‘Freaks and Geeks’ Episode 11 Recap: Look Sharp!

Freaks and Geeks Episode 10
"Looks and Books"
Original airdate: Feb. 7, 2000
Writer: Paul Feig
Director: Ken Kwapis
Cast: Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, James Franco, Samm Levine, Seth Rogen, Jason Segal, Martin Starr, Busy Philipps, Becky Ann Baker, Joe Flaherty

For the second episode in a row, Lindsay's relationship with the freaks is fractured. Here, the fracture comes after the freaks pressure Lindsay to steal her parents' station wagon to pick up amps for a gig. She gets into an accident, obviously — as we've established, this world is unfair. And then she gets the worst punishment possible — the we're not mad, just disappointed. Rather than yelling, like he usually does, Harold calmly expresses how little he trusts his daughter anymore, how he could have her arrested if he wants to, and that even he doesn't know long she's grounded for. Linda Cardellini, for her part, does a tremendous job looking absolutely distraught here. Where Lindsay spends her usual confrontations with her parents defensive, here she's defeated–face flushed, tears rolling down her cheeks, unable to defend herself. "I'm so sorry, daddy," she says. When Harold tells her she's not allowed to hang out with those burnouts anymore, she says, "Don't worry. I'm not."

Millie comes over, and comforts Lindsay. "It was so terrible," Lindsay cries. In this moment, Millie is there for her friend in a way the freaks can't be. And so Lindsay switches back over. The next day, she comes to school dressed in her good girl clothes — her trauma response is regression to a prior state, apparently — and she proceeds to tell her friends off. "I'm sick of you guys getting me in trouble all the time, and I'm sick of you guys period." She says that she's tired of them using her, and that just because they're lost causes, that doesn't mean she should be brought down too.

It's harsh, and not exactly fair — she's the one who sought them out as friends, after all. But it's also a necessary eye-opening moment for the freaks, and soon they're changing their behaviors. Kim is making an effort in school, and trying to encourage the same in Daniel. A self-conscious Daniel asks Harris (in the middle of reading his Dungeons & Dragons handbook) what he makes of him — is he a loser? Harris says he can't be a loser because he has sex, but "if you weren't having sex, then we could definitely debate the issue." And Nick, oblivious as ever, insists that Lindsay is actually mad at them all because she's still not over their breakup.

Lindsay starts focusing more on schoolwork, and also goes back to her old lunchroom table, with the other mathletes. Here, she becomes determined to rejoin the mathletes, convinces Mr. Kowchevski to let her back in, and she even gets out of the reserves and onto the team proper when Kowchevski is forced to acknowledge how crucial her involvement is to the team's success. This puts her at odds with Shelly Weaver, the conceited first block of the team.

That's the books side of the episode. On the looks side, Sam concludes that the reason Cindy is into Todd is because of his feathered hair. He tries to feather his own hair, but it's not long enough to look good feathered, and Cindy says it "looks kinda flat." Neal tells him that it's not enough to change his hair; he also has to change how he dresses. (Gordon, always the sweetest, wisest person in the room, tells Sam he doesn't have to change anything — "you should be happy with what the good lord gave you.)

Sam makes his way to a trendy clothing store (the same place where the freaks got their fake IDs), where a salesman sells him on a "Parisian night suit." It's only when he walks into school and sees everyone's judgmental eyes on him that Sam realizes what a mistake he's made. Neal tells him that the night suit is actually a jumpsuit — "My grandpa in Fort Lauderdale wears them all the time because he's too lazy to put on pants." After being bullied for a portion of the day, with mostly homophobic insults thrown at him, Sam asks Mr. Rosso to give him a ride home so he can change. While at Sam's house, Rosso tries to help Sam by sharing a fairly disturbing story about him being harassed by a group of rednecks (when Sam asks how the story ended, he says "Doesn't matter"; the implications are hilarious in the most horrifying of ways). He tells Sam that, as long as he believes himself to be cool, everyone else will too. Sam takes it to heart, and I have to believe that this idea of self-confidence informs much of what happens to him throughout the remainder of the episodes.

The episode may as well be called "Looks and Spite." Lindsay doesn't seem motivated by her studies (or even a desire to reestablish her identity after a traumatic event), so much as her need to beat the unlikable and smug Shelly ("Is she from Lincoln?" Jean asks; "No, she's on our team," Lindsay replies). She succeeds, proving herself to still be the best math student in the school while Shelly folds under pressure, missing a question at the competition. The freaks even show up to cheer Lindsay on, and this seems to be a turning point — proof that, despite everything that's happened and all she's said to them, they still care about her. She's spent the episode prioritizing her friendship with Millie for the first time since she had her existential awakening. But now she has to go, leaving Millie's slumber party in the middle of the night to go back to her new friends, simply because that's where she's at now.

You can't always choose what you need at a given moment. Lindsay is drawn to the freaks, for reasons she can't quite articulate. Millie takes this well, and she and Lindsay agree to still play Uno from time to time. It's tragic, but only because moving on to a new stage of your life always is to some degree. Unlike Lindsay and Millie, most of us don't even get a chance to talk about it before we part. They should at least be grateful for the chance to communicate these painful, painful feelings.

Grade: A