As the brief flash-forward indicates, the Nine-Nine squad will continue to pull off ridiculous heists every single year, even though they no longer work together. We just won’t get to see it.
Stray observations
- My favorite callback of the episode was the brief scene of Jake trying (and failing) to re-capture the magic of the acclaimed “I Want It That Way” scene with a new set of perps singing “Car Wash.”
- I also genuinely loved how Charles has become the Jake of the precinct, including being partnered up with a needy, Boyle-like detective.
- Pray for Bill. The “nursing room seductions” industry has been greatly impacted by the pandemic.
- Andy Samberg’s wife, and excellent artist, Joanna Newsom briefly cameos in the episode. I believe this is her first acting appearance since her brief turn in Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.
- The “Another Surprise Reveal…” sweatshirt runner sort of works like the rake gag from The Simpsons. It eventually hits a skid, but by the time the seventh or eighth version comes along, it becomes funny again.
- Is the fourth heist considered the best? Discuss!
- “My doctor says I’m in my twilight years.” “That means you’re close to death.” “But it has such a pretty name!”
- “That’s what you get for being a nerd who wears seatbelts. Cool people die gruesome, preventable deaths.”
- That’s it for The A.V. Club’s coverage of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I was happy to take over for its last few weeks, but most of the credit goes to LaToya Ferguson, who covered the show from its second season until the beginning of its last. (Special shout out to Marah Eakin for recapping the first season back in 2014.) It’s been fun. Nine-Nine!
148 Comments
Do I get credit for calling the stay-at-home-dad thing? Because I totally did. In some episode’s comments.
I remember this prediction in these comments. kudos!
This wasn’t their strongest season, but this was a very enjoyable finale. I thought it was a maybe a little too full of references to the past, but I liked seeing characters like Caleb and Mlepnos show up one last time.I will miss this show dearly. I’m very glad my friend and I came across it on Hulu trying to find things to watch one day in summer 2013.
“Terry put up a balloon arch just for the heist?” “No, I do that every week.” “I guess we just kept rubbing off on each other. Title of your sex movie. Did I do that right?” “It was perfect.”Never stop never stopping, Raymond Holt.
If “Title of Your Sex Movie” was the last thing Holt got to say, I would have 100% fine with that.
“We’re not married…I’m just here for Amy…..PHYSICALLY.” — TeddyBest line of the episodes.
Most relatable line of the episode was Jake asking to be put back in a coma after finding out Amy got back with TeddyBut also really loved Jake telling Holt quitting his job to become a stay at home dad was an easy decision, as he looked at his angelic nerd wife
Teddy was my least favorite cameo UNTIL “I’ll wait in the car for two hours,” after the reveal that he’s already married. Now, I have no least favorite cameo.
“Then who’s in our shower?”“IT’S ME. CAPTAIN HOLT.”O captain, my Captain!
That was a fittingly great last cold open for a show that has had so many great cold opens.
Oh yeah, I had forgotten about the balloon arch callback. VINDICATION is definitely one of the all-time BNN moments (I even made a video meme with it at one point).
But why would Holt set up a balloon arch on Wuntch’s grave? He thinks they’re elegant and beautiful. I was confused about that one
“Now she’s just a corpse with worms for eyes. Same as when she was alive.” I’m going to miss Braugher in this role so much. And that tattoo reveal!!
I’d give you a star, but this is just too noice.
Title of your sex tape. 😉
That was a very, very good series finale. Not as good as The Good Place but definitely up there.Other than the Holt/Peralta talk at the end, the fact that they used the opening credits as a time they were at the “Brooklyn Bridge” — when it is in no way, shape, or form the Brooklyn Bridge — was perhaps my favorite part as it got the biggest laugh.
It’s also somewhat amusing they Amy said they only did it that one time, when it was the second version of that shot they used (without Gina).
Wow, I just checked the original opening and Gina was there. I just assumed she was never there because as a civilian she wouldn’t be part of the dramatic ‘going into action’ shot.
I don’t think you can outdo the Good Place finale. Seems like an impossible act to follow.
The show started going meta tonight. And I loved it!
I loved the meta so much. The entire episode was a love letter to the fans, and it was all I wanted.
That’s my favorite “the opening sequence is canon” since Fresh Prince’s “That’s the dude who’s spinning me over his head in the credits”
Was weirdly thinking about that bit a few days ago.
The greatest opening-sequence-is-canon is still the “Females are strong as hell” guy news-witness from the “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” theme, appearing in the season 1 finale to drop some wisdom on Titus.
The bonus clip of the “full interview” that’s songified for the UKS theme song is one of my favourite things, especially the ending:
hahahahahaha! I had never seen that. Yeah, the ending made me cackle loud enough to summon my roommate. Good stuff.
and ..this
American Dad has incorporated its opening sequence into actual episodes a few times— once, when they were still doing newspaper sight gags, in the episode with Roger taking photos of himself to sell to tabloids, the sequence got cut short when there was one of those photos instead of the headline gag, so Stan stops his song-and-dance and the plot kickstarts.Another time, instead of following Stan outside to continue his theme song, the ‘camera’ stays in the house, and then another character’s theme song (made up for the bit) starts up, and then they leave, and then another character’s, and so on. It was meta as all hell.
Those two are great. My favorite is on Rick and Morty when they wanted to show Mr poopy Butthole had ‘been there the whole time’ by inserting him in the opening credits.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer did that as well. If I recall, and I could be wrong, once when some monster inserted itself into their lives and once with Jonathan instead of Buffy at the end.
I disagree about The Good Place finale. It was partly an anti-climax. My favorite conclusion — and a contrast to the 99 ending — is the end of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” In that series the workplace was being shut down. In this the police are going to persist (I’m afraid there is no alternative), but each character has changed as a result of Holt’s leadership and the interaction of the characters.
I’m a big fan of the Office finale, lot of things to love there.Michael’s return, Dwight firing Jim out of friendship, Erin meeting her parents.Also, the end of 30 Rock was great, even if the penultimate episode was the best part.
It is the Williamsburg Bridge.
I’m a week late to this, but they actually are at the Manhattan Bridge. I know the show shoots in LA, but I’m pretty sure those promo/opening theme shots were taken on location in DUMBO (the neighborhood in Brooklyn the bridge empties into – Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).
We can argue all we like about whether it’s propaganda or whatnot, but as cable shows become an endangered species and even the comedies get heavy as hell (see the “Broken” sketch from SNL), it was great to have a show so unapologetically silly and light. It was its time to go, but I’ll miss it.
Screw all of you naysayers. This show could have gone on another 5 seasons just fine. Sorry, I’m overreacting as usual…but I’m going to miss B99 terribly.
I agree. There are PLENTY of other cop shows to pick on, but B99 got the shaft because it’s one everyone enjoyed. And as we all know, an unwritten rule of the internet is “if it’s popular, we must band together to destroy it”.
I might be out of touch with the cool kids, but I never got the impression that the show was under assault for being a cop show—i mean, its not copaganda or anything, you have a bunch of clowns fooling around and occasionally doing police work.I just think the stars didn’t feel right doing a lighthearted police parody anymore given what happened last year.
I mean, depicting the NYPD as a bunch of lovable goofballs is a far stretch from the reality of that department, especially last year when they were driving ford explorers at pedestrians. Everyone in the cast wanted a good sendoff and they got it. This was already the last season and they scrapped what they had to make it more impactful. Nothing needs to last forever.
I’m not in the “ACAB” crowd by any stretch of the imagination, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine does seem to be “copaganda” to some extent (although I don’t think they set out to make a show glorifying police in the first place). Most cop shows (barring The Wire) do seem to fall into that category (albeit much more so than B99), whether intentionally or not. I love cop shows (even the NCIS franchise – sue me*), but I’m willing to acknowledge the limitations of the genre.*Please do not sue me.
I hate to disagree here because to me B99 was losing its signature charm- there was no more place for characters to grow anymore because they’d all matured a lot. Would I have watched 5 more seasons? Hell yes. But my biggest fear would be it descending into a nightmare like The Office and ruining the show’s image. B99’s 8th season, while funny, was also clearly its weakest and you could see the cast was uncomfortable playing cops after last year. They could’ve just kept it funny and lighthearted but I think it was better to end it and wait for the next Schurverse show to drop and consume us.
2Scranton2OfficeThe Office 2: Electric Boogaloo
I never got the impression that they were genuinely uncomfortable playing cops after the events of last year – perhaps I just wasn’t picking up on that?
Wasnt this already the last season before they revamped it to reflect events of 2020? I don’t think anyone in this cast really wanted it to go on any longer, but they wanted to give it the ending it deserved. I much rather see that then it fade into obscurity by trying to stay alive where you cant even recognize half of the cast ala community.
BTW, wasn’t there supposed to be a Doug Judy spinoff? What the heck ever happened to that?
If ever such a thing was on a table somewhere, someone must have realized that while Craig Robinson is a gift and a treasure, the character of Doug Judy only works because of the chemistry with Jake.
It was, for Peacock, at least earlier this year, but we never heard anything after that.https://deadline.com/2021/05/mo-marable-to-direct-pilot-episode-of-craig-robinson-peacock-comedy-1234761153/
B99 has been fine the last 2-3 years, but I don’t think it ever really recovered and recaptured the magic following its cancellation. It’s been nice and good for a smile, but hasn’t been exceptional. Nice to see it end on a reasonable high note. Especially:
“I guess we just kept rubbing off on each other. Title of your sex movie. Did I do that right?”That was excellent. And a lovely callback to a joke they stopped doing years ago, which made it all the more out-of-touch for Holt and thus funnier.
I’m happy we didn’t have some kind of devastating sendoff with a main character getting killed or a future jump which would make any attempt at a revival in the future impossible.There’s always hope for that revival, though if Parks and more prominently The Office haven’t gotten past “investigative” stages at this point, it will probably never happen.But it COULD. Lessens the emotional blow of the ending, which is good.
I kind of drifted away a little bit over the last few years, but overall it’s been a blast. Thanks for the laughs B99. And thank you also for giving me the Burger-Chipmunk-Amy avatar that I’ve somehow been using to represent myself online for, Jesus, almost a decade at this point.
Is it wrong that I know exactly what episode your avatar is from?
Yes, but don’t worry, I know where we are and there’s no judgement here. We’re all in the exact same boat.
There is no face like Guilty Burger Face. And God love Melissa Fumero for giving us that.
This episode basically redeemed this very underwhelming season. It’s a solid A finale imo.
This was a nice sweet silly way to send things off. Kinda disappointed it didn’t end with them all quitting but I get why they wanted to do a pure funny episode for their last one. The return of Gina! One last outing for the Sleuth Sisters! The revelation of Holt’s tattoo! So many good moments.
Goodness, I totally forgot about his tattoo. What a great visual.
Amy and Rosa ruthlessly and unapologetically double crossing each other and then exchanging “I love you”s might have been my favorite thing. Maybe my two favorite TV cops ever & even better together
Aw, that was such a wonderfully wild and weird episode, and a fantastic send-off to the series.I know there were commenters around here who saw it coming, but the Jake as a stay-at-home dad is a great direction for his character. Especially framed in the context of him breaking the cycle of terrible dads for their sons in his family. (Not to mention taking a back seat to Amy’s career.)I also thought it was a genuinely sweet moment when Holt told Jake he was proud of him, and instead of diverting with a joke, Jake took it in stride and owned his emotions. That felt so authentic and in the moment, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of that was ad-libbed.Hard to pick a favorite laugh-out-loud moment – but a few that stood out was Rosa revealing Cheddar behind the blinds (immediately followed by Holt calling it off through a wire) and Amy faking a coma for Jake as part of the heist. At a certain point, it became clear everything would turn out to be part of the heist, and it was such a delight.Farewell 99! It’s been a blast.
The coma bit, even though you knew it had to be a con or something, was absolutely wonderful. An all time scene for the show, IMO.
And yes, Holt telling Cheddar to abort the mission was fantastic.
The only reason I wasn’t entirely sure it was a heist con is that the “flash forward x number of years” plot device has been used before in series finales. It might have been one of those endings.
I’d totally watch the Sherriff Principal Boyle spin-off.
there was so much chaos in this episode, it was only towards the end i realized they were hiding stephanie beatriz’s pregnancy.
…I only realized LITERALLY THIS MOMENT that they were doing that.
I really caught on during Holt and Kevin’s wedding when Rosa kept standing behind random decorations like the Austin Powers nude gags
Is the fourth heist considered the best? Discuss!
I’m partial to HalloVeen myself. It’s also probably my favorite episode of the series; it was the first time they used the Heist Episode for Big Changes, and no one saw it coming, and it was hilarious, and sweet, and perfect.I also personally love the third one…but Amy’s my favorite character, and that definitely factors in.
Your judgment is perfect, speaking as someone who also has Halloveen as her favorite episode.
100% HalloVeen. I mean, choosing a favorite Heist is like choosing a favorite child, but come on, can’t beat Jake’s perfectly laid out plan and imperfectly laid out butt-complimenting proposal
I think The Box is still locked in as my fav ep of the series overall. The lead-up to that confession was something else!
Yeah, The Box is terrific. Definitely my pick as well. In 2nd place would be HalloVeen. S5 is easily the show’s best.
Yep, those are my top-2 as well.Holt’s “In my belly!” from the “HalloVeen” cold open is still probably my wife’s biggest laugh (so last night’s Holt-in-the-shower was comedy gold for her)…
Is this about to be a thread for Heist episode rankings? If so… YES. Here are mine:1. HalloVeen- epic way to bring back the charm of the heists just as they were becoming stale, and throwing us a reveal nobody saw coming even they should have seen coming after Park and Rec’s Halloween proposal.2. One Last Ride- character rebirths and twists, Gina’s return in just the right amount, Pimento, Cannibal Caleb and Holt’s tattoo! The only thing it messed up was setting up a Bruce Willis cameo and then not delivering.3. Halloween 2- The first one to blow all my expectations of what B99 would be like for the next few years, and cements a tradition unlike what I’ve seen on other sitcoms4. Halloween III- ‘BECAUSE THE CLEAVAGE CLOAKS THE CAMERA WITH ITS CURVES… Sorry I said cleavage.’ ‘Should I be a dad? Yup.’ ‘If I die turn my tweets into a book’. Plus we get some amazing cackling witch sounds, ranks in middle because of the absence of a signature dork dance after Amy’s win.5. Valloweaster- Rosa’s wins THREE times, we finally find out what happened to Arlo the dog, and the heists now work on a new realm of treachery and double crossings. Nothing is as it seems…6. Cinco De Mayo- GOLDEN Terry! Fake actors on Halloween! Can you trust ANYONE? Ranks low because I expected Gina’s return and it didn’t happen.7. OG Halloween- cute for set up of premise, but it makes Holt look TOO dumb for falling for Jake’s shenanigans8. Halloween 4- I like the fact that Gina won, but she did in a way that made me feel uncomfortable because everyone else was ready to stop the heist for her. Also the first time the started to feel slightly repetitive.Everything aside, I truly love every single heist episode and this ranking is as meaningless as winning the heist. May the inevitable reunion of Brooklyn Nine Nine 20 years from today feature another heist where Cheddar’s descendant comes back to avenge his forefather and win the heist.And thank you AV Club! I have been a silent reader of this site ever since I came here in season 2 where Disqus was a thing, and somehow never really engaged in comments until the very finale of the show that brought me here.
All of the heist episodes are some of the most creative, gloriously ridiculous, joke-packed comedy episodes in recent memory.
I can’t find any fault with this ranking or your reasoning.
The balloon arch at Wunch’s grave made me snort seltzer through my nose.Also, I have to think the coma fake out was a reference to the finales of Parks and Rec and the Good Place also having massive fast forwards, right?
“Massive fast forwards” is such an understatement for what happened in the Good Place’s finale, I love it.
Jeremy Bearimy time, baby!
Everyone planning the perfect goodbye in the episode tonight can take heart I thought it was a perfect goodbye. It revisited everything I wanted and said goodbye on the right notes.Like with the other Michael Schur shows (props to you too Dan Goor, fraud doctor), I have this big empty hole right now knowing there’s no more episodes to look forward to.
props to you too Dan Goor, fraud doctor
And likeable janitor!
This finale definitely played to the show’s strengths. Definitely a wise move to wrap up the season’s plots before this to let this be the playful wrap-up it could (tho the Kevin/Holt stuff was a highlight). The premiere of this season had me concerned but this really ended the series on a good note.This show really had a lot of charm and while I wasn’t there from the beginning and fell behind for a while in the middle I’m definitely glad to have been there for the end. This definitely helped solidify BNN as one of the more solid sitcoms out there and I intend to keep giving it a hardy recommendation.P.S. Glad they got Pimento in this cause he was one of my fav recurring characters. And Holt’s sex movie bit got the biggest laugh reaction of the night. What a great character!P.S.S. The fact they didn’t air this last week on September 9th (9/9) is a crime!
Yup – 9/9 day would have been so perfect. But instead we got football. bummer.
“P.S.S. The fact they didn’t air this last week on September 9th (9/9) is a crime”Especially since even this week they had to air it at 7PM ET for football.I guess they needed their season premiere of “Football Night In America” last week.
That was only in New York City, and possibly DC (NFL cable games are required to be broadcast over-the-air in the TV markets within 30 miles of the stadiums of the teams playing, and that night’s Thursday Night Football was on NFL Network only elsewhere). B99 aired in its regular slot virtually everywhere else.
Something must have changed this year, because IIRC in the past that Thursday (locally forced) game was never on WNBC-4, it was on one of the other local channels like 2, 5, 9 or 11.
I can confirm that the first two episodes of season eight were pre-empted by football in the D.C. market. Had to watch them the next day on demand.
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I loved that in less than a minute of screen time, Pimento describes his entire plan to go to Northern Canada, take out the alpha wolf, and then lead the rest of the wolf pack to ransack the facility he’s been hired to defend the wolves from. And it’s not even the weirdest Pimento moment in the series!
Pimento’s lines (and, of course, Mantzoukas’ delivery of said lines) had me howling. It was the perfect dénouement. The twist that he had to not simply defeat the wolves but actually become the alpha? Fucking amazing.
B+? Pfft. Please…
Making the imperfect good bye where everyone falls over one another trying to have the perfect good bye -was- the perfect good bye. They did great callbacks, even justified the opening titles, revisited locations and characters long since moved on (I actually cheered when Pimento showed up, and even Teddy was a welcome addition… who’s ever said that?) and it never fell into saccharine nonsense.
We got a final Hitchcock/Skully scene. We got a great Rosa/Amy final scene. And that final Holt/Jake scene actually made me tear up. We also didn’t get a final Boyle/Jake scene, because they’re still best buds, so we don’t need one!
The right amount of nostalgia with the right amount of heist hi-jinks. Ending it with a heist episode was also perfect, in my mind, as they’ve become such a big thing over the years (Terry winning whilst covered in gold remains my fav).
The only thing about the episode that I didn’t like was that my fav character – Kevin! – wasn’t in it. But we got that big Holt/Kevin reconciliation a few episodes ago, so I’m ok with that. They even ended it with Terry getting everyone to do a ‘Nine Nine!’, which is fitting as he started that whole thing way back in the day.
No, I’ve never liked Gina (although she was funny in this), and I still think Andy Samberg had his character quit because he couldn’t stomach playing a cop who is a good guy, but those things aside, everything else clicked perfectly for me.
I maintain that the best part about this show was that Jake and Boyle were genuine best friends, and not the hot-shot detective and the dorky klutz he’s been stuck with. For all their differences they were 100% rock solid all the way to the end, and that was great. And Andre Braugher needs more awards for his phenomenal performances over the years.In the end this was truly affecting, truly funny, and just tons of fun. So many shows never get to go out on their own terms. This one did, and it did it very well.
Imo, one of the smartest decisions they made early on was the shift in the Jake-Charles friendship. In early episodes, it read like Charles hanging on to Jake even though they both thought Jake was too cool for it; but then it really did become a mutual-best-friends thing, and made both characters better.
no Kevin was a bummer, especially with the most Cheddar action we’ve had in agesI’ve always liked Gina, but I thought Peretti’s line delivery was really really off in this episode, to the point it actually derailed some scenes for a few beats. I don’t want to overly criticise, because it must be really hard finding your comic rhythm with this cast again after being away for so long, and I’m glad they had her back, but it maybe should have just been a cameo like the rest
This site should just rename itself to the A-B+ Club because that is what 99% of reviews get. There is no point to the grading system around here anymore.
Had Samberg actually said that he was uncomfortable playing a good guy cop? Had any of the cast members said that?
I know nobody was counting or really guessing, but I’m still proud of guessing exactly what the winner and the ruse would be.And in retrospect, I think the heists are what I’ll miss most. Nothing else has really managed to pull such regular episodes focusing on madcap setups and strangeness. There’s a lot more to mourn, but… well, I’ll be able to get fun comedies, I’m not sure I’ll ever see annual heist episodes again.
Noice. Smort.
I wonder if they would have filmed a scene in Brooklyn (even if not the bridge) had the show not ended during a pandemic.
was wondering if this was the case too, but I like what we got better. the show did the Big Event Ending with the Jake/Amy marriage already, the low-stakesness of the last 10 minutes here felt a lot truer to the show imo
Pretty alright nu-B99 episode. As far as finales go though, this didn’t leave me feeling much. Maybe I need to watch it 2-3 times again, but that was such a whimper of an ending for a series that was at the top in its first 5 seasons. Oh well, it is what it is, isn’t it.
NINE-NINE!!!
I was a huge Homicide Life on the Street fan even though at first I had to sneak up to watch such inappropriate material on a school night. To me, Andre Braugher’s comic chops are one of the greatest surprise revelations in entertainment history.This show never quite reached must-see for me. Still, it was a reliably funny network show that I always enjoyed. Sad to see that going away. Does it feel like it’s been on for like 20 years, not 8 to anybody else?
I’ve said before that, if you were to reboot Police Squad/The Naked Gun, the only reason Andre Braugher wouldn’t be a perfect casting choice for Frank Drebin is because B99 already let him do exactly the pivot to comedy that made for Leslie Nielsen’s best work.
I am going to miss Raymond Holt something fierce
I’ve been missing Pembleton for 2 decades now.
Definitely made up for the first 8 episodes of the season .
We thought it was the funniest heist episode. And one of the funniest of the series. Loved everything about it except too much Gina. And by that I mean any Gina. The show was SO MUCH better without her.
I loved the buildup to Terry doing the Kool-Aid man busting through the wall to save them, something that is quite easy for him. What a joyous, perfect moment. (sadly) nine-nine…
It’s the man in the yellow sweater that you’ll never catch, isn’t it? *Shouts, “NINE-NINE!” as the void envelops them all.*
IT’S THE ONE CASE I CAN’T SOLVE
That was a fantastic finale. And as others have pointed out, Jake’s growth over the course of the series is really amazing. Going from a dude who just wanted to live out every cop movie fantasy to being mature enough to not just put aside those fantasies to care of his child, but also let his wife shine, is a pretty amazing character arc for such a silly (but brilliant) show.
I choose to believe year-from-now Peralta has taken a lucrative, low-effort side gig as a Hollywood consultant, and has met Bruce Willis at last.
No way. Reginald Vel Johnson 100% told Bruce Willis that Jake sucks! That’s what Peralta gets for making an enemy out of Reginald Vel Johnson!
would just like to take this moment to reflect on how widely and completely hated andy samberg was when this show premiered, and how through 8 years he appeared to charm pretty much everyone. excited to see where he lands next.
He was singlehandedly the reason I didn’t get into the show until I stumbled into it in S3.Uncooluncooluncoolncoolncoolncoolcoolcool…
I didn’t check it out until the end of the first season for the same reason. It’s funny to look back at the first few episodes and notice that it took similar amounts of time for Stephanie Beatriz to settle into her Rosa voice and Samberg to move beyond his initial instinct to always play Jake as an obnoxious jackass.
I find this funny cause the idea of him being in a cop show was something that had me interested in the show (didn’t watch it til it was on Netflix and the reception seemed good).
you should take a look at the comments from the first season, everyone wanted his blood!
I think I ended up seeing a little bit of it after it was mentioned in the review for The Box.
People were so MAD he won a Golden Globe.
He’s so at-ease in his goofball persona that it can be easy to overlook some of his real acting moments. But in that last scene with Andre Braugher, where Samberg is smiling to hold back his years, he perfectly captures a particular kind of vulnerable, goodhearted, slightly immature man that I’ve met throughout my life. It’s really something. Also, I like how the last few episodes have weaponized Andre Braugher’s incandescent smile, after almost a decade of his poker-face.
I thought Samberg was really great in that scene too. Almost makes me want to see him do some drama.
Honestly, I only started watching it because I told myself, “I can tolerate Andy Samberg because of Andre Braugher and Terry Crews.” I’m glad I decided that.
The Sterling K Brown episode was the real turning point, when you realize that Jake is actually really good at his job.
Thankfully the show runners figured out early on, probably in the middle of Season 1, that Samberg worked best as a straight man. This was bold as hell, because SURELY network brass viewed this as an “Andy Samberg sitcom.” But that decision proved to be critical to the show’s success. Samberg was near-perfect as a straight man, and it turns out the rest of the cast surrounded him were amazingly talented.
What an out of touch website this has become.
Wait, Andy Samberg is married to Joanna Newsom? What a bizarre and delightful pairing! I have to admit I haven’t thought about her in years but her baby-like Kate Bush warbling was a fixture of the aughts indie-scene.
Amy and Rosa saying they loved each other made me cry. It was just sweet and seemed filled with real life affection between the actresses. Honestly, I’m a sucker for sentimental finales.
This season wasn’t always great but I’m grateful for that episode. Every character had a clear arc to close, and the episode felt like a proper conclusion to a story. It’s a little unfair that one of the best sitcoms of the last decade would end in a context where they almost had to justify the existence of cop TV shows – B99 never shied away from the police’s darker side, and showing good detectives in a sitcom should not be seen as pro-Derek Chauvin propaganda. A young cop watching the show would have seen excellent examples of how the police should behave and what it should aim for. And Raymond Holt was a terrific character, from the first episode to the last. I hope someone else will give Andre Braugher another worthy of his immense talent.
Andy Samberg’s wife, and excellent artist, Joanna Newsom briefly cameos in the episode.wait, what?
I’m pretty sure she was cellist?
Yep.https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1827079/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
The real damaging misconception being propagated by this show is the notion that it’s viable for a family to survive in Brooklyn these days on one income.
My sister does but I don’t know how. I’m guessing drug trade
In terms of a distinctive comedy style unlike anything else on TV, I will always cherish how this show FELT. And looking back to the beginning, I remember not really wanting to check this out – “A cop comedy on FOX starring Andy Samberg” – but it was the casting of Andre Braugher that got me watching, and the show absolutely hooked me ever since. (Plus – since this is probably the last comment I will ever make on this show – Stephanie Beatriz has such a glorious smile that any time she unexpectedly unleashed it was invariably hysterically funny.)
She’s a treasure. This season alone justified its existence for Beatriz using her natural ponytail and voice to impersonate Amy
I thought this was a very cute season finale for a competent final season (especially considering degree of difficulty with the pandemic and police protests) of an enjoyable show with an excellent ensemble.It also made me appreciate that we got to have a few seasons without Gina. I don’t dislike Cheslea Peretti, but I just can’t with Gina.
I loved the episodes, and I’m loving the comments here. AV Club comment sections can really suck sometimes (although most social media sites are far, far worse), but this… this has plenty of positive waves. It’s just so righteous and positive.
B99 fans are swell people.
In a rather uninspired season, those 2 last episodes where the best.
A very nice series finale, I even liked Gina’s cameo.
Bye bye Nine Nine! Thanks for the fun.
Joanna Newsom was in Portlandia and Inherent Vice
While I was beyond thrilled for the return of Mlepnos, I wish it had some context to it. Why was he just randomly there?
Context would ruin Mlepnos.
Assorted thoughts: another site said that the officer interviewing Terry was played by Patrick Stewart. I looked on IMDB to confirm, but found no listing. Does anybody know if this is true?Also while looking on IMDB i scrolled through the list of stunt performers. Kudos to them all!While I love Tim Meadows and his return as Caleb, while they were visiting prison they should have stopped by to visit ex-officer Debbie.Bye Bye B99.
I have no idea who it was, but it definitely wasn’t Patrick Stewart.
My wife said that too but it didn’t look like him to me.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002350/?ref_=tt_cl_t_18
thanks to you and nostalgic4thecta. that’s the guy!
I’m nearly positive that the cop who interviewed Terry was played by Jim Meskimen who you might recognize as the MC of the beauty pageant in Parks & Recreation or the MC of the Bad Place awards ceremony on The Good Place.
I fear this will go down as the true end of the great broadcast sitcom.
Would Holt say something as slangy as “movie”? I feel like he should have said “sex film”.