Freaks and Geeks Episode 14
"Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers"
Original airdate: October 10, 2000
Writer: Judd Apatow and Bob Nickman
Director: Judd Apatow
Cast: Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, James Franco, Sarah Hagan, Samm Levine, Seth Rogen, Jason Segal, Martin Starr, Busy Philipps, Becky Ann Baker, Claudia Christian, Joe Flaherty, Tom Wilson
What's my favorite episode of Freaks and Geeks? Well, it's a toss-up between twoâ"Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers" and ⊠one we'll get to soon enough.
The best episodes of this wonderful, wonderful show makes me wonder not "How did a show this great get canceled?" but "How did a show this honest get 18 episodes in 1999 at all?"
"Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers" is a prime example of that profound honesty, an episode in which one plot deals with a character going through a traumatic change in personality following her dog dying as the other deals with the only child of a single mother finding his homeâhis only safe spaceâinvaded by someone who's made his school life hell. It's an emotionally draining 45 minutes of television, and it's also remarkable in its honesty.
This is the second episode to heavily feature Bill (Martin Starr) and Millie (Sarah Hagan), two previously underexplored characters, and it provides them with a lot of depth. First, with Bill, we get a contender for the best moment in the entire series. We see him in gym class, absolutely miserable, constantly reminded of his physical inadequacies as Coach Fredricks (Tom Wilson) and the other students humiliate him during a game of basketball. Then he goes home, has a grilled cheese, slice of chocolate cake, and glass of milk while watching Gary Shandling do stand-up. Here, he looks genuinely happyâsmiling, laughing heartily, and just looking alive in a way he doesn't at school.
The contrast between these two scenes makes it all the more painful when his mom comes home and tells him that she's dating Coach Fredricks.
As you may gather from the title, the "Dead Dogs" side of the story is no less devastating. While Kim (Busy Philipps) and Lindsay (Linda Cardellini) drive away from Lindsay's house, there's a thud. Kim at first claims it's the shocks, but when Lindsay says she thinks they hit a squirrel, Kim refuses to stop and check, saying, "The world will survive with one less squirrel." But when they go to school the next day, Millie is in tears: "Some maniac" hit her dog, Goliath, with their car and didn't even stop.
"Oh my god," Kim says. "Lindsay ⊠we killed Millie's dog."
In the background of all of this is a The Who concert that the freaks are planning to attend, and the band's music is constantly in the background, the way Billy Joel songs formed a sort of motif for Maureen in "Carded and Discarded" and how Cream was used throughout "I'm with the Band." (It's funny that Harold (Joe Flaherty) is so incensed about Lindsay potentially going to see The Who, considering that, in 1981, the band was 17 years oldâcloser to Harold's generation than Lindsay's.)
The Who becomes symbolic of Millie's loss of innocence in the wake of Goliath's death. Kim begins to get closer to her, out of guilt over killing her dog, while also keeping quiet about her involvement. She becomes a corrupting agent, bringing Millie over to the dark side, turning her into a potential freak. Millie says that she now understands Lindsayâthat she was just exploring, and now Millie is too. On some level, this is true. Lindsay also went through the traumatic death of a loved one and became more rebellious as a result. But Millie doesn't have the same amount of agency; she's being taken in by Kim, not seeking her out, and it's all informed by a deeply wrong action that Kim hasn't been transparent about. (And anyway, Millie isn't Lindsay; I don't see her becoming a freak without some sort of outside influence.) When Lindsay suggests that they should tell Millie what they did, Kim says, straight-up, that she'll kick Lindsay's ass if she snitches.
And yet it's Kim who ultimately comes clean. Preparing for the concert, Millie is now wearing ripped jeans and a denim jacket, having fully embraced her growing freak status. She even screams at her mother, something she clearly hasn't done before, and it makes her sick. She decides to take the edge off with her first beer, but before she takes a sip, Kim blurts out, "I killed your dog!" Even Kim Kelly has a limit with her bad influence. If Millie's going to embrace being a freak, she has to do it on her own terms. So Lindsay and Millie end up skipping the concert, chilling with a Seals & Crofts record and bonding over their past. They might drift apart, embrace different friend groups, explore different hobbies, go to different colleges. But I find it hard to believe they'll ever stop being friends. Despite everything, I think they end the episode with more love and understanding for each other.
(Nick (Jason Segel) is also going through a rough time; he writes Lindsay a song, "Lady L," that goes out of its way to not mention her name but gives the game away by dropping a mention of a "green army jacket." Ken (Seth Rogen), always a good friend, smashes Nick's guitar to keep him from playing it for her.)
Bill struggles to adjust to Fredricks (first name revealed to be Ben), but his perception of him isn't wrong. Fredricks asks Bill what the greatest movie of all time is, trying to relate to him, but immediately cuts him off and says the answer is Rocky II. When Bill talks about seeing Stripes recently, Fredricks takes this as a prompt to talk shit about Bill Murray, saying he's "a wise-ass" that somebody oughta smack some respect into. He doesn't respect boundaries, walking around the house in his underwear and undershirt and drinking from a coffee mug labeled Bill in large script, as though totally oblivious to the optics. Continually, he says that Bill might make the school team next year, without ever taking the time to ask, or even wonder, if this nerdy kid who goes to sci-fi conventions and worships Bill Murray would even be interested in playing. And then he buys the geeks some gag gifts from the joke shop in a desperate attempt to bond with them: "I heard you guys were into comedy," he says.
His biggest attempt at getting in Bill's good graces comes with taking the geeks to Go-Kart City, which Sam and Neal jump at, since no one else is gonna take them there. But while racing, Fredricks smashes into Bill's kart, sending him spinning into a haystack. Here, Bill finally tells him how he feelsâhe hates him, because he always has to win and doesn't respect other people's feelings.
Fredricks has a talk with Bill, acknowledging that they don't know each other, don't relate to each other, and that maybe he is just a dumb jock gym teacher. But he's also a man who loves Bill's mother, and he thinks he can make her happy. "I may not be such a bad guy," he says. After Fredricks leaves, tears fall from Bill's eyes. His relationship to his mother is shown to be complicated; when she says she's not making enough waitressing, Bill replies, "You're not gonna start dancing again, are you?" In the previous episode, Mrs. Haverchuck (Claudia Christian) reveals that she drank and did drugs while pregnant. But she's trying her best.
Maybe Fredricks is trying his best, too. So Bill gives him a chance. They watch Dallas together, and Bill tries explaining the show to Fredricks. And Fredricks sees this opening, and embraces itâasking questions, showing genuine interest in this TV show that Bill loves. Since Paul Feig, the show's creator and this episode's writer, has stated that Bill likely became a jock after the show ended, maybe Bill will take an interest in Fredricks' passions too. For now, he's opening up, giving Fredricks an in to relate to him. Fredricks takes it. It's a start.
Grade: A+
