There are a scant few times in one’s life when you catch a fleeting
glimpse at someone and just know. With a wave of fluttery, yet resisting emotion,
you are swept off your feet. Is this a fairytale? Like the opening verse
of a Taylor Swift song-can this be happening to me? Wooed, wined and dined. Is this truly “the one”?
It’s a love story, baby just say yes.
Or you’re me, and you just watched all the available clips
of Broad City on comedycentral.com.
Have I ever fallen in love faster and with less to go on
than eight 2-minute clips? I don’t think so. I finally was able to get access to Hulu Plus,
where full episodes are available and immediately binge watched all of them.
Following two best friends as they adventure through New
York City with gross roommates and long train commutes, Broad City is about
1000 percent less precious as it sounds.
The main characters are totally relatable in how ridiculous they are.
Abbi has dreams of being a fitness instructor at the gym she janitors at, being
the go-to gal for all ‘pube incidents’.
She struggles to be an adult and buy her own pot, lives with a roommate
who’s never there (but whose disgusting boyfriend won’t leave, or buy toilet
paper) and is awkwardly in love with the quarter Latino dude across the hall.
Ilana loves Lil Wayne, in a “purely physical” relationship with
insanely loveable pediatric dentist Lincoln, works/naps at an office and sings
the praises of nature’s pocket. The characters complement each other
perfectly. Abbi is self aware, Ilana wears mildly inappropriate crop tops to
work. I read a post somewhere on the internet noting that Abbi and Ilana are a
great example of two sides of a person. Ilana is how you are in the house, and
Abbi is how you are in public.
Just on a side note, one of the things that really stuck out to me is the way the
characters speak. They sound just like regular 20- something year old women.
They have the oft-frowned upon speech patterns, say ‘like’, and it’s not done
for an effect. Or an affect. It’s just
who they are, and it’s not being presented as a character flaw, as it so often
is. The way it’s done, you can really,
really tell it’s being written by the women themselves and not some old dude
trying to ‘rap with the kids’.
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What seals the deal for me is this: the show is written by ladies, stars ladies,
EP’d by universal lady hero Amy Poehler, doesn’t shy away from “lady issues”- it’s
got an episode called Pu$$y Weed for fuck’s sake - but isn’t patronizing at all.
It isn’t delicate, but it isn’t forced (something I felt with Bridesmaids.) Abbi
and Ilana are a little over the top, but they’re very real. Ilana doesn’t
apologize for being in a sex only relationship and Abbi over apologizes for
shitting in her own apartment when there are people over. In the life metaphor
to top all life metaphors, Abbi gets
bunjee corded to the side of the moving van while Ilana dances with the van’s
movement.
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Episodes focus on the everyday- scoring Lil Wayne tix, going
to a friend’s wedding, losing your phone. This is why they’re so relatable as
characters. No one’s ex boyfriend is an Internet millionaire. There aren’t any
tearful AHA moments shoved in your face. In fact, their lives kind of suck.
But, as a fellow 20-something, so does mine. I love tv as a means of escapism,
but sometimes you don’t have to go to a distant land with dragons or drunken ad
execs to reach that. If it’s funny enough, you don’t mind staying close to
home.
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