Spoiler Warning: Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 8

"Goodbyes are inherently sad." The wise words of Jake Peralta uttered in the final episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine hit particularly hard during the series finale back in September 2021, driving home what the show was making the audience go through -- say goodbye. Despite the show lasting eight seasons and surviving a studio jump in between seasons five and six when they were dropped by Fox and picked up by NBC, Brooklyn Nine-Nine became an immediate staple in the sitcom genre and gave audiences something to laugh about week after week with their precinct-related antics.

With the series coming to a close, fans wondered how the show would honor the characters and stories that audiences had come to love and cherish over the past decade. Luckily, the show delivered in every possible way and allowed audiences to not only say goodbye to Brooklyn Nine-Nine but do it in a way that felt emotionally cleansing rather than heartbreaking. With that being said, it has to be asked - does Brooklyn Nine-Nine have one of the best finales in television history? There are several reasons pointing to that being the case.

The Finale Delivered Fan-Service

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Finale
NBC

So often, with a series that has evolved and grown over a span of eight seasons, the characters and stories can start to feel like they meander and stray away from what the core of the show was initially about. That was never the case with Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Regardless of how many kooky cases the Brooklyn precinct got themselves tangled up in, the characters stayed true to who they were and worked together to solve their problems as a proper family should. So, with the final episode, it was only fitting that the show's fan service continued with a proper Halloween Heist (even though it wasn't technically Halloween).

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Jake's (Andy Samberg) plan to leave the 99 to take care of his and Amy's (Melissa Fumero) son, combined with Amy and Holt's (Andre Braugher) leaving, seemed like a bummer note for the show to end on. However, the show saved the day by wiping away the sad story and replacing it with another heist episode - the ultimate Brooklyn Nine-Nine staple. Not only that, but virtually every major/minor character from seasons past returned to give cameo performances to allow fans to say goodbye to them as well. With everything that the characters were going through, it would have been easy for the writers to go the emotional route and allow audiences to really understand that splitting up and going separate ways is just an inherent part of life. But Brooklyn Nine-Nine is all about humor, and they did a fantastic job of showing audiences the good in the bad.

The Finale Broke Progressive Barriers

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Finale
NBC

Somehow, even with the finale being a proper salute to fan service, the writers still managed to incorporate the concept of breaking progressive barriers into the episode's plot. This feat can often feel heavy-handed but worked seamlessly for Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The first barrier it broke was the main narrative of Jake quitting his job to become a stay-at-home dad. There are so many ways that this particular decision broke barriers. It allowed Jake to proudly take on a role that isn't often seen as masculine; it allowed Amy to take a promotion that raises her own status and helps break workplace barriers for women and Hispanics; and the choice proves that Jake got over his fear of being a poor father and could do better than his own father did with him, thus breaking the narrative of the family-mold. And while Jake obviously had other options, the choice also proved that he (an adult often described as childlike) was finally ready to grow up.

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The second barrier it broke was less-related to the main plot but still deserves recognition. Rosa admitted that she didn't need a partner to be happy. So often in finales, characters who haven't found a lasting love interest throughout the series end up spontaneously ending up with somebody to give the audience some romantic closure. Brooklyn Nine-Nine did the right thing and stayed far away from that trope. Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz) was always a lone wolf. Although her romantic life was the focus of a few different episodes throughout the series, it made total sense that Rosa would walk away from the series the same way she walked in.

The Finale Concluded with Open-Ended Closure

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Finale
NBC

Again, goodbyes are sad, and one of the saddest parts about TV shows ending is that we don't get a chance to see what happens "after" the show is over. We come to think of characters in shows as part of our everyday lives, and when they end, it leaves us longing for closure. A lack of closure is part of life, and everything doesn't always get neatly tied up with a bow -- but Brooklyn Nine-Nine chose not to be that way.

Rather than end on a somber note with the characters entering the elevator and leaving the precinct for a final time, the last scene jumped forward in time and showed all the characters returning to the precinct for -- what else -- the annual heist. This allowed audiences the closure of realizing the show might be ending, but the antics that the characters get into will never end.