Let’s start this off with an inspiring quote from the one and only Charles Boyle: “Piece of advice: just give up. It’s the Boyle way. It’s why our family crest is a white flag.”
In a world filled with Criminal Minds, Luther, and True Detective, Brooklyn 99 provides viewers with a niche genre that nobody thinks they need but actually do: A police precinct sitcom. B99 follows detective Jake Peralta, a happy-go-lucky Die Hard fanatic, and his co-workers (Amy Santiago, Charles Boyle, Captain Raymond Holt, Sergeant Terry Jeffords, Gina Linetti, and Rosa Diaz) as they work to put bad guys behind bars.
The overall dynamic of Brooklyn 99 is that of a typical sitcom, but what makes the show truly noice is the spoofed storylines, cast of characters, and diversity.
In contrast to other more brooding shows about cops, Brooklyn 99 turns every potentially threatening plotline into one filled with irony and humor. For example, when Jake, Charles, and Gina get taken hostage on Christmas Eve, Jake spends the entire evening trying to recreate Die Hard rather than getting caught up on the fact that they are being, you know, held hostage. Or when interrogating a perp, Jake will, well, you’ll just have to watch.
Though all of the characters of the show are oh-so entertaining, my three favorites are Charles, Captain Holt, and Gina.
Charles is Jake’s best friend and personal hype man. He’s best known for his affinity for the color beige, passive demeanor, love of gourmet food, and unintentional inappropriate references. Charles’ character can be summed up in this one image:
Captain Raymond Holt is a no-nonsense man. His favorite color is tan (apparently a lot of characters appreciate a nice shade of brown), he loves his “fluffy boy,” cheddar, and he has a passion for grammatically coherent sentences. Despite his seemingly bland character description, Holt’s delivery, and timing of vocal quips is pure genius. Being surrounded by the precinct’s band of misfits, particularly Jake and Gina, Captain Holt’s character is set up to be the perfect authoritative figure. To see some comedic content at it’s finest, just watch this one scene. If that isn’t convincing enough, here, Captain Holt describes one of his favorite childhood moments:
Fashionably late as ever, is Gina Linetti. Gina has a passion for Beyoncé, giving advice, interpretive dance, wolves (her spirit animal), social media, dope sweaters, and brutal honesty. As Captain Holt’s assistant, the two characters compliment each other swimmingly; Gina is the up-to-date master of pazazz, and Captain Holt is the straight-laced realist. Gina’s personality is evidenced quite clearly here:
In addition to the talent and humor within each episode, Brooklyn 99 writers have used the show’s unique atmosphere and diverse cast to comment on more polarizing issues in a genuine way. As Captain of the 99, Holt commonly references the backlash he faces as a gay, African American police captain. In addition to the captain, Sergeant Terry Jeffords, another African American authoritative figure, has a scene in which he is stopped and searched by a fellow police officer for no given reason. Despite Brooklyn 99’s notoriously humorous script, scenes like these are written to address the unjust treatment minorities experience in their everyday lives. The scenes are tastefully done and help reach a wider audience by presenting the scenes in a comedy show. This allows more people to learn about current discussions of race and inequality present in our current public sphere.
By including this additional element of civic engagement, Brooklyn 99 goes from simply a laugh-out-loud tv show to the complete package of what you want in a 21-minute sitcom (if you watch ad-free on Hulu of course). I encourage all of my readers to give the show a chance because I can guarantee it will be very c-c-c-cool, cool, cool.
I thoroughly enjoed reading this blog post. I always enjoy the lively voice that you write in. I’ve also noticed over the last few blogs that your format of blogging usually consists of analyzing a few characters from the show as a way to explore the contents of the show, and I think this mode of organization is very effective. Not only does this organization allow us to see the content of the show, but it also gives us insight on why you like the characters that you do.
I saw a clip of the show online and was never able to find the what its name was, and this was it! Overall, B99 seems like a great show and I’m glad you introduced it to me.
From what I heard in your post this might be actually good. The fact that you can see the different personalities and their sense of humor is cool. I currently feel related to Charles as a decent amount of awkward things happen in my life. I’m looking forward to learning more about B99.
As a big fan of The Office and Parks and Recreation, B99 seems like a fun sitcom to get into. I appreciate how you both gave a thorough explanation of the show as well as the topics they address, like diversity. It will be interesting to see what they do next, considering the recent events involving police. I am late to the game on this show, but maybe it’s time to get into it!
I enjoyed reading through this entire post and you definitely broke it up well with the memes. Explaining individual characters is definitely a good way to give an audience a feel for a show. I loved the video of Jake.