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Monday, May 30, 2011

Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers (Freaks and Geeks)


If there’s still any doubt in your mind that Freaks and Geeks is freaking awesome, allow me to direct your attention to a brilliant sequence about four minutes into “Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers.” As Martin Starr’s Bill returns home after a rough day at school, he makes himself a sandwich and sits down to watch some afternoon television. The entire scene—set to The Who’s “I’m One”—gives us a rare glimpse into Bill’s private life, and what it shows us is that Bill is happiest when he’s left alone with his television. Mostly, Bill is not a character who shows a wide range of emotion. He’s usually either indifferent or grumpy. This scene allows us to observe the geek in his natural environment.


This is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series because it’s one of the best examples of the show never letting a moment go to waste. If it had a few empty minutes to fill, it would spend them telling the audience something new about one of the main characters. “Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers” is a Bill-centric episode right down to its core. It tells a story about a moment in his life that changed him, and this time it’s for the better. This is what makes this one of the series’ more impressive episodes. Per se, Bill should be a wholly one-dimensional character. In this one montage, we learn more about Bill than audiences likely ever learned about Steve Urkel. Please tell me if I’m wrong.

This scene also sets up an episode where Bill must face one of his greatest nightmares: his mother dating the gym teacher Mr. Fredericks. Needless to say, Bill and Mr. Fredericks are used to a rather antagonistic relationship. Now, through their mutual affection for Bill’s mother, they are forced to become friendlier. While Fredericks is surprisingly game for an amiable relationship, Bill seems intent on pouting his way out of it. For one episode, it’s Bill who is actually the mean one. Fredericks is just trying to be nice.

Even so, Mr. Fredericks still can’t completely turn off the jock switch. When he takes Bill, Sam and Neal out for an afternoon of go-carting, he is still more intent on winning than anything else. During the race, it seems that Bill—for one quick second—is actually having a lot of fun. It is at this point that Fredericks promptly runs him into the wall. Being the sensitive youngster that he is, Bill runs off, cursing the man who has stolen his mother from him. Despite the attempts at friendship, Bill and Fredericks are two completely different people who may never completely reconcile. At episode’s end, Bill becomes a bit more accepting of the new father figure in his life, but he’s still not completely won over. At least now they’re willing to sit down and watch Dallas together. For now, it’ll do.

At this point in the show, Lindsay Weir has become quite comfortable with her new freak lifestyle. Yet her geek friends from her past life have yet to take the trip into Freakland with her. In “Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers,” this looks like it’s about to change. While Lindsay is in the car with Kim, they accidently run into something in the middle of the road. When Millie comes in to school the next day mourning the loss of her dog, Kim and Lindsay realize that they are likely the murderers. In her time of regret, Millie begins to find herself hanging out with Lindsay and Kim quite a bit more often. Much like Lindsay began exploring freakdom after the death of her grandmother, Millie starts her journey after the death of her dog. Only in this case, a freak lifestyle doesn’t exactly match Millie’s sensibilities. While this was a brief journey Millie likely needed, she doesn’t belong with the freaks. Even if Lindsay does.

Ever since Nick and Lindsay ended their horrible, brutal, awkward relationship, Nick has mostly been relegated to the background. At times he would lurk around like a horror movie villain, wishing for the days when he had Lindsay in his arms. While she seems quite willing to move on and remain friends, Nick is still stuck in boyfriend/girlfriend mode. In “Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers,” it has gotten to the point where he writes a terrible love song for Lindsay called “Lady L.” Just when he is about to serenade Lindsay with the (embarrassing) sounds of his love, our good friend Ken comes in to smash the guitar and ultimately save Nick from himself. While this song could have taken the Nick/Lindsay relationship to a brand new level of awkwardness, perhaps it is best that it remain unheard.

Above all, “Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers” is a key episode because it more or less wraps up the journeys of two characters who spend much of their time in the background. While Bill is almost never a main character in the Freaks and Geeks universe, this episode shows us how he reacts when his happy bubble is invaded by “dumb jock” Coach Fredericks. Meanwhile, we get to see what happens to Millie when she forces herself into a new, dangerous lifestyle. Bill and Millie both seemed to be one-note characters at first, but the show broke tradition by focusing on them just as much as it focused on the Weir family. In typical Freaks and Geeks fashion, “Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers” expands the world in ways that most television viewers wouldn’t think possible. And thank God for that.

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