In Season 3 of the show Broad City there is an episode called “Game Over,” and honestly it is one of the funniest episodes I have seen. At the beginning Abbi Abrams (played by Abbi Jacobson) is teaching a swim class for seniors. They are having fun taking the class, but then one of the participants drowns and Abbi has to retrieve him and revive him. When Abbi does CPR, the old guy, Squibs, opens his eyes and winks at the other ladies and grins, showing that he was just faking it and just wanted Abbi to kiss him. Abbi finds out he was faking it and afterwards when she is getting ready to leave and is finishing up the swim class, Squibs says he could “pop her cherry”, and Abbi tells him he knows her daughter is calling her to report that he hit on her. After Abbi leaves, Squibs complains that what Abbi is doing is called elder abuse.
After the super catchy theme song (and awesome art that goes with it), we see Abbi’s friend Ilana Wexler (played by Ilana Glazer) working at a marketing company called Deals Deals Deals. She is wearing a dog hoodie (which I thought was just a super small hoodie for adults) and her boss, Todd, comes to her desk and reminds her that he emailed her telling her not to come into work today because she has consistently goofed off and acted silly during work and doesn’t take it seriously. Ilana asks him if he emailed her at her address ilanawexler@mindmyvagina.com, and he says he refuses to use that email. Ilana keeps convincing him to let her keep staying at work, and he tells her to go home because she is wearing a dog hoodie. She denies this but he tells her that it is because the hoodie has holes for dog ears. In a moment I thought utterly hilarious, Ilana turns around and asks if there is a pocket on the back to confirm that it is, in fact, a dog hoodie. Ilana jokes that this is the second time this has happened to her, and then on her way to go to the bathroom or in the hall for some other shenanigans, she tells Todd and her coworker Nicole, who absolutely loathes Ilana because she isn’t serious about her work and consistently harasses Nicole, that they are going to make millions at the company (“we’re going to be billionaires, no–kajillionaires.”)
The scene cuts to Abbi at Soulstice, where she also works as a cleaner, and they are getting ready for the big competitive games. Abbi, who is extremely competitive, wants to join in. The trainer who has a crush on her, Trey, encourages her to compete, and Abbi gets ready for the games. Before that, she finds herself in a room full of other naked Soulstice folks and Trey tells her there is a changing room if she needs it. At first she says it’s fine, but then everyone around her starts to undress in the locker room and someone drops their pills and everyone gathers where Abbi is standing to retrieve them, and Abbi finally gives in and asks Trey where the changing room is so she can change her clothes in private.
The scene cuts then to Ilana back at Deals Deals Deals, and Ilana misses the memo and asks why everyone seems in such a hurried mood. Nicole begrudgingly reminds her that Todd just told her that the investor is coming. Ilana jokes that she has “baby brain” and Nicole asks her suspiciously if Ilana is pregnant because she said she has “baby brain”, and Ilana laughs and says no and asks Nicole is she is pregnant. Nicole coldly responds, “No.” The investor, played hilariously by Vanessa Williams, comes in and this super funky electronic music plays when Vanessa tosses her expensive beautiful scarf in slow motion across the room to make her entrance. Ilana is seen wowing this woman and scrunching her face to show she is sexually attracted to the investor, whose name is Elizabeth. Ilana introduces herself and says how fascinated she is by Elizabeth’s clothes. Elizabeth tells her it is from TJ Maxx, 30 percent off. Ilana playfully punches Nicole’s shoulder, which is bad because Nicole’s arm is in a brace, and Ilana muses whether she wants to be Elizabeth or be “in” Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, Abbi decides to go through with competing in the Soulstice games, and her competitive spirit comes out in the craziest ways. Ilana warns her about her competitive nature during this kind of event, but Abbi goes through with it anyway because she wants to win. She ends up getting back at Gemma (played by D’arcy Carden) for calling her “cleaner” during a game where they are fighting with these paddle-things. Gemma is impressed with Abbi and tells her she’s stronger than she looks. While Abbi is competing in the games, Ilana is at a company meeting with the investor and the investor tells everyone she is disappointed in how the company is doing with its sales. When she asks anyone if they have any input, she calls on Ilana (she calls her, in all seriousness, “Maxinista”) if she has ideas for improving the company, and Ilana starts telling her and everyone about Salad Fingers and all these videos from ebaum’s world (a website that was super popular when I was in middle school). While her other colleagues look at her with confusion and bewilderment, Elizabeth tells her she has no idea what Ilana is saying and she loves it. She then tells Todd that he is underutilizing Ilana and has Ilana head the company’s Twitter account. In a moment which I thought was absolutely hilarious, Ilana goes “Ms. Hot Lady You Got It!” and Elizabeth looks at her in a determined way. Honestly it made me laugh because I just thought about how many outtakes they had to do of this episode. Like, how can anyone keep a straight face when Ilana says the goofiest things? Also, it must have been a privilege to work with someone like Vanessa Williams.
Unfortunately, things go south and while out celebrating Abbi’s victory in the Soulstice games, Ilana tweets a graphic NSFW video. The next day at work, Ilana comes to work to find everyone grossed out (and one person vomiting in a trash can) after seeing the video on the Twitter account. Ilana wonders what is up, and Todd pulls her into his office. He tells her she is fired for tweeting the video, calling it a “PR nightmare.” Ilana tries to reason with Todd why she was right in tweeting that video, but he tells her that it doesn’t matter, what she did is wrong and he is firing her. She then complains that she is going to talk to “Mom” (aka the investor), but then when she tells Elizabeth about it, Elizabeth tells her she is definitely fired for what she did. Ilana, knowing this is her last interaction with Elizabeth, tells her that she wanted to confess something: that she wants to be “in” her. Elizabeth looks at her blankly, then tells her she needs to leave, implying that Ilana’s comment was absolutely inappropriate and even more reason for her to get fired. Ilana says her goodbyes, calling her coworkers by the nicknames she gave them, such as “White Guy No. 7”, “White Guy No. 3”, and “Adult Braces.” She then precedes to further annoy Nicole and talk her ear off with a sentimental goodbye about how she is the reason Ilana comes to work every other day, and that somehow they will meet again. Before she can stress Nicole out any further, Todd tells her that is enough and to leave immediately. Before she leaves, Ilana puts up an air dancer because she believes in “corporate morale.” When she finally leaves, Nicole and everyone break out into a hilarious lip-sync performance of “Joyful, Joyful” from Sister Act 2 to celebrate Ilana officially being fired from the company. Nicole finally wakes up to the air dancer whacking her in the face, and realizes she was daydreaming of the Sister Act performance. She records in her recording device joyfully that she is free now that Ilana is no longer at the firm.
Honestly, this episode is one of the reasons why I love Broad City. It is hilarious. It’s the episode I’ve re-watched more times than I can recall.
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