Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Sup kweens? Last night wrapped up the amazing third season of the hit comedy show, Broad City. Though I’m understandably disappointed that we’ll have to wait a whole year to see what antics our favorite besties, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, get up to next, I can’t feel too disappointed. In several ways, this season was more dynamic, innovative, and heartfelt than the show’s previous two seasons. There are several changes Season Three changes I could focus on — Abbi and Ilana’s first onscreen fight, for example — but the biggest Season Three change I’m interested in has everything to do with oral. Mild Season Three spoilers ahead.
Before we get into the dirty deets, let’s back up. Broad City follows forever best friend duo, Abbi and Ilana, as they traverse around their own absurdist version of New York. The show does an excellent job of taking mundane, city life things and pushing them to their absolute extremes. For example, in the Season One episode “Destination Wedding,” Abbi’s date breaks up with her when he learns that they’re taking a Penn Station train, saying, “Penn Station … I can’t. It’s disgusting.” The show is smartly New York without ever feeling inaccessible to viewers outside of the city. However, the greatest part of Broad City is the relationship between its two central characters. Abbi and Ilana sincerely love each other and are far cries from the hyper-competitive female frenemies that all-too-often dominate our shows and movies. Sure, Abbi is more uptight and Ilana is free-spirited to a fault, but they love their differences rather than tearing each other down. And then there’s the way the show portrays sex.
The Broad City girls like sex, and they aren’t afraid of talking about it. Gone is the hand-wringing, “will he like me” mentality from similar ground-breaking, woman-helmed comedies like Sex and the City. If Abbi and Ilana want some, they will let you know. It’s through this sex positivity that the show is revolutionary in another way you probably haven’t thought about. Broad City is shockingly free of blow jobs.
Recently, Jacobson and Glazer were interviewed by Dan Savage for his sex advice podcast, The Savage Lovecast. (It’s episode 490 if you want to listen for yourself, and Jacobson and Glazer come in around the 19:30 mark.) By listening to that interview, I learned not only that blow jobs were missing from the series but that this was a very intentional choice.
For the record, I would LOVE to see that supercut. However, Glazer also addressed why that’s changed for Season Three:
Also, the Broad City ladies have inspired at least one person to try pegging, so that’s something you need to know. But more importantly — those blow jobs. Once again, in its own quirky and fun way, Broad City has attacked mainstream media sexism. Jacobson and Glazer could have just as easily made one of their always-delightful side conversations about the over-abundance of blow jobs in media, but what they did was far smarter and aligned better with their characters. They flooded their show with countless examples of women being sexually gratified on their terms. And then, when they added BJs back into the equation, they continued to use them on their characters’ terms. For example, that toilet BJ is totally something that would align with Ilana and Lincoln’s (Hannibal Buress) relationship.
Another memorable blow job comes (pun intended) in Episode 10 when Ilana completes her lifelong goal of giving head on an airplane. There’s even some unapologetic Blake Griffin penis worship. Yes, we’re talking about Blake Griffin the NBA player, and yes, he’s amazing on his episode, “B&B – NYC.”
This season, Jacobson and Glazer’s feminist comedy didn’t just break the writing and acting duo’s own rules. It continued to question the underlying sexism of our media and society all while distracting us with amazing one-liners and weed jokes. Please return soon, Broad City. Season Four cannot get here fast enough.
Photos: Hulu
