Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s fourth season finale, “The Bank Job”/”Crime & Punishment”, would seem to sum up everything about the show’s best year to date: packed with laughs, undeniably and unfathomably silly, occasionally poignant, and with every desire to shake up the core of the premise. That final point was certainly met in the closing moments of tonight’s double, as Jake and Rosa were found guilty of being the Golden Gang.
Much like last year’s season closer, Brooklyn ended here with a shock to the system, implementing a new status quo for two of the major characters (last year Holt, this year Rosa - both with Jake) that although unlikely to last, does present the potential for a plethora of interesting ideas come September. It’s hard to know exactly how long the show will keep the pair of framed detectives in prison - which is where we’ll presumably find them in four months - but it opens up more comedy options not yet explored. And it serves very nicely as a statement of intent, that creators Dan Goor and Michael Schur aren’t interested in keeping things business as usual (even with the show’s dwindling ratings and threat of cancellation) and instead are more than willing to throw out of kilter the entire structure of their series, despite having done it several times this year already.It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that this happened, yet the final moments were narratively strong and cleverly kept the twist hidden. Crucially, the lack of credits gave the illusion of there being longer left than there truly was, and that blindsided me in a way I appreciated; after being critical last week of the Hawkins twist being predictable, it was nice to be caught off guard here.
Getting to that stage meant much heavier, more emotional storytelling was needed, between Amy’s suggestion that she and Jake discuss what happens if he is found guilty, and Rosa’s attempt to leave only to be convinced by Holt not to. (The “your family’s going to miss you” line was particularly poignant.) Brooklyn certainly isn’t averse to these kinds of moments, and they’re often peppered in amongst the completely bananas comedy bits, but “Crime & Punishment” struck more of a balance between the two sides in a way that didn’t feel too much a detour from the show we know and love.
And it wasn’t as if the half-hour was devoid of comedy. Terry’s subplot, in which he has his digital life invaded by three separate hackers, is the funniest of his in a long time, with Crews’ exasperation at having his secrets revealed a thing of wonder. Boyle having aged 40 years in appearance due to the stress of the trial provided some great comedy, both visual and dialogue - “My back gave out while I was dying my pubes. I was only halfway done. I'm like Cruella de Vil down there,” a very nice blend between the two - and felt very Boyle-esque. There were, of course, the typical quick gags like Rosa hiding razor blades in her tongue, Jake and Langdon (Brent Briscoe) discussing pigs mating, and Gina reading the body language of the jury. But, ultimately, the integration of both the funny and sincere sides of the show produced a very strong finale.The first half-hour, “The Bank Job”, leant far more heavily on the former, giving the show one final chance to cut loose and have fun. This was no less apparent than in the reappearance of Jason Mantzoukas’ Pimento, with the episode further proving why he works best in small doses. We last saw him in the Thanksgiving episode, “Mr. Santiago”, in which he came to terms with the fact that he shouldn’t be a cop. Here, he has made the switch to PI work but relishes the opportunity to get back involved with the Nine-Nine.
His crazed and often psychotic mentality is a lot to take when he appears frequently but, having not seen him since before the winter hiatus, it was easy to simply appreciate the comedy he provides. Holt describes him as “somewhat threatening and erratic” and Pimento doesn’t prove him wrong, first jumping to the conclusion that they want him to kill someone when asking for his help, then saying he’s fine with being stabbed (*) and fire being used to hurt him, and finally taking cocaine and immediately becoming more hyper and crazed than a six-year-old who just downed half a litre of Coca-Cola. Mantzoukas’ eyes upon seeing the cocaine were fantastic and yet still couldn’t quite aptly prelude what was about to come, Pimento ditching his shirt and wondering about the Statue of Liberty’s ‘below-deck’ design.
(*) That particular admission was my favourite of the ground rules, mostly for the way Mantzoukas delivers it but partly for how ridiculous it is.
Jake and Rosa’s undercover investigation worked nicely, from them joining Holt at razzmatazz to their attempt to party with Hawkins. We may have seen a drinking session just a handful of episodes ago but with this one much shorter and less the centre of the story, it wasn’t a bad thing - and Jake’s dislike for strong alcohol is never not funny. Much like the guilty twist, I didn’t really see the set-up coming - even though I should have - but it doesn’t seem like the sort of thing that would have majorly impacted the episode had I predicted it sooner.
Back at the precinct, the remainder of the cast dealt with the news that Gina is pregnant. It’s an unexpected story for her, and I’m intrigued as to how much of this somewhat new Gina is down to her having been hit by a bus, a plot point that has all but faded into memory by this point. It wouldn’t have been surprising for the father to be someone ultra-famous, as she suggests, but it is probably funnier that Milton Boyle (Ryan Phillippe) is instead the baby daddy. Charles’ disdain towards him is inexplicable, and it would be nice if the show elaborated on why he hates his cousin so much; on the other hand, his hatred going unjustified may be a better running gag. With the time jump between tonight’s two and the likely time jump to the start of season five, Gina will probably have her baby around the Christmas episode.
These two episodes were a great end to what has probably been the overall best season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The show has really come into its own this year, delivering laughs at an extraordinary pace yet more effectively displaying the heartfelt, deeper moments that Schur’s Parks and Rec often leant more heavily on. It’s been a great run, especially since the show returned from its three-month hiatus in April, and we can only hope that the momentum doesn’t subside and that season five is even better than what we’ve seen in the last eight months.
Not that anything will ever top this Holt moment, though.
Some other thoughts:
• I’m not sure what’s funnier: Jake wagging his tail, or Jake getting annoyed because Brenda isn’t happy with how he’s doing it.
• Gina’s baby names document is, fittingly, named babynames.doc.
• “If my desk phone rings, just ignore it. I don't answer it anyway.” “You shouldn't tell me stuff like that.”
• Hitchcock saw The Fault in Our Stars because: “Teenage romance, dying chick, oxygen mask. Checks all my boxes.”
• After Jake managed to boil an egg not too long ago, he now manages to step on omelettes. From that, I choose to take that he’s progressed his cooking skills to making omelettes rather than assuming he simply stepped on one made for him.
• According to Google Maps, it would take 71 hours to walk from Brooklyn to Maryland. Either Pimento is crazier than I thought, or I Googled that wrong. The worst part is I don’t know which is more plausible.
• Even when on trial, Rosa’s privacy is her priority. Not only does Channel 12 not have much information on her, but she’d initially rather keep her La La Land singalong secret and go to jail instead.
• I think this may be the first of these jokes not directed at Amy: “'One more but(t) and you're in contempt', name of your sex tape.”
• Brooklyn went in hard with the TV references tonight. Terry wasn’t getting a “real Mr. Robot vibe” from the first hacker, Pandemic, who then reveals Terry’s Madam Secretary fanfic obsession: “The show leaves Terry wanting more. I'm just filling in the gaps.”
• I wonder if the Argentina cabin had scorpions or not.
• Thanks for indulging in my ramblings while Laura’s been away. I hope you’ve all enjoyed my coverage over the past couple of weeks. She’ll be back for the premiere in September, while you can find me writing about other things here or on Twitter here. Enjoy the summer!
What did everyone think of the finale, and of the season? Leave your thoughts in the comments and be sure to vote in our poll below!
