NBC’s trailer for Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 6 pays tribute to Die Hard. The show was scooped up by the network shortly after it was cancelled by FOX last spring, and the subsequent teaser focused on promoting the acquisition of the prime-time commodity. As part of NBC’s Thursday night strategy, the show will join a line-up with other big comedy names, including The Good Place and Will & Grace, which were both renewed ahead of schedule. The standing question has been whether or not the show’s new home will impact its look and feel.
Some big changes are already known. Chelsea Peretti is leaving the show, and series creator Dan Goor has promised an epic and emotional two-part episode for her exit. At this point, it’s unknown if Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Skully (Joel McKinnon Miller), who often functional as comedic foils, will be added to the opening credits, or be given bigger storylines, once Peretti departs. The show is also carrying forward with its tendency for social commentary, notably a #MeToo inspired episode revolving around Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), and a continuation of Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz)’s struggle with biphobic discrimination. Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s success is due to its ability to balance sharp and goofy comedy, engage with serious and relatable topics, and inject just the right amount of cops-and-criminals action. Today’s trailer teases a perfect dose of the latter for the new season.
NBC’s new trailer shows Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg), leaping into his favorite action flick, 1988 Bruce Willis classic Die Hard. The whole scene is set up exactly as Jake would want it, with a helicopter, explosions, the New York City skyline, and the entire precinct bearing witness to his heroism. Check out the trailer below:
Of course, the final reveal is that the trailer’s Die Hard scenario is an outlandish proposal for a police recruitment video that only Jake could dream of, bringing the show back to its comedic baseline. As Peretti is absent from the trailer, the clip may have been filmed following her exit from the series. An integral part of the show’s comedy is the ridiculous extent that Jake goes to in order to receive the attention and validation he craves from his peers. This Die Hard fantasy is essentially the perfect picture of what that fulfilment looks like: the paternal love of Holt (Andre Braugher), the romantic devotion of Amy, the fraternal idolization of Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), and the professional respect of Rosa and Terry (Terry Crews).
Through Samberg’s performance, what makes Jake a compelling protagonist is that he never loses his loveable goofball persona, even as he matures from season to season. By exploring his abandonment issues with his father, relationship dynamic with Amy, and gradual willingness to seek deeper emotional intimacy with his friends, the show illustrates the difference between who Jake actually is, and the John McClane archetype that he’s idealized since childhood. So far, things are looking great for the new season propelling him and the whole squad forward.
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Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 6 premieres January 10 on NBC.
Source: NBC
