The eighth and final season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine debuted a couple of weeks back. The show is in a bit of an awkward place to navigate right now.
On one hand, it is a beloved sitcom about cops.
On the other hand, it is about cops who are not exactly held in high regard in the wake of the several high profile abuses, particularly the death of George Floyd which prompted many protests last year.
The Brooklyn Nine-Nine creative team have tried to thread that needle by acknowledging the abuses of power and authority that occur in police departments.
Rosa Diaz, having lost any faith in her profession as a police officer, quit the force to be come a private investigator specializing in cases helping people who have been subject to police abuse.
Jake Peralta tries to mitigate this negative impression of the police with the perspective that not all cops are bad. But Jake discovers that argument has no value in a system that insulates bad cops from their bad behavior or even rewards them for it.
Amy Santiago is working to start up a major police reform program but her biggest obstacle is the police itself.
Joining the show in a recurring role is John C. McGinley (Dr. Cox from Scrubs) as Frank O'Sullivan, head of the New York Police Union who regards any effort to make cops accountable for what they do as an ATTACK on the dedicated heroic officers of the NYPD. O'Sullivan thinks the two worst things a cop can say are the "S" word ("I'm sorry.") and the "M" word ("I made a mistake.")
Peralta's makes a bad arrest and O'Sullivan can save him from any consequences. Instead, Jakes says he's sorry, he made a mistake and gets suspended for his honesty. But Jake knows it was the right thing to do.
Doug Judy is on hand for one last hoorah with Peralta before the series ends. Despite getting his criminal record expunged in New York last season, Judy gets pulled at random in New Jersey (for driving while black, I guess) and whoops, there is an outstanding warrant in Jersey and Doug Judy has to go to prison. Despite Jake's efforts to make the trip to prison fun with one last blow out adventure, there is no escaping the subtext that Doug Judy is going to prison and doesn't want to go.
It's not really a spoiler if I tell you Doug Judy doesn't stay in prison. This is the wiley Pontiac Bandit we're talking about.
We get drunk Amy back and it is wild. Amy comes up with a plan to get Frank O'Sullivan drunk and trick him to confessing that he's up to some bad shit while Rosa Diaz listens in. The problem is Amy gets weird after just 6 drinks while Frank O'Sullivan is a guy who has breakfast beers.
So Rosa ties her hair back into a pony tail, changes her voice and subs in for Amy. Frank can't tell the difference not because he's drunk but because he doesn't care.
It's great to see John C. McGinley back on screen even if he's playing a total scuzzbucket.
With only 10 episodes in this final season, I wish NBC wasn't in such a hurry to burn through them by airing 2 episodes a week.
While I've enjoyed watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine for 8 seasons, I think the show has said all it has to say. It's good that Brooklyn Nine-Nine gets to end it's run on it's own terms.
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Before going to work in the mornings, one of my cable channels is running Gilmore Girls. While I am a big fan of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, I've never followed the seminal series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino. I don't get to see all of the episodes that run in the morning before I go to work, I've seen enough to pick up the basics:
- Lorelai and Luke belong together.
- Taylor Doose is a total dick.
- Rory is smart, funny and cute and would've broken my heart in high school and/or college.
- It makes me sad to realize that Edward Herrmann is dead now.
- Lorelai and Luke belong together. I know I said that already but I cannot stress this enough.
Andrea and I have finally (FINALLY!) brought the 2nd season Star Trek Discovery in for a landing. Whew!
AMC has announced there will be second season of Kevin Can F**k Himself. Well, hot damn!
And that is that for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase. Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
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