No ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Episode Is More Important Than This One

The Big Picture

• Brooklyn Nine-Nine
  is a comedy series focusing on a group of NYPD detectives.
• The show tackles serious topics like racism and gun violence in a comedic yet impactful way.
• In the intense episode “Show Me Going,” the characters face a shooting situation with humor and heart.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is, above all else, a comedy. The series, which aired on Fox and NBC during its eight-season run, was never a ratings juggernaut, but it was one of network TV’s best sitcoms of the 2010s. There are cop dramas on every channel, but it’s rare to find a sitcom that makes police officers its focus. Brooklyn Nine-Nine did that with its plots surrounding a group of detectives for the New York City Police Department, led by Andy Samberg‘s Jake Peralta.

While laughs were at the forefront, a show about a dangerous profession in a dangerous big city couldn’t all be shallow jokes. Brooklyn Nine-Nine took time here and there, without being preachy, to look at the big picture, whether it be racism surrounding its Black characters, or the deadly risks surrounding their jobs. No episode did it better, while still going for the funny bone, than the Season 5 episode, “Show Me Going.”

‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Full of Eccentric Characters

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is silly, with characters so over-the-top that it’s hard to imagine anyone like them could keep a job in a high-pressure police department in real life. Jake Peralta has wanted to be a cop ever since he saw Die Hard, but he doesn’t take his job too seriously until he has too. His crush and future wife, Amy (Melissa Fumero), is as smart as they come, but obsessed with being a perfectionist. Super-jacked Terry (Terry Crews), serious Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz), and by-the-book Captain Raymond Holt (the late great Andre Braugher) have their quirks but excel at their job, but meanwhile, Jake’s best friend, Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), Holt’s assistant, Gina (Chelseas Peretti), and best friends Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller) are so, um, different… that you have to wonder how they ever got hired.

‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Tackles Serious Topics

Every personality trait imaginable is shown among the characters of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but their job has made them a family. That job also has its rather serious moments, a reminder that they are always at risk. In one episode, Boyle gets shot. Another shows Terry’s young family, giving a glimpse at what he has to lose when he leaves desk duty behind. Recurring character Adrian Pimento (Jason Mantzoukas) is beyond aloof from his dozen years as an undercover cop. (Look closely, and you’ll see that this job has cost him his mind.)

A Season 6 episode, “He Said, She Said,” forces viewers to look at how women are treated when they come forward after being sexually assaulted. One of the most heartbreaking episodes, Season 4’s “Moo Moo,” involves Terry being racially profiled, showing that even someone who looks indestuctrible is capable of being hurt. Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s most serious and scary episode, however, is “Show Me Going,” where a helpless precinct can do nothing as Rosa is caught in an active shooting situation.

What Happens to Rosa in This ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Episode?

During Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s fifth season, and last on Fox before jumping to NBC, came one of the show’s most nerve-racking episodes. “Show Me Going” begins with the usual hilarious hijinks, such as when Holt shows up to work in a bright red bowler hat and long blue trench coat. When the entire precinct goes silent, everyone’s eyes on him in disbelief, Holt can only shout, “Fine, I was trying something and it didn’t work!” Their usual morning meeting sees Holt trying to be more involved in the personal lives of his detectives, but when Scully begins talking about his dog’s butt, the Captain declares his experiment an immediate failure.

Later, while Jake and Boyle argue about a task force, a call comes in about an active shooter at a hotel in Brooklyn Heights, with multiple casualties reported. Everyone’s faces, along with the music, turn somber. On the radio, police officers respond with “Show me going,” which means that they’re responding to the scene. That’s suspenseful enough, but then Rosa’s voice comes across, saying, “Show me going.”

The next scene has everyone convened in the meeting room, with Holt giving a limited update. There are two or three shooters along with three fatalities, but when Peralta lets it be known that he’s ready to go down there, Holt tells him that others are on the scene, and it’s being locked down. “They want us to remain on alert, but not respond,” he says, which isn’t good enough for Jake. Still, there’s nothing he can do, because they’ve been ordered to stay where they are, and besides, Rosa’s the toughest person they know. She’ll be okay, right?

How Does ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ Handle the Situation?

A serious plot doesn’t mean this episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a downer. The comedy is still there in abundance. The more uncomfortable everyone is, the funnier they are, like when Jake and Amy share an emotional “I love you,” only for a nervous Boyle to ask, “Are you done trying to get into Amy’s pants?” He’s freaking out and doesn’t know what to say. Having come from a broken home, Peralta tells Boyle that he knows how to compartmentalize. With that in mind, they’re going to focus on the street racing gang they’re after, resulting in Charles Boyle dressing up as Speed Racer. Self-obsessed Gina decides to get away from the scanner by putting on headphones and listening to calming music (of herself singing, of course). Amy has a better idea, suggesting they work together to fix a toilet in the bathroom Rosa has been complaining about, leading to some physical comedy of exploding pipes. Meanwhile, Terry can’t stop thinking about death, to the point that he’s on hold with his life insurance company to check on his policy. Later, an insurance agent takes his blood pressure, only for it to go so high that it breaks the machine.

The situation gets worse, as the gang learns that two cops have been shot, though fortunately, neither were Rosa. Jake decides he’s going to sneak out to help Rosa, with Boyle, Hitchock, and Scully providing a distraction, which has the two best friends clobbering each other, punching each other in the junk over and over in a fight to get Holt’s attention. Alas, it doesn’t work and Holt catches Peralta. He lets Jake know that the best way to help is to stay, and not to find a distraction, but to face their fears and talk about the situation. Still, Holt lets Jake go, but rather than going to the scene of the shooting, Jake gets pizza for everyone, and comes back to ask how his friends are doing. Everyone is quick to open up about their anxieties and thoughts of death. It works, even reducing Terry’s blood pressure. Eventually, they learn that the shooters have been caught and in walks an unharmed Rosa, with Jake giving his friend a hug. And, wait, is that an actual smile from her? She doesn’t want to talk about what happened, but she smiles again when Gina and Amy hug her, even though the latter is covered in toilet water.

Since this is a sitcom, we knew Rosa was likely going to be okay. Her safety is never in question, but that doesn’t change what we feel when her co-workers react to the situation. They’re helpless, they want to be distracted, but it’s only by facing the fear together that they feel better at all. That speaks a lot to society and how facing life is the only way to get through it. Brooklyn Nine-Nine might be a comedy disguised as a cop show, but in moments like this, it reminds us of the real dangers police officers face every day. The police are supposed to be the ones who always help, but sometimes even they can’t. Maybe if you or someone in your family isn’t in law enforcement, you can’t relate to that.

What we can all sadly relate to is the fear of an active shooting, of the unknown, of never hearing from a loved one again. “Show Me Going” could have gone darker, showing the characters completely breaking down, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine uses comedy as a way to survive serious moments. What other show could talk about active shootings and death, and have it combine seamlessly with exploding toilets and two men repeatedly punching each other in the balls?

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is available to watch on Netflix in the U.S.

WATCH ON NETFLIX