Portlaoise, IRELAND – Brooklyn Nine-Nine a workplace cop comedy in which childish detective Jake Peralta and his friends are stuck with a new uptight precinct captain, but it’s so much more.
I was hesitant to watch this show because I thought I knew exactly where the storyline was going, but it completely exceeded my expectations.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine starts off as strict captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher), who is gay, takes over the 99th Precinct in New York. The precinct’s detective squad is made up of Peralta, his clingy best friend Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), rebel Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz), family-oriented Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews), social media-obsessed assistant Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti), and intelligent feminist Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero.)
Detectives Norm Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller) and Michel Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) are also a part of this ensemble however, they rarely solve cases and prefer to stay at their desks eating hot dogs.
The show follows their lives, relationships, and cases in a comedic manner with impeccable and hilarious writing.
A huge reason why I highly enjoy this sitcom is that its casting is phenomenal and unlike any show I know.
Samberg and Braugher complement each other wonderfully and the cast portrays the characters in such a way where it is simply impossible to imagine anyone else playing them.
Casting two Latina women – Fumero and Beatriz – to play very important characters is almost unheard of in the industry. Not only is the rest of the cast also made up of actors from different cultures, races, and backgrounds but so are the guest stars. These included Sterling K. Brown, Mario Lopez, Nichole Byer, and even Neil deGrasse Tyson.
The widespread diversity of the cast allows the writers to explore serious issues within our society which are often abandoned in comedy sitcoms or poorly executed. Brooklyn Nine-Nine deals with topics such as racism, harassment, LGBTQ issues and cultural differences.
In the episode titled “Moo Moo,” Jeffords has a gun pointed at him by an officer from another precinct while searching for his daughter’s toy in his driveway.
The officer said it was suspicious behavior for a black man and that he was just doing his job. It goes on to show Peralta realizing his white privilege and we see him and Santiago explaining racism to Jeffords’ children. The scene is brilliantly executed and educational.
With the recent death of African American George Floyd while in custody of the Minneapolis Police Department, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is even more hard-hitting than ever before.
I encourage everyone to watch it even if you haven’t previously seen the show.
Even though I love the show I did not enjoy the first two seasons. At the time of watching them, they felt slow-moving and it took me months to get through. However, once I reached season three, I couldn’t stop watching it.
After seeing the other seasons, I definitely do appreciate them more and see that it was necessary for the storyline to unfold.
If you are bored in quarantine, it’s a great show to binge watch. The episodes with cliff hangers are so captivating that you’ll get lost in them.
Linetti’s sassy comebacks will have you in stitches, Peralta and Santiago are the couple you’ll root for until the very last second, and serious, high-strung Holt saying, “Yas queen” is the laugh the world needs right now.
Viktoria Jurickova is a Junior Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
