Post by affrosponge88 on Dec 31, 2012 0:57:52 GMT -6
Freaks and Geeks: "I'm With the Band" Review
by Evil Jeff
“I’m With the Band” is a pivotal episode for the development of one character in particular - Nick. His journey in this episode is one of heartbreak and pain, but it’s also one of realisation, and major changes in his life. It’s fitting that the episode’s title comes from the Freaks plot, however, because the Geeks stuff in this episode feels somewhat trivial. Basically, I believe this to be an episode with an absolutely fantastic A-Plot that is dragged down somewhat by an inconsequential B-Plot.Nick’s story is simple, and it’s a story you’ve probably heard before. All Nick wants to do in life is be a professional drummer. All his dad wants is for him to join the army. Of course, the audience is on Nick’s side, at first - why shouldn’t he do something he’s good at, something he loves? There’s just one problem though; Nick is a completely terrible drummer. His friends know it, his Dad knows it, but he doesn’t. His delusions fuel Lindsay’s desire to see him happy - and they fuel this episode.
We first learn of Nick, Daniel, Ken, and Sean’s band (Creation) as Lindsay does - they plan to compete in the battle of the bands. Of course, it becomes clear when we first see them practising - Nick is pretty much the only member taking the band seriously. This is followed up by a scene pivotal to Nick’s arc in the episode - his father talks to him about joining the army.
”You wanna sleep with my mom?” “Mmm-Hmm.”
The scene is played perfectly by Jason Segal and Kevin Tighe (aka John Locke’s conman daddy) - Segal, in particular, flexes his dramatic muscles in the episode and shows glimpses of the sorts of performances he would later go onto play - Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Jeff, Who lives at Home in particular. Although the show kind of presents Nick’s father as a baddie, I never feel like it truly demonizes him. Everything he does, I believe he does it because he thinks he’s doing the right thing - a rare trait to find in a high-school orientated work, and an example of how Freaks and Geeks almost turns these traits over.
Of course, it turns out that the rest of the freaks don’t really seem to understand Nick’s plight... except for Lindsay. Lindsay herself has lived with people expecting things of her - the difference is, it was mostly herself expecting these things. She can relate to Nick on some level, and of course she wants to help him. Now, at this point, I’m pretty sure she knows that Nick is not a good drummer at ALL. She is doing what she’s doing out of kindness, and means well - but she is perhaps leading him on somewhat.
This leads to an important scene, where Creation play a horrible rendition of “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream. Nick insists that they practise it, to get it right - a fair request, but one that Daniel, and Ken, and everyone but Lindsay don’t really understand.There are parts of every one of the “Freaks” that we can relate to - Ken’s sardonic outlook on life, Daniel’s general frustration - but there are also parts of them which are total jerks. Some of these show themselves in this episode - Daniel, in particular, is not a very good friend to Nick at this point, and outwardly tells Lindsay that he won’t become a famous drummer, and that he will go into the army. But, perhaps, this is not such a bad thing. He’s brutally blunt about it, for sure, but he’s being honest. He recognises what Lindsay perhaps doesn’t - in fact, he is the level-headed one.
This brings us to what I consider to be the centerpiece of the episode - Nick auditions for the local band Dimension (an interesting link to the slightly pretentious title Creation and a foreshadowing of how bad the band will be later). Playing for a band like Dimension is Nick’s dream job - he’s not aiming his sights for Aerosmith or Van Halen.
Unfortunately, after impressing them with his 29-piece drumset, Nick shows us something heartbreaking - he’s not even good enough for this band, the band that got booed off stage just a few days ago. he realises this, and outside, he has a little epiphany.
“I suck, Lindsay. You were in there with me, you saw me playing. I was a joke.”
Jason Segal’s superb ability to bring heart to his performance reveals itself in the flesh during this scene - a scene in which we see Nick in a light we’ve never seen him before. He’s panting, he’s hysterical, and he’s far cry from the cool, laid back guy he was before. “I’m done”, he states. And both of them know he’s done. So she kisses him.
Of course, at the end of the day, Nick goes back to his friends. Daniel restores their friendship in one fell swoop with a simple “You’re too good for them”, which simultaneously restores the audience’s faith in *him*. Kim Kelly calls Lindsay a slut, but other than that things seem pretty much back to normal. But we, as the audience, now know of the underlying issues that pepper Nick’s mind - and we know that his fantasy, cleverly hinted at during the final scene, will not last for much longer.
We then come to the B-Plot of this episode which is, I think, of a lesser caliber. I’m a fan of most of the “Geek” storylines, even though most of them are quite similar, because the three protagonists are just nice people, and they’re people that one *would* want to be friends with.
However, this plot involves Sam not wanting to shower after gym class... and then when he does he ends up naked in public. This could, potentially, have had some repercussions - but the show, ever the cliché smasher, decides to make it quite inconsequential. At the end of the episode, Sam is seem running around the school, completely naked (complete with an Arrested Development style blue dot). This act, I think, would get most people knocked down a couple of pegs in the “social ladder” - but the students of McKinley write it off as some elaborate prank, played by Sam, and it actually makes him *MORE* desirable to the human female with which he wishes to enter a romantic relationship. Defeated, the lonely bully proclaims “you guys are losers and you always will be!” as the heroes ride off into the sunset.
“Put some clothes on Shweiber, you look like a fifty year old man.”
So yeah I wasn’t a fan of that. It felt like a wasted opportunity - whereas genuinely being bullied could have been utilized to some dramatic effect (later done successfully in Chokin’ and Tokin’), it was just used as a comic distraction from the main A-plot. I guess that’s not always a bad thing, but personally, I found this to a be a curious misfire.
by Evil Jeff
“I’m With the Band” is a pivotal episode for the development of one character in particular - Nick. His journey in this episode is one of heartbreak and pain, but it’s also one of realisation, and major changes in his life. It’s fitting that the episode’s title comes from the Freaks plot, however, because the Geeks stuff in this episode feels somewhat trivial. Basically, I believe this to be an episode with an absolutely fantastic A-Plot that is dragged down somewhat by an inconsequential B-Plot.Nick’s story is simple, and it’s a story you’ve probably heard before. All Nick wants to do in life is be a professional drummer. All his dad wants is for him to join the army. Of course, the audience is on Nick’s side, at first - why shouldn’t he do something he’s good at, something he loves? There’s just one problem though; Nick is a completely terrible drummer. His friends know it, his Dad knows it, but he doesn’t. His delusions fuel Lindsay’s desire to see him happy - and they fuel this episode.
We first learn of Nick, Daniel, Ken, and Sean’s band (Creation) as Lindsay does - they plan to compete in the battle of the bands. Of course, it becomes clear when we first see them practising - Nick is pretty much the only member taking the band seriously. This is followed up by a scene pivotal to Nick’s arc in the episode - his father talks to him about joining the army.
”You wanna sleep with my mom?” “Mmm-Hmm.”
The scene is played perfectly by Jason Segal and Kevin Tighe (aka John Locke’s conman daddy) - Segal, in particular, flexes his dramatic muscles in the episode and shows glimpses of the sorts of performances he would later go onto play - Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Jeff, Who lives at Home in particular. Although the show kind of presents Nick’s father as a baddie, I never feel like it truly demonizes him. Everything he does, I believe he does it because he thinks he’s doing the right thing - a rare trait to find in a high-school orientated work, and an example of how Freaks and Geeks almost turns these traits over.
Of course, it turns out that the rest of the freaks don’t really seem to understand Nick’s plight... except for Lindsay. Lindsay herself has lived with people expecting things of her - the difference is, it was mostly herself expecting these things. She can relate to Nick on some level, and of course she wants to help him. Now, at this point, I’m pretty sure she knows that Nick is not a good drummer at ALL. She is doing what she’s doing out of kindness, and means well - but she is perhaps leading him on somewhat.
This leads to an important scene, where Creation play a horrible rendition of “Sunshine of Your Love” by Cream. Nick insists that they practise it, to get it right - a fair request, but one that Daniel, and Ken, and everyone but Lindsay don’t really understand.There are parts of every one of the “Freaks” that we can relate to - Ken’s sardonic outlook on life, Daniel’s general frustration - but there are also parts of them which are total jerks. Some of these show themselves in this episode - Daniel, in particular, is not a very good friend to Nick at this point, and outwardly tells Lindsay that he won’t become a famous drummer, and that he will go into the army. But, perhaps, this is not such a bad thing. He’s brutally blunt about it, for sure, but he’s being honest. He recognises what Lindsay perhaps doesn’t - in fact, he is the level-headed one.
This brings us to what I consider to be the centerpiece of the episode - Nick auditions for the local band Dimension (an interesting link to the slightly pretentious title Creation and a foreshadowing of how bad the band will be later). Playing for a band like Dimension is Nick’s dream job - he’s not aiming his sights for Aerosmith or Van Halen.
Unfortunately, after impressing them with his 29-piece drumset, Nick shows us something heartbreaking - he’s not even good enough for this band, the band that got booed off stage just a few days ago. he realises this, and outside, he has a little epiphany.
“I suck, Lindsay. You were in there with me, you saw me playing. I was a joke.”
Jason Segal’s superb ability to bring heart to his performance reveals itself in the flesh during this scene - a scene in which we see Nick in a light we’ve never seen him before. He’s panting, he’s hysterical, and he’s far cry from the cool, laid back guy he was before. “I’m done”, he states. And both of them know he’s done. So she kisses him.
Of course, at the end of the day, Nick goes back to his friends. Daniel restores their friendship in one fell swoop with a simple “You’re too good for them”, which simultaneously restores the audience’s faith in *him*. Kim Kelly calls Lindsay a slut, but other than that things seem pretty much back to normal. But we, as the audience, now know of the underlying issues that pepper Nick’s mind - and we know that his fantasy, cleverly hinted at during the final scene, will not last for much longer.
We then come to the B-Plot of this episode which is, I think, of a lesser caliber. I’m a fan of most of the “Geek” storylines, even though most of them are quite similar, because the three protagonists are just nice people, and they’re people that one *would* want to be friends with.
However, this plot involves Sam not wanting to shower after gym class... and then when he does he ends up naked in public. This could, potentially, have had some repercussions - but the show, ever the cliché smasher, decides to make it quite inconsequential. At the end of the episode, Sam is seem running around the school, completely naked (complete with an Arrested Development style blue dot). This act, I think, would get most people knocked down a couple of pegs in the “social ladder” - but the students of McKinley write it off as some elaborate prank, played by Sam, and it actually makes him *MORE* desirable to the human female with which he wishes to enter a romantic relationship. Defeated, the lonely bully proclaims “you guys are losers and you always will be!” as the heroes ride off into the sunset.
“Put some clothes on Shweiber, you look like a fifty year old man.”
So yeah I wasn’t a fan of that. It felt like a wasted opportunity - whereas genuinely being bullied could have been utilized to some dramatic effect (later done successfully in Chokin’ and Tokin’), it was just used as a comic distraction from the main A-plot. I guess that’s not always a bad thing, but personally, I found this to a be a curious misfire.
