How “toit” are these Brooklyn Nine-Nine season finales?
Disclaimer: This article contains minor Brooklyn Nine-Nine season eight spoilers.
Not all TV show seasons are made equal. Whether it’s a popular opinion or a personal preference, we all have a favorite arc, storyline or season. Some hit better than the rest, while there’s this particular episode that you come back to over and over again. After all, we all love the bomb-ass combination of Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg), Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz), Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), Sgt. Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews), Capt. Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher) and Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti).
Aside from the wildest shenanigans that can happen in a police precinct, Brooklyn Nine-Nine also uses its platform to highlight important issues. They never shied away from talking about LGBTQIA+ experiences, racism even within the police force, police brutality and women’s issues. The showrunners, Dan Goor and Michael Schur, also rewrote the last season with respect to the Black Lives Matter movement. Whether or not it was effective requires another discussion, but a visible intent shows the writers’ and the entire cast’s consistency with the issues they highlight.
So in celebration of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s eighth season finally premiering on Netflix, we look back at its season finales.
#8 Season Eight The Last Day
Ranking number eight on this list is the entire show and season eight’s season finale: The Last Day. The final two episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine come in last for the sole reason that it signifies the end of an era. But honestly, this ending is pretty genius: a battle to be the Best Human-Slash-Genius in the precinct. The catch? The squad members are tucking in personal announcements in their winning speeches. Mix in competitiveness and larger-than-life purchases that might put Jake in debt, you know how wild a heist can get.
Rating: Not really toit.
RELATED: Amidst Everything That Was Done Wrong, Here Are A Few Things That FRIENDS Did Right
#7 Season Four Crime and Punishment
Funny how the season starts with Jake and Holt under the Witness Protection Program, but it ends with Jake and Rosa finding themselves on the brink of getting arrested. The two end up on the other side of the law when they get accused of pulling off a grand bank heist, but everyone knows that they’ve become Lieutenant Hawkins’ scapegoat. However, even in TV shows, not everything goes according to plan. After tirelessly working hard to prove their innocence, the two get wrongfully convicted because of a witness stand gone wrong. This season ends in such an unbearable cliffhanger, not to mention that audiences had to wait for months on end to know where the two ended up.
Rating: Kinda toit?
#6 Season Three Greg and Larry
In an effort to catch Jimmy “The Butcher” Figgis, the squad recruits Holt’s ally from the FBI: Bob Annderson. (Yes, that's with two Ns.) After a disguised escape from the hospital and a staged fight in Rosa’s apartment, the squad manages to shut down the rest of Figgis’ operation. But, of course, the criminal has more surprises up his sleeve. It gives us a peek at Jake and Holt’s life in witness protection; waiting for the tides to turn in Florida as Larry and Greg, respectively. This Brooklyn Nine-Nine season ends in another cliffhanger, with the question of whether or not the two will stay in Witness Protection forever.
Rating: Somewhat toit.
#5 Season One Charges and Specs
This season finale’s cold open goes like this: Jake stumbles into a bar, shouldering everyone’s next round of drinks and him proclaiming “My name’s Jake Peralta, and I just got fired from the NYPD.” The episode brings us back in time, building everyone up as Jake does the absolute most for justice. But instead of saving face (and by extension, his job), Jake follows Captain Holt's advice to get him fired. However, in true B99 fashion, the plot twist offers Jake one of his dreams come true. Now, he gets to enjoy his undercover mission, with the ending tying back to the cold open. Nice way to keep everyone on their toes for the next season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Rating: Toit.
RELATED: A “Bullet Train” Review: Oddly Endearing, Definitely Gory
#4 Season Seven Lights Out
Despite officially starting her maternity leave, Amy steps up and commands the precinct during a city-wide blackout. Jake and Charles investigate the blackout’s cause while Holt and Jeffords get trapped in an elevator. Rosa tries her hardest to get Amy to the hospital when she goes into labor, but the Type A can’t seem to know when to let her job go. This season finale highlights the best in the relationships between Amy and Rosa, and the precinct’s unsung heroes of the night: Hitchcock and Scully. In the sea of sex jokes and murder puns, it sounds about right that they end this season with one of the show’s most wholesome moments.
Rating: Super toit.
#3 Season Two Johnny and Dora
After making Jake and Amy’s romance impossible in season one and giving us hope for season two, the show hits the nail on its head by giving us, Johnny and Dora. Finally, Amy fully realizes her feelings for Jake after going undercover as a couple. Meanwhile, Gina and Terry help Captain Holt do everything in his power to stay with the squad, while Boyle tries to be a good friend to Rosa, who treats him unkindly. However, only some things go according to plan, and Captain Holt transfers to the NYPD’s PR department. So was everything worth it? Jake and Amy fans won, but at what cost?
Rating: Hella toit, but not yet a nups.
#2 Season Five Jake and Amy
A lot of sitcom couples get their happy endings. FRIENDS had Monica and Chandler adopting kids, while three of the Big Bang Theory male leads got married. The same thing goes for Jake and Amy, frenemies-turned-lovers. But of course, the last stretch to their best day goes awry when the plans in Amy’s wedding binder go off the rails. However, after some twists, turns and run-ins with exes, the couple has no choice but to settle with what they have. Nonetheless, it still ends up being the best wedding they could ever ask for.
Rating: The toitest of nups, duh.
RELATED: Netflix’s ‘The Sandman’: Why I Think The 10-Year Wait For This Show Was Worth It
#1 Season Six The Suicide Squad
The 99th Precinct’s squad finds themselves on another covert mission to take down Commissioner John Kelly (Phil Reeves) and his vigilante police operations. But to reach their goal, they have to seek help from old enemies: Deputy Commissioner Madeline Wuntch (Kyra Sedgwick), Keith “The Vulture” Pembroke (Dean Winters) and Captain Jason “CJ” Stentley (Ken Marino). Of course, gathering this unlikely combination makes it a high-stakes operation, one that goes sideways real quick. Or that’s what we thought. Ending the sixth season with the high of The Suicide Squad seems a little too foolish. That’s why we’re given a teeny, tiny tradeoff.
Rating: The toitest ending in the history of Brooklyn Nine-Nine season finales.
RELATED: TV Shows We'll Definitely Miss
Which season ending should rank higher or lower? Sound off in the comments below.
Season eight of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” drops on Netflix on August 13.
Art Matthew Ian Fetalver
