Freaks and Geeks Episode 8
"Girlfriends and Boyfriends"
Original airdate: Jan. 17, 2000
Writer: Patty Lin, Paul Feig
Director: Lesli Linka Glatter
Cast: Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, James Franco, Samm Levine, Seth Rogen, Jason Segal, Martin Starr, Busy Philipps, Becky Ann Baker, Joe Flaherty
Throughout "Girlfriends and Boyfriends," the prospect of sex hounds Lindsay. Right from the stellar opening scene, in which she walks through the McKinley halls to the tune of The Allman Brothers Band's "Whipping Post," observing every variety of hormonal teenager you can imagine — the nerds and the jocks and the burnouts, all equal in the eyes of puberty. The desperation is universal, or at least it seems that way when you're surrounded by it.
It's not just the prospect of sex, but the expectations of it. Regardless of whether someone expects her to have sex or expects her to not, the push-pull of what everyone wants her to do makes it feel like she doesn't have a choice in the matter. When Daniel tells her about what a stud Nick is and how cool it is that they're going out, he's trying to get his friend laid. When Harold gives Lindsay one of the most uncomfortable sex talks in all of media — a TMI story about his losing his virginity in the red light district while serving in the Korean War — he's trying to maintain his daughter's purity. And that's without getting to Millie's multiple pleas against fornication, or Mr. Rosso telling Lindsay about his herpes. Without everyone watching her every move and trying to manipulate her into doing what they think she should do, she may be able to make informed decisions about whether she's ready to lose her virginity, or whether she even wants to have sex at all.
Ultimately, the outcome is something different, and funnier, than anyone expected. After spending the episode absolutely smitten with Lindsay, putting his hand into her back pocket, and asking that she come over to his house, it turns out Nick's motivations are far from what everyone assumes. He leads Lindsay into his basement, where he has lit about a dozen or so candles. He plays Styx's "Lady" for her, reciting the words to her as if reading a poem.
He says that the song describes exactly how she makes him feel; that they're meant for each other, and that they don't have to rush anything physical, because they have all the time in the world. For Lindsay, this is a casual first relationship. For Nick, it's love, and his emotional intensity so overwhelms her that she asks, bluntly, "Do you wanna make out or something?" But Nick just wants to hold her. Lindsay was ready for sex. She wasn't ready to be on the receiving end of severe attachment issues, and Linda Cardellini absolutely sells the feeling of being trapped, of realizing that a relationship isn't working for you, and worse, that the person you're in the relationship with will probably be crushed when you end things.
While Lindsay is being suffocated by romance, Sam's feelings for Cindy are a confusing rollercoaster. He wants to be assigned as her lab partner. But Bill becomes Cindy's lab partner, and Sam is paired up with Gordon Crisp, the smelly kid who makes Sam, Bill, and Neal look like the Fonz comparatively. In both cases, the initial perceptions of who their lab partners are reveal themselves to be reductive. Contrary to her status as one of the cool kids, Cindy snacks on raw carrot sticks and doesn't watch any TV except for The Muppet Show. And Gordon, in spite of his outsider status, is observant, socially aware, and charming. Even the way he smells is given context — he has trimethylaminuria, a genetic disorder, the same thing that Paul Giamatti's character in The Holdovers has. Thus, the show manages to subvert the smelly fat person trope. Gordon says it's a gift: "Nice people don't care and it weeds out the jerks."
Gordon also gives Sam the idea of getting closer to Cindy by getting into her interests, leading to him joining the yearbook club, which is successful in his connecting more with her, but not in the way he's hoping for.
Bill spends the episode messing with Sam. Spending study sessions at Cindy's house, he needles Sam with the idea of him and her making out, her tongue being in his ear, insisting to him that they're gonna fall in love and get married. But while this deeply bothers Sam, Bill being Cindy's lab partner ultimately leads to good news: Cindy says that Sam is the nicest guy in school. Good, right?
Not too good, turns out. At a fast food joint — where Cindy reveals that the raw carrots are just what her parents force her to eat, and that she sneaks off after school for junk food regularly — she tells him she has a crush ... on Todd Schellinger, a floofy-haired and fairly detached jock. As if that weren't bad enough, Cindy says that Sam is so easy to talk to, "just like my sister."
The friendzone is a touchy subject, because it's so often associated with incel bros who are appalled at the idea that a woman would lead them on by wanting to be their friend and not sleeping with them. Still, it's important to acknowledge that someone you have feelings for not reciprocating those feelings can be disappointing, painful, and heartbreaking. Even Lindsay seems to have history with this. When Sam says that Cindy likes him "as a friend," his sister almost recoils: "Ew, that's the worst."
"I don't need another friend," Sam exclaims. "I already have two!"
Don't sell yourself short, Sam. You have several friends: Bill, Neal, Harris, Gordon, Maureen, Cindy, and also Lindsay Weir, who shares a hilarious, yet tender moment of connection with her brother. As he listens to Cindy tell him all about her feelings for Todd over the phone, he pretends to hang himself with the cord, to Lindsay's amusement, before she begins messing with him as he tries to maintain the conversation. The two of them are laughing and having a great time together, mere hours after having their love lives fall to pieces in opposite ways. After "Tricks and Treats" and "Kim Kelly is My Friend" showed painful moments of cruelty and conflict between the Weir siblings, and then three episodes in a row had them mostly separate from each other (wrapped up in their own worlds and stories), their coming together here, goofing off, and bonding over how much it blows to have someone either not have romantic feelings for you or have way too many, is so lovely and cathartic.
Grade: A
