Broad City Review: Mushrooms (Season 4 Episode 4)

On Broad City Season 4 Episode 4, “Mushrooms,” Abbi and Lana’s lives begin to fall apart. Even though Ilana and Abbi hinted this very shift at their SDCC panel months ago, I still feel betrayed. And I think that’s the point.

Since the beginning of this season, I’ve been waiting on Abbi and Lana’s lives to nosedive to depression town. Of course, I’d never want this to happen. However, Abbi and Lana’s warning caused me to anticipate the disappointment with every episode.

However, instead of depression, we got happiness. Ilana finally got a stable job and she found a groove with her one-night stands. Abbi finally accepted her sexual liberation and she got an amazing job as an assistant in an animation company.

Everything was on the up and up. Even this episode starts super happy.

Exhibit A: Broad City depicts half of the episode in brightly colored animation. We get colored swirlies. We get a street performance freestyle. We even get a slightly sexual lollipop touch.

Exhibit B:

Ilana: Love is cool. It’s just cool.

Abbi: Love is cool. It’s like the cure.

I even get excited when I see Lincoln’s cameo during the mushroom trip because I assume it’s a sweet nod to Lana’s love for him in her state of happiness. I don’t assume that he will soon pop back up to completely ruin the pinnacle of her sexually fluid life.

And poor Abbi! She finally gets a chance to show her drawing chops for an official animation company, not a sandwhich shop or a racist commercial, and she murders her boss’s cat. Who knows if she even has her job anymore.

Thus, Broad City spends 3 episodes lulling me into this comfort zone, just so they can pull the rug out from under me and send everything crashing down around my ears.

I feel betrayed and I couldn’t possibly be enjoying this feeling any more.

Broad City season 4 episode 4 now makes it to the top of my list of kick ass Broad City episodes. They said they would mirror the emotions of the people in 2016 and they perfectly nailed it.

The first 3 seasons and the first 3 1/2 episodes of Broad City‘s season 4 represents the Obama era. Everything feels optimistic. Even when things look rough, there’s hope. The biggest issue the common liberal white girl had was trying to get a handle on what counts as racism and what all the letters in LGBTQIA+ stand for.

Ilana: Cucumbers are the trans people of the vegetable community.

Nothing feels like it will go wrong. Abbi gets a worrying call for Dana, which represents the elections, however, Ilana and Abbi use logic to talk themselves out of being worried. They deliver the macaroons and everything is great! Until, they stumble right at the finish line.

And as I watch their nights (and prospective futures) crumble, all I can think is… how did we end up here? Where did all of this go wrong?

Does any of this sound familiar?

In just 22-minutes, Broad City boils down a majority of America’s feelings regarding the election. And they do it so perfectly that even with months of warning, I still didn’t see it coming.

That must sound familiar.

And finally, the the last piece of dialogue between Abbi and Lana tied the knot of the beautiful, 2016 electoral trainwreck analogy.

Lana: It’s not your fault

Abbi: Isn’t it though?

Lana: Yes.

Truer words have never been said.

Kudos, Broad City. Kudos. Season 4 keeps on wonderfully surprising me and setting the bar at a whole new level each episode. In my review of Broad City season 4 episode 1, “Sliding Doors,” I say that I needed this show back in my life; however, I didn’t realize just how much until now.

Can we take a moment to meditate on how the animation completely enhanced this episode? It took 14,000 pictures to create 8 minutes of constant motion and bright colors. Mike Perry really outdid himself.

I wish we could have seen the reality of these animated scenes. Not necessarily a side-by-side, but we could have gone in and out of the animation for a second. Because I’m almost sure that tunnel they go under is probably two feet and the music they make with random objects sound nothing like what we hear in the scene.

Stray Observations:

• Why is Ilana using a remote as a pestle to grind her ingredients? You can take the girl out of poverty, but you can’t take the poverty out of the girl. Can I get an amen?
• I love how Lincoln’s character is still super positive, even as he’s throwing a huge wrench into Ilana’s life. I still miss him, guys.
• The weed Abbi and Ilana were smoking must have been Indica. The weed paired with the mushrooms made them lazy and paranoid. As I’ve been told, Indica = in da couch.
• Poor Amanda. Geting flattened to death sounds horrible. I bet you Dara wishes she had sliding doors. I mean, am I right?

What did you think of this episode of Broad City? Did you enjoy “Mushrooms” as much as I did? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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Broad City airs Wednesdays at 10:39/9:30c on Comedy Central.

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