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Brooklyn Nine-Nine
TV Series

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

2013Comedy, Crime • 8 Seasons

Woke Score
6
out of 10

Series Overview

Captain Ray Holt takes over Brooklyn's 99th precinct, which includes Detective Jake Peralta, a talented but carefree detective who's used to doing whatever he wants. The other employees of the 99th precinct include Detective Amy Santiago, Jake's over achieving and competitive partner; Detective Rosa Diaz, a tough and kept to herself coworker; Detective Charles Boyle, Jake's best friend who also has crush on Rosa; Detective Sergeant Terry Jeffords, who was recently taken off the field after the birth of his twin girls; and Gina Linetti, the precinct's sarcastic administrator.

Season-by-Season Breakdown

Season 1

4/10

Talented but laid-back detective Jake Peralta and his dysfunctional peers struggle to get along under their precinct's strict new captain.

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Season 2

5/10

In Season 2, Jake smokes out a mole in the precinct, Amy finds a flaw in one of Holt's old cases, and the precinct gets antiterrorism training.

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Season 3

6/10

After Holt's transfer, the precinct isn't happy with his replacement. Amy and Jake adjust to romance, while personnel changes shake up the department.

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Season 4

6.8/10

While the Nine-Nine tries to keep a lid on things in Brooklyn, Jake and Holt are in a witness protection program in Florida, where Holt is thriving.

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Season 5

5/10

After a nightmare stint in prison for a crime he didn't commit, Jake returns to the Nine-Nine, where personal and professional changes are afoot.

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Season 6

7/10

As Jake and Amy adjust to married life and Holt squares off with a rival, the hijinks, heists and crime-fighting continue at the Nine-Nine.

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Season 7

6/10

Jake and Amy rethink their family plans, Holt chafes over his demotion, and the squad sees the return of old pals and nemeses amid the usual shenanigans.

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Season 8

8/10

Jake and the squad must try to balance their personal lives and their professional lives over the course of a very difficult year.

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Overall Series Review

Brooklyn Nine-Nine began as a character-driven workplace sitcom built on the comedic chemistry of a highly diverse ensemble cast. Early seasons established a tone where race, sexuality, and gender were simply components of established characters, focusing primarily on the humorous friction between the immature lead detective, Jake Peralta, and the stoic, gay Black Captain, Raymond Holt. The show immediately normalized alternative relationships and featured highly competent female and minority characters often contrasting with the sillier white male leads, establishing a progressive default setting for its humor and character dynamics. As the series progressed, the balance between comedy and social commentary shifted significantly. While the show always emphasized found-family support and the competence of its diverse leads, later seasons moved from merely featuring diverse identities to actively integrating and often prioritizing explicit political and social messaging. The narrative became increasingly focused on institutional critique, dealing directly with themes like systemic racism within policing, police reform, workplace sexual harassment, and gender politics. Episodes dedicated substantial time to these heavy topics, framing the squad as progressive heroes battling corrupt or outdated establishments, particularly in the NYPD hierarchy. This evolution meant that the core comedic structure often took a backseat to delivering specific ideological points. The later seasons cemented a structure where male characters were frequently tasked with unpacking perceived toxic traits or showing vulnerability, while female characters advanced professionally and morally. The series finale seasons heavily leaned into these themes, featuring major character departures linked to the belief that the police institution itself was fundamentally flawed, and significant personal arcs that saw male protagonists supporting high-powered female career paths. Overall, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is best remembered as a warm, high-energy comedy that successfully popularized a progressive vision of workplace culture, using the police setting as a framework to champion diversity and inclusion. It evolved from a character comedy with progressive underpinnings into a show explicitly dedicated to social commentary, ultimately succeeding in creating a beloved, supportive ensemble whose primary mission shifted from solving crimes to modeling an ideal, accepting community within a flawed system.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics7/10

Oikophobia4.1/10

Feminism7/10

LGBTQ+6.8/10

Anti-Theism2.6/10