'Broad City' Review: "Two Chainz"

Kate Frydman ’16/Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Broad City is back and bladder than ever. In their season premiere, the “Yas Queens” kick things off with an episode that is the perfect hybrid of the familiar—Ilana (Ilana Glazer) explaining the psychological importance of her frequent masturbation—as well as the considerably less familiar, careful political expression. Not that Abbi (Abbi Jacobson) and Ilana completely avoid the real talk about society, but this episode stuck with current issues more closely than has been seen before.
A blatant narrative of the  female struggle, for example, begins with the bike chain that Ilana is forced to wear as a belt when she loses its key. She accepts the challenge as a sort of ‘walk a mile’ experience connecting her with women in Saudi Arabia. Mirroring Ilana’s symbolic gesture of solitude and demonstrating the relative cultural struggle, Abbi is forced to wear a security tag around Manhattan when a chaotic pop-up shop neglects to remove it. Ilana “a slave,” Abbi “a thief.” Neither are what they are projecting, but both are stuck with these badges of dishonor.
As their regular shenanigans unravel, Ilana’s chain gets stuck to a truck, pulling her fearful, tiny body several blocks before Abbi rescues her. In an attempt to remove her security tag, Abbi ruins a friend’s art piece with the security ink. In this way, they are each punished for things they cannot control. Very political, if not a little broad.

Throughout the episode, Ilana is desperate to pee. She and Abbi aren’t permitted to use the restroom in the brunch spot they just finished dining at because they are no longer technically customers. She also can’t pee in the street because a policeman walks by before she has a chance. “I’m terrified of cops,” Ilana admits, “And I’m white!” This inability to manouver around the sensitive female bladder appears to be a timely reference to one of Trump’s best Trumpisms filed under “Trump on the female anatomy”.
And beyond all of this politico talk, the episode is just a pleasure. The cold opening to the episode alone has their viewers back in the girls’ warm collective bosom with a split screen opening reminiscent to that in “Working Girls,” from season one. An homage to themselves, this split screen is an incredibly vivid window into what goes on in their respective bathrooms. It’s fun, playful, sexy, and a little gross. Everything we want in our Broad City Girls.
Getting more attention than ever before (have you seen how many magazine covers they’re on right now?) Abbi and Ilana are handling the pressure beautifully. One and Two and Three, can’t wait for Four-Four.

Overall Grade: A-