The only character who would have trouble fitting in is Jake, because his character is so upbeat and cheerful and there's no way to be cheerful right now.
But they can have Jake get fired for taking a stand against corruption and still connected to the department through his wife.
But wouldn't that mean everyone lse is complicit? And isn't that part of the whole reasone that policing is such a fucking mess? That "real" good cops get tossed out of the force, "supposedly" good cops stand by in silence.
The only character who would have trouble fitting in is Jake, because his character is so upbeat and cheerful and there's no way to be cheerful right now.
But they can have Jake get fired for taking a stand against corruption and still connected to the department through his wife.
But wouldn't that mean everyone lse is complicit? And isn't that part of the whole reasone that policing is such a fucking mess? That "real" good cops get tossed out of the force, "supposedly" good cops stand by in silence.
Hard to find the humor there.
The entire point of Raymond's character is that he's used to fighting an uphill battle and butting heads and dealing with corruption and bigotry. So they just need to put that more prominently in the foreground.
Rosa and Amy are both women of color, so it's easy to have stories where they're pushing against the system. Rosa tries to beat the system by being perfect (like Holt), and Amy tries to beat it by being tough.
Terry is a black man idealist who already had some of his idealism crack last season (or was it the one before?) when he was pulled over by a racist cop. They can pull further in that direction.
Hitchcock and Scully represent the old school police force. But they're portrayed as bumbling, rather than heroic. You can have stories where they fail upwards to show why the system is broken.
Charles can easily be written as a conflicted bootlicker who understands why licking boots is wrong but can't stop himself.
Jake is the odd person out. Most of the other characters find humor in their struggles, but Jake finds humor is in his optimism and insulation. He's aware of more troubling social issues and will occasionally comment on them, but he's never weighed down by them, because that's his entire character.
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
The only character who would have trouble fitting in is Jake, because his character is so upbeat and cheerful and there's no way to be cheerful right now.
But they can have Jake get fired for taking a stand against corruption and still connected to the department through his wife.
But wouldn't that mean everyone lse is complicit? And isn't that part of the whole reasone that policing is such a fucking mess? That "real" good cops get tossed out of the force, "supposedly" good cops stand by in silence.
Hard to find the humor there.
Given the topics the show has tackled (and that corruption has repeatedly come up as a major issue, both on the individual and organizational level), I could definitely see the showmakers deciding to do a big "fuck police corruption" ending where average cops force the 99 crew out for not being corrupt assholes and that's just the end of the show. I mean, look at how much Holt has had to struggle to stay captain for no other reason than corrupt morons getting into positions of power, and that's really low-grade cop corruption shit while also being entirely believable.
I could even see them not softening the blow with "happy" endings for everybody and instead hammering home that people end up straight fucked by police corruption with no way out. So no happy ending, just the regular police stepping in to fuck up the lives of people in their way because that's what they're actively doing right now. An ugly end for fictional characters, but it would be one hell of a pointed message to use beloved characters to convey.
If they wanted to get especially brutal, they could give each character an episode where asshole cops run each of them off individually, leaving the final episode with Holt or Jake still around but surrounded by the openly racist/violent/lying cops running things now and the final scene is them resigning in disgust while dumping all the info they can into the hands of reporters or something.
The only character who would have trouble fitting in is Jake, because his character is so upbeat and cheerful and there's no way to be cheerful right now.
But they can have Jake get fired for taking a stand against corruption and still connected to the department through his wife.
But wouldn't that mean everyone lse is complicit? And isn't that part of the whole reasone that policing is such a fucking mess? That "real" good cops get tossed out of the force, "supposedly" good cops stand by in silence.
Hard to find the humor there.
The entire point of Raymond's character is that he's used to fighting an uphill battle and butting heads and dealing with corruption and bigotry. So they just need to put that more prominently in the foreground.
Rosa and Amy are both women of color, so it's easy to have stories where they're pushing against the system. Rosa tries to beat the system by being perfect (like Holt), and Amy tries to beat it by being tough.
Terry is a black man idealist who already had some of his idealism crack last season (or was it the one before?) when he was pulled over by a racist cop. They can pull further in that direction.
Hitchcock and Scully represent the old school police force. But they're portrayed as bumbling, rather than heroic. You can have stories where they fail upwards to show why the system is broken.
Charles can easily be written as a conflicted bootlicker who understands why licking boots is wrong but can't stop himself.
Jake is the odd person out. Most of the other characters find humor in their struggles, but Jake finds humor is in his optimism and insulation. He's aware of more troubling social issues and will occasionally comment on them, but he's never weighed down by them, because that's his entire character.
Jake is the silent majority? Thanks to his privilege he gets to ignore or only pay passing attention to the systemic issues, allowing him to have a happy-go-lucky time at work and a super satisfying life. All the while being mildly confused what everybody is so angry at.
I'm not a writer so it's difficult for me to put into words. But his beginning to understand what the world looks like if you are not him would be the arc of the season. Buddy him up with different characters in different episodes who show them their world. Might even have an interesting place for Hitchcock and Scully as two cops who gave up on doing their jobs rather than trying to change something. Or have Hitchcock and Scully have a falling out (and season finale rejoinder) over the state of policing and their personal responsibility.
The only character who would have trouble fitting in is Jake, because his character is so upbeat and cheerful and there's no way to be cheerful right now.
But they can have Jake get fired for taking a stand against corruption and still connected to the department through his wife.
But wouldn't that mean everyone lse is complicit? And isn't that part of the whole reasone that policing is such a fucking mess? That "real" good cops get tossed out of the force, "supposedly" good cops stand by in silence.
Hard to find the humor there.
The entire point of Raymond's character is that he's used to fighting an uphill battle and butting heads and dealing with corruption and bigotry. So they just need to put that more prominently in the foreground.
Rosa and Amy are both women of color, so it's easy to have stories where they're pushing against the system. Rosa tries to beat the system by being perfect (like Holt), and Amy tries to beat it by being tough.
Terry is a black man idealist who already had some of his idealism crack last season (or was it the one before?) when he was pulled over by a racist cop. They can pull further in that direction.
Hitchcock and Scully represent the old school police force. But they're portrayed as bumbling, rather than heroic. You can have stories where they fail upwards to show why the system is broken.
Charles can easily be written as a conflicted bootlicker who understands why licking boots is wrong but can't stop himself.
Jake is the odd person out. Most of the other characters find humor in their struggles, but Jake finds humor is in his optimism and insulation. He's aware of more troubling social issues and will occasionally comment on them, but he's never weighed down by them, because that's his entire character.
Jake is the silent majority? Thanks to his privilege he gets to ignore or only pay passing attention to the systemic issues, allowing him to have a happy-go-lucky time at work and a super satisfying life. All the while being mildly confused what everybody is so angry at.
I'm not a writer so it's difficult for me to put into words. But his beginning to understand what the world looks like if you are not him would be the arc of the season. Buddy him up with different characters in different episodes who show them their world. Might even have an interesting place for Hitchcock and Scully as two cops who gave up on doing their jobs rather than trying to change something. Or have Hitchcock and Scully have a falling out (and season finale rejoinder) over the state of policing and their personal responsibility.
I think 99 is actually in a really good position to address the problems with police in a responsible way. If the writers wanted to take it into a more hopeful direction, they could turn the 99 into a refuge for cops looking to change the system from the inside. As you guys mentioned, Jake is the perfect stand-in for the confused, but otherwise well-meaning, white person who doesn't understand the problem, making him a useful audience surrogate. Shift the focus of the show from cops on the street getting into hijinx to cops fighting the system and getting into hijinx. Might be helpful to introduce a new social-worker type character that's allied with the 99 to demonstrate the benefits of social work when dealing with disenfranchised individuals. It's likely the show will need to rely on more serious episodes like Terry's profiling episode, true, but I still think there's room for comedy. One thing they should NOT do, however, is paper over Black Lives Matter. BLM should be acknowledged and come up, by name, regularly.
I think that Jake’s character has slowly slid into being less confused over the past few seasons. I seem to recall a few scenes where he indicates that he’s been learning about a subject, but as a white guy his role in the conversation is to shut up and let Rosa/Amy/whomever do the talking. I think that a more likely kind of scene for Jake is that someone says or does something and assumes that Jake will be onboard, and Jake is really, really not on board, resulting in Jake getting in trouble for NOT protecting a bad cop.
Something that I would like to see, early in the next season of B99: a clips episode. Seriously! One where the characters sit down and has an honest conversation about how they’re also part of the problem, using problematic scenes from throughout the series to show these good guys being bad cops. Basically, go meta, with a “how can we call out bad cops, when we have been just as bad ourselves?” End it on an ambiguous note along the lines of “we can’t change the past, but we can change the present and future, and we’re going to adapt to the times, whatever may come, and strive to be better.”
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
It would be interesting if they perhaps owned what is happening in the real world and shaped the narrative in a way that the 99 was being defunded and showed the transition to a new type of police force. Of course, that would be devorcing the show from reality but I honestly wouldn't care too much.
Have Jake reconcile with how his ideal of being an action hero cop like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon is completely incongruant with the person he's become and how that ideal is in fact a completely misguided one.
There are interesting tales to be told with Holt and Jeffers dealing with being black men wrapped up in complicity with the justice system. I'm honestly not properly equipped to flesh this out though.
Diaz, Boyle, and Santiago all feel like characters that could really thrive in a system where police aren't just people with guns.
Hitchcock and Scully would be hilarious to watch still as the butt of the joke trying to keep up with wtf is going on with the force. Plus I'm sure there would be really touching ways to show them deal with things/demonstrate that, despite being pure idiots, actually have progressive hearts of gold.
Essentially I think there's an opportunity for some real catharsis with the show that I would love to see taken advantage of.
I think whatever they decide to do, it should be in place at the start of the first episode
Tell the story of the transition in flashbacks if they must, but make no bones about how the old system was broken, there's a new system now, here's what it looks like, they're all working at USPIS and Ed Helms is their boss
The only character who would have trouble fitting in is Jake, because his character is so upbeat and cheerful and there's no way to be cheerful right now.
But they can have Jake get fired for taking a stand against corruption and still connected to the department through his wife.
But wouldn't that mean everyone lse is complicit? And isn't that part of the whole reasone that policing is such a fucking mess? That "real" good cops get tossed out of the force, "supposedly" good cops stand by in silence.
Hard to find the humor there.
Given the topics the show has tackled (and that corruption has repeatedly come up as a major issue, both on the individual and organizational level), I could definitely see the showmakers deciding to do a big "fuck police corruption" ending where average cops force the 99 crew out for not being corrupt assholes and that's just the end of the show. I mean, look at how much Holt has had to struggle to stay captain for no other reason than corrupt morons getting into positions of power, and that's really low-grade cop corruption shit while also being entirely believable.
I could even see them not softening the blow with "happy" endings for everybody and instead hammering home that people end up straight fucked by police corruption with no way out. So no happy ending, just the regular police stepping in to fuck up the lives of people in their way because that's what they're actively doing right now. An ugly end for fictional characters, but it would be one hell of a pointed message to use beloved characters to convey.
If they wanted to get especially brutal, they could give each character an episode where asshole cops run each of them off individually, leaving the final episode with Holt or Jake still around but surrounded by the openly racist/violent/lying cops running things now and the final scene is them resigning in disgust while dumping all the info they can into the hands of reporters or something.
This is, I think, the best option available to them. Keeping this as a cop show isn't tenable given real world events, it's too grounded and plot-driven to just transplant the characters into a different setting without explanation.
So let the characters walk away, each with their own more or less unhappy endings. One day Jake, for whatever reason, decides to put that little toy cop back down on his desk and never, ever picks it back up again.
It would be interesting if they perhaps owned what is happening in the real world and shaped the narrative in a way that the 99 was being defunded and showed the transition to a new type of police force. Of course, that would be devorcing the show from reality but I honestly wouldn't care too much.
Have Jake reconcile with how his ideal of being an action hero cop like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon is completely incongruant with the person he's become and how that ideal is in fact a completely misguided one.
There are interesting tales to be told with Holt and Jeffers dealing with being black men wrapped up in complicity with the justice system. I'm honestly not properly equipped to flesh this out though.
Diaz, Boyle, and Santiago all feel like characters that could really thrive in a system where police aren't just people with guns.
Hitchcock and Scully would be hilarious to watch still as the butt of the joke trying to keep up with wtf is going on with the force. Plus I'm sure there would be really touching ways to show them deal with things/demonstrate that, despite being pure idiots, actually have progressive hearts of gold.
Essentially I think there's an opportunity for some real catharsis with the show that I would love to see taken advantage of.
One easy way to do it would be to say that the 99 has been selected to be a trial in New York for new policing methods.
Also, bring in an international advisor or two. I’d love to see a British cop wandering around the 99, drinking tea and making sarcastic comments about the American need for guns to resolve situations. And to be clear, there’s no need for a British cop to be white or male.
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
The 99 as a trial for defunding i think works best. Use it as a way to show what policing can look like in this new system. Defunding is scary and confusing to a lot of people. 99 could legit be a way to be able to explain the nuance of what that actually looks like
Now that I think of it, I suddenly really want to see Jameela Jamil as a British policing advisor for the season/rest of the series.
They could talk her up for an episode or two as a complete hardass nutcase and then when she shows up her methods are utterly reasonable and even-handed by US standards.
The 99 as a trial for defunding i think works best. Use it as a way to show what policing can look like in this new system. Defunding is scary and confusing to a lot of people. 99 could legit be a way to be able to explain the nuance of what that actually looks like
The only minor issue I have with this, is that while I agree that the problems are systemic, and that they've obviously gone through the ranks to get where they are, all of the characters in B99 are detectives or higher (Holt's stint as a beat cop as punishment by Wench not withstanding).
They don't patrol a beat, and they don't (for the most part) respond to traffic/domestic calls. So they're a step distant from the majority of police that's at the forefront of this current issue.
But they do work with people who do, as we've seen with Amy taking the lead.
It might not apply to all of them, but having the precinct be part of a pilot project could be dealt with a few ways. Having people need to be re-hired (and a reason to go over some of the previous hijinx in a way that could be very self aware), introducing new characters for mental health assistance teams, a thorough dive into their Use of Force continuum (still room for physical comedy perhaps?), etc.
I dunno. I get that there could be some pushback on still making cops of any sort 'lovable rapscallions'. But on the other hand, it's also (imo) one of the most diverse casts in television, and it'd be a shame to see them all looking for work again because of the premise.
Ideally it'd be in conjunction with a lot of outside input. Bring in members from BLM, community support groups, strive to envision what a possible better community policing and support team might look like.
Many people view it as an impossibility, a future they can't envision. Well, as imaginative as this writing/directing team and cast are, what about trying to show some steps towards it?
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amateurhourOne day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered Userregular
Just to counterpoint, do we really need Brooklyn 99 to address social issues going on right now? Do we need the show to be completely rewritten?
Someone compared it to Archer, but Archer changed it's format because the agency was literally called ISIS.
Like almost zero percent of Brooklyn 99 is about them actually being detectives, at best it's usually a b-plot with Doug Judy or an interrogation room, so I mean whatever, they can change it up and I'd still watch it, but is that what we're asking for?
Of all the stuff out there, Chicago PD, the million law and orders and NICSes and CSIs, Brooklyn 99 is the one we want to reformat?
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
Just to counterpoint, do we really need Brooklyn 99 to address social issues going on right now? Do we need the show to be completely rewritten?
Someone compared it to Archer, but Archer changed it's format because the agency was literally called ISIS.
Like almost zero percent of Brooklyn 99 is about them actually being detectives, at best it's usually a b-plot with Doug Judy or an interrogation room, so I mean whatever, they can change it up and I'd still watch it, but is that what we're asking for?
Of all the stuff out there, Chicago PD, the million law and orders and NICSes and CSIs, Brooklyn 99 is the one we want to reformat?
Since all of those have subplots that are basically "The regs are gettin' in the way!" or whatever bullshit, all of those need to end
Just to counterpoint, do we really need Brooklyn 99 to address social issues going on right now? Do we need the show to be completely rewritten?
Someone compared it to Archer, but Archer changed it's format because the agency was literally called ISIS.
Like almost zero percent of Brooklyn 99 is about them actually being detectives, at best it's usually a b-plot with Doug Judy or an interrogation room, so I mean whatever, they can change it up and I'd still watch it, but is that what we're asking for?
Of all the stuff out there, Chicago PD, the million law and orders and NICSes and CSIs, Brooklyn 99 is the one we want to reformat?
Archer reformatted because the writer got bored, the ISIS thing was just wrapped into it and got him thinking about what else they could do.
I think the real reason we're talking about Brooklyn 99 doing this is that; a - they have been greenlit for another season, so the money and crew is there and b, they have said they're actually going to do something and are the most likely to do so.
It'd be great if other shows also did something, but so far this is the one that has said it is going to.
I think one of the lessons we learned from this is that no "cop is framed for a crime he didn't commit" story will ever be plausible unless the cop is being framed by other dirty cops. Because realistically, the other cops wouldn't think twice about helping the framed cop cover up all the evidence, unless they were actively participating in the frame up.
I wonder how the show "Lucifer" will adapt. I mean, the premise of the show is literally that the police are working with the Devil.
Lucifer just makes me wonder if they maybe regret turning every goddamn thing into a police procedural.
Procedurals will probably be fine, since detectives investigating serious crimes is like, the one thing police probably should actually be doing, and they already exist in a fantasy realm where the characters take their duty to the law seriously and mostly aren't hateful assholes (and it's easy to remove the line-crossing behaviors that do exist in current procedurals).
Like I've been thinking about this and its weird Jake is still a detective after what happened to him and Rosa and then seeing the NYPD pick a super corrupt Commisioner right after that scandal. Theres an arc there I think where he decides to move on from the force
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Just to counterpoint, do we really need Brooklyn 99 to address social issues going on right now? Do we need the show to be completely rewritten?
Someone compared it to Archer, but Archer changed it's format because the agency was literally called ISIS.
Like almost zero percent of Brooklyn 99 is about them actually being detectives, at best it's usually a b-plot with Doug Judy or an interrogation room, so I mean whatever, they can change it up and I'd still watch it, but is that what we're asking for?
Of all the stuff out there, Chicago PD, the million law and orders and NICSes and CSIs, Brooklyn 99 is the one we want to reformat?
Yes. Those shows need to END. And get thrown into the sun.
It would be interesting if they perhaps owned what is happening in the real world and shaped the narrative in a way that the 99 was being defunded and showed the transition to a new type of police force. Of course, that would be devorcing the show from reality but I honestly wouldn't care too much.
Have Jake reconcile with how his ideal of being an action hero cop like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon is completely incongruant with the person he's become and how that ideal is in fact a completely misguided one.
There are interesting tales to be told with Holt and Jeffers dealing with being black men wrapped up in complicity with the justice system. I'm honestly not properly equipped to flesh this out though.
Diaz, Boyle, and Santiago all feel like characters that could really thrive in a system where police aren't just people with guns.
Hitchcock and Scully would be hilarious to watch still as the butt of the joke trying to keep up with wtf is going on with the force. Plus I'm sure there would be really touching ways to show them deal with things/demonstrate that, despite being pure idiots, actually have progressive hearts of gold.
Essentially I think there's an opportunity for some real catharsis with the show that I would love to see taken advantage of.
One easy way to do it would be to say that the 99 has been selected to be a trial in New York for new policing methods.
Also, bring in an international advisor or two. I’d love to see a British cop wandering around the 99, drinking tea and making sarcastic comments about the American need for guns to resolve situations. And to be clear, there’s no need for a British cop to be white or male.
Batman has never been shy about explicitly saying Gotham is a haven for dirty cops and even guys like Gordan cant stop it
Street level heroes like Batman and Spider-Man don't make any sense anymore, because they're rooted in the premise that superheroes have to step in to fight off this epidemic of bank robberies and jewelery heists.
But those just aren't concerns for most people anymore. I think the B99 cops and Batman both have to change, given how useless they are at fighting problems we actually have.
The confusion I have here is that, other than moments of excessively dramaticized violence, Brooklyn 99 effectively is already showing a "defund the police" situation. They spend 99% of their time investigating serious crimes, they live in the district they represent for the most part. They are diverse, and their leadership is even more diverse. Almost all of what they do is important, they spend next to zero time on "broken window" policing. They are dedicated to their work.
They have done some stupid stuff, but its a TV show, they aren't real cops. But they are already in the right place. Could they spend more time dealing with the issues of interaction between corrupt, racist cops and minorities? I suppose so, but they would need to introduce a new character to do that, because the B99 police force wouldn't behave that way.
Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
The show has already spent a ton of time dealing with corrupt law enforcement on every level. Due to corruption, they end up on night shift, Holt gets pulled out of the 99, the Vulture ends up in charge of the 99, Rosa and Jake get framed and sent to prison, Terry almost gets arrested, Holt and Jake have to spend months in witness protection, Jake finds out his former partner just plants evidence whenever he wants, plus a pile of miscellaneous harassment, any one of which should have been an immediate termination offense, directed at Holt from his former partner. Oh, and Scully and Hitchcock still being on the force in general despite being massively incompetent sexual harassers with long histories of violating the law through incompetence or intent.
If anything, the show has been far more consistent about sticking with the issues of police corruption than virtually any other cop show I know of. The lighthearted nature of the show adds some comedy to it, but they've always heavily featured it.
Yeah but they are still shown as being good cops. They deal with corruption a lot, but they are not corrupt. They're the good guys. They do not get compromised in the narrative.
And that's the problem. Because there is no such thing.
You could do a lot of things. But you should definitely do something if they want to show to continue and that shouldn't just be "they're still carrying on as cops"
I have not watched the show, but from discussions about it i have seen, it is my understanding that the B99 do, on occasion, violate peoples rights.
Like arresting someone in order to get time to go fish for evidence, when there is a supreme court case that explicitly makes it something not allowed.
I think, if they decide to continue as cops, the writing team should have a team of defense lawyers go through everything the cops do, mark anything that they should not do, and then have those actions be pointed out as wrong in the show.
None of the "we know they are guilty, if we were just allowed to go and <insert illegal and/or against regulations thing here>" shit, ever.
Make sure to add lot of innocent suspects that do call for a lawyer.
Usually if they do something wrong the show will outright say they did .
In that example Jake was called out for being impulsive and possibly tanking the case early on by his superiors.
Was he fired? Demoted? Succesfully sued by the person whose rights they violated?
It's not enough to say "this is bad", there needs to be consequences.
And having the person whose rights are violated be guilty in the end just reinforces the "regulations bad" idea.
And the reprimands were all "You blew the case!" And not "You broke the law and violated that guys rights! No, it doesnt matter if he's guilty or not!"
Just more 'regulations make cops job difficult and let's criminals go free' bullshit.
Usually if they do something wrong the show will outright say they did .
In that example Jake was called out for being impulsive and possibly tanking the case early on by his superiors.
Was he fired? Demoted? Succesfully sued by the person whose rights they violated?
It's not enough to say "this is bad", there needs to be consequences.
And having the person whose rights are violated be guilty in the end just reinforces the "regulations bad" idea.
What rights were violated?
He was an ex felon with a history of robbery, arrested on suspicion of armed robbery that matched his MO.
afaik he was provided his attorney and was held for as long as the law said he could be held on suspicion, and was in the process of being released at the end of that timeframe.
Jake was given an administrative punishment because he jumped the gun on the arrest before completing the investigation.
Not every single infraction of procedure requires a demotion or termination.
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But wouldn't that mean everyone lse is complicit? And isn't that part of the whole reasone that policing is such a fucking mess? That "real" good cops get tossed out of the force, "supposedly" good cops stand by in silence.
Hard to find the humor there.
The entire point of Raymond's character is that he's used to fighting an uphill battle and butting heads and dealing with corruption and bigotry. So they just need to put that more prominently in the foreground.
Rosa and Amy are both women of color, so it's easy to have stories where they're pushing against the system. Rosa tries to beat the system by being perfect (like Holt), and Amy tries to beat it by being tough.
Terry is a black man idealist who already had some of his idealism crack last season (or was it the one before?) when he was pulled over by a racist cop. They can pull further in that direction.
Hitchcock and Scully represent the old school police force. But they're portrayed as bumbling, rather than heroic. You can have stories where they fail upwards to show why the system is broken.
Charles can easily be written as a conflicted bootlicker who understands why licking boots is wrong but can't stop himself.
Jake is the odd person out. Most of the other characters find humor in their struggles, but Jake finds humor is in his optimism and insulation. He's aware of more troubling social issues and will occasionally comment on them, but he's never weighed down by them, because that's his entire character.
Given the topics the show has tackled (and that corruption has repeatedly come up as a major issue, both on the individual and organizational level), I could definitely see the showmakers deciding to do a big "fuck police corruption" ending where average cops force the 99 crew out for not being corrupt assholes and that's just the end of the show. I mean, look at how much Holt has had to struggle to stay captain for no other reason than corrupt morons getting into positions of power, and that's really low-grade cop corruption shit while also being entirely believable.
I could even see them not softening the blow with "happy" endings for everybody and instead hammering home that people end up straight fucked by police corruption with no way out. So no happy ending, just the regular police stepping in to fuck up the lives of people in their way because that's what they're actively doing right now. An ugly end for fictional characters, but it would be one hell of a pointed message to use beloved characters to convey.
If they wanted to get especially brutal, they could give each character an episode where asshole cops run each of them off individually, leaving the final episode with Holt or Jake still around but surrounded by the openly racist/violent/lying cops running things now and the final scene is them resigning in disgust while dumping all the info they can into the hands of reporters or something.
Jake is the silent majority? Thanks to his privilege he gets to ignore or only pay passing attention to the systemic issues, allowing him to have a happy-go-lucky time at work and a super satisfying life. All the while being mildly confused what everybody is so angry at.
I'm not a writer so it's difficult for me to put into words. But his beginning to understand what the world looks like if you are not him would be the arc of the season. Buddy him up with different characters in different episodes who show them their world. Might even have an interesting place for Hitchcock and Scully as two cops who gave up on doing their jobs rather than trying to change something. Or have Hitchcock and Scully have a falling out (and season finale rejoinder) over the state of policing and their personal responsibility.
I think 99 is actually in a really good position to address the problems with police in a responsible way. If the writers wanted to take it into a more hopeful direction, they could turn the 99 into a refuge for cops looking to change the system from the inside. As you guys mentioned, Jake is the perfect stand-in for the confused, but otherwise well-meaning, white person who doesn't understand the problem, making him a useful audience surrogate. Shift the focus of the show from cops on the street getting into hijinx to cops fighting the system and getting into hijinx. Might be helpful to introduce a new social-worker type character that's allied with the 99 to demonstrate the benefits of social work when dealing with disenfranchised individuals. It's likely the show will need to rely on more serious episodes like Terry's profiling episode, true, but I still think there's room for comedy. One thing they should NOT do, however, is paper over Black Lives Matter. BLM should be acknowledged and come up, by name, regularly.
I think that Jake’s character has slowly slid into being less confused over the past few seasons. I seem to recall a few scenes where he indicates that he’s been learning about a subject, but as a white guy his role in the conversation is to shut up and let Rosa/Amy/whomever do the talking. I think that a more likely kind of scene for Jake is that someone says or does something and assumes that Jake will be onboard, and Jake is really, really not on board, resulting in Jake getting in trouble for NOT protecting a bad cop.
Something that I would like to see, early in the next season of B99: a clips episode. Seriously! One where the characters sit down and has an honest conversation about how they’re also part of the problem, using problematic scenes from throughout the series to show these good guys being bad cops. Basically, go meta, with a “how can we call out bad cops, when we have been just as bad ourselves?” End it on an ambiguous note along the lines of “we can’t change the past, but we can change the present and future, and we’re going to adapt to the times, whatever may come, and strive to be better.”
Have Jake reconcile with how his ideal of being an action hero cop like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon is completely incongruant with the person he's become and how that ideal is in fact a completely misguided one.
There are interesting tales to be told with Holt and Jeffers dealing with being black men wrapped up in complicity with the justice system. I'm honestly not properly equipped to flesh this out though.
Diaz, Boyle, and Santiago all feel like characters that could really thrive in a system where police aren't just people with guns.
Hitchcock and Scully would be hilarious to watch still as the butt of the joke trying to keep up with wtf is going on with the force. Plus I'm sure there would be really touching ways to show them deal with things/demonstrate that, despite being pure idiots, actually have progressive hearts of gold.
Essentially I think there's an opportunity for some real catharsis with the show that I would love to see taken advantage of.
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Tell the story of the transition in flashbacks if they must, but make no bones about how the old system was broken, there's a new system now, here's what it looks like, they're all working at USPIS and Ed Helms is their boss
This is, I think, the best option available to them. Keeping this as a cop show isn't tenable given real world events, it's too grounded and plot-driven to just transplant the characters into a different setting without explanation.
So let the characters walk away, each with their own more or less unhappy endings. One day Jake, for whatever reason, decides to put that little toy cop back down on his desk and never, ever picks it back up again.
One easy way to do it would be to say that the 99 has been selected to be a trial in New York for new policing methods.
Also, bring in an international advisor or two. I’d love to see a British cop wandering around the 99, drinking tea and making sarcastic comments about the American need for guns to resolve situations. And to be clear, there’s no need for a British cop to be white or male.
Each episode takes place in a dreamscape of one of the characters
Boyle dreams of running a top end restaurant
Amy dreams of running a binder factory
Holt dreams of geometric shapes interacting in appropriate ways
Now that I think of it, I suddenly really want to see Jameela Jamil as a British policing advisor for the season/rest of the series.
They could talk her up for an episode or two as a complete hardass nutcase and then when she shows up her methods are utterly reasonable and even-handed by US standards.
The only minor issue I have with this, is that while I agree that the problems are systemic, and that they've obviously gone through the ranks to get where they are, all of the characters in B99 are detectives or higher (Holt's stint as a beat cop as punishment by Wench not withstanding).
They don't patrol a beat, and they don't (for the most part) respond to traffic/domestic calls. So they're a step distant from the majority of police that's at the forefront of this current issue.
It might not apply to all of them, but having the precinct be part of a pilot project could be dealt with a few ways. Having people need to be re-hired (and a reason to go over some of the previous hijinx in a way that could be very self aware), introducing new characters for mental health assistance teams, a thorough dive into their Use of Force continuum (still room for physical comedy perhaps?), etc.
I dunno. I get that there could be some pushback on still making cops of any sort 'lovable rapscallions'. But on the other hand, it's also (imo) one of the most diverse casts in television, and it'd be a shame to see them all looking for work again because of the premise.
Ideally it'd be in conjunction with a lot of outside input. Bring in members from BLM, community support groups, strive to envision what a possible better community policing and support team might look like.
Many people view it as an impossibility, a future they can't envision. Well, as imaginative as this writing/directing team and cast are, what about trying to show some steps towards it?
Someone compared it to Archer, but Archer changed it's format because the agency was literally called ISIS.
Like almost zero percent of Brooklyn 99 is about them actually being detectives, at best it's usually a b-plot with Doug Judy or an interrogation room, so I mean whatever, they can change it up and I'd still watch it, but is that what we're asking for?
Of all the stuff out there, Chicago PD, the million law and orders and NICSes and CSIs, Brooklyn 99 is the one we want to reformat?
Since all of those have subplots that are basically "The regs are gettin' in the way!" or whatever bullshit, all of those need to end
Archer reformatted because the writer got bored, the ISIS thing was just wrapped into it and got him thinking about what else they could do.
I think the real reason we're talking about Brooklyn 99 doing this is that; a - they have been greenlit for another season, so the money and crew is there and b, they have said they're actually going to do something and are the most likely to do so.
It'd be great if other shows also did something, but so far this is the one that has said it is going to.
Lucifer just makes me wonder if they maybe regret turning every goddamn thing into a police procedural.
Procedurals will probably be fine, since detectives investigating serious crimes is like, the one thing police probably should actually be doing, and they already exist in a fantasy realm where the characters take their duty to the law seriously and mostly aren't hateful assholes (and it's easy to remove the line-crossing behaviors that do exist in current procedurals).
Yes. Those shows need to END. And get thrown into the sun.
B99 needs to remain.
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Street level heroes like Batman and Spider-Man don't make any sense anymore, because they're rooted in the premise that superheroes have to step in to fight off this epidemic of bank robberies and jewelery heists.
But those just aren't concerns for most people anymore. I think the B99 cops and Batman both have to change, given how useless they are at fighting problems we actually have.
They have done some stupid stuff, but its a TV show, they aren't real cops. But they are already in the right place. Could they spend more time dealing with the issues of interaction between corrupt, racist cops and minorities? I suppose so, but they would need to introduce a new character to do that, because the B99 police force wouldn't behave that way.
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If anything, the show has been far more consistent about sticking with the issues of police corruption than virtually any other cop show I know of. The lighthearted nature of the show adds some comedy to it, but they've always heavily featured it.
And that's the problem. Because there is no such thing.
You could do a lot of things. But you should definitely do something if they want to show to continue and that shouldn't just be "they're still carrying on as cops"
Like arresting someone in order to get time to go fish for evidence, when there is a supreme court case that explicitly makes it something not allowed.
I think, if they decide to continue as cops, the writing team should have a team of defense lawyers go through everything the cops do, mark anything that they should not do, and then have those actions be pointed out as wrong in the show.
None of the "we know they are guilty, if we were just allowed to go and <insert illegal and/or against regulations thing here>" shit, ever.
Make sure to add lot of innocent suspects that do call for a lawyer.
and so on and so forth...
In that example Jake was called out for being impulsive and possibly tanking the case early on by his superiors.
Was he fired? Demoted? Succesfully sued by the person whose rights they violated?
It's not enough to say "this is bad", there needs to be consequences.
And having the person whose rights are violated be guilty in the end just reinforces the "regulations bad" idea.
Just more 'regulations make cops job difficult and let's criminals go free' bullshit.
What rights were violated?
He was an ex felon with a history of robbery, arrested on suspicion of armed robbery that matched his MO.
afaik he was provided his attorney and was held for as long as the law said he could be held on suspicion, and was in the process of being released at the end of that timeframe.
Jake was given an administrative punishment because he jumped the gun on the arrest before completing the investigation.
Not every single infraction of procedure requires a demotion or termination.
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