I’ll be honest: I’ve never liked cop shows. I find them to be really boring, too procedural and with too much manufactured drama. I also don’t like how women are treated like inferior creatures in most of them. That said, I was pleasantly surprised when I got introduced to Brooklyn Nine Nine.
It all started when this video popped up on my Twitter feed, and I just HAD TO know why so many people liked it so much.
It was one of those moments where you laugh so hard until the people next to you start looking at you funny. I started watching from season one and now that I’m eagerly waiting for season six, I can honestly say that getting hooked on Brooklyn Nine Nine was one of the best decisions I ever made.
The series revolves around Detective Jake Peralta who’s a carefree cop with the best arrest record. Because of this, he doesn’t feel the need to work very hard or follow the rules. On the other hand, his colleague Detective Amy Santiago is very careful to toe the line with a vision of being captain and running her own precinct someday. She is also extremely competitive and has a running bet with Jake on who gets more arrests. Other members of the precinct include Sergeant Terry Jeffords, a devoted family man, Detective Charles Boyle, a hard worker and Jake’s biggest fan, Detective Rosa Diaz, a secretive and very bad-ass cop, Detectives Hitchcock and Sculley, who are way past their retirement age and rarely add anything to the team, and Gina Linetti who is the civilian office manager that does the bare minimum and still manages to get caught up in everyone’s business.
The series starts when the Brooklyn Nine-Nine precinct gets a new commanding officer – Sergeant Ray Holt. He’s a gay, black police officer with a lot to prove and he starts by making some changes, which Jake doesn’t take well to. This bone of contention between him and Ray is one of the themes explored throughout the series as Jake tries to get him to lighten up and Ray tries to teach him how to follow rules and be a better detective. We also get glimpses of each of the characters lives as they catch bad guys and stop crime. Other constants throughout the series include the Halloween Heist, Doug Judy- The Pontiac Bandit, Rosa’s Mysterious Past, Terry Loves Yogurt, Jake and Amy’s Title of Your Sex Tape gag, Gina Sayings, Hitchcock and Sculley’s Love of Food, and Holt and Wuntch’s Beef.
The main cast of this series are comedy greats like Andy Samberg, Chelsea Peretti and Terry Crews, as well as Melissa Fumero, Stephanie Beatriz, Andre Braugher, Joe Lo Truglio, Joel McKinnon and Dirk Blocker. Other memorable guest stars include Bill Hader as the new captain Seth Dozerman, Bradley Whitford as Jake’s absentee father, Fred Armisen as a guy with a thick, European accent and really hard name to pronounce, Maya Rudolph as Ray and Jake’s handler and Eva Longoria as Jake’s girlfriend.
What I really love about this series is its ability to make me laugh, even while it explores serious issues like LGBTQ representation, non-toxic masculinity, stereotypes and racial profiling. It has also birthed a lot of memes for the ever-growing fan base. Earlier this year, Fox cancelled this show after five seasons, which caused a serious uproar online with people coming together to lobby for it to come back. Their cries were heard when NBC renewed the show for a 13-episode season 6, which the cast is currently shooting. This show is just all sorts of amazing, and even Rotten Tomatoes agrees.
All I can say is, I am SO READY for season 6! Are you?
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Featured image via www.spoilertv.com
