Broad City Season 5 Episode 8 Review: Sleep No More

This Broad City review contains spoilers.

Broad City Season 5 Episode 8

I’m not crying. I swear I’m not crying. I also swear that I’m totally lying. The end of the Broad City saga is nigh, and is it time for Abbi and Ilana to part ways as they continue on the journey of self-discovery? It looks that way. 

I have to hand it to Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer, Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and the rest of the brilliant minds behind Broad City. The problem with shows that seem like a “series of shenanigans,” if I may call back to last week’s episode, is that they often face the looming question of how to keep a show interesting, let whatever semblance of a story there is progress and let their characters grow without sacrificing the model of the show, or the reason people are drawn to it. 

We’ve seen giant fall in this arena, need I remind you of the Seinfeld death that will go down in history as one of the worst upsets to television.  With two episodes away from the finale, it looks like Broad City will not make that same mistake. 

So far this season, they have kept all the wild and quirky parts of the show that the fans keeping coming back for, all while acknowledging the fact that the journey is coming to an end and these two powerful women deserve to find their place in all of it. On this week’s episode, Abbi has to tell Ilana that she’s been accepted to an artist residency is Boulder, Colorado and has decided to pack it all up and leave New York City. To soften the blow, Abbi takes Ilana to Sleep No More, which ends up being the backdrop to the bombshell news. 

Ilana is banking on Abbi becoming her new roomate, something I think all the viewers have wondered about since the show began, but Abbi has to let her know that she’s leaving in two weeks. Ilana, unsurprisingly does not take it well. The episode is over the top and absurdist and is the stamp of the series, but it’s actually a pretty serious episode about reaching a certain age and feeling like you’ve yet to accomplish anything or feel settled. 

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I think that’s something most people have faced at some point in their lives, but we’d hope that both Abbi and Ilana could find their path carved in the streets of the Big Apple. But while our curly-haired Jewess has found it in Hunter College, our artist is run down by the city that never sleeps. 

By the end of the episode a very upset Ilana is comforted by seeing Abbi’s poop—  as I said, they’re still catering to their fans. But even with a brief moment of pure laughter and joy, I think we all know that these next two episodes are going to be very tough. 

So far this season, I think Jacobson, Glazer and the rest of the team have been following the exact right path for the end of the series. I can’t see any other direction, but there’s still two episodes to change it all… but I trust that whatever it is, it’ll be worthwhile and also completely heartbreaking. 

I am way to sad this week to help you out with any lessons, plus it’s really hard to see the words I’m typing through all the tears. Instead let me just start the countdown till the severe withdrawal kicks in: 14 days. 

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