TL;DR –  After a season of fun Brooklyn Nine-Nine comes to a close in what would have been a great series finale if we didn’t have an amazing season seven in store.  

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Review –

Today is an interesting review to write because I know that it would be a very different tone if it was not already announced that a Season Seven is on the way. It would be a review of closure and looking back. However, today, while there is a bit of closure we instead get the joy of looking forward to what is still yet to come.

So to set the scene, underneath all the hijinks, crimes, heists, and murders this season has been an overarching story about two futures for the NYPD. There is the future under John Kelly (Phil Reeves) which was looking back at Stop and Frisk and other outmoded forms of policing and the future under Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher) that is looking forward. At the start of the season in Honeymoon, it was clear that Kelly had won, and that he would make the 99 pay for getting in his way. After a season of back and forth, it finally comes to a head when Kelly puts Jake (Andy Samberg) right in the middle of their feud where he has to choose between following Holt and saving lives. Just a reminder as we dive into both Sicko and Suicide Squad we will be looking at the episodes as a whole, that there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

In many respects, this two-part episode very much feels like it was originally designed to work a series finale giving people some closure if the show did not go on. As an episode, it works just as well as a series finale as it does as a season finale. Not every season has to end like Best of Both Worlds and here they made the most of that opportunity. Part of this was bringing back characters from the past first with Caleb (Tim Meadows) as a serial killer consultant given his past as a cannibal. Then only to be toped when the suicide squad of The Vulture (Dean Winters), CJ (Ken Marino), and Wuntch (Kyra Sedgwick) are revealed.

While it is always good to get big names back to have some fun, what I really liked in this episode was all the character interactions between the gang. Seeing the highs and the lows, and then the ‘I’m going to be in denial about everything’ was quite the arc for Terry (Terry Crews). There was petty Holt that has discovered how to use gifs the group chat that Charles (Joe Lo Truglio) is unaware of, including while Kelly is in the room. There are also the smaller quiet moments like between Jake and Amy (Melissa Fumero). All of these moments are counterpoints to the more bombastic heist going on.    

What we get within this two-part episode is the culmination of everything that has been going on since midway through Season Five. As it is discovered that Kelly is using unconstitutional methods to gain information on crimes. He has been using at Stingray device without warrants to capture data and then laundering that information through a new tip line he set up to fly under the radar. Throughout the history of 99, there have always been these moments where the show steps out of its comfort zone and tackles something very real, and police using technology to skirt around the constitution with impunity is something very real and very troubling.

This leads to the second half of the episode taking on the form of a grand con to try and trap Kelly and stop him. This involves using people from their pasts that Kelly would never expect because they are enemies … or whatever CJ is. As all con films go, we get the setup scene, the actual heist, the moment it all goes wrong, and then the big switcharoo. Each of these points in the show hit their marks because you know from even the set up that it is all going to fall apart and it did. I have to give full props to the writers, Andy Samberg, and Kyra Sedgwick for completely committing to the fake out because even I believed it when Wuntch double-crossed them even though I should have known where the episode was heading.

With the season coming to a close I wanted to take a moment to look over what happened and to see how it went. Overall, I was really impressed with this season when it came to its consistency. There were the comedic moments like when we went back in time and visited hot Hitchcock and Scully, there were the recurring jokes like the return of Doug Judy in A Tale of Two Bandits, we got to see Captain Holt in a new like in Bimbo, and the show tackled real issues like the Me Too movement in He Said, She Said. It was also the season where the show said goodbye to a main cast member for the first time when Chelsea Peretti stepped down from being in the show full time in Four Movements. At each point, it really felt like the cast was game for whatever was thrown at them in front of the camera (and for many who directed this season behind the camera as well). If there is one thing that didn’t quite work it was that it at times felt a bit too comfortable and it took a while for them to work out how to best use the ‘bleep’ now that they could ‘beep’ on the show.

In the end, do we recommend Sicko, Suicide Squad, and all of Season Six? Yes, yes we do, and that is the first time I have said that about something titled Suicide Squad. Even when Brooklyn Nine-Nine is not quite landing it is still entertaining. As well as this, six seasons in, everyone is completely comfortable with their characters, and you can see that in their performances. What is even more important is that I can say with confidence this time that I can’t wait to see what they get up to next season.              

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Brooklyn Nine-Nine yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Directed by – Matt Nodella & Daniel J. Goor
Written by – Justin Noble, Luke Del Tredici & Dan Goor
Created by – Dan Goor & Michael Schur  
Production/Distribution Companies – Fremulon, Dr. Goor Productions, 3 Arts Entertainment, Universal Television, NBCUniversal & SBS Viceland.
Starring in Season Six – Andy Samberg, Stephanie Beatriz, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero, Joe Lo Truglio, Dirk Blocker, Joel McKinnon Miller & Andre Braugher with Tim Meadows, Kyra Sedgwick, Ken Marino, Phil Reeves & Dean Winters