I know Brooklyn 99 is very cheery and may seem not to deal with the darker side of things. That was one of the things that made Parks and Recreation too sugary and superficial for me. The characters resolve their rough edges and temperamental conflicts much too soon, without a catalyst. B99 does have a catalyst, which…

Well, to each his own. But the show is like Jake - it focuses on the humorous and outrageous elements. It's up to the viewer to notice what is actually going on. That is that Jake is an abandoned kid, in huge debt that doesn't go away, one that started with a car that he just lost because he's trying to become…

Well, she's from a family of seven brothers, so typically she has to compete for everything. She is the only girl, so she has a strong sense of her femininity, though she expresses it in a tomboyish way. That, and her innocence coupled with her attempts to imitate others expressions(she uses a lot of sexual euphemisms…

Thanks. It's incomplete though, and I wonder if someone could fill in the blank. Where is Jake's mom, and what happened to her?? That might be the hidden key to this character. Just like he never reveals his feelings directly, he never once mentions his mom, as far as I know.

Here is why I like this show so much, the place from which it derives its true power as a human story and is thus believable. Jake seems very obnoxious and unable to be serious - all the time, to an unbelievable degree. Believe me, people are not like that just because they are like that. He is actually the most…