Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a mostly comfort-food comedy about where a new captain arrives with a mission of bringing order to a NYPD precinct.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine ran from 2013 to 2021. The first few seasons were really fun. People have much more varied reactions to the episodes of later seasons, as the show and the people watching them were influenced by real-world events.
Let’s start with some remarks on the set-up. Captain Raymond Holt arrives at the Brooklyn Nine-Nine in order to whip it into shape. Despite having some capable detectives, the precinct is not performing well, as the previous captain was an undisciplined drunk. Captain Holt is not immediately welcomed by all the staff, especially not by Jake Peralta, who likes doing things his own way. Their first fight is about wearing ties, which Peralta sees as unnecessary.
Holt is a little old to get a command and he’s eager to do a good job. His career has been stalled in the NYPD because he was both black and gay. But times have changed. The younger detectives don’t care about race or sexual orientation. Possibly Holt never expected to be a father figure, but his competence and his moral center cause the younger members of the detective squad to gravitate to him. Captain Holt, kind of to his surprise, finds himself taking them under his wings. They also force him to relax and to sometimes have fun.
This may sound very serious, but the show, at least the first few seasons, is full of comedy. Jake Peralta, played by Andy Samberg, is the heart of the precinct and the star of the show. He’s got an energy that infuses every scene, and he seems to be in the A story of nearly every episode.
The supporting cast is, well, supporting, but over the seasons one grows to care about them, with the possible exception of Holt's assistant Gina Linetti, who is often just nasty to Amy Santiago – but even Gina has her moments. Terry Jeffords, played by the former NFL football player Terrence Crews, is the sergeant. Jeffords was acquainted with Holt before he came to the Nine-Nine. Amy Santiago, who has yearned for a better-run precinct since her arrival, practically worships Holt from the moment he becomes the commanding officer. Charles Boyle, into weird food and a little older, is a fanboy for Jake. Rosa Diaz considers Jake her best friend, even though she doesn’t really do best friends. The cast is rounded off by two older white guys, Hitchcock and Scully. The characters have fun negotiating relationships, crimes, bureaucracy, and growing up. All standard comic fare, and done well.
Alas, Brooklyn Nine-Nine can’t totally ignore events in the real world. The first seasons deal with homophobia and racism, but it feels as if it’s mostly in the past, or at least not at Holt’s precinct. Still, there are incompetent cops, dirty cops and cops who pervert situations for their own personal ambitions.
But during the run of the show, politics changed, and for many, the world felt less funny. In 2020 George Floyd was murdered and laughing at a cop show became much harder. Letting in some of reality changed Brooklyn Ninne-Nine and the audience wasn’t always receptive. This was understandable, as many came for the laughs, for comfort comedy, and the show was not so comfortable anymore. Besides, the premise of the show – younger detectives seeking a father figure – no longer made sense as the younger characters matured.
I prefer the earlier seasons, but later seasons have some good episodes as well.
Special episodes With eight seasons, some are going to be very good. Here are some favorites, both in general and my own:
Hallow’en! Brooklyn Nine-Nine has a competition between the detectives each season. It starts with Peralta trying to steal something from the captain, but over the seasons it morphs into team efforts. These episodes are often favorites, and with the holiday, actors can wear absolutely anything. I find them too convoluted, but some scenes are special.
Top rated episodes, according to IMDb, include “The Box”, which is a showdown between Jake Peralta and a killer. People really liked “HalloVeen”, one of the Hallowe’en specials. Other favorites deal with stages in the main romantic relationship as well as the last episode, where we say good-bye to the characters.
My favorites tend to feature Peralta and Holt, as they are played by the strongest actors and are so good together. I particularly liked “The Mole”, “The Wednesday Incident” and “9 Days”. My favorites that weren’t centered on just them include “New Captain”, “Yippie Kayak”, and “The Road Trip.” I also want to give a shout out to “Moo Moo,” which deals with racism.
Title musings. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is the title and it needs no analysis. As far as I can tell from my research, there is no actual Brooklyn 99 precinct. Brooklyn’s precincts are in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, but not every number is assigned. Possibly precincts were smaller in the past and have been consolidated, or they want to keep extra numbers available in case they break them into smaller units.
Bits and pieces
Melissa Fumero, who plays Amy Santiago, was pregnant in seasons 3 and 5. In season 3 they hid her baby bump behind lots of folders, bags, and eventually desks but they write it into the last two episodes. In season 5 they can show her pregnancy because at this point she is married
Apparently Melissa Fumero and Stephanie Beatriz were concerned about there being two Latina detectives on the show, and to make sure they were different enough, Fumero always had straight hair and Beatriz always had curly.
Andy Samberg and Chelsea Peretti were friends as kids, the same way as their characters Jake Peralta and Gina Linetti. Sometimes it’s just easier to write stuff like that in because people can feel it.
Terry Crews, who plays Terry Jeffords, started saying Nine-Nine in a loud voice to get the crew revved up. The producers liked it so much, they incorporated it in the show.
One of the creators of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is Michael Schur (the other is Dan Goor). Schur is also the creator of The Good Place, and one can see many commonalities. Many of the same actors have recurring roles, and also, both feature a lot of yogurt. In Brooklyn Nine-Nine yogurt is by far Terry’s favorite food, especially mango.
Both Sergeant Terry Jeffords and Captain Raymond Holt – older relative to some of the other character and both black – were bald or had shaved heads for the scenes in the “present”. This allowed Brooklyn Nine-Nine to signal flashbacks with them by making them wear wigs.
Quotes
Captain Raymond Holt: Here are two pictures. One is your locker. The other is a garbage dump in the Philippines. Can you tell which is which?
Detective Jake Peralta: That one's the dump?
Captain Raymond Holt: They're both your locker.
Jake: But more importantly, what does the "J" stand for? James? John? Jo-Jo?
Captain Holt: My middle name is more important to you than being suspended?
Jake: If it's Jo-Jo? Yes.
Sergeant Terry: I’m playing Kwazy Cupcakes, I’m hydrated as hell, and I’m listening to Sheryl Crow. I’ve got my own party going on.
Amy Santiago: Yeah. Hope it wasn’t a mistake.
Jake Peralta: Hope it wasn’t a mistake. Title of your sex tape. Oh! Title of our sex tape!
Gina Linetti: I did not follow you to PR to watch you quit. I followed you because you're great and because you make everything you touch better.
Captain Holt: Please be seated. Friends, colleagues, gawking New Yorkers, we are here today to celebrate the marriage of Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago. I’ve known you both for the last five years. And it has been a true pleasure to watch your distracting childish rivalry evolve into a distracting childish courtship and now into what I’m sure will be a distracting childish marriage. I’m proud of you. And I love you both.
Overall rating
Really great comfort comedy, especially the first four or five seasons. Three out of four of Terry’s mango yogurts.
Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.
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