Brooklyn Nine-Nine: A Police Show in an Anti-Police World
When Brooklyn Nine-Nine first aired in 2013 it was to a climate that was growing ever-so anti-police. From the getgo, the show tried to be different than any other police show. Instead of just making episode after episode of cops doing bad-ass things like taking down drug dealers or murders, they also showed the deep-rooted problems that both the NYPD and police departments around the country had. (Not to say that Brooklyn Nine-Nine didn’t have its bad-ass moments) They start the first episode with the detective squad meeting their new Captain, Raymond Holt. Jake Peralta, the protagonist, and Holt meet by Jake making fun of Holt for being “robotic”, and Jake disrespects the Captain’s authority throughout the episode by showing up late and refusing to wear a tie. This all changes when Jake and Holt go on a stakeout together, where Holt reveals that he is gay, and that is the reason why it has taken him so long to become a captain. This bonds Jake and Holt, and informs the audience that this isn’t your regular cop show.
The first season is perhaps the least-favorite season among fans. It isn’t hated by any means and does a decent job of introducing the other detectives that the show focuses around. It is just pretty awkward at times and the characters aren’t fully fleshed out yet. For example, Jake is almost too immature for the audience to like him and Charles Boyle is too weird to be understandable. Evidence of how the show changed is how, in the pilot, Terry says Charles’ main thing is being clumsy, even though it is never mentioned or shown again after the first episode. Terry is perhaps the best character from season one since his character wasn't changed as much as the others were. The show comes into its own in Season 2, where Jake grows up, Charles becomes less weird, Holt becomes less robotic, Amy and Rosa become more unique, and the show’s main focus shifts towards a broader scale.
Season 2 starts with the squad busting a dinner party the mafia that Jake was investigating while undercover with the FBI. This serves as the mechanism for Jake’s maturing and causes Jake to confess his love for Amy. Later in the first season, we are introduced to Holt’s arch-nemesis, Madeline Wunch, who makes Holt more relatable as he tries to crush her. Rosa gets more screentime starting from when she dates Holt’s Nephew, and Amy gets more stories that focus on her, such as her relationship with Teddy. Season 2 shifts the show from having 2 Main Characters (Holt and Jake) to having five (Charles, Jake, Holt, Amy, Rosa), which opens it up to a lot more character development, which let it make as many episodes as it did. If it has solely focused on Holt and Jake, the show would most likely have had only 3 or 4 seasons, and it would quickly become stale and uninteresting.
By Season 3 the show had really hit its’ stride and the show used season 3 mostly for character development and to iron out the few remaining kinks the show had. Season One was like the gun that sets off a race, season two was like a runner adjusting their form, and season three onwards was like the runner sprinting with a near-perfect form.
The show continues on for 5 more seasons and it never really repeats its self which allows for perfect binging. Each episode meets every requirement for binge-able content, from having the perfect mix of emotion to having few drawn-out episodes where most young viewers would lose interest halfway through the story. I personally have watched each episode nearly a dozen times, and the reason behind that is simple; there's an episode that can match whatever your energy is; be it stressed, angry, sad, happy, political, or really anything. The only reason that the show is ending after 8 seasons is no fault of its own. NBC just wanted to try something new, and they needed some room for that, so it just made sense to kill Brooklyn Nine-Nine, especially since it could look bad for them to have a cop show in this political climate.
