Alright, so last night’s first season finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine was so bittersweet because while this season has been super fun to watch and surprisingly successful with rising improvement, now we have to wait months for it to return. Last night’s episode, “Charges and Specs,” was a great finale that really rounded out the long-term plots that have been developing all season and certainly set the show up with plenty of possibilities going forward. I really love how Brooklyn Nine-Nine has taken advantage of its cast and made sure to shape everyone into likable characters each with a purpose and the ability to function both in a group and on their own.
Last night, the episode open up with two crises; in the opening scene, Peralta is being an obnoxious drunk who buys everyone drinks because he just lost his job with the NYPD, which was obviously serving a larger purpose but still left me curious about how Peralta ended up in the situation. Meanwhile Boyle comes into the department dressed head to toe like Neo from The Matrix movies (brilliant) because Vivian ended things with him and broke off their engagement. Poor Boyle, he can’t even find joy in food anymore and is satisfied eating a bag of eggs. Either way, the episode threw the two main characters into really unfortunate and negative situations, but that just means the rest of their team is going to do everything in their power to cheer these two back up.
Peralta has been overly aggressive in his attempts to question a civic leader, Lucas Wint, because Jake believes that he is guilty for buying and pushing drugs out into the community. Wint feels like he’s being harassed, I mean, Peralta did show up to the guy’s weekend pick-up basketball game, but will not let up which causes Holt to threaten him with suspension. Trusting his gut, Peralta continues to try and get evidence of Wilt being tied to the crimes and he even gets tricks Santiago into helping him (although she eventually believes he’s right). While Holt seems pretty agitated with Peralta for constantly ignoring his direct orders to back off, we watch Jake continue to press on by setting up a meeting between himself, Holt, Santiago and an informant who claims to deliver drugs to Wilt. Although Peralta’s suspension meeting is mere hours away, Holt jumps on board and finally believes him. After infiltrating a dance competition held at Wilt’s church, they finally get their evidence by snapping some pictures of each drug transaction. It was really fun to watch these three work together and I thought it was a good story to show off Peralta’s development of understanding when he needs to be serious and when he should goof off.
Poor Boyle, lost a woman he loved, isn’t even interested in food anymore… he’s a mess! However, this was a really solid side plot that showed how much this team cares about one another. Out of everyone, Diaz is the one who pushes Terry and Gina to help her cheer up Boyle which makes sense because now he’s single again and she actually has gotten to know him and see that he’s a good guy. Diaz tries to get him to burn everything that reminds him of Vivian and their relationship, Terry tries to relate by giving a story about how his heart was broken and smashing plates makes him feel better, and Gina thinks they should take him out to try and find him another women. It was nice to see each of these characters express their care for Boyle in their own odd way.
Everything eventually transitions back to Peralta’s suspension hearing and that everybody is going to have to stall for as long as possible while him, Holt, and Diaz are gathering evidence. Mission accomplished and they cover until he arrives, but when we see the trial, Peralta doesn’t present his evidence, puts on the theatrics and gets himself fired from the NYPD…. What! It turns out that the FBI has been tracking Wilt as well but don’t want to ruin their case and instead have Jake get fired so he can go undercover. This is why he was in the bar earlier, the guys he talks to will hopefully get him into their circle so he can spy and take them down.
Overall, I thought this was a really, really good finale for Brooklyn Nine-Nine that provided some good stories that reflected the characters and also how far they’ve come since the beginning. I like that they set up for the possible future romance between Diaz and Boyle because it would make more sense now, and it was awesome that after how much Peralta was complimenting Santiago tonight, he just flat out told her that he wishes something romantic could happen between them. Things will definitely get interesting for all of the characters and I love the development that Peralta has had. I can’t wait for Brooklyn Nine-Nine to return for its second season and definitely am pleasantly surprised with how this show panned out.
My Moments of the Night:
– Peralta’s impression of Holt before the hearing.
– “Captain Raymond Holt….wasssssuuup?”
– Terry’s dredds during his time abroad in Japan were hilarious.
– “I am nationally recognized fox trotter Dave Blaythus”
– “Eyes closed, head first, can’t lose.” — Well, Peralta was sort of close… but should leave that line to Coach Taylor.
– Boyle and Gina wake up next to each other in bed! Wow! Biggest shock of the episode!
What did everyone think of last night’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine finale? Drop a comment and let me know what and why you did or didn’t like about the episode!
[Photo via Eddy Chen/FOX
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