When the first half of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s fourth season came to an end, it did so with quite the cliffhanger. After paying homage to The Fugitive with a race to round up escaped convicts, as well as providing a decision about whose apartment Jake (Andy Samberg) and Amy (Melissa Fumero) would move into, the sitcom threw one of its favourites under a bus - literally.
While the detectives were caught up in the search, office manager and self-appointed precinct star Gina (Chelsea Peretti) spent the bulk of the double-length episode doing what she does best - complaining about getting less social media attention than a man who believes lizard people live beneath the streets, offering up Game of Thrones theories and schooling Charles (Joe Lo Truglio) in the ways of appropriate texting.
When she declared she’d “rather get hit by a bus than get one more text" from Charles, it just seemed like Gina being Gina. Then, as the credits rolled, she received one of his texts seconds after stepping onto the road. Cue a bus, a shocking finale and plenty of questions.
Just what happens next won’t be revealed until the show returns to SBS VICELAND, fast-tracked from the US on 12 April. But it’s not the only time Brooklyn Nine-Nine has directed a surprise our way. We’re not just talking about every line of dialogue Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) utters, either. Here are the series’ most unexpected moments to date.
Gina and Charles
From the outset, Brooklyn Nine-Nine set a precedent for delivering shocks. The show’s first 22 episodes had fun dishing up revelations about the 99th precinct crew - showing how goofball Jake is also incredibly motivated when it comes to being a cop and that muscular Sergeant Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) is a big ol’ softie underneath his imposing physique, for example.
Nothing could compare to pairing up the chalk and cheese that is Gina and Charles, however. Ending its maiden run with Gina helping Charles get over his recent break-up by taking her own advice wasn’t something anyone saw coming, but it did result in plenty of amusingly awkward moments when season two kicked off.
Hitchcock and Scully help solve a case
You just know Hitchcock and Scully would rather be eating than talking. Source: SBS
When they’re forced to give Charles a hand in season two’s “Sabotage”, however, they managed to deliver. Maybe it’s luck. Maybe it’s akin to a broken clock being right twice a day. Maybe they’re not actually incompetent, just incredibly lazy.
The precinct gets a new captain… or several
Bundling Captain Holt out of the precinct served up quite the surprise at the end of season two, courtesy of a promotion to the public relations department against his will as part of his ongoing battle with long-term rival Madeline Wuntch (Kyra Sedgwick). Holt was always going to try to get his job back, of course. And the rest of the gang was always going to assist.
The fact they wouldn’t warm to their new Captain was also rather predictable, but Brooklyn Nine-Nine didn’t just give them one new leader. Indeed, watching guest stars such as Bill Hader, Dean Winters and Ken Marino come in, offer their own kind of managerial chaos and disrupt the status quo never failed to disappoint.
Meet Greg and Larry
Jake sporting frosted tips and trying to work his way up to mini-golf middle management. Captain Holt power-walking around the Florida streets. Enough said, really. That’s what being forced into witness protection does to two of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s finest as part of the fallout from trying to expose both a mob boss and a corrupt FBI agent.
Stranding the duo in the sunny climes of Coral Palms was season three’s cliffhanger. Watching them fail to cope and bicker over their new place of employment, and Holt get branded a stoner provided plenty more revelations when season four got underway.
Rosa’s wedding
Everything about Rosa’s (Stephanie Beatriz) romance with former undercover officer Adrian Pimento (Jason Mantzoukas) has refused to play by the rules - or match what audiences have come to know about the usually secretive, stern and proudly unemotional detective. Still, when the couple announced they were getting married, it followed a hot and heavy courtship. How it played out, well… with suspected curses, plenty of booze and more than the usual cold feet involved, that’s when the real surprises bubbled up.
Watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine on SBS VICELAND every Wednesday night at 8pm....fast-tracked just hours after the US broadcast.
