On the Freaks and Geeks DVD commentary tracks, creator Paul Feig says multiple times that he wasn’t so much disappointed in his show’s cancellation as he was surprised it lasted as long as it did. When you think about it, you have to agree. It is shocking that a high school show as fundamentally depressing as this was picked up at all. It is even more shocking we were given enough episodes to make watching it a worthwhile journey. In contrast, there was a Fox show called Lone Star which was pulled after two episodes this past fall. As universally praised as the show was, there’s no way it will be remembered past this season. Two episodes aren’t enough to gain a cult following. While many people would have liked more Freaks and Geeks—me included—we should be thankful we have 18 quality episodes to go back to time and time again.
I bring this up now because “Chokin’ and Tokin’” is the last episode of the series that aired before it was cancelled by NBC. This may or may not be related to the subject matter of the episode, but it’s more likely that the network had just given up regardless. Still—considering the pervasive drug content in this episode—the fact that this marked the end seems significant. If a show like Freaks and Geeks is going to go out, it might as well go out like this.
It’s a little bit surprising that this was the show that allegedly crossed the line, considering its central message is vehemently anti-marijuana. Later Apatow projects would go the other way (talking to you, Pineapple Express), so this seems downright exemplary by comparison. While Nick stops smoking pot for a bit and becomes an (almost) upstanding member of society, Lindsay tries it for the first time and promptly goes out of her freaking mind. Whenever characters are high, everything seems hazy. When they’re sober, everything is theirs for the taking.
As comfortable as Lindsay is becoming with her new freak lifestyle, there are still certain aspects that her body seems to reject like a toxin. One of those is pot. While she enjoys the idea of this rebellious life, she’s still hesitant to do anything too objectionable. Marijuana is, more or less, where she draws the line. Not only is it the illegality of the matter, but she finds the life of the pothead rather depressing. As she sits in Nick’s basement, she lectures him about how pot makes him a much less likable human being. He responds by daring her to try it herself, and ultimately curiosity wins out.
The result is… unflattering. Instead of sending Lindsay into a glamorous high accompanied by Pink Floyd music, the drugs start to completely mess with her head. Her mind is not one that responds well to pot, as she’s used to always thinking about things in a much more rational way. This new, intoxicated way of looking at life just about drives her insane; so insane that she starts to fear she’s living in the dream of a sleeping hound. Lindsay’s brain and pot just do not mix.
You know what else doesn’t mix? Bill and peanuts. In what would turn out to be one of the series’ few not-quite-essential B-stories, school bully Alan White (Chauncey Leopardi) purposely feeds Bill peanuts in order to test his allergy. He begins to feel remorseful once he ends up sending Bill to the hospital, and only then does this story’s theme begin to show itself. While Alan has quite a bit in common with the geeks, he picks on them in order to feel like the bigger man. When he’s offered the opportunity to hang out with them, he can’t quite bring himself to do it. Despite the fact that he’s quite outgoing in a bullying scenario, he’s not quite as adept at being friendly.
If there’s anything connecting the two plotlines of “Chokin’ and Tokin’,” it’s that they both feature moments in which the characters show a fondness for the old as well as the new. There is no single person in this universe that left high school the same person as when they began. As a result, Freaks and Geeks makes a conscious effort to change each character in some way each and every episode. Contrast this with most sitcoms, which often feature incredibly static characters getting into silly situations and then resetting come episode’s end. Not Freaks and Geeks. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call it serialized, it certainly cares a great deal about changing the characters over the course of the season. It’s a show that’s best experienced from the beginning to the end. Each episode is an hour long—rather than a half-hour—because there’s a lot of heavy lifting going on in the character department. While Freaks and Geeks is often funny, it is certainly not a comedy.
Well, that was a digression of epic proportions. What I meant to say before was that while characters like the Weir siblings are changing, they still like to hang on to what they have of their old lifestyles. “Chokin’ and Tokin’” provides a few moments which illustrate this. While Lindsay is certainly becoming a freak, she chooses not to smoke pot and she remains friends with Millie. While Sam and Neal are starting to come out of their shells a little bit, they still have enough time to go to a sci-fi convention with their über-geek friend Bill. Let’s face it: having a nerdy friend with a raging peanut allergy isn’t the coolest thing in the world, but they’re willing to stick with him no matter what.
In these posts, I’ve noticed that I haven’t spent a great deal of time discussing the quality of each episode. As a result, I must make them all seem like equal pieces of the same delicious pie. The good news is that this is mostly the case, so for the most part I’ve been discussing the show rather than openly criticizing it. Only once (“Kim Kelly is My Friend”) did I bring up any real reservations about an entire episode, but even then it was one that most people seem to love. It’s difficult to think of a single episode that dropped the ball in any way. Perhaps this is why the cancellation of Freaks and Geeks was a blessing in disguise. There’s always a chance that the 19th episode would have ruined it for all of us. Unlikely, but possible.
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