The fourth season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is 22 episodes long. The general premise of the show is that it follows Precinct Nine Nine of the NYPD, focusing around a team of detectives and their day to day antics. By this point, viewers should be familiar with the cast and know what they get up to.
After the last season’s finale showing off how Figgis is going after Captain Holt and Detective Jake Peralta, they are now living in Florida as part of the witness protection program. The beginning of this season deals with and resolves that arc, giving it a strong ending. From the onset, the humor is done really well, especially with Jake’s constant insults of Florida, Holt and pretty much everything else. It hammers home the good relationship between Jake and Holt. There are excellent scenes involving the ridiculousness of the situation, especially when the pair finds themselves in situations that you don’t expect them to be in at all given their personalities.
After that, the show gets back to episodic plots, where at times it might spread over multiple episodes. There are the usual annual events such as the Halloween heist but it does like to play around with your expectations and then subvert it. Considering that some of these types of events and themes have been done three times before in previous seasons, it’s impressive that the writers managed to keep thinking up of new and creative ways to deal with them.
It becomes more and more prominent as time goes on but it constantly reinforces that Nine Nine is a family, and they all have a strong bond. Jake and Amy’s relationship is slowly progressing. They encounter several obstacles including time spent far apart from each other. Through overcoming those issues, their relationship becomes stronger. Boyle also seems to be developing since he now has a son that he looks after but it’s pretty complex deep down. While Captain Holt is more expressive and tends to join in with the crazy stuff a lot more readily. He isn’t as strict or uptight as he originally was and this is a good thing.
This is a common problem in sitcoms and it is present here. There is a tendency to emphasize certain traits of each of the characters to the point of it being excessive. Jake is a massive fan of Die Hard, constantly referencing the movie, while Amy has her love for excessive organization. Holt is stoic, Terry is a big softy (but note that Terry flexing his muscles never gets old) and Gina is just weird. Speaking of Gina, there are moments in the past where Gina might have been annoying but there were always good bits. In this season, Gina has a lot of shining scenes where it taps into her selfish personality really well, and puts her in a more positive light as she uses that personality for the benefit of the district.
Time does not stand still and neither do the characters. They are moving forward with their careers, even if it is a small step at a time. Terry is considering extra duties while Amy is aiming for a promotion. While done for laughs, Jake getting tricked and used way too easy, but then finding things out by accident and getting the credit happens way too often.
The season contains a lot of unexpected happenings and random events when you least expect it. It is done for the shock factor and it works, but whether it makes sense or not is another story. There are heaps of weird characters, including Pimento, who resurfaces in one episode only to disappear in another. There are various returning supporting characters, for good or bad. It takes to take the odd characters and make them seem normal within the show where everything accepts it with no questions asked. There is an annoying knack for useless characters to get credit and gain power. The team stuck doing the night shift forms a major part of the season. There is also a stronger theme of the episodes tackling sensitive issues. It spins them in a more humorous way while still getting the serious points across.
The season finale closes off an excellent season. As expected, it leaves on a cliffhanger; however, this is the biggest in the series yet. As you are watching the final two episodes, you knew something was up and that it potentially would not be able to be resolved with the time left. While it can be painful to watch as you see the characters struggling in despair, you still cling to the hope that they might make it through. Overall, the fourth season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is filled with crazy events, things that come out of nowhere, and great humor. It is the best season thus far in terms of humor and sheer interesting things that happen. It has a strong opening, manages to keep that quality for the duration of the season, and then ends with a whopper of an ending.
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