Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Last Ride

April 26, 2017 10:55 AM - Season 4, Episode 5

It comes down to either the Nine-Nine or the 74th Precinct being shut down, and the 74th has a special tactical squad. Terry learns he needs to work one more case to catch Hitchcock, who has closed the most cases in the history of the 99th. Gina continually pranks the detectives while live-streaming in front of her audience of "G-noes". Amy convinces Holt to speed through five years of mentorship before the Nine-Nine closes. Jake and Charles set out on their last case together - a kid's stolen bike.

YOU JUST DRANK CEMENT!

I'm glad they didn't decide to drag out the will-they-or-won't they shut the Nine-Nine out to the end of the season.

posted by fimbulvetr (9 comments total)

Scully happily chugging his cement beer was a nice callback to earlier in the episode.

I liked acknowledging all the other cops in the building who aren't part of the inner circle.
posted by Gary at 11:51 AM on April 26, 2017 [5 favorites]

I'm still laughing about Hitchcock's tattoo.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 2:53 PM on April 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

There's an inner circle?!?!
posted by General Malaise at 4:32 PM on April 26, 2017 [4 favorites]

The whole subplot "Holt has been secretly mentoring Amy with binders and everything without telling her" filled me full of so many emotions that would be inappropriate to share at work. I know it's ridiculous to have so many feelings about a high-strung sit-com character getting her greatest wish, but I cannot help myself.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:19 AM on April 27, 2017 [14 favorites]

Something about this episode reminded me of News Radio. Chelsea Peretti might be her generation's Andy Dick. But, you know, funny.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 6:01 PM on April 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

It was the inner circle line that reminded me of NewsRadio. They are both workplace comedies that completely ignore the rest of the employees most of the time. Brooklyn 99 at least acknowledged the night shift where I think the conceit on NewsRadio was they shifted to a national feed after hours? I might be misremembering that.

I would have put Chelsea Peretti as the counterpart to Vicki Lewis' Beth. Boyle kind of lines up with Andy Dick's Matthew, but Scully & Hitchcock take over most of the incompetence and physical comedy. Rosa Diaz is Joe Garelli and Amy Santiago is clearly Lisa Miller.

There's the employee / boss relationship with Jake / Captain Holt and Dave / Mr. James, but the characters are very different.

Terry is also different than Bill McNeal but both serve a utility player role. They make any story better and can be counted on for a good B-plot. Yogurt is this generation's vending machine sandwiches?
posted by Gary at 9:26 AM on April 28, 2017 [2 favorites]

if there's a mod around, this was actually episode 15

I'm finally caught up to the current episode and the secret mentor binder from Holt for Amy filled me with such joy that I'm now incapable of expressing more emotions in this sentence.
posted by numaner at 7:58 PM on May 15, 2017

OK, I'm way behind on this show and catching up, but this was a great episode - it felt like everything was hitting on all cylinders. All the characters were spot on. Holt was very Holt (and I am still in awe of Andre Braugher - who will always be the intense Det. Pembleton of Homicide to me - and his skill at comedy), which made the mentoring work with Amy fantastic - and the stinger, with the reveal that there are more! binders! just...yeah. Jake and Boyle have their epic case, but the decision to be responsible and wait for the larger bust - it was a good reminder that for all the slapstick, wacky comedy, this show is also about a group of detectives who are good at what they do. Same goes for Rosa & Terry.

And Gina was staring to get under my skin, until it's revealed that her social media shenanigans save the day and the 99. I mean, you know that the 99 isn't going to close, but the bait & switch on the reason for it is fantastic.

Anyways, it is a fantastic ensemble comedy and I enjoy the fact that the show can juggle the pairings of actors around a fair bit and produce solid fun every week; it isn't always completely even, but it's reliable. And I think one of the differences between the 99 and a show like NewsRadio is that the 99 characters have a bit more depth; some of the characters on NewsRadio became caricatures pretty quick (Matthew especially) and it sapped the fun because there was less chance to surprise us. I still love me some NewsRadio (and Bill McNeal is perhaps Phil Hartman at his best; I miss you Phil!), but I'm hesitant to draw comparisons - though clearly the 99 owes a debt to how that ensemble worked together.

Blerg. Anyways, sorry for the thread resurrection, but I love this show and needed to babble excitedly about it.
posted by nubs at 7:51 AM on June 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

FYI: This is S04E15, not E05.
posted by mikelieman at 9:35 AM on November 14, 2020