‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’: Chelsea Peretti Leaving the Show in Upcoming Season, Creator Dan Goor Pens Tribute to Gina
But let’s take a second to elevate the not-so-hidden star of the show: Holt’s shirts. Explaining that he tried to go to work but ended up on a plane to Mexico instead, Holt didn’t pack a bag: “I bought a bundle of novelty shirts at a nearby gift shop. This one says ‘What’s up, beaches?’ — instead of ‘bitches,’ for humor reasons.” The explanation takes mere seconds but it provides an opportunity for bonus fun throughout the episode.
Sure, it’s funny when Holt is blankly staring across the restaurant at Amy and Jake’s romantic dinner, but it’s even funnier that he’s doing it in a sleeveless shirt with a buff bod printed on it. And it’s great when Holt breaks into Amy and Jake’s room during a couple’s hot stone massage, laying down on the ground to better facilitate conversation with their face-down positions, but that he’s doing it in a “DTF: Down to Fiesta” t-shirt is the cherry on top of their sundae. Finally, his “1 Tequila, 2 Tequila, 3 Tequila, FLOOR!!!” ensemble is the ideal juxtaposition to Holt’s heartbreaking news that he’s quitting the force.
Chelsea Peretti in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”
Vivian Zink/NBC
Of course, he doesn’t quit the force, but the audience needed to see Holt go to that dark place while facing unexpected hardship. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” has always been about positive, supportive people sacrificing for the greater good and each other. They’re idyllic, if silly, police officers, who forge idyllic, silly friendships. Often, these classic, happy sitcoms result in the characters getting everything they want, sometimes too easily, since rewarding nice people is an easy way to sustain the positive energy driving feel-good comedies. When a character says they’re going after something they really want, audiences expect them to succeed.
But “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” doesn’t operate that way — they can’t. Despite Holt’s claims that he’s done everything he set out to do as a captain, there is still crime in Brooklyn and everyone does not love the police. These are never-ending endeavors, and yet they’re the common goals of every character on the show. Moreover, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” deals with hard issues often enough that audiences don’t always expect easy answers to serious problems. (Terry Crews’ Sergeant Jeffords was racially profiled in his own neighborhood, and it could very well happen again.)
So how does the show respect the truth of its world without losing the joyful tone of its characters? It’s the shirts and the “not” and the relentless perseverance springing from both. Goor and his writers consistently find ways to pepper extra doses of humor into each episode’s running time, and the shirts are a stellar sneak-attack of funny in “Honeymoon.” Meanwhile, choosing to not let Holt get his job speaks to the real world fans are living in and the creators are willing to acknowledge. It’s more valuable to watch Holt grieve, nearly quit, and then resolve to fight the powers that almost squashed his career than to hand him a promotion. He obviously deserves it, but is that how things work in 2019?
Not everything ties back to Trump, but this choice feels carefully considered for the culture of our times. Happy endings aren’t guaranteed; injustice is still rampant. It would be easy for everyone to fall into despair, and Goor’s series recognizes as much through Holt’s initial reaction. But the joyful spirit of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is distinguishable from other sitcoms in that it even though it delivers laughs in droves, it also provides a bit of a pep talk. Viewers need to see Holt lose because they need to see Holt fight back. They need to see persistence so they can emulate it themselves. They need to see “The 99,” and NBC is giving it to them.
Grade: A-
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine” airs new episodes on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
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