Broad City Is Over and We’re All Crying About It
Image courtesy of Comedy Central. Cover image of Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer courtesy of Nylon Magazine 2017.
Last week, the groundbreaking series Broad City came to a close after five equally heartwarming and ludicrous seasons, forcing fans to say a mournful goodbye to our two best friends, Abbi and Ilana.
Yes, they might be fictional characters, but they at least feel like our close friends, especially for viewers who started their chaotic NYC journey in 2014 when the show first aired. I began my Broad City journey only a few months after its release date when I was only two years into high school, getting my first glimpse of longing to live in New York, even if this included no steady income or glamorous studio apartment in SoHo.
I hardly knew who I was at this moment, and Abbi and Ilana not only guided me to who I am today, but even more importantly, said that it’s completely fine to not know your path. And in the meantime, you can do crazy shit with your person—because that’s what your 20s are about. Abbi reminisces on this as she’s 30, still doing crazy shit, and therefore getting broken up with in the final season’s seventh episode. After her breakup, she’s still able to turn back to Ilana to commence their shenanigans, as at the end of the day, she will always be her soulmate.
The show perfectly reveals that your soulmate doesn’t have to be romantic, even if some of us were rooting for that and that the concept of romantic friendships, a term coined for 18th and 19th century relationships between women that were most definitely more than friendly, seems very fitting for the two. Yet, they showed that queer female friendship and having a platonic person is all I’ve ever wanted, and that if I haven’t found that person just yet, the show itself can be a suitable replacement. And five years later, I sobbed with my current roommates last Thursday while watching the friend duo officially part ways for the first time on air, as we now had to fill our Broad City-less void by actually finding real, human connections.
The show perfectly reveals that your soulmate doesn’t have to be romantic, even if some of us were rooting for that and that the concept of romantic friendships, a term coined for 18th and 19th century relationships between women that were most definitely more than friendly, seems very fitting for the two.
In my favorite episode to this day, I remember watching Ilana fall madly in lust with a character played by Alia Shawkat, aka Ilana’s doppelgänger, and my 17-year-old mind literally being blown away—Ilana’s into women, too!? Am I into women? Or am I just into Alia Shawkat?? For the first time, I saw queerness being explicitly stated in a show while simultaneously not including a coming out scene, making my soon-to-be-realized identity feel a bit more normalized (and also perfecting the trope that queer womxn inevitably fall in love with our doppelgängers, I promise you, it’s a thing).
That’s the main reason why Broad City felt almost too real for me—it normalized being a queer womxn who doesn’t have her shit together, something I relate to even more at this point in my life while watching the series end. But I know this same reason doesn’t ring true for all avid fans, which is why I seeked out others to see their own reflections on the series and if they’re feeling equally emotional about the end of an era.
Mira Warmflash is a 21-year-old student who has been a Broad City fan for five years, ever since the beginning.
“It seems way too difficult to intellectually write about a show that has taught me so much, especially to not take life so seriously. So here I go, a stream of consciousness about my favorite TV show of all time that has made me into the person I am today (dramatic, but true). I consume a lot of television, but never have female characters so actively allowed and encouraged me to be me. Abbi and Ilana are vocal about their shits, periods, masturbation, bodies, sex life, and random gross habits that everyone does but nobody talks about, especially when womxn do it. I knew that other womxn masturbated. But I didn’t know that other womxn talked about masturbation. So, I began talking about it! (And everyone should talk about it because fuck the masturbation gap. We should be equally-pleasured people!!).
Broad City has also taught me about the sheer importance of friendship. I became friends with my “Ilana” at a Jewish event freshmen year of college when I was still extremely insecure about friends. She asked me if I wanted to come back to her room to watch Broad City. I was sold. Ever since we have been linked at the hip; check out the text thread we shared immediately after the finale for some proof that our friendship has stuck and that it still revolves around Broad City:
She is very clearly Ilana (big Aries energy with voice control problems and Deva Curl products) and I’m such an Abbi (mysterious, practical, but also slightly confused at all times). But honestly, we are the exception. This show doesn’t tell you that every friendship needs to be like theirs. This show teaches you that female friendships are more powerful than all other relationships and that womxn can help other women grow and enjoy life to the fullest. Abbi and Ilana are strong female characters who are not afraid to be assertive and say what they want. They have an abundance of insecurities (simply because they’re human) but don’t let it get in the way of their lives. When life throws them piles of shit, they laugh it off and deal with it together. They constantly lift each other up, give each other advice, question life and have a good time while doing it. They created a new norm for womxn and beyond the gender binary in TV, and I thank them tremendously for that.”
Abbi and Ilana are strong female characters who are not afraid to be assertive and say what they want. They have an abundance of insecurities (simply because they’re human) but don’t let it get in the way of their lives.
Leora Weitzman, aka the Ilana to Mira’s Abbi, is a 20-year-old student who has been a Broad City fan since the release of season two.
“It’s absolutely mind-boggling to write about the end of Broad City when I distinctly remember watching the show for the first time in 2015. Abbi and Ilana were the coolest, funniest, most inspirational people to me. One of my favorite party tricks was (and still is) reciting Ilana’s mid-allergic reaction monologue to Abbi about the importance of safe sex. By the time I started college a year later, I was fully obsessed with the show and was on the hunt for new friends that were too.
Mira and I met in a frat basement in the fall of our freshman year after bonding over being the only girls at a beer pong table. We didn’t talk again for months until I invited her to watch Broad City after a Shabbat dinner at Hillel. Broad City was quite literally the foundation of our friendship and we’ve come to see a lot of ourselves in Abbi and Ilana. We’ve seen a lot of our own thoughts and goals actualized on the show, like when Ilana decides to pursue a career in psychology and becomes a model for Deva Curl. Broad City feels so deeply personal to me as a young Jewish woman obsessed with her best friend. At one point in the finale, Abbi and Ilana share that they’ve never felt so cool as when they’re with each other. I think this was the moment I started laugh-crying, because it reminded me of every conversation I’ve had with my Abbi, going back and forth saying “no dude you’re like OBJECTIVELY so cool.”
We’ve been apart for almost 10 months now (thanks a lot, study abroad), so I like to think we’ve got a leg up on Abbi and Ilana in the LDR department. Broad City has been one of the most important pieces of media I’ve consumed in my life, not only because of the content, but also because of how much it has influenced my friendships, especially those with other women. Is that a bit of a grandiose statement? Yes! But is it true? Also yes!
We’ve been apart for almost 10 months now (thanks a lot, study abroad), so I like to think we’ve got a leg up on Abbi and Ilana in the LDR department. Broad City has been one of the most important pieces of media I’ve consumed in my life, not only because of the content, but also because of how much it has influenced my friendships, especially those with other women. Is that a bit of a grandiose statement? Yes! But is it true? Also yes!
I dreaded the ending of the show because it felt like the ending to the roadmap of our friendship. But the whole point of the finale is that Abbi and Ilana aren’t some unitary pair. They’re just a microcosm of (best) friendship. Broad City has let us peek through some portal that lets us see what real life friendship, queerness, feminism, struggles with mental health, love, and self-advocacy look like. I’m unbelievably thankful for a show like this and yes, Mira and I have extensive plans for watching the entire season together once we’re together again.”
Sammy Gibbons is a 21-year-old student, a Camp Thirlby camp counselor, and has been a Broad City fan for about two years.
“In one of far too many iconic Broad City scenes, a male heckler tells Abbi and Ilana they’d be prettier if they smiled. The girls push their lips up with both middle fingers. This bold feminist empowerment resonated throughout the entire series; Abbi’s bedroom wall that appears in dozens of episodes flashes social justice stickers supporting Planned Parenthood and immigration. These relatable, blunt messages sets Broad City apart from other shows, and what made me fall in love with it.
I started the series when I was figuring out my sexual identity, and Ilana’s openness about being bisexual was what the younger me needed. I screeched when Abbi (spoiler alert!) finally explored dating women in this final season; two women showcasing how fluid sexuality is on a large platform was comforting and eye-opening, something society needed for a long time. The two actresses and writers play out numerous scenes of awkward sexual encounters and navigating their identities and desires without any censoring.
But Abbi and Ilana created a groundbreaking story, and I hope more feminist, queer and female empowering media follows.
This honesty about women’s pleasure is needed in media, as well as including LGBTQAI2S+ characters. Broad City was there for me when I was dealing with post-2016 election stress, when I was growing as a womxn, queer person, and feminist. They’re smart, poignant, and feel like they’re my best pals and we’re simply hanging out in my living room. I’ll miss Broad City dearly, and already plan to re-watch the entire series for the third time. But Abbi and Ilana created a groundbreaking story, and I hope more feminist, queer and female empowering media follows.”
Corinne Geisel is 27 and has been watching Broad City since its first season in 2014, but has not yet watched the final season. She is also my lovely sister and the reason why I started watching the show shortly after.
“The first time I ever saw Broad City was in a bar with the subtitles on—it was the “P*$$Y Weed” episode of its first season. I was so enthralled with the episode that I was laughing out loud and irritating my friends by completely ignoring everything around me until the episode was over. I was 22, fresh out of school and absolutely did not have my shit together, so I immediately had a connection with Abbi and Ilana. There's a short scene where they are doing voices for dogs in the park, and all I could think about is that there are people out there just as weird as me. They are a great representation for young womxn that it’s totally okay to be a weird, horny, funny, experimental, real, gross, authentic human beings. Truth be told, I haven't watched the final season yet, I don't want it to be over! I've legit been ignoring all episodes not on Hulu and rewatching the ones that are so I can pretend it will live on forever. Five years later, I can say that I still don't have my shit together, but I've found the right people to share my mutual weirdness with.”
They are a great representation for young womxn that it’s totally okay to be a weird, horny, funny, experimental, real, gross, authentic human beings.
Maya Slavkin is a 20-year-old student and has been a Broad City fan since its first season.
“To me, Broad City is an important and honest portrayal of womxnhood. Abbi and Ilana gave me the confidence to be my authentic self and be more comfortable talking about stuff that womxn have traditionally been taught not to talk about. Watching such a powerful friendship of such strong womxn who break social and gender norms is super empowering, especially as a Jewish womxn. It’s especially important to me because of this, as the show has redefined what it means to be a Jewish womxn living in America. I absolutely love watching such a Jewish show! It’s highly relatable, especially for me, and it showed me how to navigate the world as a young womxn and, even particularly, celebrate being a Jewish womxn.”
It’s especially important to me because . . . the show has redefined what it means to be a Jewish womxn living in America.
About the Author
Natalie Geisel is in her third year at The George Washington University studying women’s, gender, and sexuality studies with a minor in communication. Her love of writing sprouted from starting her fashion blog in high school, and her current written work spans from topics such as style, LGBTQ+ content, and music. She is interested in intersecting gender and sexuality into the world of wellness, hoping to add a queer voice to its editorial side. When she’s not writing, she spends her spare time at dance rehearsal, attending local indie shows in the DC area, or finding the best cafes that serve oat milk. She’s passionate about inclusive sex education and sustainable fashion and thinks everyone should be, too.
