Broad City, Season 2, Episode 3, “Wisdom Teeth”
Written by Ilana Glazer & Abbi Jacobson
Directed by John Lee
Airs Wednesdays at 10:30pm on Comedy Central
Here’s some personal context: I spent most of my day before watching this episode in a health clinic, dealing with strep throat, waiting, waiting, waiting. It goes without saying that it was a less-than-ideal way to spend my day. I turned on “Wisdom Teeth”, and suddenly all was right in the world. The long day faded away. The pain in my throat faded away. It was almost as if I was high on four Vicodin and some strong weed.
In fact, Abbi is the one dealing with getting her wisdom teeth out, hopped up on drugs, and though not everyone reacts in the same way and this is surely an exaggerated version, many can relate with the fuzzy experience. It turns out to be the catalyst for an episode of hilarious (if pretty broad) comedy, the most straightforwardly comic episode of the second season thus far. We get an idea of what we’re in for with the very funny cold open, in which Ilana poses nude for Abbi’s life-drawing class, being contorted into position by the teacher.
As always, there’s a real emotional undercurrent to the episode as well. First and foremost, there’s how much Ilana cares for Abbi and wants to be her mom for the day, and how ill-equipped she actually is for the job. Ilana is still who she’s always been, but this season has consistently shown us the more Abbi-esque qualities in her, and the wilder Ilana-esque qualities in Abbi. It works because it’s not just a simple inversion of their behaviours, but rather a nuanced way of expanding their personalities and their relationship with each other.
There’s also the re-acknowledgement of Abbi’s crush on her neighbour, Jeremy. After commenting on how getting her wisdom teeth out will make more room in her mouth, not for blowjobs but you know, she shows that she is the worst at pretending to get phone calls. “There’s stains on it? What do you mean it’s on my underwear?!” and “Why would I throw up on my clothes? I’m not crazy. Yeah I am Jewish, but who cares, that has nothing to do with it!” She had made a 23-minute phone call to him earlier, while high, asking him out, and he interrupts her to agree, s0 we are treated to yet another triumphant Abbi dance in the hall.
Again, though, this episode is mostly a chance for joke after joke to hit (while throwing in biting tidbits, like when Lincoln tells Ilana to calm down and she says, “Fuck you, don’t tell me to calm down, I hate when men tell women that!”). We get to hear Abbi’s uncanny Drew Barrymore impression (“She says that!”), see her bleed out of her mouth, and we get to meet a giant-size version of her stuffed animal, who creepily leads her around Whole Foods and tells her to spend $1400 and knock stuff down. Again, it’s a lot of broad humour, but based around some sincere pathos (“I’ll still see you because I’m gonna kill myself and meet you in heaven or whatever!”) and peppered with well-directed scenes, like Ilana’s how-to guide for making a weed s’more milkshake (were you taking notes?).
Bed, Bath and Beyonds
- What do we think of Jeremy? He could be a good match for Abbi, we just don’t really know all that much about him.
- Oh yeah, Jamie was back, and was delightful.
- Lincoln was on fire, god bless Hannibal Buress. “Look at these black-blue hands!”, “I would think that you could surmise from my initial reaction that she doesn’t.”, “It’s my fault, I should’ve seen this coming from a mile away.”