It’s time to go back to whatever we did Wednesdays before Broad City, because “The Last Supper” was it for Abbi and Ilana this season. In just 10 short episodes, this show has gone from the most promising comedy on TV to (in recent weeks) a bonafide comic powerhouse. And while it wouldn’t be fair to say the girls went out with a whimper last night, I have admit I was a bit underwhelmed.
I’ve said before that Broad City is at its best when the pace is kept brisk, so setting the whole episode in a restaurant put “The Last Supper” at a significant disadvantage from the start. Also, while failing to pass in high society might be good comic material for a character like Basil Fawlty, Abbi and Ilana are way too shameless for this kind of humiliation to carry any weight. Of course, by the end the joke was just how unabashedly inappropriate they were being, but I thought that actually needed to go farther to work.
So joke-wise, “The Last Supper” was only about as funny as Broad City’s weakest entry, but the show made up for much of that by feeling particularly honest last night. Stable, non-competitive friendships between two women are basically nonexistent on television, as are realistic depictions of young people, so it was great to see both of those done so well. In particular, the final scene where Abbi and Ilana discuss their respective “gross sex lists” was perfect, capturing a lot of the effortless fun of hanging out with your best bud.
I’m really glad Broad City got picked up for another season, but if it hadn’t, “The Last Supper” would have been a fitting close for the series. Sure, there were plenty of good gags, but the show’s secret weapon has always been the refreshingly authentic friendship at its core. Regardless of how Broad City’s next season turns out (and I suspect it’ll be pretty goddamn hilarious), Abbi and Ilana’s first year will stand as a real achievement in keeping it real.