Fear Of Missing Out …..and with those four words Broad City touched something so acutely nestled with my personality, that it was shocking. It’s particular insights like those that are seemingly inconsequential that make it so much fun for a mid-twenty something to watch. It gets the petty fear and the struggles of acquitting yourself with adulthood and instead choosing to coast for a while.
I love coasting. Coasting is stress free; it’s Netflix filled and allows frequent wine nights. But I digress.
Illana is facing her fear of missing out at the start of the episode when she finds out that Abbi got a nose piercing the night before when Illana wasn’t there to witness it. Now that she’s missed such an event, she’s worried about what else is going on in Abbi’s life that doesn’t take place in front of her and, in a moment of panic, in the world as a whole. Abbie is riding high due to her freshly pierced nose and is showing off in front of a new employee who she’s training. However it’s her inclusion in being invited to Trey’s party that really gets this episode moving into the best episode of season two and maybe one of the best episodes the show has done yet, period.
That, in large part, has to do with Abbi as Val, but we’ll get to that in a few. First is Trey’s party, which is essentially the lamest party ever shown on television and it involves all health enthusiasts.
Ugh.
As a fellow person who can’t just have ONE healthy granola bar and have that be enough Abbi’s interactions with the fellow party goers feels alarmingly real. Illana picks up on how awkward the entire situation is, despite Trey’s enthusiasm in watching Celebrity Apprentice and tells Abbi that the two of them need to leave in order to find the BEST party currently going on. So, Abbi makes a suitably awkward excuse to leave and the two find themselves on their alcohol fueled voyage of party goers.
Their first stop ends short when someone, who Illana declares as the hottest person in the room, leaves and they find themselves in Lincoln’s company, which is always a plus because Hannibal Buress is a monotonous genius. And, as Illana called it, his “black Irish exit” had me forced to pause the episode because I was laughing so hard. It’s such a simple visual gag but it works tremendously. Other Lincoln highlights included him doing the worm and bouncing his pecks. All were great moments, all wonderfully ridiculous.
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No moment though touches Abbi as Val. Apparently, when Abbi gets black out drunk she winds up in a throwback underground club as a performer. Illana is blown away and, it would seem a little in love with Abbi at this moment while simultaneously appalled that she didn’t know this about her friend. She ends up feeling better once a hilariously drunk Abbi drops some nuggets of wisdom her way, telling her that not only is Illana her number one, but that if she spends all her time worried about living she’ll miss life.
Poignant for a woman who swallows her nose ring a moment later.
Abbi has been the best part of season two so far, no questions asked and tonights episode simply allows her a bigger platform-she’s given a larger than life persona to play into. Her physicality has always been one of her greatest assets and the transformation from drunken Abbi stumbling around and knocking into walls into Val who’s sultry and strides across the stage but still misses her mouth while taking a sip of her drink (a common drunken mishap), to hung over Abbi the next morning is a fantastic three step transformation. If things were fair this episode would be on Abbi Jacobson’s Emmy tape. This is one of the best episodes the show has done because no matter the characters that dance in and out of screen its Abbi and Illana’s show and they get the most laughs. Aside from our meeting with Val there’s nothing too over the top that’s alienating while keeping the shows standard absurdest atmosphere.
Who else loved the episode? Let us know in the comments!
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9/10
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