In my last article about Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Season 8 and Series Finale, I mentioned this finale had many twists and hilarious gags that had me crying. I wanted to share my favorite gags, jokes, and the clues plus their references to past seasons!

Obviously, there will be spoilers for the series finale, The Last Day.

The Clues

The finale had Lt. Terry Jeffords not participating because he believes he has an interview to be the next Captain of the Nine-Nine. So, he had agreed to help Jake put together this elaborate heist with clues down memory lane, clues to which only Terry knows the answers. The clues were references to events that happened during the 8 years at the Nine-Nine. Unfortunately for the crew (and us), the scavenger hunt was cut short due to a janitor erasing a clue in a holding room, so Terry just skipped to the last clue leading to a series of hilarious chaos. the following are the five clues in the show and what they referenced.

Clue #1: The Fall of the Vending Machine – S2 Ep. 23: “Johnny and Dora”

The first clue led the entire cast to the new vending machine that took a hilarious fall in season 2 episode 23, which you can watch above, one of my favorite cold opens on this series ever. Back when sniff sniff Gina (Chelsea Peretti) was still round to insult everyone. The episode itself is an important one because it sprung many things into action: Jake and Amy’s feelings for each other, Captain Holt and Gina being transferred by Wunch to head of PR, the swinging saloon doors of Precinct Captains, and the eventual Brooklyn Nine-Nine style Suicide Squad in the Season Six finale! Either way, this was a nice callback to basically what led to the rest of the series… and one of the best cold opens ever.

Clue #2: “Jake’s Cannibal Friend” – That time Jake and Rosa were falsely sent to prison, S5 Ep. 1-2

Honestly, Jake and Rosa’s time in prison wasn’t the greatest they could have pulled from to remember storywise, but it’s a great one to pick from because we saw MUCH growth on everyone’s side, mostly Jake, Rosa, and Holt in how they all dealt with the situation at hand. It also gave us one of the best recurring jokes of all time, “Jake’s Cannibal Friend” and how Charles (Joe Lo Truglio) is somehow jealous of this guy, haha! Ironic how Charles is the one who got the clue immediately; looks like Charles is still holding onto a bit of jealousy for Caleb John Gosche.

Clue #3: “Where the devil lies” – Captain Wunch, All of Brooklyn Nine-Nine

I would just like to say that I have, on more than one occasion, have seen this video because of how incredibly hysterical the insults are. The dynamic between Captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher) and Captain Madaleine Wunch was amazing and it was a shame (and a tad bit of a bore as the gag was being dragged into the ground by the new network) that Wunch died, which was likely due to scheduling conflicts with Kyra Sedgwick, the actress portraying Captain Wunch, according to Screen Rant. Needless to say, her death gave this finale one of the best lines delivered by Holt and a callback that landed perfectly and beautifully (and one that had me laughing out loud and rewatching over and over and over).

Clue #4: “Tell Me Why” – Best Cold Open of Brooklynn Nine-Nine, S5 Ep. 17

This cold open, aside from the Giant Inflatable Christmas Tree cold open, is to be the best cold open Brooklynn Nine-Nine had ever written, which I’m distraught to report was not referenced. They had some pretty darn-good knee slappers in the past eight years, but this cold open certain deserved to be referenced in the finale with the revelation that Jake, of course, tried to recreate the magic of the first one, but failed as he is having a bunch of varied-aged men singing “Car Wash” by Ross Royce followed by an AMAZING JAB at Hollywood and the big craze of rebooting franchises left and right delivered by Jake Peralta himself:

Yeah, I got to stop trying to recapture the magic of the orignal and move on.
Detective Jake Peralta

You tell ’em, Jake.

Clue #5: Captain Holt and Kevin’s Kiss, S8 Ep. 7

Yes, they referenced their own season? They had to make sure you were actually watching the season, HAHA! Indeed, they referenced what probably gave everybody’s hearts final closure: Captain Holt’s and Kevin Cozner’s (Marc Evan Jackson) makeup kiss in the rain. I thought about putting the video clip up, but upon seeing it again as a clip, the value of the scene isn’t quite there without the rest of Season 8, and honestly without the rest of the series. Like I said in my Season 1-7 Review, Captain Holt’s constant mistakes with his relationship make him truly a human rather than a robotic mentor who has all the answers. Truth is, he does not. In fact, Season 8 humanizes Holt more than any season before it. It heavily focuses on Captain Holt’s marriage to Kevin and the discussion on how prioritizing a job over your relationships is truly damaging and where it worked out for Holtner in the end, it doesn’t always work out that way, haha. Thank you, Michale Shur! That was kind of heartwarming to conclude all by myself just now! In essence, Captain Holt’s relationship with Kevin is a journey that you HAVE to commit to getting the final reward! NO. CHEATING. They alone deserve the Hulu views (do it, we need a movie or a reunion in a year or two).

Gags That Made Me Laugh Out Loud

The following will be in list form as I can’t find all of the jokes.

The Brooklyn Bridge Theme Song Reference – when Jake reminds Amy of “that one time” they were all under the Brookyln Bridge with the show proceeding to show one second clip of the theme song with Jake delivering the hilarious line of why were looking for seriousif they were only getting falafels. A missed opportunity to include Gina Linetti in that line up, but understandably, I’m okay that they held off in order to not cheapen her actual return later on in the episode.
Devil Lies – Captain Wunch. I already spoke outthis above, but this one had me laughing SO hard.
GINA IS BACK! – Gina’s actual surprise return proved to be a hilarious one as it was FULLY Gina-esque and she delivered lines that I’m sure brought tears to the entire G-Hive.
Four Movements – Gina tells Cpatain Holt that he will regret firing her to which Holt responds with, “You leave on your own volition! We each spent time with you!” as she drives off in her fully-owned armored truck. Gosh, even every sentence Gina is a part of ends up beig very Gina.
Rosa Diaz: “I almost feel bad I have to betray you” – this line had be laughing already, but it wasn’t until AMy’s amazing response, “What?! Then don’t!” Coupled with her fear and knowledge that Rosa means business, but unbeknownst to Rosa, so does Amy.
Charles Going Commando – This is easily the second best joke of this finale (and there were A LOT of them!) The setup was perfectly subtle. Sometimes things can be too subtle but this gag did not suffer from that. The I did not see this joke coming whatsoever. It was perfectly timed and executed, as well. Once again, hands downthe best joke of the finale.
“Nikolaj” – “Nicholage” – “How about Nick?” “Nik!” – Honestly, this one is a visual and audible joke. Ever since Charles and Vivian adopt Nikolaj as their son, Boyle has made it his unspokenpersonal missionto correct Jake inthe pronounciation of his son’s name. The joke is one we have seen before, but it ends with a new additon, the pronounciation of Nikolaj’s nickname, Nik. It is one that also caught me way off gaurd and had me laughing out loud.
The Fourth Heist, universally rearded as the best heist – The Fourth Heist, known as Halloween IV comes from the fifth episode of the fourth season. This truly is universally regarded as the best heist Brookyln Nine-Nine has ever had… well… used to be… The finale is the best heist now! The Fourth Heist is also the heist where Gina won the heist and where the “Gina Knows Best” hoodies came into the world.
Y’all Just Drank Cement! – Season 4 Episode 15 had Gina pranking the entire precinct and posting these video clips online to her “G-Hive.” One recurring prank is her fmaous, “Y’all just drank cement!” It was nice to see that gag be brought back, again unexpectedly, in the series finale
Beep Borp. Zeep. This was referenced back when Holt was transferred to the head of PR back in Season 2, however, it originated in the very first episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine when Captain Holt first appears and overhears Jake mocking Holt ot be a robot, to which Holt classically sasses Jake uttering those three robot words. Holt brings it back to make a string of jokes to Jake’s amusement.
Name of Your Sex Movie – Honestly, I forgot this joke was a recurring joke in the early seasons of the show. Jake said this whenevever something innuendoes that sounded like a title of someone’s sex tape was uttered by either him or another character. As I just said, I forgot this joke was a thing as it was dropped pretty early on. I am curious as to why, but I will reaserch that later. It was a nice way to bring that joke back without bringing that joke back with holt saying “movie” instead of “tape” as he, still, does not understand how the owrld operates.
Bing Pot – Captain Holt says the famous combinationof “bingo” and “jackpot” when Terry uses his brains to escape the fake office.
Jake tells Amy, “1. I have always wanted to be chloroformed, so thank you. And 2. How dare you!”
Terry’s Reeling. Terry says his famous “Terry’s Blank” line when Captain Holt revelas he orchestrated his own heist perfect goodbye all along. The delivery plus the usage of “reeling” in the third person is what did it for me.
Terry has had enough – Captain Holt reveals to the group that Terry being tricked consecutively was all part of the plan and that he has already been accepted to be the newest Captain of the Nine-Nine two weeks prior. This leads Terry to have had enough and yell, “Is this for real or not? This is my life we’re talking about!” It proves for a hilarious moment of frustration as it brings u back to the hilarious fact that nobody cared that they have meddled in Terry’s big life moments within the past 8 years due to the heists!
Every Gina Surprise Entrance – Her many jackets were AMAZING! I loved that she even had one with the pronounciation of “surprise” as “thurprithe” with her fake teeth having been removed for yet another gag.
Read the room, Carline Saint-Jacuques Renard! – Terry and Holt’s sass toward the famous (only to Captain Holt) violinist Carlone Saint-Jaques Renard in the brief scene she appears is gold. It had me chuckling for sure.
“I’m going to Kool Aid Man us the hell out of here” – Terry finally accepts and tells the group he can easily break through the wall. Frankly, I saw this one coming as soon as they were trapped yet again. I caught the red herring of the previous trapping a little too well, but totlaly appreciated the delivery of this Checkov’s Gun and gag.
HITCHCOCK’S RETURN & VICTORY – I talked about this in my other article, but Hitchcock’s return was iconic to the character, especially since it was revealed that he doesn’t matter to this at all, yet won purely by happenstance to everyone’s disappointment, but it later served to provide the happiest of endings.
Hitchcock: “Is that Wing Sauce on your colalr?” Hitchcock and Scully get to share one final moment on screen before the series finale where they embrace and tell each other they’d missed each other. The sincere hug leds Hitchcock to ask Scully, “Is that wing sauce on your collar?” to which Scully replies genuinely, “I lfet it there for you.” This was not only funny, but sweet because eating wings together for the first tie was what led them to go from hunks to… even greater hunks…

The final and best gag of the finale is what I believe to be an entirely improvd scene, the return of Mlepnos and his interaction with Jake Peralta who is handcuffed to a fake hospital bed by his wife, Amy, after being chloroformed by his wife, Amy, and lied to about having been in a coma for seven years and Amy having gotten back to together with her ex-boyfriend, Teddy, who still has the hots for her even after being married to another woman. That was the setup, by the way. The scene with Mlepnos (the man who played the violin at Jake and Amy’s wedding) just suddenly appears and a string of hilarious exchanges could ONLY be improv. I rewatched this VERY quick scene and I was able to figure out a few things on how this was shot. For some sitcoms, a scene is written out with improv. Basically, there is an outline – story beats within a scene the actors must hit. How they get to each point is entirely up to them. Michael Shur is famous for his intelligent writing that seems like imrpov. However, this scene suddenly changes formats. If you notice, this scene changes to a multicamera format, allowing for multiple cameras to be running at once in order to capture an uninterrupted version of an improvd scene. Even Andy Samberg’s natural smile for anything he ever does that is both weird and charming at the same time sometimes gives away his wanting to laugh, but disguised as clever acting. This scene is random, and bet their goal was “Jake must get the keys” and Fred Armisen ran with the scene and made it one of, if not, the funniest gag in the finale.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine can be found on Hulu free to watch with ads or ad-free with a subscription. This is not sponsored, I just love both Hulu and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Conclusively, Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s finale gets a 10/10 for me with the overall show getting an 8.5/10 rating for me. Thank you for reading! Feel free to browse my website and check out what other stuff I do! I am taking inquires for my cover art, package, and logo designs, as well as videography!

All the Jokes in Brooklyn Nine-Nine Series Finale that made me Laugh Out Loud