Freaks and Geeks
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Greatest Series Finales: Freaks and Geeks ‘Discos and Dragons’ is a pitch-perfect, disco-filled end to the series
Freaks and Geeks was always a show about identity, so it makes perfect sense that ‘Discos and Dragons’ would challenge almost every major character to face their own changing identities. From major characters like Nick and Lindsey struggling with who they were and who they’ve become, to minor characters like the Deadheads living their idealized version of happy life, the series finale of Freaks and Geeks presents us with a number of characters at a crossroads in life as the school year comes to an end. More
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Freaks and Geeks Ep 1.17 ‘The Little Things’ is an episode about honesty
Freaks and Geeks Episode 17 ‘The Little Things’ Written by Jon Kasdan, Judd Apatow, and Mike White Directed by Jake Kasdan Aired 7/8/2000 on NBC Although its clearly a truncated story line, the immediacy with which Sam and Cindy’s relationship falls apart in ‘The Little Things’ (which aired immediately after ‘Smooching and Mooching’ in the […] More
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Freaks and Geeks Ep 1.16 ‘Smooching and Mooching’ suffers a bit from two rushed story lines
Freaks and Geeks Episode 16 ‘Smooching and Mooching’ Written by Steve Barros Directed by Jake Kasdan Aired 7/8/2000 on NBC By the time the script for ‘Smooching and Mooching’ was broken in the writer’s room, the writing was on the wall for Freaks and Geeks. Knowing they only had three episodes left to work with, they […] More
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Freaks and Geeks Ep 1.15 ‘Noshing and Moshing’ is all about acceptance
Freaks and Geeks Episode 15 ‘Noshing and Moshing’ Written by J. Elvis Weinstein Directed by Jake Kasdan Aired 10/17/2000 on FOX Family On a macro level, Freaks and Geeks is a show about acceptance. There are a lot of facets to this idea; accepting identity, acceptance of the shit piles life starts handing us in high school (and […] More
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Freaks and Geeks Ep 1.14 ‘Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers’ sees Millie and Bill staging rebellions
When I think of the long-term potential missed out on Freaks and Geeks, episodes like ‘Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers’ come to the forefront of my memory. It’s an episode about two non-main characters (Bill and Millie) giving unexpected depth to their characters, family situations, and teenage lives. They come in very different forms – one from the death of a family member, and the other from a family gaining one – but they tie back to this similar idea of teenage rebellion, of how forcing ourselves to not deal with something emotional only makes things worse in the long run. More
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Freaks and Geeks Ep 1.13 ‘Chokin’ and Tokin” is a classic episode about pot, God, and peanuts
Freaks and Geeks Episode 13 ‘Chokin’ and Tokin” Written by Judd Apatow Directed by Miguel Arteta Aired 3/20/2000 on NBC The last episode to air before NBC canceled Freaks and Geeks, ‘Chokin’ and Tokin” displayed many of the things that made the show great: layered characters (both major and minor), a stark look at the transitions […] More
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Freaks and Geeks Ep 1.12 ‘The Garage Door’ puts Neal and Ken front and center
Until ‘The Garage Door’, Neal and Ken are far and away the least-developed characters on the show. Ken disappears for episodes at a time, we’ve never seen the inside of Neal’s house – and both are people who use jokes to cover up their own feelings and insecurities. Both of them have to come face to face with something they’re dreading to realize in ‘The Garage Door’; but while Ken’s has a happy ending, Neal’s almost certainly will not, the latest of Freaks and Geeks’ tragic, relatable teenage anecdotes. More
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Freaks and Geeks Ep 1.11 ‘Looks and Books’ is another entertaining hour about identity
Freaks and Geeks Episode 11 ‘Looks and Books’ Written by Paul Feig Directed by Ken Kwapis Aired 2/7/2000 on NBC Through the first ten episodes, we’ve talked a lot about high school and identity, a theme that crops up over and over in Freaks and Geeks, again dominating the narrative foreground in ‘Looks and Books’. Thankfully, Freaks […] More
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Freaks and Geeks Ep 1.10 ‘The Diary’ spends some quality time with the Weir parents
Freaks and Geeks Episode 10 ‘The Diary’ Written by Rebecca Kirshner (Teleplay), Judd Apatow & Rebecca Kirshner (Story) Directed by Ken Olin Aired 1/31/2000 on NBC As most episodes of Freaks and Geeks do, ‘The Diary’ begins innocently, and slowly snowballs into a brutally honest story about identity. The cold open takes this a step farther: it […] More
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Freaks and Geeks Ep 1.09 ‘We’ve Got Spirit’: when regional fever captures McKinley High
There is a holy trinity of events that bring a high school population: lunch every day, school dances, and big sporting events. In theory, high school is really just a bunch of people thrown together because of their geographic location, so those few moments are the rare instances where the population of a school really comes together. But sports events are a monster all to their own: when a sports team becomes a powerhouse, it brings the entire community together, despite all the personal and social dramatics that might be afflicting us. Amongst all the teen angst of McKinley High and its inhabitants, ‘We’ve Got Spirit’ quietly reflects on those rare moments when everyone comes together.
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Freaks and Geeks Ep 1.08 ‘Girlfriends and Boyfriends’ shows just how blind infatuation can be
‘Girlfriends and Boyfriends’ begins with Lindsay entering McKinley for another day of school. On her way to the patio, she passes by the other cliques you typically see in high schools dramas – jocks tossing around a football, nerds with their binders in hand, and the like. She notices them, but quickly dismisses them as she heads outside (reminding us that Freaks and Geeks is not a show that operates within cliches, allowing us to reset our expectations for the stories to follow)… that is, until she passes Generic Couple Making Out in the hallway, and becomes fixated on their grope-y embrace. If the title didn’t already give it away, that moment reveals the sole focus of the episode: sex and relationships. More
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Freaks and Geeks Ep 1.07 ‘Carded and Discarded’ reminds us what its like to be young and naive
Technically the tenth episode (in terms of production order) of Freaks and Geeks, there’s a noticeable dissonance in this episode’s tone when contrasted against the episodes surrounding it – things are markedly more optimistic in the first two thirds than in last week’s ‘I’m With the Band’ and next week’s ‘Girlfriends and Boyfriends’. But considering where it was placed (after a two-month hiatus at the end of 1999), ‘Carded and Discarded’ actually provides a nice light moment in between the dark stories bookending it. More
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