Freaks And Geeks: The Lost Episodes

I’ve recently been given the rare opportunity to view the never-aired second season of the Emmy-winning hour-long comedy. And let me tell you, it was quite a treat.

Lindsay’s decision at the end of season one to skip out on an exalted inter-city conference in favor of following the Grateful Dead was quite a cliffhanger. Turns out that she left a note for her mother, telling her not to worry (after all, she knew the people from the conference would call looking for her). Lindsay shows up at home, ready to take the heat, only to find that her mother has already told her father that she was complicit in Lindsay’s decision to bail. It’s our first glimpse into Jean Weir as a three-dimensional character. Mom regrets being the perfect goody two-shoes in her own childhood; she had a similar decision to make as a girl, and she made the conservative choice; helping Lindsay get away with this was a kind of catharsis for her.

But that’s only the beginning. A new character, Jordan, a military brat who has seen the world, goes for Kim, who eventually gets with him, allowing herself to be with someone who treats her better than Daniel does. This leaves Daniel open for the inevitable hookup with Lindsay. She loses her virginity to him and realizes that she doesn’t want anything more; to make it easy, she tells him that he can move on without feeling guilty. But Daniel is crushed; after losing Kim, he had resolved to be a much better boyfriend to Lindsay (partly motivated by the time he’s spent around his geek friends, who berate him for being unworthy of his charm), and now doesn’t know how to deal. Meanwhile, Ken gets Amy pregnant; Neal gets a girlfriend and, soon after, a chance to cheat on her with someone he likes better, causing him to uncomfortably compare himself to his father; Bill gets private basketball lessons from the coach, and makes the team, but wants to quit when his mother dumps the coach; three freshman girls all have crushes on Sam, who likes the attention but knows it’s trouble to pick any one of them. Nick falls for a pyramid scam and quits his job with Mr. Weir, then gets it back, only to have his dedication tested when he finds himself the drummer for a super-dedicated band.

Unfortunately, I was watching on the bootleg of someone who worked on the show. There are no plans for the second season to be released, although it wouldn’t surprise me if an online petition started circulating, futile though it may be.