Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 8 Review

Brooklyn Nine-Nine was one of the great American sitcoms of the 2010s. After eight seasons the series has come to an end. After a long wait for British fans, the final season has finally been aired in the UK.

There have been massive changes for the Nine-Nine since Amy has given birth to her first child. Recent political events have forced Rosa to quit the NYPD, Holt and Kevin have separated, and Hitchcock has retired and moved to Brazil. Relations between the NYPD and the community are at an all-time low, leading Amy and Holt to propose reform of the police. But they face hostility from Frank O’Sullivan (John C. McGinley), the President of the Patrolmen Union.

The death of George Floyd had a major impact on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It led to massive protests across America, added fire to a contentious election in 2020, and led to the ‘Defund the Police’ campaign. The Brooklyn Nine-Nine showrunners felt they had to reflect on this new climate and they ended up scrapping and rewriting the first four episodes of Season Eight. This season’s long-running plot line was about police reform and O’Sullivan’s attempts to prevent it.

This led to Brooklyn Nine-Nine walking into a political minefield. There could be a risk of the show alienating a part of the audience. There has been a backlash to the ‘Defund the Police’ movement, there are people who care about law and order and still respect law enforcement.

It would be hard to argue against Holt’s point in the series. The police do need to be held accountable because it would ensure there’s trust in the community. The police are meant to uphold the law so they have to be held to the highest standard. However, O’Sullivan was a one-dimensional straw man. He came across as a caricature who would defend corrupt and violent police officers. O’Sullivan even said he enjoyed getting cops off scot-free. The character was meant to be hated but I hated O’Sullivan because he was so poorly written.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine has handled political topics before. One of my favourite episodes was “Moo-Moo.” That episode explored the issues of racism and racial profiling. It was about Terry getting arrested by a racist cop and the dilemma for the sergeant was whether to complain and risk a potential promotion or stay silent and make changes from the inside. “He Said, She Said” was about Amy and Jake investigating a sexual harassment case and facing all the challenges they entail. Even an episode like “Admiral Peralta” show Hitchcock and Scully deliberately didn’t take the details of a witness because they were protecting an undocumented immigrant.

Throughout Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s run the series has shown issues with the NYPD. Holt’s backstory was being a gay, black officer who was able to rise up the ranks. Bolt endured prejudice and he wasn’t going to be bullied or pressured by his superiors. The Nine-Nine faced figures at One Police Plaza trying to exploit their positions and corrupt cops and it was handled with a lot more subtly and nuance.

One of the biggest changes for this season was Rosa leaving the NYPD and working as a private detective. It was a big deal in the season opener where she works with Jake to expose a cop who had falsely arrested a woman. They had to face institutionalised corruption as police officers of all ranks protect each other. But after that point Rosa was hanging out and working with the squad, going to the police station, so making her a private detective who had no real bearing on the show.

As well as the story about police reform, Season Eight focused on Jake and Amy being new parents. They needed to find the right home/work balance. It was made even more challenging because Amy was leading the police reform proposal. This had a massive bearing on Jake because he needed to support his wife, wanted to be there for his son, and his faith in the police was shaken.

When a sitcom has been on for a long time there’s a risk of it becoming formulaic. It happened to shows like Friends, That ‘70s Show, and The Goldbergs. Brooklyn Nine-Nine also suffered from this issue. Many episodes were split into A, B, and C plots and mixed police investigations, office shenanigans, and personal issues. Arguably it’s a case that the showrunners thought they didn’t need to fix what isn’t broken. But even for a long-time fan, it felt like same-old, same-old.

The most inventive episode in the series was “Game of Boyles.” This episode saw Jake and Terry accompany Boyle to a family funeral and Jake believed that murder was afoot. It was a parody of Knives Out which saw Jake act like Benoit Blanc as he investigated the death but unwittingly makes a big discovery about Boyle. It was a fun, light-hearted episode and felt different from the rest of the season.

Whilst Season Eight was formulaic, it still had funny moments. Some of my favourite moments were when Rosa was high on edibles, and Rosa and Amy got blind stinking drunk which led to Amy trying an English accent and Rosa crashing a bicycle.

The best episode in the season was the two-part finale. Since Brooklyn Nine-Nine was such a popular show it needed a big send-off and “The Last Day” provided that. It was a final heist where the squad was competing for a medal but some of the characters had ulterior motives. The Heist episodes were some of the best the show had to offer and the finale had big moments like the attempted hijacking of an armoured truck. A running gag in the episode was the squad trying to make Terry smash through a wall.

The aim of “The Last Day” was to be a big send-off and a love letter to the series. There were a lot of references to previous events in the show’s past. Some characters were brought back and important locations were revisited. It made for a last hooray for the show.

The final season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine was sadly the weakest the show has offered. It was too reliant on its political message. It was a more formulaic season but there were still funny moments for fans. The finale was a fitting end for the show.