Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Season One

Grade: B+

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The new workplace comedy on Fox is from creators Michael Shur (Parks and Recreation) and Daniel J. Goor (The Daily Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien), and the two have created something so insane and whacky that I cannot believe that it works. But it does work very well. Leading the 99th precinct in Brooklyn is the new Captain Holt (Andre Braugher), a gay African American whom the rest of the crew can’t ever decipher if he’s in a good or bad mood.

The eccentric group of detectives is lead by Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg), who is a great detective but frustrates Captain Holt with his immaturity. Playing his love interest is Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), a stickler for the rules and a teacher’s pet to Captain Holt. The two occasionally get along but usually engage in constant teasing and bad-mouthing. Sergeant Terry (Terry Crews) leads the detectives unconventionally with his newly-discovered soft side due to the birth of his baby girls. Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) is Jake’s best friend who loves anything feminine, while Rose Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz) is as tough as they come. Rounding out the precinct are Detective Hitchcock and Detective Scully, the dumb and dumber combo of the crew, and Gina Linetti, the wildly bizarre assistant to Captain Holt.

Like every comedy, it takes a little while for Brooklyn Nine-Nine to start rolling, but once you familiarize yourself with the characters, every episode is better than the last. Some highlights of the first season includes:
– Jake’s bets with Captain Holt (stealing his Medal of Valor) and Santiago (who makes the most arrests).
– The detectives and their mutual hate towards the Vulture.
– Charles taking two bullets in the butt.
– The detectives attending Captain Holt’s birthday party.

Like all good comedies, the cast of characters have a great chemistry with one another towards the middle of the first season. Also, the romantic interest between Peralta and Santiago is an intriguing one, but certainly one that’s fun to follow and root for. Another thing that impressed me with the first season was the depth of the characters. No one is one-dimensional, even though they all have consistency in their motives. Terry can be the Ebony Falcon when he focuses, Peralta can be mature, Rosa can be apologetic, Gina can be ethical, Boyle can be masculine and Holt can be hilarious. That’s just how the show is able to keep you on your toes every episode.

Overall, this is a stand-out new comedy that everyone can enjoy, especially for the college and young adult demographic. It’s on the same line with The Office and Parks and Recreation, without the interviews. If you don’t mind Andy Samberg too much, then you’ll enjoy Brooklyn Nine-Nine. As for the future of the show, it’ll be interesting to see if they give us a season-long case that the crew tries to solve on top of the small cases they solve every episode. That and I can’t wait to see how the writers explore the Peralta/Santiago love interest. They’re the least likely couple to work out, but in this show anything is possible.

Orphan Black – “Entangled Bank”

Season One, Episode Eight

Grade: A-

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This episode ended with a jaw-dropping occurrence, which strangely hasn’t been a constant for these season one episodes. Orphan Black doesn’t usually end with such a cliffhanger that will have you screaming. Usually, they show a subtle reveal or an addition character gets in the loop with what’s actually happening. But in “Entangled Bank,” the purest thing in Sarah’s life gets hit by a car. Poor, innocent Kira. After she’s persuaded out of the house by Helena, she crosses the street to return to her mom but gets struck by a car in the middle of the street. It’s a troubling scene to witness.

In this episode we move forward, jumping from Sarah, Alison, Cosima, and even Helena. Sarah and Paul have each other’s trust while Felix fends off the police detectives, but they’re finally onto what they can only assume are Beth’s twin sisters. Alison is still paranoid as hell and sleeps with Ainsley’s husband, then fights her in the middle of the street. But Sarah finally tells Mrs. S about everything that’s happening, with Alison with her. It’s a lot to take in but Mrs. S takes the news very well. My suspicions about her have all faded away.

Meanwhile, Dr. Leekie tells Delphine to speed up her process and to get him names of the other clones Cosima has been in contact with. After sleeping with her, Delphine is shocked to discover Cosima is in contact with several other clones. There are two important things about this discovery: First, Dr. Leekie seemed very intrigued/surprised to hear Sarah Manning’s name and second, Delphine leaves out Kira’s name. Why? It really cannot be determined yet.

Despite what her handler is saying to her, Helena isn’t willing to kill Sarah just yet. She still believes that Sarah is someone special, but her creepy fascination towards her and her daughter is definitely alarming. I assume we’ll get a quick answer whether or not Kira is alive and that will certainly change the game entirely. We know Dr. Leekie is up to something, but what exactly? He doesn’t seem to know who’s killing the clones while using Delphine to monitor Cosima. In addition, who the hell is Alison’s monitor? And how long will it take until Art pays Felix another visit?