Broad City
“Game Over”
Season 3, Episode 3
Elder abuse! Elder abuse! Elder abuse!
Whenever Broad City introduces a new character, the show manages to make them as unique and spirited as the Abbi and Ilana. Writer Paul W. Downs’ Trey has grown since his first appearance in season one from the strange head trainer at Soulstice to a caring but probably demented character. Chirs Gethard’s Todd has had to deal with Ilana for some time now. Over the past two seasons, his anger and contempt of his eccentric coworker has grown considerably. The only conclusion as to why he put up with her for so long, and perhaps why the world just deals with the girls’ escapades, is that everyone is crazy. Each character introduced has their own quirks that add to their story arcs however long they may be. For now, there doesn’t seem to be any long term goal with that sort of development but there doesn’t necessarily have to be.
One such character that has peculiar tendencies is the investor of the app company that Ilana works at played by Vanessa Williams. At first, Gethard’s Todd tries to rid himself and the office of Ilana for the day to avoid embarrassment to no avail. It’s easy to see why he’d do such a thing; Ilana showed up wearing a dog hoodie, pigtails poking through the ear holes and navel in full sight (and she tries to cover it up later but coloring her stomach). But her quirks are no match for Williams who seemingly falls in love with Ilana, promoting her to run the social media account. Ilana, too, is smitten so she follows through with her tasks, proving to be somewhat good at being the hype woman. But the key to this relationship is the similarities that Williams and Ilana demonstrate. They both show a proficieny to sing while they poop – we heard “I shiiiit. I shiiiiiit” way too little times tonight – and trade a healthy back and forth whenever together.
The Williams/Ilana dynamic is better than the Abbi/Trey pairing due to the character’s almost equal level of insanity. But that’s not to say that Abbi’s story is bad; there’s a marvelous version of her on display. Abbi is shown to be the competitive type after being asked to engage in a team activity with her now on par coworkers. They’re all considered equals, she sees, as both the men and women shower and change in the same locker room. And, what’s more, they’re proven to be generally nice people as the group of mostly naked workers help pick up dropped supplements. But the best part of the story has to be the games where a shrieking version of Abbi taunts her opponents (“Come and eat my ass one at a time”). It’s a wonderful shift in the often meek character. She’s even characterized by Ilana, who later shows up just in time to keep her friend checked into reality, as “all caps Abbi” who Ilana urges to return to “case sensitive.” This shows how even a change in dynamic, or the introduction of dynamically equal character, can’t mess with the relationship of these girls.
But, in the end, more change is established in their lives. Ilana tweets an obscene image that leads her to getting fired for good. And Abbi manages to win the respect of her peers. In the end, a Sister Act 2 dream sequence from Ilana’s oft tortured coworker, Nicole, is the real winner of the episode. And Whoopi Goldberg is there too.
Should you watch “Game Over?”
Are you ready for this? This one’s a…game changer. I had to. It’s possibly the most fun episode of the season thus far. There’s a chemistry behind characters that makes them unique even if they’re recurring. Who knows if we’ll ever see Todd or Nicole again; they’ve been a part of the show for a while now. “Game Over” is a great episode.