Let’s add these to the list of “Things That Have Happened In A Broad City Episode That I Have Also Done”: laughed at a dude’s dick because it was so big, slept with someone I didn’t want to tell my friends about and but forgot the used condom was in the trash. Despite the veneer of commentary on Air BnB, “B&B NYC” is really just about those two things and how we got there. When Boad City works, like this episode works, it’s because it centers around some semi-unspoken truths like, sometimes not having penetrative sex is better than trying and failing to get a penis inside you, or, sometimes you’ll really fall for a guy that says, “bazinga!” when he sees your boobs. Amidst the unreality, there’s something there there, something that makes you feel included and welcomed, sorta like you’re all telling these stories the day after over bloody marys.
But I don’t want to bury the lede: in this episode you see Blake Griffin naked.
Blake Griffin looks fabulous naked, and is really funny. Blake Griffin says that the WNBA is better than the NBA. Blake Griffin makes out with Ilana and in that moment I felt a moment of pure, white hot jealousy. Ilana later rides Blake Griffin like a horse as he says, “I’m so close!” I want to thank you, Broad City. You have given me these images and they will live forever in my heart.
The set up for this episode is so banal it’s hardly worth mentioning. Abbi and Ilana need to rent out their apartments on B&B NYC so they do and everything goes wrong. They need to stay awake until their renters leave so they head to a club where Blake Griffin happens and then later Abbi discovers her cute French renter totally fucking robbed her. So she invites over Trey, the adorable and kind but very dumb guy from work, to keep her company throughout the night and decides to sleep with him.
The storyline throughout this season between Trey and Abbi has been so sweet, especially given that every time Abbi is attracted to someone other than Trey it has ended in disaster. As my friend Katie McVay would say, the girl just does not have any defenses. If she’s going to have terrible taste in men, she should probably just date the ripped guy whose worst offense is liking Babe. He actually cares about her, and isn’t asking her birthday because he’s trying to find out the code for her safe.
While I maintain that Abbi and Ilana are kind of awful, they’re awful in that way where you want those scamps to get away with it anyhow. They should both get some dick and get paid, for once. And besides – I think a lot of the viewers of this show, myself included, have really been there. Being young and ambitious and female in a city that is not entirely welcoming is hard. I’ve often derided American sitcoms for all the hugging and learning, but I do understand why people like it. Sometimes you just want to succeed – sometimes Blake Griffin should finger you until you come. Sometimes you should hook up with that hot guy from work. You earned it.
Gita Jackson is Paste’s assistant comedy editor.