Top Ten Brooklyn Nine-Nine Episodes

A cop show on FOX with SNL alum, Andy Samberg as the star was certainly not supposed to be a sure thing success wise. And yet the brainchild of showrunners Dan Goor and Michael Schur has proven to be one of the most consistently funny sitcoms of the 2010’s with razor sharp writing and an extremely talented cast. It follows Jake Peralta (Samberg), a talented, but immature detective who works at the 99th police precinct in Brooklyn with his weird and diverse coworkers. Like most workplace sitcoms, the show covers their professional and personal lives. But unlike most workplace comedies, it avoids cliches and doesn’t shirk from real life issues like homophobia, racism and police brutality. Choosing the best ten episodes of a show as consistent as Brooklyn Nine-Nine is no mean task but it’s certainly a challenge worth taking on.

Ten

The Party

Season 1 Episode 16

It seems like a trick of the mind to remember that Holt’s husband, Kevin wasn’t always friendly with the members of the Nine-Nine. In this season 1 episode, Holt tries to remedy this by inviting the squad to his birthday party at his and Kevin’s home. Despite the best efforts of Sergeant Jeffords to keep his squad in line, they can’t keep from embarrassing themselves and by extension Holt. This episode not only helped introduce one of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s best secondary characters, it gave viewers a peek at the usually taciturn Captain Holt’s home life.

Nine

Halloween

S1 E6

While the first season served as an introduction to the quirks and eccentricities of the Nine-Nine characters, it also proved to be the formation of the show’s defining relationship: Detective Jake Peralta and Captain Holt. Watching their friendship and bond strengthen over the seasons has been one of the great pleasures for viewers as it wasn’t always so easy between the two. In this landmark episode, Jake uses the occasion of Halloween to bet his boss that he can steal his Medal of Valor before midnight. This critically acclaimed episode resonated so strongly with fans of Nine-Nine that every season since has had an episode dedicated to a holiday-themed heist.

Eight

Moo Moo

S4 E16

For all the hilarious hijinks evident in each episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the writers and producers have shown they aren’t shy of tackling heavy topics. In “Moo Moo”, the issue of racism and police hostility are addressed when Sergeant Terry Jeffords faces a life or death situation from his fellow officer. All Jeffords wants to do is find his twin daughters’ toy cow (the titular Moo Moo) but because he’s in his off-duty, civilian clothes he gets aggressively accosted by a white police officer from a different precinct even though he doesn’t do anything threatening. At the end, Terry has a decision to make; file a complaint against his fellow officer and risk been labelled a difficult personality or keep his silence and let a racist officer go scot-free.

Seven Beach House S2 E12

By season 2, Holt clearly has a better relationship with his squad than he did in the first season. They love him and he loves them right back. But when Jake decides to invite the Captain to the detectives’ annual getaway in Charles’ beach house, it makes things unnecessarily awkward for the rest of the squad. How do you let loose and have fun when your stuffy boss doesn’t seem familiar with the concept? Meanwhile, Gina decides to make this the year when she discovers what Amy is like with 6 drinks in her. It’s not often that the entire cast get to participate in a single storyline and seeing all the characters bounce of each other is a rare but welcome treat.

Six

Hitchcock and Scully

S6 E2

Although Hitchcock and Scully get routinely mocked by their peers for their sloppiness, laziness, questionable hygiene, diet etc., the undynamic duo prove their competence every now and again. In this season 6 episode, Jake and Charles are given one of the pair’s old cases from the 80’s to solve. More surprising than finding out that Hitchcock and Scully were once dreamboats, Jake and Charles find out some inconsistencies in the case that might implicate their colleagues. More than anything this episode helps celebrate the two biggest oddballs of the 99th precinct and giving these two characters a rare chance to shine.

Five

The Bet

S1 E13

Part of what makes Jake’s relationship with Amy work as well as it does is that despite their many surface differences, they are innately similar where it counts. When the two detectives compete to see who can make the most arrests, they are not only motivated by a chance to do their jobs well, they are equally fueled by the terms of their bet. If Amy wins, she gets Jake’s car and if Jake wins, he gets to take Amy on the worst date in the world. Although it would take another year and a half for them to officially become a couple, this episode helped sow the seeds for what would become the show’s primary romantic relationship.

Four

Halloween II

S2 E4

As iconic as the first Halloween episode is, “Halloween II” is not only the superior episode but is the gold standard for Nine-Nine Halloween episodes. In a retread of the first episode, Holt and Jake place another wager. The only difference this time is that the object is Holt’s wristwatch. Well, that and the fact that Holt isn’t going to underestimate Jake again.

Three

Jake and Amy

S5 E22

The episode where Jake and Amy became official in the eyes of God, the government and the 99. Jake Peralta and Amy Santiago are in many ways an unconventional TV couple, so it was obvious that their wedding wouldn’t go as planned. But if there’s one thing viewers should have learned, there is no chaos that the 99 squad cannot overcome with industry and creativity. At the end, Jake and Amy didn’t get the wedding they planned for but thankfully they got the wedding they deserved.

Two

99

S5 E9

This aptly titled episode not only refers to the episode’s ranking in the order of production (the 99th episode of the show), but also serves as a dedication to the 99 squad. When Holt and the rest of the squad attend a funeral in Los Angeles, they soon learn that their return flight is cancelled because of inclement weather. This might ordinarily not seem like much of an issue, but Holt has an interview first thing Monday morning for the role of Commissioner of police. From that point everything that can go wrong does go wrong in spectacular fashion as Jake and the rest of the detectives look for a way to get Holt to his interview. Unlike most episodes of Nine-Nine, the whole cast is utilized in a central plot that is as hilarious as it is chaotic. If ever there was an episode to introduce newcomers to the show, it would be this one.

One

The Box

S5 E14

Before Andre Braugher took on the role of Captain Holt, he won acclaim for his work on 90’s police drama, Homicide: Life on the Street. As Frank Pembleton, he stole many a scene with his powerful delivery and intimidating stare downs with criminals. In “The Box”, viewers get to see a little bit of Pembleton seep into Holt when he assists Jake with interrogating a murder suspect (played by the brilliant Sterling K. Brown). The episode is a departure of sorts for Brooklyn Nine-Nine, as the one central plot only involves Jake, Holt and Brown’s murder suspect and it all takes place in the titular “box” at the station. It’s also not the funniest episode of Nine-Nine there’s ever been. What it is is a remarkably compelling piece of television with brilliant acting from everyone involved.

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