NBC Universal
February 13, 2021
It’s official. Season eight of Brooklyn Nine-Nine will be its last. Which makes sense, I suppose. Given recent events, the cultural climate isn’t quite right for a cop comedy. However, these characters are so beloved that they do deserve a proper send-off that is true to the growth and development they’ve made over the last seven years. I have some predictions of where this will go and some ideas have spin-off potential. Some of these pitches would depend on who they can get back and who wants to move on to other projects.
There is no doubt in my mind that season eight will address the summer 2020 protests over the murder of George Floyd and others. The show has taken on hot-button issues before and they’ve done it with amazing levels of grace and insight without sacrificing humor. The season four episode “Moo-Moo” took on racial profiling in a plot that had Terry Jeffords, himself a cop and a sergeant at the time, being racially profiled at the end of his own driveway by a uniformed officer. Season six’s “He Said, She Said” took on sexual harassment and #MeToo when Jake and Amy investigate an assault charge against a woman who was defending herself against the unwanted sexual advances of a male co-worker. “Show Me Going”, from season five, is a bottle episode that talks about the stress and anxiety of an active shooter situation without even showing the active shooter situation. Rosa responds to the call, forcing her friends to wait it out and see if she comes out of it okay. Each episode contains some of the show’s most poignant moments and received praise because of how they handled each of these sensitive topics with the perfect blend of humanity and humor. So yeah, taking on police brutality is in their wheelhouse and the characters have proven to be thoughtful and emotionally intelligent enough to be impacted by the events and reflect on what roles they may have played in a broken system.
So, here’s what I think will happen. The detectives at the Nine-Nine will find themselves geared up and in the midst of the protests. These characters, being who they are, will feel extremely conflicted about it, perhaps even harboring various doubts going into it. As was seen on the news, some officers took a knee in a show of solidarity with the protestors. Hell, some even threw down their gear and peacefully joined a march. These real-world examples are reflective of the types of cops these characters have proven to be. It’s idealistic, sure, but it’s more than a little likely the Nine-Nine would have been among the police officers that, at the very least, took a knee.
NYC Officers take a knee in solidarity with protestors. May 31, 2020
Credit: PIX11 News
In the show, this will likely be spearheaded by Sergeant Terry Jeffords or Captain Holt, at least among the members of the Nine-Nine. I was thinking Jake, and that’s possible, but I feel the characters even more likely to feel conflicted are the two African American men. My money is on Terry Jeffords, now a lieutenant, given that he was a victim of racial profiling in the aforementioned “Moo Moo” episode. He will see himself in George Floyd more than anybody. As a result of their protest, the characters will likely land themselves in hot water with the higher-ups. They’ve definitely taken flack from the top brass in the past for doing the right thing. Like sensitive issues, this story beat is not unexplored territory. The characters, having once again been betrayed by the very system they’ve sworn to uphold, will have finally hit their breaking point and quit the force. For the characters’ journey to ring true, I think they’d quit as opposed to getting fired. For a redemption arc to work, refusing to be complicit in a system they now see as broken should be their choice.
The question, then, is what will these characters do with themselves after? I think the season will dedicate the first few episodes to the events inspired by the George Floyd protests and the aftermath. The rest of the season will focus on the characters picking up the pieces after losing something they dedicated their lives to. Fans will want to see them dust themselves off and have some hope for their futures. The series can’t just end with Jake and the gang losing everything. That would be a downer ending that is way outside the show’s tone. The way I see it, there are a few possibilities of where to go.
One possibility is the entirety of the Nine-Nine goes into business together as private investigators. Jake would geek out over his new Sam Spade-like job and Rosa would be a natural fit for PI stories. She basically seems like she’s stepped out of a modern-day film noir as it is. Amy would likely get off on the business end of things and it would be fun to watch her juggling both some kind of administrative leadership role and still taking on cases. After all, she loves organization and would do well in an admin job, but her desire to also solve cases could make for a character appropriate arc. This could result in a spin-off that solves the problem of it being a “cop show”, but more or less keeps the dynamic of the show the same. Not much else would need to change. It also carries on what really made the show work and has improved it the more it’s progressed, which is that it is an ensemble comedy that gave most of the characters equal billing. This, of course, would require getting most of the cast back.
The PI angle could also work if only a limited number of people return. I like the idea of Jake Peralta: PI. Other characters that would fit into the dynamic are, again, Rosa and Amy. The idea of Jake and Amy doing a husband/wife PI team a la The Thin Man could be fun. Rosa seems like she would be game to partner up with them.
Jake and Amy. NBC Universal
Or Rosa could even branch off on her own spin-off in something akin to The Equalizer, which itself has just been rebooted on CBS with Queen Latifah in the main role. A show like that with a Lantix LBGTQ+ actor and character in the main role would be pretty damn cool. I mean, I’d watch it. A badass former detective that marginalized people can turn to when they can’t go to the police and whose own intersectionality includes at least three marginalized groups. Hell yeah. Maybe her new girlfriend has a lot of money and resources and is philanthropic and helps fund Rosa’s efforts as an underground “fixer.” All three of of these have some really cool spin-off potential.
Rosa Diaz. NBC Universal
The sadder option is that the back half of the season becomes a coda that simply plays out the Nine-Nine as they move on. The back half of the season would serve as a reminder that their stories together are over, as often happens when people come in and out of our lives, while still establishing that these characters we’ve come to love are going to be okay by letting us know a little about what their post-Nine-Nine lives will be like. Here’s what I think can and should happen to these characters as they bow out and start new chapters of their lives.
Scully and Hitchcock retire. They pool their money and invest in a Wing Sluts franchise in a tropical location and live out the rest of their lives in lazy, hedonistic bliss.
Hitchcock and Scully. NBC Universal
Charles Boyle follows his other dream, becomes a chef, and opens his own restaurant. He also winds up catering events for art shows curated by his partner Genevieve.
Charles Boyle. NBC Universal
Terry Jeffords, who has been repeatedly established as a talented artist, winds up getting an art show after Charle’s partner Genevieve sees some of his work. The show is successful and Terry becomes a successful artist and an in-demand illustrator for children’s books. It would play into both his talent for art and his tender side.
Terry Jeffrods. NBC Universal
Jake, Amy, and Rosa would likely go into private investigation work or some Equalizer-esque thing in the case of Rosa. I stand by those ideas whether spin-offs come from them or not. Maybe an episode or two could serve as a backdoor pilot, but either way, I feel that is the next logical step for these characters.
Raymond Holt, I see becoming a professor at Columbia alongside his husband, Kevin. It makes sense as he’s proven to possess a genius-level intellect in multiple topics. This could play out in one of two ways. One is that he starts teaching criminal justice in an attempt to right the wrongs by educating future generations of law enforcers. Or he teaches a completely unrelated topic, commenting, “I could always fall back on my Ph.D. in statistics.”
“You have a Ph.D. in Statistics?!” Jake or someone could say.
“Yes. I have several Ph.D.’s,” Holt might say, before rattling off a list of three or four more subjects. Cue an “Oh, mama,” from Amy.
“How did we not know about this!?” a perplexed Jake would exclaim.
“You never asked,” Holt would say with a dry tone and a shrug as Rosa nods her approval of the secrecy.
Raymond Holt. NBC Universal
I have really grown to love these characters. This show is my The Office (although so is Community, Arrested Development, and, um The Office). I can throw it on in the background or rewatch it time and time again. It’s comforting. I get that it’s no longer the right political climate for a cop comedy. Besides, eight seasons is a fantastic run and, with few expectations, is an ideal place for a series to stop. I just want NBC to send these characters off right.
Also, those are some pretty cool spin-off ideas, right? NBC? Huh? Yeah…?
Contact info’s in the left-hand menu, NBC.
Your ball.