Skip to main content
opinion
Open this photo in gallery:

Spoilers for the first seven seasons follow, so stop reading if you don’t want to know.NBC / Citytv

In the spring of 2020, my household found solace in Brooklyn. At the Nine-Nine.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine premiered in 2013 – a sitcom with heart about a New York police precinct starring Andy Samberg as the funny, affable Jake Peralta – a somewhat immature but brilliant detective. Not really my cup of tea, I thought at the time, although I was mildly amused by the two or three episodes I watched on flights. (Oh dang, remember flights?)

When Fox cancelled the show in 2018 after five seasons, fans protested – and NBC stepped in and picked up the series. Maybe it was that strong fan reaction that led me to click play on Netflix, as I looked for something early in the pandemic to calm, distract and entertain my then-11-year-old – and myself.

The series begins as the 99th Precinct gets a new captain, Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher). A serious intellectual who seems the polar opposite of Jake, he nonetheless becomes a father figure to the group – especially to Jake and colleague Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero). Under Holt is Terry Jeffords (America’s Got Talent host Terry Crews), a body-building, yogurt-loving, soft-hearted dad to twin daughters, Cagney and Lacey. Detective Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz) is super-competent and tough as nails (at least on the outside); Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) is Jake’s devoted, foodie partner. Hitchcock and Scully (Dirk Blocker, Joel McKinnon Miller) are policing partners, best friends and disasters. The only non-detective in the group is Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti), Holt’s social media-obsessed civilian assistant who thinks she’s in charge (and kind of is).

My son and I binge-watched our way through seven seasons, laughing at the zany antics and becoming emotionally invested in the characters’ lives. Jake’s father issues. Gina’s confident narcissistic wisdom. Jake and Amy’s chemistry. Captain Holt’s love for classical music, his professor husband, Kevin Cozner, and their dog, Cheddar.

(Spoilers for the first seven seasons follow, so stop reading if you don’t want to know.) I cried at Jake and Amy’s wedding. And during Gina’s farewell episode, when Amy refused to burn the scrapbook she made containing Gina’s best tweets. And watching the last scene of Season 7, with Jake, Amy and baby.

Which brings us to this week. Season 8, the final season, premieres on Aug. 12.

I have spent actual real world time thinking about what will happen – and what I would like to happen – to these characters. Fictional men and women I have grown to know and love. (Title of my sex tape.)

The Season 8 trailer offers a few clues. Gina – who left in Season 6 because her talents were being wasted at the Nine-Nine – appears in the trailer, as does the freaky but lovable former undercover cop and detective Adrian Pimento (Jason Mantzoukas). Holt sends a possibly career-ending text (“a digital phallus portrait”). Charles gets nostalgic, Jake cries. I did, too.

Jake is obsessed with Die Hard and I am rooting for a Bruce Willis guest appearance. I picture Willis stepping in to offer Jake and Amy advice as they struggle with new parenthood. Although, marital advice from Bruce Willis? Hmmm. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.

There will be a final epic Halloween Heist, an annual series highlight – although I personally get quite stressed out watching them. (Those paying attention would have noticed that the Season 7 heist, which ended at Easter 2020 – would have run smack dab into COVID-19; the birth of Jake and Amy’s baby, too, a couple of episodes later.)

I imagine Charles leaving policing to start his own restaurant – Season 5 food-truck disaster notwithstanding. His son, Nikolaj, will help out from time to time, as Charles schools the customers on how to pronounce his name properly. Hitchcock and Scully will retire and be regulars. Or, even better, they’ll have a pile of money stashed away and will become investors in Charles’s culinary venture.

Will Rosa and Pimento reunite and start a crazy life together? Will Rosa run the world? She should.

I have very high hopes for Terry and especially Holt. The show has sensitively dealt with real-world issues – undocumented Americans, infertility, coming out as LGBTQ. There was an excellent episode in Season 4 that dealt with racial profiling and the treatment of Black Americans by police. Crews has indicated in an interview that this final season will address the issues around the murder of George Floyd.

This is where I want Terry and Holt, who are both Black, to make a difference. Holt has wanted to be commissioner for years. And while the logical happy ending would be for him to get that job (and Amy to get his), I want more for him. I want him to quit the force and run for office. Holt could make a real difference in America.

As I prepare for Season 8, I’ve been rewatching some of my favourite episodes and scenes. The case of the missing Thanksgiving pie. NutriBoom. Jake and Holt under witness protection in Coral Palms, Fla. Rosa’s epic salon appointment. Holt’s souvenir shop t-shirts during Jake and Amy’s honeymoon. The gender-reveal cake. Holt and Terry’s Push It dance routine.

And my favourite cold opens: Nikolaj’s monster in the closet. Hitchcock and Scully congratulating themselves for being the first people in the office – on fumigation day. Jake’s I Want It That Way police lineup – one of the best 66 seconds of television ever.

I look forward to more laughs and for sure more tears. Theirs, mine.

Cool, cool. Boom Boom. Nine-Nine!

Plan your screen time with the weekly What to Watch newsletter. Sign up today.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe