Windbreaker City

In its original American broadcast, "Windbreaker City" was seen by an estimated 2.59 million household viewers and gained a 1.2/3 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research.[1] This was a slight decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 2.79 million viewers with a 1.2/3 in the 18-49 demographics.[2] This means that 1.2 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 3 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it. With these ratings, Brooklyn Nine-Nine was the third most watched show on FOX for the night, beating Bob's Burgers, but behind The Simpsons and Family Guy, third on its timeslot and sixth for the night, behind The Simpsons, Family Guy, America's Funniest Home Videos, 60 Minutes and the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.

"Windbreaker City" received positive reviews from critics. LaToya Ferguson of The A.V. Club gave the episode an "A" grade and wrote, "'Windbreaker City' is an excellent title for an episode, as it's the name of my imaginary crime novel about crooked cops and the men and women who love them. At least, that's the first thing that popped into my mind upon reading the episode title, not that it would be out of the realm of possibilities for Brooklyn Nine-Nine."[3] Allie Pape from Vulture gave the show a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "For a show that once had action-comedy aspirations but has pretty much gone full workplace comedy at this point (not a bad thing, by any means), this episode is a bit of a throwback."[4]

Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote, "Still, some amusing moments (I liked the running gag about Boyle's dog being consigned to Hell), plus Nick Kroll got to pull the duct-taped gun trick (setting up the later moment where Jake and Sophia are back to viewing the other as Hans Gruber). Not bad, but they've done this exact episode better before."[5] Andy Crump of Paste gave the episode a 7.8 and wrote, "'Windbreaker City' is a terrific diversion. Sometimes, that's all an episode needs to be; fun, energetic, nicely shot, and absolutely hilarious. Everyone gets to be who they're supposed to be, whether it's Peralta cajoling everyone into taking his ill-advised lead, Boyle acting creepy in ways that only Boyle can, Terry going ham over a perceived slight on his physique, Amy doing her power poses, or Rosa playing with her cards close to the vest."[6]