Up next in 10
For many fans of Brooklyn Nine Nine, it's tough to pick an episode that's truly bad. Most episodes of the beloved sitcom are top tier comedy. Especially when it comes to the 99's cast of Jake Peralta, Terry Jeffords, and Captain Ray Holt. But one fan favorite character got a very special send off episode, only to be brought right back into the fold only 11 episodes later as someone completely different. Brooklyn Nine Nine had the chance for a perfect exit, but instead almost ruined a characters legacy.
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Go
0:05
Oh, shit. That was awesome. Wow. I can't believe I executed that to perfection
0:10
This is how you send off a character. In the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode titled The Four
0:14
Movements, Gina leaves the precinct with a statue and some parting words before leaving the show entirely
0:20
And it's honestly one of the more well-done send-offs for a fan-favorite character
0:24
It wraps up her character nicely, and she leaves in a way that feels pretty Gina. Oh. Suck
0:31
Did he fall for it? Terry, did you fall for it? Unfortunately, this is how you ruin a send-off
0:36
Duncan, this better be good news. Oh, it is. Your video's huge. From Spokane to Spain, your global genes
0:42
Now let's talk strategy. This is gonna take a while. This happens just 11 episodes later
0:48
in an episode titled The Return of the King. Usually writers wait a season or two
0:52
before bringing a previously written-off character back into the series, but this just didn't work
0:57
And it's not because it isn't funny. It is. It didn't work because the writers abandon all of their established character tropes
1:04
in favor of creating something purely ridiculous. It seemingly comes out of nowhere and is equal parts jolting and insulting
1:11
Not only is this episode a structural mess, it's also an example of how writing characters from a perspective of indifference and disconnect
1:19
can work against you in the long run. Brooklyn Nine-Nine's final season concluded on September 16, 2021
1:25
The Andy Samberg single-camera spoof of an overproduced police procedurals featured a rotating cast of award-winning dramatic actors alongside some of the most predominant names in comedy
1:35
Some of the characters stuck around for the entirety of the show's eight-year run, and some did not
1:40
There comes a time in almost every long-running television show in which we, as an audience, are forced to say goodbye to a beloved character
1:48
The send-off moment happens frequently in the world of television for a variety of different reasons
1:53
Contracts expire, new opportunities present themselves, people become problematic or prove difficult to work with
1:59
Things can change, and writers have to adapt to the best of their ability. The problem with farewell episodes of television is that they more often than not end up being relatively self This is especially true when the farewell episode centers around a more tertiary character in the show central plot
2:15
Shows abandon their plot lines and character development and instead end up focusing on
2:19
saying goodbye. It actually happens quite often in the very police procedurals that Brooklyn Nine-Nine lampoons
2:25
Emily Wickersham was written off of NCIS to go on a sort of generic secret mission
2:31
Louis Lombardi faces a really gut-wrenching demise in 24. Of course, these episodes can be heartfelt and nostalgic
2:38
but as far as storytelling goes, these episodes have a tendency to feel more like they're just treading water
2:43
In the case of Gina Linetti, she receives not one, but two farewell episodes in the same season
2:49
Neither of these episodes are in the conversation for greatest episode of all time
2:53
but after setting such a high bar for a character send-off with her first farewell
2:57
Gina's second farewell episode really sets a low bar as far as Brooklyn Nine-Nine episodes go
3:03
Gina Linetti was a character that served her purpose beautifully throughout five seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine
3:08
She provided a veneer of tongue-in-cheek sarcasm and cynicism during what would be some of the more tedious moments of the show
3:15
What is that? Cement! You just drank cement! She often reminded us that we were, in fact, watching a comedy at times
3:23
Her complete lack of respect for the police department that she worked for felt like a perfect fit for the show's propensity to dip its toes into the realm of absurdity
3:31
but it also never felt like it was going all in on being completely over the top
3:35
Chelsea Peretti didn't leave Brooklyn Nine-Nine on bad terms. She just felt like it was her time to go
3:40
From various interviews, we can glean that this was a mutual split. Chelsea Peretti was welcoming a child
3:45
and was looking to balance her time between work and being a mom. There was no drama, no mudslinging
3:50
no thinly veiled illusions of problematic behavior. In fact, Peretti worked closely with the writers and producers
3:56
to give Gina Linetti a proper send-off. When Gina returns for her second farewell
4:00
in what is arguably the worst episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, she is almost a different character entirely
4:06
The writers sort of take this weird moment to take the character of Gina Linetti
4:09
and make their own cartoon caricature out of her. All of Gina's defining characteristics
4:14
are amplified to a fairly large degree And gone are the days of Gina tenure as the assistant to Captain Holt as Gina is now this sort of ridiculously flashy and successful social media influencer
4:25
This is a fun moment for the character and sort of serves as a bit of a status shift for the rest of the cast
4:30
They aren't dealing with the sort of dry, wisecracking, deadpan Gina anymore
4:34
They're dealing with something much larger. The problem with exaggerating a smaller character's features to this degree
4:39
means that sometimes the more negative aspects of a character begin to sort of shine through
4:44
Something that once worked well because of its subtlety might not work as well when amplified to a ridiculous degree
4:50
Gina's trademark cynicism and sarcasm end up being really difficult emotions to amplify
4:55
without creating a character that is about as unlikable as they come
4:59
Duncan, I almost died. It was amazing. Those tiny brief accents of disaffected wit
5:04
become long and exhaustive dives into unhinged narcissism. Imagine just for a second that these characters have little dials on every single one of their
5:12
character aspects. Writers then spend the time fidgeting and playing with these dials to varying degrees of success
5:18
Generally, positive character tropes tend to be a little easier to play with. There are a couple reasons for this, the first being that it's more fun for the audience
5:25
to watch characters who get along to some degree. Even if characters bicker, fight, scream, or just do terrible things, we need to be
5:32
able to understand why the characters actually like each other, or at the very least tolerate
5:36
at each other for comedic scenes to really start working. The second reason is that positivity
5:40
is much more malleable than negativity. In the case of Brooklyn Nine-Nine
5:44
it's more fun when we are watching our characters work together towards a common goal
5:48
It's fun to watch Terry and Peralta working on a case together. It's fun to watch Captain Holt deliver life lessons
5:53
to the supporting cast. It's fun to watch our characters get along. If we take a moment to look at what
5:58
is arguably the best episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Box, we see all of our characters starting off
6:04
in a somewhat positive place. Throughout the episode, the positivity and confidence
6:08
the characters have slowly breaks down into uncertainty and desperation. And it feels like a very natural progression
6:13
of emotional intensity. Now, if everyone started this episode in that negative place of fear and desperation
6:19
there would never be any emotional arc for the character. Everything would feel pretty linear and boring It also wouldn be nearly as rewarding to see the characters regain their confidence later on in the episode Oh damn Oh damn Oh damn
6:34
And that is three oh, damns. It is much more difficult to turn anger, fear
6:39
and sadness into happiness, in a way that feels natural, at least. The one thing that sort of breaks these rules
6:44
and doesn't really lean one way or the other is apathy. Creating characters that operate through an apathetic lens
6:50
is the purgatory of character development. There's not really much to do with a character that doesn't care about themselves or other characters
6:57
This is a big part of where Return of the King starts to break down as far as a Brooklyn
7:01
9-9 episode goes. Gina Linetti returns almost as an insult to the rest of the cast
7:06
When she first departed the show, she sort of hung around a bit while the rest of the
7:09
cast took time to almost persuade her out of leaving. She left a statue and a recorded message on the computer, and the characters seemed genuinely
7:16
bummed that she wouldn't be around anymore. In Return of the King, she comes back without caring about anyone in the cast
7:23
She continuously blows off almost every character she comes across. It's like the writers were writing for a completely different person
7:29
She sends her assistant to planned hangouts at the pub. She ignores the requests
7:33
She disobeys direction designed to keep her safe from an assassination attempt
7:37
It almost plays out like the fun the writers were having in making Gina this new sort of
7:41
social media diva came at the expense of trying to write a decent episode of television that
7:46
made sense within the established context of Gina's pre-existing character dynamics. These episodes can feel ridiculous and fun, but when the plot lines go a little too far
7:56
things can really start to get away from us in terms of structure. There's a balance that needs to be achieved in an episode like this, and Return of the
8:02
King scales, they never really level out. The pseudo-seriousness and parody that makes Brooklyn Nine-Nine so great is effectively
8:09
thrown out the window in favor of creating some rather ridiculous and arguably out-of-character
8:14
or moments that don't really line up with the overall vibe of the show. For characters to work together, they
8:20
must care about each other to some degree. If our characters can't find a way
8:23
to connect with one another, the audience won't be able to connect with them either
8:27
Writers need to make the decision to care, and in the case of Return of the King
8:31
it's a good demonstration of how just because something can feel fun in a show doesn't necessarily
8:36
mean that it will feel right to an audience