“I can stop whenever I want; this is just for recreation.”
Rachel’s throwaway quote outside Dave’s house really frames the entirety of “Addicts,” an important lesson in moderation for the fourth floor crew of Undeclared. And who better to help relay that message than Will Ferrell… on speed? Buoyed by the show’s best guest star (following directly after Adam Sandler, the worst) and a hilarious Ron/Lloyd story, “Addicts” is not only a welcome return to form for Undeclared, but one of the show’s best episodes.
“Addicts,” as its title suggests, is about college students learning the value of moderation – but being a much lighter show than most high school/college fair, “Addicts” isn’t attempting a moral play about drugs or alcohol (in fact, any drug use in this episode is strictly referenced for laughs), but examining other things young adults are easily tempted by, especially those away from their parents, where guilt always begins to creep in. “Addicts” doesn’t waste any time with this, setting the stage in the cold open with Ron running down the hall screaming “They’re giving away free money!!!” – only to reveal that he’s talking about them all getting credit cards, the assumed gateway to financial freedom.
Of course, any former college student who had a credit card will tell you that it requires some serious self control; money opens the doors to indulgence, which lends credence to the belief that learning to survive on dining hall food and ramen noodles is essential. And there isn’t a single member of the Undeclared group that exhibits any inkling of maturity: Steven convinces Rachel and Lizzie to buy papers from Dave (Will Farrell), a townie who will guarantee at least a B for $75 (what a great deal, right?), and Ron teases Lloyd with the allure of cold, hard cash awaiting in the world of online investing (being a “man of his craft,” Lloyd initially insists he has no need for money).
At first, everything is wonderful: Steven gets an A, Ron makes $2,000, and Marshall discovers that Senor Wad (77,600 pesos) is a lot larger – and thus, more impressive – than the regular wad of $500 he once had (which he took out of an ATM – can you imagine what the service charge was in 2001?). There’s a wonderfully cheesy montage of Steven, Rachel, and Lizzie playing frisbee rather than writing papers, Lloyd lighting a cigar with a $100… it doesn’t take long for the Undeclared players to live a life of indulgence and carelessness, undercut by the moments where delusion is clearly driving their actions. Steve insists that “he can’t go back to being a D student” in his difficult literature class, a classic case of justifying an addiction – and across campus, Ron is deluding himself and Lloyd into believing that the stock will just keep rising and rising, because who doesn’t want a stomach made in a petri dish?
Ahh, how simple adult life can be, right? Living on a campus is kind of like that, living in an entire community consisting only of people your age, absent of the normal socio-economic boundaries we see in the real world, and sheltered from many of the typical responsibilities (like paying rent and electric, or buying food). However, there are still plenty of experiences where the real world seeps in, in very revealing ways: drinking is the most obvious example, but the allure of credit cards and quick financial gain are two very real, very dangerous threats for college students have to deal with (especially for the millions who exit college with $100,000 or more in debt, from college loans alone), mostly without their parents around to talk them out of their idiocy (Hal shows up to give Steve some underwear, and indirectly make Steven feel guilty for cheating).
Eventually, this laissez-faire approach to finances come crashing back down to Earth, and it does so in magnificent fashion in “Addicts.” Will Ferrell’s cameo really shines in that third act, the manic energy that made him such a memorable presence on SNL at the time bringing the whole episode together; when Steve, Lizzie, and Rachel arrive to get a refund, Dave’s addiction to speed, video games, and blintzes comes to a head, nearly gutting Steve with a knife thinking he was in a Dynasty Warriors scenario (such a random video game reference, but one that leads to “Oh Yasu, I see you’ve brought your concubines… you’re so shrewd“). Ferrell is only in three scenes, but he makes his presence felt in that final one, pushing Steven to realize that maybe he’s gone a little bit too far with the financial freedom of a credit card.
That realization brings us to Undeclared‘s greatest homage: his caffeine-addled all-night study session with Lizzie and Rachel, with Lizzie doing her best “Jessie on pills” homage, and Rachel building the world’s greatest crown out of studying materials, perfectly capturing the anxious desperation that comes with last-minute cramming and paper-writing (at one point, Lizzie even forgets she’s writing a paper, and thinks she’s studying for a test). They might be under the guise of studying for their future, but they’re taking the same approach Dave took to learning; and Undeclared ultimately holds their ring-leader to task for it, when his computer crashes the next morning trying to save it, delivering the karmic ending we were all expecting in poignant fashion.
The true ring-leader, Ron, also ends up in a similar position; while Lloyd got his grandmother to stop crying and Marshall got $9 to add to his wad, Ron’s addiction weighs heavy in the closing moments, the perfect cherry on top of the “Addicts” sundae. While Marshall sleeps easy, his wad tucked away somewhere safe, Ron sits at the computer, attempting to will the stock prices to stop falling and rise again; in the internet world, temptation forever remains a click away, the glowing screen just waiting to suck our time, money, and life from us, one moment at a time. When it comes to resolutions, the final moments of “Addicts” couldn’t be more satisfying, elevating an already-funny episode to iconic status, with a surprisingly strong undercurrent about the dangers of technology and the faux sense “financial freedom” we’re presented with when we turn 18.
[Photo via FOX]
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