Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7 Episode 13 Review: Lights Out
The Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season Finale, and Amy's pregnancy, is complicated by a blackout. Our review...
This BROOKLYN NINE-NINE review contains spoilers.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7 Episode 13
Brooklyn Nine-Nine has a tendency to fall into routines. Granted, a lot of the returning plots and episode structures work spectacularly well. Sitcoms are supposed to be comfortable; if you wanted to watch something strenuous, that’s what prestige dramas are for. Even though Brooklyn Nine-Nine often returns to what works, they still have the capability to surprise. It’s a wonder that the series has never done a NYC blackout episode up until this point, but it obviously yields great results and helps complicate the conclusion of Amy’s pregnancy.
It’s nice to see the series finale conclude a season-long arc. If Brooklyn Nine-Nine continues past the confirmed Season 8, I’d love for them to tell more stories that spill out slowly across the season. I’m sure they’d also love something that’s as much of a slam dunk as a pregnancy storyline. It’s a perfectly sweet and sentimental payoff, like Jake and Amy’s wedding (and opposed to Holt being demoted or Jake going to prison). Of course, the show wouldn’t be a comedy if there weren’t a few hijinks before we got to the warm and fuzzy ending, and a blackout really brings the chaos.
As the lights go out, Holt and Terry are caught in the elevator, leaving Amy in charge. Obviously, Amy is exactly who you want in a crisis. She wastes no time making quick, practical decisions. Among Amy’s orders is sending Jake and Charles to investigate the blown transformer and calling the fire department to rescue Terry and Holt. After some good insults are thrown the fire department’s way, Amy’s water breaks. However, she’s too locked in on keeping the city in order to head to the hospital. Rosa is disgusted by all things pregnancy, but she stays by Amy’s side and tries to assist as best as possible.
Meanwhile, Jake and Charles discover that a drunk driver crashed into the transformer and fled on foot. They quickly catch up to the perp, but their journey to bring him back to the precinct brings them in contact with all sorts of colorful New York personalities. Chief among them is Dotty, an elderly woman who reveals herself to be a no-nonsense, problematic hard-ass. Seeing all of these random ne’er-do-wells reminds me of the supporting characters on Parks and Recreation, and they help add a lot of laughs to the episode, even if they slow Jake down on his way to get back to Amy.
Jake and Charles ultimately find out that the drunk driver was using an alcohol bottle as a ruse. The blown transformer wasn’t an accident at all, but actually a part of a planned heist. Resistless but to stop the crime, Jake and Charles spring into action, but it keeps Jake from Amy even longer. When he’s finally ready to head to the hospital, Amy reveals that she’s having the baby at the precinct. Charles does the unthinkable by calling his nemesis “Lieutenant” Peanut Butter to get his friend there in time, and Jake takes off on horse.
Luckily, Hitchcock and Scully act against type and provide Amy with a perfect pregnancy room, made with all of their napping material. Even though Rosa is deeply grossed out by the whole situation, she helps deliver the baby. Best of all Holt and Terry get out of the elevator in time to be there. More importantly, they spent their time practicing a hip-hop dance routine to distract themselves from the situation (when Holt wasn’t chastising Terry’s muscles for having “no functional purpose”). They dance for Amy to keep her calm during the birth. It’s not ideal, but somehow, it’s perfect.
When Jake and Amy finally get to the hospital with their newborn, they have a tender conversation about work/life balance. It’s realistic that Jake would be worried after almost missing his child’s birth due to his dedication to police work. Amy quells his fears, and Charles finally is dubbed Uncle Charles (though I was rooting for Chi-Chi). Jake also proves he’s not totally changed by fatherhood; he totally freaks out over the video of Terry and Holt’s dance routine. As far as finale’s go, it’s tidy, wholesome stuff. Brooklyn Nine-Nine wasn’t always perfect this year, but it hit the mark more often than not. “Lights Out” made the most of its supporting cast while relying on the leads to sell the emotional beats. It also featured Holt dancing to “Push It” and honestly, what’s better than that?
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Nick Harley is an entertainment journalist and alumnus of Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Nick also works as a Senior Content Specialist for the…