Broad City
Season 3 Comedy Central (*122) 21:00 Comedy
You can’t flick through channels these days without hitting a brooding, charismatic anti-hero whose self-absorption ruins everything. If only these sad guys had best friends… like in Broad City (2014-current). Even at their worst, the love and loyalty that Ilana and Abbi (Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson) have for one another makes viewers rejoice in their absurdity – especially when the pair reflect our own secret struggles. Here are three moments from their new season (which started on 16 August) that made us go “yeees!”
Private time: episode 1’s (16 August) opening scene explores deeply personal stuff the girls get up to in the privacy of their bathrooms at home, using a splitscreen montage. And the bathroom theme continues in the episode during an increasingly desperate search for a place to “go” after their brunch spot won’t let Abbi and Ilana use the loo. The best friend test: in episode 2 (on 23 August) Abbi steps in to cover for Ilana at work – wearing her clothes, speaking with her voice and “being” Ilana. Ilana coaching Abbi shows how she sees herself, while Abbi’s performance as Ilana shows how she sees her friend. The gap between those two versions of Ilana and the Ilana that viewers know is a comic masterpiece. Ratted out: episode 4 (on 6 September) gives viewers another fantastic opening sequence when Ilana has a rat problem in her apartment and can’t afford the exterminator. The sequence is shot from the rat’s point of view as it watches her and Abbi go about their business, then it breaks into her drug stash. We hope that rat is as entertained as we are when we spy on these two besties.