On February 6, Brooklyn Nine-Nine returned to NBC for its seventh season. I am a huge fan of the show as a whole, and the first two episodes of the season have made me excited for its return. The show, which centers around a goofy police squad, is impressively funny, while also addressing important issues such as gender imbalance in the workplace and the profiling of people of color by police. 

The first two episodes of season seven were unsurprisingly funny and refreshing. Brooklyn Nine-Nine never fails to make me laugh, and the episodes “Manhunt” and “Captain Kim” were no exception. Season six of Brooklyn Nine-Nine ends with Captain Holt being demoted to a patrol officer by his boss, Madeline Wunch, and season seven begins with the episode “Manhunt”, where we see Captain Holt struggling with the mundane tasks of his new job and the other characters that make up the Nine-Nine police squad tackle a new case. The episode was typical of the show, the squad of Jake, Amy, Charles, and Rosa end up capturing the suspect, as they often do towards the end of each episode. But, the first episode of the new season introduced us to new characters, such as Captain Holt’s new partner Debbie, which allowed for the development of new plot lines, which keeps the show interesting and exciting. 

In the second episode, which also aired on February 6 with the first episode, “Manhunt”, the squad gets a new captain. Jake and Holt are immediately wary of the new, too-perfect Captain Kim. She pleases each member of the squad and says that she is fine with leaving the role once Holt can get promoted back to being captain. The majority of the episode takes place at a party Captain Kim throws. Captain Holt and Jake, being overly protective of the precinct, spend their time at the party searching for something wrong with Captain Kim. Instead, they end up ruining the party and Captain Kim ends up requesting to transfer to a different precinct. I was a little disappointed about the ending to this episode, I was hoping that Captain Kim would spend a little more time on the show and I feel as though she could have aided with some character development, and I just really enjoyed her character. 

With this opening of season seven, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is as strong as ever. It has maintained its comedy and charm over the course of seven seasons and is able to balance familiarity with new plots and characters. The dynamics of the relationships between characters are ever-changing, which I think is what makes the show so enjoyable even after six seasons. 

Even in the two episodes of season seven, it is evident that the show still centers on Captain Holt and Jake’s relationship. I am glad that the show has been able to keep Captain Holt as a central character and Jake’s father figure despite his demotion. The two have come a long way since season one, and have gained a mutual respect for each other.