‘Brooklyn Nine Nine: Season One’ DVD Review
Stars: Andy Samberg, Terry Crews, Andre Braugher, Dirk Blocker, Joel McKinnon Miller, Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Lo Truglio, Melissa Fumero, Chelsea Peretti | Created by Daniel J. Goor, Michael Schur
DISCLAIMER: Some sort of mishap happened and my review copy came without disc 2. Without any legal means to watch them online, I’ve done the review not watching 6 episodes, so when I refer to ‘all the episodes’ for example, I’m obviously not including those ones.
I’ve been waiting for an excuse to watch this show for months. I usually don’t go for TV shows, mainly because I don’t find time, but this is a show I didn’t stop hearing about. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to review it, thinking I’d get through it in a few days. Instead, I blitzed the whole thing in one awesome day.
Brooklyn Nine Nine is comedy that follows a team of detectives at the 99th Brooklyn Precinct. The show does basic character introductions in a pretty novel way-Detective Seargeant Terry Jeffords (Terry Crews) gives new Captain Ray Holt (Andre Braugher) the run down on the team. There’s the two useless screw-ups/permanent background characters, Hitchcock and Scully (Dirk Blocker and Joel McKinnon Miller), the badass/hard case Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz), the awkward/passive Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio), the eager-to-impress Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), and the immature yet talented Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) who not surprisingly runs to problems with the straight laced new Captain. There’s also the crazy civilian administrator, Gina (Chelsea Peretti).
This show was pitched to studio execs as The Office of Parks and Rec meets cop drama, and it shows in the directing and delivery. Samberg’s one liners are fantastic throughout the season and he’s arguably the funniest thing about the show. The rivalry turned flirty between Peralta and Santiago is fun to watch as they compete to see who can get the most arrests in a year, Peralta putting his classic car on the line and Santiago putting a date with her on the line. Crews is surprisingly restrained with this character and has some pretty deep moments as the show progresses, but also has his typical crazy moments as expected. Boyle and Diaz actually begin to bond as complete opposites often do on sitcoms and Gina is, well, Gina.
Brooklyn Nine Nine also adds a nice bit of social commentary without being at all ‘preachy’. Captain Holt discusses the persecution he received being an openly gay black cop on 1980’s New York. In one episode, a Deputy Police Commissioner pushes to get his son off the hook for criminal damage, and another Peralta is reluctant to put father of two Sgt Jeffords in harm’s way in case he never makes it home. Then again, you also get to see a police horse get the same medal of valor as Boyle, bringing it all back down to earth.
Brooklyn Nine Nine is a brilliant example of how to make a comedy drama, and while it’s not making me jump up and down in anticipation for season 2, you better believe I’ll be blitzing that when it’s out.
**** 4/5
