Broad City Review: Abbi’s Mom (Season 4 Episode 5)

On Broad City Season 4 Episode 5, “Abbi’s Mom,” Abbi’s mother rebels against her conservative life, Abbi tries to cope with her mother’s “slut” ways and Ilana feels the negative effects of lowering her antidepressants.

This episode is as funny as an episode about depression can be, honestly.

I love that they make Ilana the character who has to deal with her depression because she’s usually so happy. This new characteristic completely blasts the misconception that being depressed means you must always have a depressive episode. It could be seasonal, sporatic, etc.

It also blasts through the stigma against antidepressants. When Ilana takes her medication regularly, she feels much better than she does in “Abbi’s Mom.” The fact that Abbi didn’t know Ilana has Seasonal Affective Disorder, even though they’ve been friends for years, shows that SAD doesn’t hit Ilana so hard until she lowers her dosages.

This episode comes perfectly after episode 4 when Ilana deals with her sexual frustration. We don’t really know if yelling maniacally at the screen actually helped her deal with losing Lincoln, but I’m sure it helped.

Broad City Season 4 Episode 4, “Mushrooms,” beautifully connects the episode about sexual liberation (Broad City Season 4 Episode 3) and this episode about dealing with depression.

Abbi and Ilana weren’t kidding in their preseason interviews when they alluded to a more cohesive and adult-like season this year. These thematic episodes and their connections are doing wonders for the continuity.

Other than the smart message from Ilana:

So I get sick sometimes and need medicine. Who cares?

This episode doesn’t do much for Abbi and Lana’s characterizational arcs. And that’s perfectly fine.

Telling from the previous episodes, Ilana’s arc this season revolves around her fully coping with the loss of Lincoln and getting back her mojo. And Abbi’s arc this season centers on her own sexual liberation and (hopefully) getting back on her feet with a new job.

I’m not bothered that this episode doesn’t touch on where their characters are now in these areas because it would get tedious and lose its sitcom quality if every episode pushed forward each arc.

However, this episode does forward the overall plot that adds pressure to our favorite jewesses.

We know this season’s plot is supposed to mimic the shift in mood and atmosphere that America witnessed leaving Obama’s era and being shoved into Trump’s era.

This episode shows the full state of depression America realized in the following months of Trump’s election. Abbi’s mother regrets being so conservative and not cherishing every moment she had during her youth. For the sake of the analogy, her youth acts as a metaphor for Obama’s era.

Now Abbi’s mother is in depression because she realizes the restriction of her latest marriage (i.e. Trump’s era).

Therefore, this season’s analogy of 2016’s election is still running strong. Because of this, and the fact that Broad City somehow found a way to make depression funny, this episode kicks ass.

I’m still loving every moment! Season 4 is shaping up to be the best season of Broad City yet.

Stray Observations:

• Abbi was on some weird stuff if she liked the Garbage Pail trading cards as a kid. For those that don’t know, they were created in the mid 80s and they are creepy as heck.
• I love Abbi and Ilana’s relationships with their parents. They’re so sweet.
• Abbi’s mother calls Bevers a cute furry little bear. Uh… what?!
• Who else noticed the pilot episode shoutout when Ilana kisses Wayne’s picture? Yasss!
• Marcel is bisexual and I am living.

What did you think of this episode of Broad City? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Broad City airs Wednesdays at 10:30/9:30c on Comedy Central.

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