This past Thursday, March 28, the beloved show Broad City ended and the cries of fans were heard all over social media:
Watching the finale, you can feel the love that went into the show. The story of Broad City ends with the girls finally growing up. Abbi has made the adult decision to leave New York and seriously pursue art by joining a residency program in Boulder, Colorado. Ilana has made her own choice to return to school and pursue a career as a therapist. The shenanigan ruled livelihood has come to an end. It is no longer sustainable and no longer makes sense with Abbi recently turning 30 and Ilana following close behind.
The co-creators and co-stars wrote their goodbyes to each other and their decade long project into the final episode. In a tear-jerking scene where the two women stand on the Brooklyn Bridge together, oddly the first time the characters have ever done so, they hold hands and explain how meaningful their relationship is. Ilana says, “this is still going to be the most beautiful, deep, real, cool and hot, meaningful, important relationship of my life.” “I have never felt so cool,” they say to each other.
The show’s portrayal of friendship is what makes it so powerful. You never see Ilana and Abbi backstabbing each other, talking about the other negatively behind their back, or doing anything but poking fun. It would be easy to drive a storyline with meanness, bitchiness, and a lack of mutual respect, a trope often portrayed in stories with female friendships. But in real life, female friendships, and friendship, in general, is a beautiful thing where 98% of the time your closest friend truly (should) wants what’s the best for you.
Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson know how much the show and the show’s portrayal of friendship means to their fans. In the final scene, after seeing Abbi and Ilana talk on the phone a couple of months after the move which proves their relationship survived the distance, the camera slowly pans out to show pairs and pairs of friends. These pairs are walking the streets of New York together, just as Abbi and Ilana did throughout the life of the show. The pairs are all saying Abbi-and-Ilana-isms, with the last pair quoting from the first episode of the original Broad City web series. (Say the word and I will cry right now.)
So grab your best friend, rip the band-aid off, and watch the final episode of Broad City. Or if you haven’t watched it, get started. Seasons 1-4 are streaming on Hulu and season 5 can be found on the Comedy Central website.