Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Set Up

August 29, 2021 11:00 AM - Season 8, Episode 6

Jake is wrong, and who could have predicted that there would be consequences for his actions? Despite unwanted support from those who would try to make those consequences disappear?

Vulture recap by Brian Tallerico: the episode "more subtly highlights the failures of copaganda than other episodes this season".

AV Club recap by Vikram Murthi: "If this were a Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode from a few years ago, Jake’s suspicions would likely be correct..... When it’s time for Holt to deliver his straightforward speech, it lands precisely because 'The Setup' spent most of its runtime in a softer register".

posted by brainwane (9 comments total)

This episode and PB&J have been two of my favorites, and Jake-centric stories usually don't hit me that way. The decision to make O'Sullivan a Big Bad is a good one, I think (also, of course O'Sullivan stans Billy Joel). Holt's speech is my second-favorite moment of this season, right after Jake's old captain explaining systematic police bias in the premiere.
posted by box at 1:44 PM on August 29, 2021

I think the change in tone has thrown some of the writers since it seems a bit awkwardly done; but maybe also because it's hard to find the humour in these situations now.

Also, I feel uncomfortable with Evil Dr Cox.
posted by Marticus at 5:38 PM on August 29, 2021

So huffy!
posted by cooker girl at 7:37 AM on August 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

I liked Rosa's drunken confidence in the British accent.
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:47 PM on August 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

Yknow it's nice to see them saying nice things on network tv. I was feeling very cynical about this whole season right up until Holt and Jake's final speeches. Then I was just like ugh I do like hearing anyone say anything that makes sense for once. I'll take it.
posted by bleep at 9:18 PM on August 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I mean it's clear that the characters represent an idealized fiction of the nypd and the show is saying "This is what the people are asking for, this isn't hard to understand or too much to expect" and I liked that.
posted by bleep at 9:22 PM on August 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

One of Jake Peralta's defining characteristics is his love of pop culture and action/cop movies and all their stereotypical tropes. With this episode and "Balancing," the show is starting to dismantle those archetypes and the copaganda that goes along with them. In "Balancing," he had to give up searching for his arch nemesis serial killer, and instead Boyle gets to experience all the cliches (off-screen). Here, Jake is so intent on doing a Speed, as he puts it, that he defies his captain's orders, follows his gut feeling -- and it blows up in his face, because Speeds and Sister Acts don't actually happen in the real world. Inasmuch as the show has been primarily a vehicle for Andy Samberg's very entertaining man-child act, they now have to re-educate him and take away his fantasies. It's smart, I think, and keeping the focus on Jake's learning to let go of cop fantasies is a good way to try to respond to the present moment and eject their copaganda past.
posted by Saxon Kane at 1:18 PM on September 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

Although I should add that I would LOVE to see Rosa doing a Sister Act
posted by Saxon Kane at 4:53 PM on September 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

The ending was great.

Also enjoyed the drunk girl switch.
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:10 PM on September 14, 2021