Revisiting Freaks and Geeks

I like to revisit old TV shows every now and then, just to see if they hold up. While some, like Clarissa Explains it All, make me cringe and sigh at my former self, others, like Freaks and Geeks, are still quite good, and, might I say, even a bit relatable.

The other week I found myself re-watching the only season of Freaks and Geeks ever made. I figured, with the popularity of Judd Apatow nowadays, it would be fun to go back to this one-season-canceled-too-early-still-has-a-cult-following TV show. Interestingly enough, while Samir genuinely likes Apatow's films, he's not a fan of the TV shows (this and Undeclared). I, on the other hand, like them quite a bit. He blames it on the fact that he never watched them when they originally aired - and watching something now, when he's older, is not as...relatable. True as it may seem, I think they may be more.

Freaks and Geeks follows two distinct groups of high school students the, obviously named, freaks and geeks. While the geeks, Sam, Bill and Neil, enjoy talking about Star Wars and imagining what it'll be like to one day date a girl (or, as Bill believes, fart in front of one, because that means love), the freaks mostly care about surviving high school. In the middle lies Lindsay, a former mathalete geek who, after losing her grandmother, wants something more. She finds herself attracted to the freaks - drawn in to their daring, carefree lifestyle. Although timid at first, she slowly loses her inhibitions and hits pumpkins, skips school, lies to parents with them. She's pulled in, sucked into this vortex of bad hair and bad attitudes.

As an adult, now, part of me thinks why. They guys, Daniel, Nick and Ken, aren't cool - they aren't even nice to her most of the time. They use her and her brains, but let her enjoy the ride anyway, taking her out, dating her, and encouraging her rebellion. Yes, we learn their back stories (which makes them more human and much more likable), but they're still...them. Yet, on the other hand, I can see it. I see the attraction. I love them by the last episode, want to be friends with them too. While they may not be the smartest friends, they're different - and different means cool. Sometimes you just need different. Daring. Unsafe.

And, in the end, I think that's what's most honest about the TV show - we can all relate to her. I know I can. While I had a safe group of drama friends, who I adored, most of my high school career (and still, some, to this day), I wanted something different, which is why my senior year I reached out, grabbed onto a new group of friends. The guys in bands who skateboarded and listed to loud music. They weren't who moms loved, and I wanted in. I wasn't a rebel, far from it, but I wanted something more from high school. I wanted to live through it, not just survive.

And that's exaclty where Lindsey is. In her mind, she's surviving, making it out day by day, and not gaining anything. She wants to do something. Which is why, in my opinion, the most pinicle episode is when she goes back to the mathaletes, tries to live the "good girl" life again, but realizes she can't. She's past it, and you can never really go back to who you once were. No one can.

So I applaud Lindsey and her efforts, and I applaud Paul Feig for creating this TV show that takes an honest, albeit brutal, look at high school. Because even though it takes place in 1980, not much has changed. There are still drama kids, still band nerds, still cheerleaders and football players, still bullies...and still, in the corners talking about rocket ships or rock n' roll, the geeks and the freaks - two different entities, yet somehow, one in the same.