Melissa Fumero’s Amy in Brooklyn 99 had many running gags, but one really wasted Fumero's talents. Amy’s high-strung personality provided a lot of jokes throughout Brooklyn 99 and was a welcomed contrast to Jake’s (Andy Samberg) personality, a balancing act which made the pair work so well together. Brooklyn 99’s running gags were part of its charm and made the audience feel more connected to the precinct's characters as they felt like inside jokes. Amy was often the punchline due to her nerdy ions, but it never stopped her from being herself.
Amy’s running jokes include being hyper-organized and her obsession with binders; Amy’s major competitiveness which is definitely helpful in the Brooklyn 99 Halloween Heist episodes; being the punchline of Jake's “Title of your sex tape” jokes; and her extremely awful dancing which often comes out when she is super excited. Melissa Fumero is very talented at playing Amy, and this is even more true when it differs so much from her own personality. Fumero’s running gags balance Amy Santiago’s tough, confident policing with a softer personality and make her very interesting as well as a fan favorite.
Melissa Fumero Is Actually A Trained Dancer
Brooklyn 99’s running gag of Amy’s “dork dancing” is hilarious but differs massively from the talents of the actress as Melissa Fumero is actually a trained dancer. Fumero started lessons at a young age and trained extensively for various dance roles as part of her early career. Melissa Fumero has been dancing longer than acting, but soon merged the two and trained in the performing arts from a young age before attending NYU to study drama. Before playing Amy Santiago in Brooklyn 99, Fumero had multiple roles, although Amy Santiago was her big breakthrough, and she appeared in shows such as One Life to Live and All My Children.
Fumero’s dancing skills developed massively when starring as Ati in Tiny Dancer, a 17-year-old who is persuaded to dance. Despite her previous training, Fumero’s role as Ati led her to extensively train in modern and contemporary dance which developed her skills even more. However, Fumero’s training did not transfer to her role as Amy in Brooklyn 99 and, if anything, portrays her skills in the opposite way as Amy’s bad dancing is a popular running gag. Although the gag is hilarious, Brooklyn 99 may have missed an opportunity to use Fumero’s skills for their benefit.
Brooklyn 99 Missed A Great Finale Joke
Brooklyn 99 saw all the characters develop in their own ways, with some arcs being more serious than others, as Jake matured and made his season 8 decision. However, Brooklyn 99 missed a great finale joke that could have added a twist where Amy could dance amazingly. Amy is not the showing-off type, so it would not be unusual that in the 8 seasons of Brooklyn 99 she was not bothered about showing off her dance skills. Alternatively, as a perfectionist, Amy could have taken it upon herself to learn and master dancing by the time of the Brooklyn 99 finale.
Working in this twist could have been a lot of fun for Amy’s character in Brooklyn 99, and allowed Melissa Fumero to showcase her own talents. The shock of Amy’s sudden ability to dance from all the major characters would by itself have been a hilarious gag and would have brought up a lot of chaotic questions. Even though Amy’s bad dancing gag was hilarious, the ending missed a great opportunity by wasting Melissa Fumero’s dancing talents.