This is it. The final post. And it's a lot shorter than the other ones, so maybe someone will read it. The final episode of the show leaves us, the audience, wanting more, but leaves us with an understanding that not having more is okay. One can kind of tell that the producers of the show knew it wouldn't do well in its debut, that the marketing would be terrible, and that they wouldn't be able to write for these characters as much as they deserved. But that's okay, and we must appreciate what we have. Everything ends eventually.
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Episode 18: Discos and Dragons
SYNOPSIS
The gang discovers that Nick is into disco due to his new girlfriend. Nick is convinced that he is happy with her, but everyone knows he's using her as a distraction from Lindsay. Daniel tries to pull the fire alarm before a test he's not ready for, but gets caught by Mr. Rosso and is forced to hang out with the geeks in the AV club. In a strange turn of events, Daniel ends up enjoying a night of D&D with Sam, Neal, Bill, and the other geeks. Lindsay is accepted into a summer program for academically elite high schoolers, but ultimately ends up with some deadheads en route to follow the Dead on their tour from Texas to New Mexico.
LESSONS TO BE LEARNED
Good things don't last forever, but you shouldn't let the transience of the good times damper your enjoyment of them after they're over.
This has been a week of endings for me. The ending of the show, the ending of the biggest chunk of fall semester, and the ending of a year-long relationship. When good things end (maybe with the exception of the big chunk of the semester), it's easy to get lost in despair. But we have to acknowledge that the past is in the past, that there's no changing it, and that, though the good times must end, they were good while they lasted.
MUSIC FROM THIS EPISODE
Foxy "Hot Number" (1979) This is the disco track that opens the episode. The fact that a disco number opens the episode, unlike the usual classic rock, indicates that this episode is going to have a different feel from most of the others in the season.
Grateful Dead "Box of Rain" (1970) This quintessential Grateful Dead plays over Lindsay's montage of listening to the entirety of their American Beauty album. The song has no hidden meaning, it's just representative of itself.
Gloria Gaynor "I Will Survive" (1978) Possibly the most famous disco number of all time, this classic number ironically plays after the DJ at the discotheque confidently professes that disco will never die. Of course, we know disco did die, and the use of this song after such a speech really drives the point home.
Heatwave "Groove Line" (1978) Upbeat and happy, this song at first is a very literal musical representation of Nick's happiness with his new girlfriend. However, it also plays over the moment when Nick realizes that he hates disco, and then its happy tone becomes ironic.
Grateful Dead "Ripple" (1970) This Dead classic, slow and sentimental, ends the series. It's the perfect song to end the series, speaking of a melancholy surrounding an unknown future, but acknowledging that contentment is still attainable. The song wants for more, but is happy with what exists, just like I do after the end of the song, and the end of "Freaks and Geeks." This is a genius pick on the part of the show creators; with this song, they leave it open for more, but leave us as hapy as we can be with the beautiful television they've already created.
Episode 18: Discos and Dragons
SYNOPSIS
The gang discovers that Nick is into disco due to his new girlfriend. Nick is convinced that he is happy with her, but everyone knows he's using her as a distraction from Lindsay. Daniel tries to pull the fire alarm before a test he's not ready for, but gets caught by Mr. Rosso and is forced to hang out with the geeks in the AV club. In a strange turn of events, Daniel ends up enjoying a night of D&D with Sam, Neal, Bill, and the other geeks. Lindsay is accepted into a summer program for academically elite high schoolers, but ultimately ends up with some deadheads en route to follow the Dead on their tour from Texas to New Mexico.
LESSONS TO BE LEARNED
Good things don't last forever, but you shouldn't let the transience of the good times damper your enjoyment of them after they're over.
This has been a week of endings for me. The ending of the show, the ending of the biggest chunk of fall semester, and the ending of a year-long relationship. When good things end (maybe with the exception of the big chunk of the semester), it's easy to get lost in despair. But we have to acknowledge that the past is in the past, that there's no changing it, and that, though the good times must end, they were good while they lasted.
MUSIC FROM THIS EPISODE
Foxy "Hot Number" (1979) This is the disco track that opens the episode. The fact that a disco number opens the episode, unlike the usual classic rock, indicates that this episode is going to have a different feel from most of the others in the season.
Grateful Dead "Box of Rain" (1970) This quintessential Grateful Dead plays over Lindsay's montage of listening to the entirety of their American Beauty album. The song has no hidden meaning, it's just representative of itself.
Gloria Gaynor "I Will Survive" (1978) Possibly the most famous disco number of all time, this classic number ironically plays after the DJ at the discotheque confidently professes that disco will never die. Of course, we know disco did die, and the use of this song after such a speech really drives the point home.
Heatwave "Groove Line" (1978) Upbeat and happy, this song at first is a very literal musical representation of Nick's happiness with his new girlfriend. However, it also plays over the moment when Nick realizes that he hates disco, and then its happy tone becomes ironic.
Grateful Dead "Ripple" (1970) This Dead classic, slow and sentimental, ends the series. It's the perfect song to end the series, speaking of a melancholy surrounding an unknown future, but acknowledging that contentment is still attainable. The song wants for more, but is happy with what exists, just like I do after the end of the song, and the end of "Freaks and Geeks." This is a genius pick on the part of the show creators; with this song, they leave it open for more, but leave us as hapy as we can be with the beautiful television they've already created.
