Looks and Books (Freaks and Geeks)

Joe Flaherty spent much of Freaks and Geeks playing the angry, strict father. Many scenes were devoted to minutes and minutes of Flaherty hooting and hollering around—often leading to hilarious results. We all know he can be loud, but toward the beginning of “Looks and Books” it’s clear that he’s the angriest he’s ever been. How do we know this? He’s speaking very, very quietly. Thus begins Lindsay Weir’s episode-long re-evaluation of the freak lifestyle she has chosen for herself. In a show all about the search for identity, “Looks and Books” focuses on the identity Lindsay has chosen to leave behind.

Lindsay’s freak life takes a turn for the unpleasant when she is goaded into using her parents’ car to transport—in the words of Ken—“rocktageous” equipment from point A to point B. This plan derails when Lindsay violently crashes the car. No one dies, though that would have been quite the twist. Instead, Lindsay gets in a world of trouble, and she decides that her new life of freakdom may not be the most advantageous option. When she goes to school the next day, she throws on her “good girl” outfit and decides to re-join the mathletes.

While the freaks initially greet Lindsay’s change of tune with the usual scoffs, it eventually causes them to rethink their own lives. Specifically, “Looks and Books” is one of the first episodes that hints at Daniel’s dissatisfaction with his current identity. There’s a scene about 18 minutes in to the episode where he tries to talk Kim into skipping class. For what must be the first time ever, she turns him down and tells him to “get it together.” Kim walks away and leaves Daniel alone to bask in his own laziness. In a later scene, he goes to seek counsel from Lea Sheppard’s Harris, as he tries to figure out if he really is all that cool.

However, Lindsay soon finds out that life on the up-and-up may not be her bag, man. She’s a good mathlete—nay, a great one—yet her victories have left her unfulfilled. For Lindsay, life as the smart girl is far too boring. She’s been seduced by the unpredictability and fun of the freaks. With her new friends, she has something to prove. With the mathletes, she’s already accomplished all she possibly can. There’s a reason she chose to move to freak life: it’s just a whole lot more exciting. Sometimes that means you have to deal with a car crash or two.

Well, that’s the “Books” side. What of the “Looks?”

The latest Sam Weir identity crisis involves something more tangible: physical appearance. When he looks with jealousy upon Cindy with her new jock boyfriend Todd, Bill and Neal convince him that the hair is what ties it all together. After getting a new Todd-esque hairdo somehow doesn’t do the trick, Neal suggests that the clothes have got to be hip and happening as well. Thus begins another chapter in the novel that is Sam Weir’s awkward, soul-crushing life.

In “Looks and Books,” it seems Sam’s absolute determination to get with Cindy has blinded his sense of what constitutes good fashion. Or even reasonable fashion. When he goes to the mall with Bill to get some new clothes, he decides to visit—of all places—a ’70s apparel store. Freaks and Geeks is set in 1980, sure, but by that time the youth of America had decided that disco, well, sucked. When Sam comes into school the next day in what can only be described as a light blue prison jumpsuit—sorry: a Parisian nightsuit—he is immediately ridiculed by his classmates. The sequence in which he walks down the hallway plays like the opening scene of Saturday Night Fever slowly descending into hell.

The basic message of Sam’s “Looks and Books” storyline is that if you think you’re cool, you are cool. This may sound a bit lame, but it’s a lesson he probably needed to learn one of these days. In fact, he probably didn’t even need to learn this lesson. After one day of school, lord knows he wasn’t going another day in his disco garb. In later episodes, he wouldn’t be so desperate to change who he is for the sake of wooing Cindy. In fact, (SPOILER ALERT) Cindy would eventually start going after him. A little bit too hard, perhaps.

I’ve said it before (in this post, even) and I’ll say it again: the three words that can best describe the overall theme of Freaks and Geeks are “search for identity.” In “Looks and Books,” both Sam and Lindsay Weir take their searches in the wrong direction. While Lindsay tries returning to her geeky roots, Sam enters new territory by changing his hair and rocking godawful disco clothes. By the end of the episode, both characters feel more reassured that they are on the right path. Lindsay may continue her journey into freakdom, while Sam can just keep being the best Sam he can be. He’s good enough, he’s smart enough, and doggonit, people like him!