Freaks and Geeks Episode 15
"Noshing and Moshing"
Original airdate: October 17, 2000
Writer: J. Elvis Weinstein
Director: Jake Kasdan
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
In the two episodes between "The Garage Door" and "Noshing and Moshing," Dr. Schweiber's affair is always in the background, though never mentioned. In "Chokin' and Tokin'," when Neal tells Sam that you can't use the word "die" in a hospital, he says, "Trust me, my dad's a dentist." How painful must it be for him to mention his dad here? When will the knowledge he's cursed with about his parents' marriage come back?
Well, "Noshing and Moshing" answers that question, as he transfers his grief onto Morty, the ventriloquist dummy he begins carrying everywhere. He starts struggling in school, getting into trouble, and becoming more combative with his parents. There's clearly something wrong, and in a painful scene in an episode full of painful scenes, Mr. Rosso tells him that Neal can talk to him about what's going on. But when Neal reveals the truth — that his father is a womanizer and that he has to decide whether to tell his mom about her husband's infidelity — Rosso is at a loss of words. He's equipped to deal with certain problems, but this is out of his depth. The curse of learning too much too young, of being tormented by hiccups that sugar can't cure, weighs on Neal heavily here.
As if things weren't bad enough for him, his incredibly charming brother, Barry (David Krumholtz), comes home from college, and Lindsay (with whom, remember, Neal is in love) takes a tremendous liking to him. Barry also reveals that he knows about their father's cheating, and that he doesn't think they should tell their mom about it — that it would ruin everything, split their family in two, and just make life a whole lot harder. But it's eating at Neal on a level Barry can't understand, and the question this episode asks — about whether or not a broken family might be for the best sometimes — is depressing in its honesty.
Speaking of broken families, we see Daniel's home life for the first time, as his mother demands that he skip out on school to pick up his father's pain medication. When he asks her if she wants him to drop out and get a job bringing home a measly $2.50 an hour, she says she wouldn't say no to that extra cash. Desario struggles in school, and now we learn he has to fight to even get the chance to struggle in school. On top of that, when he finally makes it to school, hours late, Kim is pissed at him; she left her bag in his car and failed an open-note test as a result of his tardiness. The two of them break up (How many times have they broken up? Double digits?), and Daniel sets his sights on Jenna Zank, a convenience store clerk who dropped out of McKinley and became a punk rock girl (like the Dead Milkman song!).
He begins buying Black Flag and X records, doing his best to impress Jenna, leading to her inviting him to a punk club called The Armpit. So he spikes his hair with budget hair gel (a.k.a., raw egg) and he, Ken, and Nick go to the club. But Daniel is out of his element. In the mosh pit, he gets hit in the head so hard he starts bleeding. He gets the name of the band wrong. And he decides to get a clothespin piercing to impress Jenna, only to learn she has a boyfriend at the last minute. Dejected, with his sense of identity in turmoil, Daniel returns to Kim, who embraces him, giving him a shoulder to cry on. They're not good for each other, but in the small world they presently inhabit, each may have no one better.
Lindsay is also suffocated by that small world, and her crush on Barry may have as much to do with the vision of escape he offers her as his overall charisma. She tries to stop the very large bully, Seidelman, from picking on a girl, only for them both to get detention. And while in detention, she is appalled when the teacher asks that she not do her homework, delivering an all-timer Lindsay Weir monologue:
"Why would you want to keep these people from studying? I mean, isn't that the point? You can't do schoolwork at school? It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Teachers just quarantine bad kids and make them sit and stare into space until their brains get numb? You're manufacturing idiots. What kind of system is this?"
She hates her life, and more than that, she hates McKinley. In Barry and his stories about college, she sees a future far away from Chippewa. So, previously uninterested in attending Dr. Schweiber's annual party (in which he invites all his dental patients over so he can tell them dental jokes), she decides to go, throwing on a lovely dress, hoping to wow the young Mr. Schweiber. They discuss the recent attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan and the motives of John Hinckley Jr. Barry expresses his frustration over having to choose a major. They go on a walk, and he tells her all about how college offers a do-over, a chance to decide who you are and what your identity is, with no past to stifle you.
Neal is appalled at how phony his dad is, especially when he makes a big show about how Lydia Schweiber makes his life complete. He leaves to get some air and finds Barry and Lindsay, standing under a tree, lips locked. The night just keeps getting worse. He runs back inside, only for Dr. Schweiber to grab him and demand that he perform his ventriloquism act. Neal takes this as an opportunity to, through Morty, absolutely tear his father to shreds. It's no polite roast, but a mauling in which he claims his dad gives people unnecessary root canals for extra money, and even insinuates he's a sex pest.
Dr. Schweiber has had enough, and when he gets too close, Neal screams at him before running to his room. Lydia follows him, and she has a heart-to-heart with her son. He breaks down crying, and tells her about the affair. And this leads to a horrifying revelation: She knows all about her husband's behavior. "Neal, we're working on it," she says. They have the rest of their life to work on their marriage, but for now, they're staying together for their kid. But now, that kid is completely miserable, his perceptions of his family torn to shreds, his view of his father irreparably altered. And after the worst day of his life, all Neal Schweiber can do is stare at his ventriloquist figure and laugh.
Grade: A+
