Broad City Review: Witches (Season 4 Episode 6)
On Broad City Season 4 Episode 6, “Witches,” Ilana exorcises her demons, while Abbi finds her inner witch.
This episode is Broad City‘s thematic Halloween episode for Season 4 and coincidentally, it’s also the first episode that mentions the big elephant in the room, Tr*mp. I’m sure it has nothing to do with his likeness of a pumpkin.
Initially, when I thought that they would bleep out Tr*mp’s name, I assumed they would use it as a curse word. However, Tr*mp’s name is more akin to “he who shall not be named” in the context of the episode. He represents all things foul and evil that keep Ilana from climaxing.
Ilana functions on happiness and sunshine. So, it makes sense that Tr*mp and the new atmosphere that is the gloomy Tr*mp Era stop her up. Only after Ilana finds her inner strength, her inner womanness, is she able to finally climax again. We see this in the montage of “witches” in the doctor’s home.
Even though I know they are doing a pun on the word witches because it fits their Halloween theme, I believe witches stands for wise bitches in this season’s narrative structure. In this case, the connotations behind the word “bitch” rely heavily on how women use it for each other, which means strong, powerful, determined, etc.
This meaning directly leads into Abbi’s story as she tries to find her own inner “witch.” In this episode, most likely due to the stress of her losing her job, Abbi gets a gray hair. Honestly, gray hairs are more common in younger women, so it’s natural to see a gray hair or two throughout our young adult lives, especially with the increased social and professional pressures.
However, Abbi immediately freaks out and falls into the common social anxiety that shows of age are bad. We have this social stigma that as women increase in age they lose their beauty and lose their usefulness. On the other hand, when men age it represents wisdom and stability. The patriarchy has formed the way we view age based on gender.
With that context in mind, Margot’s comment to Abbi when she leaves to buy the Botox injections makes more sense.
Money is a mind control technique that quantifies the progress of the patriarchy.
But this connection still might be a reach. I’m not going to lie, she just sounds crazy and paranoid. But I like it.
All of this combined makes the ending of the episode all the more amazing. Witches from all walks of life come together to celebrate the power of the woman.
Broad City season 4 episode 6 makes another episode this season that I absolutely love. Ilana and Abbi did not come to play with you guys. They have shaken off the genre that aims for quick laughs and put on their double knitted scarves that target our minds to stimulate us with important social commentary, our hearts to give us motivation, and characters to look forward to and grow with in the show, and our stomachs to supply us with tons of laughter.
What a wonderful way to mix the theme of Halloween and continue the thematic and narrative analogy with the 2016 election. Broad City Season 4 Episode 5, “Abbi’s Mom” represents our feelings after we saw the results of the Tr*mp era and this episode represents the women’s march the following weekend of the inauguration. It’s all about women’s empowerment, baby.
It only fits that Abbi makes her directorial debut this episode (which she kills by the way). She does an amazing job with the shots, capturing each scene’s comedic tone and serious underlying tones. I love her eye.
Stray Observations:
- Shout out to Jane Curtis, who plays the amazing witch Margot, and Marcella Lowery, who plays Ilana’s orgasm therapist. Your acting chops are impeccable, ladies!
- Another shout out to Stephen Schneider who plays Jeremy Santos. I’m glad he found a family that loves him for every bit of who he is.
- Does anyone know if the therapist actually watches you masturbate in sex therapy? Asking for a friend. That is very… interesting.
- I don’t know what Broad City is doing with Bevers this season but I’m loving it. He’s still classic bevers, but so much more tolerable.
- The percentage they cite, “Cum rates have been down 140 percent since Tr*mp was elected,” sounds completely legit to me. Facts don’t lie. Turns out rampant oppression is a major mood dampener.
What did you think of this episode of Broad City? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
Reviewer Rating:
User Rating:
Broad City airs Wednesdays at 10:30/9:30c on Comedy Central.
Follow us on Twitter @telltaleTV_
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Candice Horde
An English enthusiast that watches a couple of shows from time to time. Candice is an honors graduate of Texas Tech University with an English double major in Creative Writing and Technical Communication. She loves the colors turquoise and pearl pink, and binges all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer at least once a year. She’s also a huge fan of anime, basketball, and Japanese and Chinese action movies.
One thought on “Broad City Review: Witches (Season 4 Episode 6)”
That episode was pure genius, on infinite levels. It made me laugh, it made me cry. I rarely look for TV reviews of shows I’ve already watched, but this one, and South Park’s “Franchise Prequel” (another remarkable episode) prompted me to do just that.
Comments are closed.