I’ve been a fan of Broad City from the start of the TV show and last week the series came to a close. Five seasons of Abbi and Ilana lead to a smart conclusion: growing up.
I can’t tell you how many times Broad City put me into hysterics. Saying this show is “so funny” is the fast and lazy way of summing it up but it’s true. It’s like Workaholics with brains. Abbi and Ilana are absurd, gross, real, and sincere. The most important traits best friends can have.
You can tell that Abbi and Ilana are friends in real life. They have a chemistry that can’t be faked and with how crazy they go with these characters that’s a must. They trust each other to make it all work and it usually does.
Abbi plays it straight and wary, the vessel for most of the audience. Ilana is chaos, the grab the world by the bridles and ride it until there is nothing left free spirit. Ilana has no desire to find out what being an adult is all about. Through the show, they navigate their early 20s basically joined at the hip. They balance each other out, Abbi leaning on Ilana to be her guide to getting out of her shell and Ilana relies on Abbi to keep her from going truly overboard. For a while they ride the waves that New York City sends their way and never look more than a few days into the future. Maybe as far as the next time rent is due.
Then things change. Not with themselves, at first, but those around them. Starting last season, Ilana breaks up with her long time boyfriend, Lincoln. That’s the first major wave that knocks Ilana off her surf board that I can remember. A major life disruption that she wasn’t prepared for. Then this season there was a try for reconsilition that’s quickly followed by the crushing reality that they aren’t compatible anymore. Lincoln wants to leave the city, start his own dental practice, and put down roots. He’s ready to start a family. Ilana is younger, with no desire of having kids now. They have truly grown apart and have to move on without each other, something that Ilana reluctantly accepts.
Abbi has a reality check not long after Ilana does, right when she turns 30. She gets into a relationship with a woman for the first time and she comes to realize that she’s been treading water for years. Her girlfriend is older and it becomes obvious that they live in two different worlds, maturity wise (trying to show off on social media can be dangerous and enlighting, folks). Living paycheck to paycheck doing small jobs she hates, a slew of comically bad relationships, and getting high with Ilana all the time is starting to get old. It’s only fitting that Abbi and Ilana, while high together, realize they are co-dependent.
I know this all doesn’t sound like a comedy but it’s the years-long experiences of these characters–that often end up in embarrassing situations–that is the heart of the show. Abbi and Ilana have a blast together, through the best and worst of times, and they depend on each other’s reliable behavior to keep trucking on. So when Ilana applies to school to get into psychiatry, it’s huge. It’s Ilana making moves on her own (and her finding this path by doing that “session” with Jaime in her apartment is one for the ages). She instinctively wants to stay in NYC so when Abbi applies for art school in Colorado, that’s another mountain they have to navigate together. It’s also the most important challenge of their young lives.
I love the series finale. It has all the components that make the show great and I think it’s completely satisfying. A lot of thought went into it as the last season gives every major character a
I’m a big fan of stories that end not by cutting things off like a dead limb, but by showing that this world does continue. It’s just that the cameras are being shut off and we are all moving forward.