TV Review: Broad City, S3 E02, “Co-Op”

By Sachin Hingoo

“Each [butthole] has a soul. An ass soul.”–Ilana

Do I even need to go on?

The main story thread in this week’s episode of Broad City is a send-up of food co-ops, but it’s most interesting because Abbi has to pretend to be Ilana all day, covering her owed hours at the co-op while Ilana goes to the doctor. This involves a Rocky-esque training montage where Ilana trains Abbi in her mannerisms (“YASSS QUEEEN”) that left me in tears. Abbi’s Ilana impression, carried throughout the whole show, is so hilarious and charming since it’s an even more cartoonish take on an already cartoonish character but her love for her friend still shines through.

Over the course of her day at work, Abbi falls for a guy at the store and has to contort herself through “setting him up” with herself, as Ilana. This is one of Abbi’s best performances on the entire series as we see her nervously singing her own praises in exactly the way her best friend would. All of this is supervised by guest star, Melissa Leo, as the demented co-op organizer, chewing every piece of scenery like it’s organic fruit leather.

In a parallel story, Ilana goes with boyfriend Lincoln (Hannibal Buress) to the doctor, and this is an opportunity for Broad City to show some rare tenderness in their relationship (recall that the very first shot in the first episode of Broad City is Ilana calling Abbi on the phone while she’s having sex with Lincoln) as he tries to alleviate her stress over getting her HPV shot using both snacks and–in a way most befitting the show–a “gingerblunt man.”

At the same time, Lincoln himself is pretty nervous about confessing something to Ilana. Even that cliched TV trap is subverted with Ilana’s reaction to the news. Hannibal Buress has always been able to hang with the BFFs on this show, but I loved what they did with him here, since he got a bit more to do than usual.

At the end of the show, our girls are brought back together at the co-op for a bizarre and legitimately scary showdown with Leo’s manager character and the revelation that all food co-ops are basically cults. Abbi and Ilana are banished from the co-op (and from Whole Foods apparently) while Leo brings it home, staring wistfully at a painting of Robert Owen, father of the co-op. It’s so over-the-top and I continue to marvel at what Broad City convinces their guest stars to do, while practically salivating at the upcoming Hillary Clinton cameo this season.

This episode, while not the manic, bombastic rager of the premiere, does a bunch of things I adored and keeps Abbi and Ilana’s relationship at the forefront of the show even though they were apart for a lot of it. I think it’s more substantive and ultimately more fulfilling to me than the first episode because it seems a little more focused while still remaining consistently funny and unpredictable.

If I could nitpick one thing, it’s that sometimes the jokes don’t get sufficient time to breathe (and neither do you, as a viewer).  In general, I think that only makes repeat viewings more appealing as you notice new tidbits hidden throughout the episode. Plus, you’ll never hear me complain in earnest about a show that causes me to spray water out of my nose every minute or so.

Until next week, my “quaynes”–PENIS KISS!