Some reason my last watch of Freaks and Geeks wasn't a good one and I maybe got bored and quit watching the DVDs. Out of boredom I went back to it on streaming and I have to retract that it was boring, it really wasn't. Like it's shameful it wasn't given a shot. I also have to remind myself just because Paul Feig knocked it out of the park with this show, it doesn't make his rants on Twitter re: Ghostbusters and "hatin' on women" valid in anyway. People running to the defense of a bad movie on the basis of "you're picking on women" and for no other reason bothers the shit out of me. Please stop using gender as a defense against legitimate criticism. (See also: Wonder Woman, it was okay, it wasn't more amazing for what you bolstered it up for). Now I've seen the look Paul Feig gave Linda Cardellini during one episode I kinda wish someone had thrown that in his face recently. Yes, she was an adult (like 25 which is nuts considering she was meant to be 17) but her character wasn't and his character clearly was, so there's no argument. (There were a couple of "oh, you're super pretty" moments a lot of male writers give to female protagonists).
All that crap aside, Freaks and Geeks was a great show. It deserved better. I wanted to be Lindsey. Watching it I realised I was basically her. I was stuck in the middle of everybody, too smart but not smart enough grades-wise for my teachers to believe it or be put with the smart kids*, too nice but not nice enough to people who deserved better. I didn't fit. I went through the lengthy process of laying this out for a new psychologist and there wasn't a lot of opposition to what I said. I definitely got used by people who knew if they were nice to me they could exploit it, but I went through periods of being mean to the geeks as well, whoever was getting dogpiled on the most by everyone was a good scapegoat for the kids only slightly off the bottom rung. But I believed in the social ladder way too early. I hung out with the freaks who would've gotten me suspended, I hung out with the geeks who gave me shit for being a girl but were quite happy to flirt if they thought there was the slightest chance of getting in my pants. Lindsey's a lot like Veronica from Heathers by being forced to choose
between two worlds but Lindsay won't unite them either. Lindsay's "Betty
Finn" Millie doesn't get the short end of the stick, but Lindsay's brother Sam has to suffer some of her lack of consideration when she's inducted into the Freak Squad.
Going through the show even with all its great moments and great acting, which was mostly age appropriate but not entirely, the only one who looks completely misplaced is Jason Segel, however he was 19 and Linda Cardellini was 25, she was the one who looked age appropriate. Seth Rogan is pretty lackluster so he suits having a role with little to say but he got his shit together later, and you can see evidence of a guy who could be pretty great as an actor. (I hate his stoner laugh as much as everyone but I don't hate the guy, they give him a relatively mature topic to deal with and it's handled really well). It wasn't a crime to cast adults as teens, it was easier to cast boys since they could look a lot younger even as teens. Degrassi really was the only show that did it right. But I don't know where else the show would have gone after season 1. There are plenty of moments you can relate to on the cringe scale but it was also full of hilarious moments. It might have been repetitive eventually if they only focused on social stigma stuff and not teen issue stuff. That was the point, it really wasn't making any statements, it was just horribly relatable in an enjoyable way, and some moments were mortifying, like Degrassi could be. It did deserve better but what they would've done with a longer stint, I have no idea. I vaguely remember the episode one of the kids finds out his dad's a cheater, and I forgot the adults played more of a part in the show in terms of how they got involved with the kids, (including gaslighting and unfair assumptions) which gave it more of an adult feel, or it was appreciated more by adults as it was pitched at 20 somethings. The teachers were great characters which were fun to laugh at but still human, the coach isn't a total hard-ass and comes through for Bill and Sam. The guidance councellor isn't a total hippy. It did have some potential that could've really gone somewhere. Oh, and Tammy from Election has a part as Seth Rogan's love interest, so yay. (She's also the same age as me and so's Seth Rogan so them dating on the show is fine).
I realised how much it leaned on the Wonder Years (it basically was without the obligatory narration by the adult version of Fred Savage), but it was like a funnier, dirtier Wonder Years which was actually a lot more enjoyable and gritty.
*I beat the smart kids by opting to take English over English Lit, everyone assumed I would because I was slightly better read and a good writer. I didn't expect to do well in English Lit and wanted to study movies and other mediums as well, I took the easiest way out for my entrance exam score. Turns out, English Lit that year was based on a bad curve, (sadly the curriculum council didn't report before 2001) as it was ranked by all the schools in the state. I had kids from that class come to my door asking for me to sign some petition the smart kids had to put forward because their total scores had been dragged down and it did screw with their results. Looking back, I could've been more sympathetic, but it probably wouldn't have fucked my score so badly since my entrance requirement was low, I know the other person it didn't affect and I don't blame them for telling those other kids to get stuffed. It must've made a difference to everyone's scores by a small but significant margin, which would've been fucking horrible. It's why as adults most of us say to kids now, don't base your whole identity and future on a fucking number. But yeah, I didn't think my decision would actually be that significant, it's another great example of how I went against expectations off my own instincts and it paid off. I couldn't have possibly brought the Lit grade up on my own, I got in the top 1 percentile in the end and I only got B's for the last two years of school for English. (Some reason I don't have the piece of paper with my actual score but it was like 77 and I only needed 67. It was a comfortable score). It was also something I was actually confident about, my mum decided to still say, "Oh, we'll see if you got in when you get your results". I don't remember her eating her words. I also got a High Distinction at the end of my first year of uni despite blowing out psychologically and having to defer. I told one of the nurses I hated in hospital when I saw her at the outpatient clinic, and she literally said: "That's not fair." So, me being a complete psychological mess means I should have also fucked up my entire year. I didn't. At least my mum later acknowledged she was amazed I got through it despite everything.
Anyway, here's proof I survived high school in terms of grades at least.
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