Terry Crews in an interview with Access conducted in June 2020 said that Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the cop-comedy show he stars in, scrapped whatever script they had ready for their final season after the murder of George Floyd and the eruption of the Black Lives Matter movement.
An already tumultuous time for America and the world, a cop-comedy show with a cis, white, heterosexual male protagonist was treading in especially dangerous waters, no matter how unproblematic Andy Samberg (the actor that portrays the main character) is in real life, or his character Jake Peralta is in the show.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine occupies a niche in the sitcom landscape. The show might carry the tag of a cop comedy, but it has been acclaimed for addressing politically relevant issues without using offensive comedy― which is no major feat. That’s not all Brooklyn Nine-Nine has done that can be construed as politically correct during their 8-year run time. The main cast of the show is especially diverse.
The show centers around the life of police officers from the 99th precinct, and features four white men, one white woman, two black men and two Latina women. While heteronormative relationship practices are prevalent in the show, two characters (Andre Braugher’s Captain Raymond Holt and Stephanie Beatriz’s Rosa Diaz) are both LGBTQIA+ characters that do not cater to any negative stereotypes or tired character arcs.
All this being said, Brooklyn Nine-Nine was still faced with a massive conundrum when the BLM movement erupted and hate towards the police was breeding, rightfully so, rapidly. According to Terry Crews, the show-runner Dan Goor scrapped four episodes that were ready for production after the cast and crew had various ‘somber talks’ and ‘deep conversations’ about it. “We’re going to make something truly groundbreaking,” he said to Access.
The show began airing its final season in August and ended bittersweetly in September. As promised, the writers did not sidestep on their claim to use their platform and audience for awareness. The cast and crew donated $100,000 to the National Bail Fund Network in support of the protests, and the final season kicked off with Rosa Diaz resigning from the force to become a private investigator that helps victims of police brutality, and with the rest of the characters navigating their morality after a world-altering movement on top of a pandemic.
The final season consisted of only 10 episodes, but all 10 were well written, politically charged, nostalgic and exceptionally funny. The writers didn’t shy away from using the main tool they had at their disposal to send a message― calling out their lovable white male character for being problematic. The character of Jake Peralta has arguably undergone the most character redemption from the show’s inception, but the character arc from this season was off the charts. The people around him held him accountable for his actions, and shattered the illusion of “I’m one of the good ones” he had proudly donned.
The show’s longtime fans were teary about the bittersweet finale, but appreciated the effort that went into the season's conception. Salwan Sageer, an ardent fan of the show showered the finale with praises. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine always treads that line between tokenism and actually being politically correct beautifully, but this season was commendable both for comedy and wokeness. I thought the writing peaked when the show responded to the Me Too movement by addressing sexual harassment, but this season proved me wrong. I’m sure that I’ll be rewatching this show for years to come.”
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