Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the Brilliant Slacker Cop

Has anyone else been watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine? I have, and I’m enjoying it a lot so far.

First of all, I love the diversity in the main cast. The show has seven people in the main cast, including three women and four people of color. It’s a sitcom set in New York that actually remembers that not only white people live here. (It’s kind of a sad state of affairs when a diverse cast in a story with a New York setting is considered noteworthy, but still – progress!)

I’m also enjoying all of the characters. So far, my favorites are Andre Braugher’s Captain Holt and Stephanie Beatriz’s Detective Rosa Diaz. I like that Holt’s character has intelligent and moving things to say about being black and gay, but that his sexuality and race are not his defining characteristics. So far, I think the show is striking the right balance with him, in that he’s informed by his race and sexuality but not defined by either of those things. As for Diaz, I’m finding her blunt yet compassionate personality both very amusing and a refreshing change from most Latina characters I’ve seen on sitcoms. In fact, neither Diaz nor Detective Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) can be described as “sassy,” which is pretty remarkable.

There are a few aspects of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, though, that feel pretty formulaic. One of those formulaic aspects is the dynamic between Santiago and Andy Samberg’s lead character, Jake Peralta. Like many sitcoms (and dramas) that partner a man and a woman together, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has a childish yet brilliant male detective (who plays by his own rules, naturally) paired with a hardworking overachiever female detective. And of course, there is sexual tension between them.

Now, when I say the dynamic is formulaic, I don’t necessarily mean that as a criticism. Andy Samberg’s character is a familiar archetype, but it’s an archetype I enjoy because he’s played by Andy Samberg. Andy Samberg acting like a bit of a douchey goofball is his shtick, one that I never get tired of watching. As for Santiago, Melissa Fumero brings an endearing sweetness to the role that makes her seem like a real human being, rather than a stereotypical female killjoy to the male clown. (She’s also a Latina actor playing the type of role usually meant for white women, making the character and dynamic with Samberg less formulaic than it could be.)

Still, I wonder if I’ll ever get to see a show where the roles are reversed, where we have a goofy yet brilliant female “office clown” cop partnered with a stick-in-the-mud overachieving male cop – or doctor, or any other profession that might have a man and a woman working together in a close environment.

I’d love to see an actress playing a character like Andy Samberg’s Paralta. At the same time, I’m not sure that such a character would be realistic, or treated the same way as a male goofball would. Our society has different standards for men and women, and women often have to work twice as hard just to prove themselves equal to men (and that’s doubly true for women of color).

The other characters on Brooklyn Nine-Nine will criticize Peralta for being a slacker, or for overstepping his bounds when partnered with another cop, but they accept that this behavior comes attached to a person who’s really good at his job, so they mostly let him slide. As much as I’d like to see a woman play a Peralta type, I can’t imagine other characters reacting the same way to her. If a female cop on a sitcom wrapped a tie around her waist to flaunt the captain’s rules, or engaged in any of the other antics Peralta did, I imagine she’d not only be fired, but viewed as certifiably insane by her co-workers.

I want a show where the slacker/killjoy dynamic has a role reversal. Brooklyn Nine-Nine does not have to be that show, but it’s a show I want to see. Yet I’m not sure if such a show could exist and be remotely realistic, even by standards of a sitcom.

What do the rest of you think? Can you conceive of any workplace comedy where a female character like Samberg’s Peralta could be a brilliant, goofy slacker and still keep her job? Could that dynamic work if it were a different profession?

Discuss!