Freaks and Drinks

Tricks and Treats

Or

Follow the Yellow Brick Geek

This article is dedicated to the idea that every episode of 1999’s Freaks and Geeks  should have its own drinking game. First there was the pilot. Then we did the second episode titled Beers and Weirs. We are now on the third of the series, the Halloween episode titled Tricks and Treats. This one knocks it out of the park. By episode three the show has really figured out what it wanted to be, there is still this theme of being stuck between childhood and adulthood and not really fitting into either category which carries throughout the series, but there are so many hilarious moments it’s hard to catch them all. Every episode I cover I fall a little farther in love with Bill Haverchuck, and the scene where he gets into the bionic woman character has me smitten.

Oh my god, do you think Freaks and Geeks could be a Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs origin story?

It’s not an easy task for an actor to play a character who is becoming another character, but Martin Starr does it fucking stupendously.  There is this look in his eyes that is so creepy and so endearing at the same time. Another moment I have to mention occurs after Mr. Rosso’s jack-o-lantern is destroyed by the freaks. He steps outside to observe the destruction of his beloved carved pumpkin and says, “Oh man, that is so uncool,” goes back into his house and comes out a second later with another jack-o-lantern to replace the one that was ruined. It begs so many questions. How many back up jack-o-lanterns does Mr. Rosso have? Why is he so prepared? How can he afford his own house on a guidance counselor’s salary? And did anyone else catch the fact that this episode is a huge homage to The Wizard of Oz? If you didn’t, you must be brain dead or an sea urchin because at one point a lady asks Sam if he is supposed to be the Tin Man.  He’s not, he’s suppose to be the robot from The Day the Earth Stood Still. But let’s focus on that for a second, if we can. Sam is dressed like the Tin Man, the character who needs a heart, Harris Trinsky has a knife through his brain, so I think we can mark him down as the scarecrow, Neal is Groucho Marx and a general wiener so it’s safe to say he’s suppose to be the cowardly lion. Bill Haverchuck is obviously Dorothy.

Obviously

They get attacked by bullies who steal their candy, so their whole journey is pretty much a bust. But the thing to take away from this whole homage is that Sam really connects Lindsay to her sense of duty to her family, we could go so far as to say her entire connection to her family and where she stands in it. In this episode Lindsay ditches her very disappointed mother to go around town with her asshole friends kicking up a moderate level of mayhem (knocking over mailboxes, destroying jack-o-lanterns, egging people and things and the like.) In a display of truly shitty luck, she accidentally eggs her own brother. Having been accidentally shot by my own brother with a BB gun let me tell you, it hurts your feelings more than anything else. Lindsay then realizes what a shitty relative she is and goes the fuck home to spend the evening with her family. Sam doesn’t need a heart, he is her heart. It’s very sweet. Okay enough of that mushy shit, let’s get crunk.

Your rules:

• Drink when you see a pumpkin, someone says “costume,” “trick or treat,” or “Halloween.”
• Drink whenever  Kim Kelly is a bitch.
• Drink whenever Bill contradicts the Neil, “No you weren’t,” and “Groucho sucks” e.g.
• Drink when anyone says, “bionic.”
• Drink anytime Lindsay and Sam’s dad tells a story that is meant to act as a cautionary tale.
• Deal out 10 drinks if you can point out a SCTV reference.

This one’s a freebie

• Drink whenever anyone refuses Mrs. Weir’s cookies.

st’ it! Enjoy, fuckers.

-Stephanie Rose