Thanks to the central friendship of Abbi and Ilana, Broad City has become television’s greatest friendship comedy. There’s really not a more supportive, openly honest friendship on television, a foundation that makes silly episodes like “The Matrix” a lot more engaging than they have any right to be. Built on the thinnest of premises, “The Matrix” isn’t as laugh-out-loud funny or revelatory as previous episodes this season, but it’s still a half hour spent with Abbi and Ilana, which makes it nigh-impossible for “The Matrix” to be a truly bad episode.
When the girls spend an entire evening on the couch in internet rabbit holes (after jamming out in a drum shop, which makes for a memorable cold open), Ilana decides that it’s time for them to unplug from the machine and go experience the world “off the grid” for a little bit. So the girls decide to roller blade to Elliot’s dog wedding, and hilarity ensues on their journey: like the spiritual companion to last season’s “Destination: Wedding,” the girls are hurling themselves across the city for some holy matrimony, only to never make it to the wedding at all.
Once the girls are rollerblading through the park, “The Matrix” drops any pretension of socio-cultural reflection and just has fun (or becomes informative, with Lincoln watching another “How To with Dr. Wiz” YouTube video, this time about tying a Windsor knot). After embarrassing herself in front of some soccer players, Abbi roller skates down a hill and into a random hole in the park (because what park in NY doesn’t have a random hole in it somewhere?), Ilana runs off to get her help – but since neither have their cell phones, time stretches to infinity and the girls find themselves lost (Ilana literally; Abbi just gets lost in a faux American Idol competition with a fig). Here, “The Matrix” is just simple absurdity; things devolve into Ilana getting frisky with a tree, and Abbi, covered in dirt, using Ilana’s backpack as a diaper.
The back-and-forth montages of the girls’ crazy behavior is entertaining enough, but lacks the momentum and meaning behind previous stories this season. This is just Broad City having fun, – and I’m completely fine with that, especially if it allows for interludes with Lincoln trying to help out sweaty Elliot during the wedding (plus Lincoln just looks good in themed clothing), and a subtle little The Truth About Cats and Dogs reference thrown in as a cherry on top. Of course, Abbi’s temporary insanity makes for easier comedy than Ilana’s manic behavior around the park (holding an entire pile of feces in her hand? Really?) – but there’s plenty of comedic material to be mined from Abbi’s monologues and Ilana’s endlessly physical performance, be it assaulting trees or pushing her butt along the grass like the dog in the animated invitation they watched at the beginning of the episode.
“The Matrix” initially posits itself as the next ‘trip’ episode of Broad City – and when it goes off the rails halfway through, still honors its lineage with ridiculously over-the-top moments, hilarious montages, and the continued season two trend of constant visits into Abbi’s dream world (which in turn, has slowly pushed her into the lead for season two MVP). Not an essential episode of the show, but a fantastic time-waster nonetheless, one that finds a clever way to push censors (seriously: how did they get away with their catcalls to the soccer players?), but is also cool just sitting back and watching Abbi smoke a joint, daydreaming about the vacations she’d take with famous celebrities. And who in their right mind doesn’t want to watch that?
[Photo via Comedy Central]
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