Synopsis Of The TV Show 'Freaks And Geeks'

Freaks and Geeks is a TV show that takes place in 1980 Michigan following the freaks and geeks of William McKinley High School. In the first episode “Pilot”, we follow Lindsay and Sam Weir, sister and brother who are both students of McKinley. Lindsay, who is struggling with her grandma’s death, quits being a mathlete to start hanging out with Daniel and his friends, the “freaks”. While Sam is being terrorized by his bully, Alan, and is desperate for his friends to stand up for him. We watch as Lindsay tries to help out a friend, cuts school for the first time, is caught by her guidance counselor, and is sentenced to work at the refreshment table at homecoming. We see as Sam plans to battle his most terrible foe with his friends, missing the
Lindsay is changing her life because of something that her grandmother’s death made clear to her. She tells Sam about how she was with their grandmother when she died, and how she discovered what comes next after death. Nothing. Lindsay didn’t find it fair, that her grandma was such a good person her whole life and got nothing in return. This causes Lindsay to change her life. Maybe being good isn’t worth it. I think that this brings a deeper meaning to the whole show, it becomes more realistic, more relatable than the average show about high school. We also see this in the character Eli. Eli is the laughing stock of the school, everyone loves to push him around and make fun of him. They think it’s okay because he is too stupid to understand that they are making fun of him. Lindsay tries to help him out when she sees him being mocked by two boys, but her attempt turns to chaos when she calls him retarded. He becomes very hurt and angry, resulting in him running away, tripping and breaking his arm. This felt very real; the terrified yell emitted by Eli, the look of shock, confusion, and regret on Lindsay’s face, and the comment made by one of the bullies, “And I’m the mean one, how does that work?”. It’s the conundrum of good or bad? Hero or Villain? The occasional peeks into reality that this show offers, makes it a show more valuable and personal. A show that I would definitely want to continue
When the episode starts, the camera pans to a couple where the boy, a jock, professes his love to his girlfriend,a cheerleader, saying “I love you so much, it scares me.” This definitely adds to the cheese factor. Every movie, TV show, or book about high school, has that line, or some variation of it, thrown into it somewhere. It’s a cliché. As is Lindsay’s one liner in her first scene; “Man, I hate high school.” I believe that this is the most occuring message, and line, said or written, about high school. Though it may very well be a true statement, it is one of the cheesiest and most cliché lines that can be said. Ever. Also, when the Weir’s are having dinner and Lindsay gets up and yells at her father, then storms out of the room, albeit for a reasonable reason, it’s cringey. The following awkward silence, her random out burst, they’re all very cringe-worthy moments. All of these factors, were must-nots for me, and they brought down my final rating of this episode, and my view of the show as a