Brooklyn Nine-Nine Review: Blue Flu (Season 8 Episode 3)

When Brooklyn Nine-Nine confirmed it would be tackling the tougher topics of corruption and discrimination within the force, this is the kind of high-grade storytelling we had in mind.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 8 Episode 3, “Blue Flu,” is a successful marriage of its bizarre Brooklyn comedy and the law enforcement issues that have come to light throughout the pandemic.

This episode relies on its three strongest prongs for success. It’s fitting Holt turns to a trident metaphor in these tough times because “Blue Flu” really is a multifaced story in the comedy, drama, and procedural departments.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine has this way of delivering the kind of intelligent detective-driven revelations that have no business in a comedy-arc this fleeting.

“Blue Flu” is so hyper-focused on staffing that it’s able to hide its upper hand well.

The revelation that the 99th precinct never suffered from the union walkout is brilliantly executed. While our squad scrambled to find solutions, the lack of ill-motivated officers on the street did the work for them.

It’s such a simple concept; because fewer officers were out of the streets looking for comp-stats there were fewer bad arrests, fewer complaints filed, and no change in major crime. Yet, for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, this is the kind of ground-breaking storytelling that can change how they use their scrutinized material for good.

It’s the mic drop moment worthy of a Captain Holt “Hot Damn!”

By focusing on the lack of arrest stats, the institute is brought into question and a tool that has been used to encourage our lovable squad for years, from cringe dates to prison break bets, is used to demonstrate how motivators have contributed to unlawful arrests.

Not to mention, arrests stats have been such a big part of Jake and Amy’s competitive relationship over the years.

Using those very statistics to demonstrate why the 99th precinct is better off without this form of motivation is a kind of writing that gets to the core of this show’s legacy while adding something to the conversation it’s desperate to be part of.

Sure, Holt revealing that the force can function properly with fewer officers is tidy idealism. But for this story arc, it’s a win this show will continue to prosper from.

This episode cleverly masquerades much of its heavier subject matter as comedy.

Charles learning he might have an undiagnosed terminal disease and immediately spiral into a fur coat phase is not new terrain. I’m pretty sure Charles Boyle has had at least three life crises involving new jackets in the series thus far.

It’s how this depressing storyline transcends a typical Jake and Charles stakeout into the kind of finale season energy we need that’s worth mentioning.

The fact is Brooklyn Nine-Nine is ending, but the Nine-Nine is not. They will continue to inhabit this fictional world and go to work. So, this show has the difficult task of acknowledging the growth and heartfelt goodbyes you expect from a farewell season without disrupting the flow of the larger story.

Charles believing he’s going to die is cause to lean into that finality.

It also allows Jake to essentially summarize what makes their friendship so endearing, on the very stakeouts that have become a staple of their friendship. Throw in a few Dianne Wiest jokes and one inappropriate declaration of friendship, and this tribute to #Jarles is a home run.

One cannot stress how top-prong the banter of this episode is. It’s chaotic, relentless, and a little cheeky, thanks to the ongoing mystery of Holt’s tramp stamp.

“Blue Flu” also takes a simple trident metaphor and keeps at it until the joke has been all but beaten into the ground mercilessly with prong-related insults. Brooklyn Nine-Nine finds the dumbest things to obsess over, and Mission Trident is simply the latest achievement of that comedy.

Holt: Did everyone assume I was trying to be cool? Is that why everything is going so poorly?

Jake and Holt arguing over the definition of a trident because Zack Snyder’s Justice League calls Aqua-Man’s five-prong weapon a trident but Holt points out that’s a pentadent is peak chaotic — and the foundation of a joke that refuses to die.

It’s incredibly satisfying to see this three-prong mission turn into five, causing Holt to reconsider his trident metaphor.

With a cruel tattoo cliffhanger and a foul mouth tirade we won’t forget, this is Captain Holt’s episode to run away with.

Everything from Rosa using Holt’s tattoo as extortion to Amy being outraged to find out Jake paid two thousand dollars for said tattoo is peak Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

The choice to bring a real incident into the prescient works. An officer who tampers with his food to claim he’s been discriminated against works because the incident is not only tied to this bullpen but tied to the characters inhabiting it too.

The comedy has room to fester within this investigation and elevate the heavier subject matter too.

The only criticism is with Terry. The choice to use Jeffords as the butt of the joke isn’t necessarily bad. However, in a season devoted to amplifying issues surrounding the Black community, it’s certainly a weird choice for his character in these final hours.

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Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Thursdays at 8/9c on NBC.

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