Brooklyn 99 rewatch post

[osprey_archer]

Julie has discovered that one of her friends has never seen Brooklyn 99 (dramatic indrawn gasp), so we’ve begun weekly Thursday night B99 viewings to fill this gap in her viewing history - which means that we’re rewatching season one at the same time as we’re watching season 5 for the first time, which makes for a fascinating comparison. The characters have evolved so much!

At the beginning of season one, Charles’ main characteristic is “in love with Rosa.” He’s not even a foodie yet! Jake is irritatingly immature, Amy is a painfully obvious brown-noser, Rosa is a cipher and also kind of mean, Captain Holt…

Actually, Captain Holt was always perfect. And Terry came out of the gate pretty much already Terry. (Love the bit where Amy gets him to act as a police sketch artist and he’s asking the victim of a purse-snatching, “What were his eyes like? Haunted? In pain?”) They’re probably why I kept watching even though the first time I tried B99 I described it as “moderately amusing, but not enough that I'm likely to continue on with it.”

But I did, and they’ve all grown so much! Charles is no longer in love with Rosa - how often does anyone get over a crush in a TV show? I spent the first season gritting my teeth over their obviously inevitable romance, which never materialized, and it was like a choir of angels singing on high when I realized it never would. Charles is actually together with someone else! Rosa has revealed new depths of vulnerability and also weirdness, like the bit in season 5 where they investigate a crime at a convention and Rosa gets hooked on urban fantasy because all the cover models dress like her.

Side thought: Rosa Diaz, cop by day, fighter of supernatural forces that threaten her city by night. I would buy it.

(We’ve gotten to the part where Rosa comes out as bi, where Jake suggests a possible speech that she could give to her parents and gets way into it, like, “Have you been planning a coming out speech yourself, Jake?” into it.)

By season five, Amy and Holt have a good working relationship and Amy only sucks up in ways that are kind of adorable in their comparative mildness. (Honestly, the fact that Amy’s early attempts to ingratiate herself with Holt didn’t turn Holt against her for life show Holt’s high quality as a person.) Possibly Jake siphoned off some of Amy’s desire to please Holt, and at that diluted quantity it spurred some of his newfound maturity.

Gina Linetti… okay, Gina Linetti is exactly the same as ever, and she has never been my favorite. Definitely a little sorry when she reappeared halfway through season five. But I guess a show can’t give you everything you want, & probably shouldn’t; Gina fans deserve their happiness too.

Comments

[asakiyume]

I really enjoyed the episodes of this that I saw; I should go back and watch the whole thing from the beginning, now that that's a possibility.

I think I felt a little more positively about it than you did on your initial watch--I could tell I would enjoy it if I watched more--but it was on broadcast TV, and I could never remember when it aired, or I had to do other things, and eventually it fell off my radar. I remember really liking the characters though--except Jake. I didn't *dis*like Jake, but he was a little too self-insert plucky white boy hero for my taste, like J.D. in Scrubs, if you've ever seen that, only even more so than J.D. But there are so many other simply wonderful characters!

[osprey_archer]

My impression has always been that they made Jake very much in the mold of plucky self-insert white boy hero specifically so they could undercut/subvert those tropes, and you know, I get why they wanted to do that... but I think the show really takes off once they're like "Trope subverted!" and move on to other things.

[ladyherenya]

I found it really interesting rewatching earlier episodes too. Some of it was funnier a second time round, because I now understand Holt's sense of humour and because some of the characters' more cringe-worthy behaviour isn't so painful to watch when I know that the consequences aren't going to be too horrendous. One of the things I like about this show is how it deals with that sort of thing -- attempts at deception or manipulation are usually uncovered, and characters have to own up when they've made mistakes, but nobody ever gets too badly hurt by the fall out. They learn from their mistakes, but they're not having to learn the absolute hard way; no one's destroying their career or their relationships.

Gina has never been my favourite, either. And she's not often a character who has to admit that she was wrong. There might be a connection there.

[osprey_archer]

Yes, I think you're onto something with the last paragraph. Most of the characters get called on it when they do something mean or underhanded, but Gina almost always gets away with it and it's like... But why is it okay when she does it?

[ladyherenya]

I've been thinking about Gina. Something I've noticed in the episodes I've watched in the last fortnight is that there are times when she doesn't get away with it, but it's not because she's called to account or she realises she was wrong, it's because something else happens which coincidentally prevents her from following through with her plan.

I don't know how much of a pattern this is, or if I'm generalising based on a few examples.

[osprey_archer]

I think this may reflect a more general pattern, but I'd be hard pressed to come up with specific examples. She's often foiled by Fate when her plans are particularly bad, so she doesn't have to face the consequences.

[grzanka]

i saw a few episodes from s1 recently after the new episodes came out now and it's not often that you look at the first eps and conclude that actually the recent ones are better, at least not for me. b99 managed to do the character growth so well that the characters are interesting because of it and they're most of them such sweet and good friends

[osprey_archer]

Yeah, usually it's the other way around! But I think Brooklyn 99 has really grown into itself as a shown. I sort of think they started out with this plan to present Jake as this sort of classic Maverick Cop purely in order to subvert that, and I can see why they wanted to do that, but all the same I think he's way more interesting now that they've gotten that over with - and now that they've wrapped that up the other characters have more room to breathe too.

[skygiants]

can't believe how much I've swung around in the years since Season 1 from "ugh, Jake" to "aw, Jake!" I loved everyone else pretty much out of the gate, but they've all evolved in amazing ways -- and I love how much the show takes care to develop independent relationships and dynamics among all the characters, it's never just about how everyone relates to Jake and Holt as the erstwhile leads.

(also, to be very shallow for a moment, Stephanie Beatriz might be the most attractive human on television?)

[osprey_archer]

Yes! I love that they all have unique character dynamics with each other. It's a true ensemble show.

There are a lot of attractive humans on television and I would hate to say definitively that Stephanie Beatriz is definitely more beautiful than Jameela Jamil and Kristen Bell, but she's certainly way up there.

[sovay]

Charles is no longer in love with Rosa - how often does anyone get over a crush in a TV show?

The fact that he did was one of the first reasons I loved the show.

[osprey_archer]

So many shows would be improved by allowing the characters to occasionally get over their Big Endgame Crush That Will Stretch for Seasons and Seasons. So many!

[lucymonster]

Side thought: Rosa Diaz, cop by day, fighter of supernatural forces that threaten her city by night. I would buy it.

ME TOO.

I actually loved s1 the first time I watched it. My interest trailed off in later seasons once it started growing a coherent plot, but I've always had it in my mind that I'll catch up at some point. Especially if there's more Rosa.

Terry was always such a delight, wasn't he? Other characters had their ups and downs, but he hit it out of the park.

[osprey_archer]

I don't know if you've heard any of the spoilers for season five, so I will just say - there is PLENTY more Rosa.

I'm not sure I could say she grows the most out of anyone on the show, because Jake and Amy have also grown a lot, but she definitely gets a lot more character development and it's so satisfying.

And yes, Terry! Always the best. TERRY LOVES YOGURT.

[potofsoup]

well, Gina's leaving/left the show so at least that's something for you?

and yeah, in rewatches, I usually start halfway through season one, or directly into season 2, because the first half of season 1 is so wobbly as far as "everyone is figuring out what this show is about" -- kind of like the first seasons of Star Trek TNG, tbh..

[osprey_archer]

She was gone (on maternity leave, I think) for the first half of season 5, but then she came back - is she leaving again later on?

I have actually never seen the first season of Parks and Rec because it's so different from the rest of the show and I always feel like it's mocking the characters, unlike the rest of the show which is... well, mocking the characters, but in a loving and sympathetic manner rather than "Ha ha they're so dumb."

[potofsoup]

She's leaving / has left a few episodes into season 6.

I started with season 2 of Parks and Rec and the venezuela episode was too cringey. I hear it gets better after that, but I've yet to try again...