Previously on Freaks and Geeks: Previously on Freaks and Geeks: Pilot, Beers and Weirs, Tricks and Treats, Kim Kelly is My Friend, Tests and Breasts, I'm with the Band, Carded and Discarded, Girlfriends and Boyfriends, We've Got Spirit, The Diary, Looks and Books, The Garage Door, Chokin' and Tokin', Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers, Noshing and Moshing, Smooching and Mooching, The Little Things.

The final episode of Freaks and Geeks was written and directed by series creator Paul Feig.

Plot Summary: Daniel is sentenced to audio/visual class as punishment for attempting to pull the fire alarm to get out of taking a test. Lindsay is accepted to a two-week academic summit, but isn't excited about going. Nick has a new girlfriend and takes up disco dancing.  The geeks find a new friend.

OK I promised I wouldn't get emotional but here were are at the end of the series.  18 weeks, what a long strange trip it's been.  I have to use that lyric because this episode does feature The Grateful Dead's music.  When they filmed this episode it was filmed after episode 12 just in case they were canceled and low and behold...fuck NBC.  So many ideas were stuffed into this episode and it sort of alludes to the future.  This is the end.  This was the perfect ending for what seems like an 18 hour documentary exploring the struggles of every American teenager trying to find their place in society.  Actually, except for one glaring error, I think this is one of the best series finales in television history.

First off there is a Daniel storyline but to start with that storyline we have to examine Neal, Bill, Sam, and the others.  They are walking down the hall and Sam is predicting that he will get another girlfriend.  This sort of points to the future and how they wanted to take season 2.  Sam would become popular and leave behind his geek friends and this is evidenced when Sam says he doesn't want to be a geek anymore when the jocks dump the books on the floor.  The geeks find their sanctuary in Dungeons and Dragons and A/V club where they seemingly lust after a reel of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 

Daniel is having academic problems.  He plans on cheating but his plans fall through so he does the only thing he can think of under pressure, pulling the fire alarm.  Oh such shenanigans.  In my years as a student I have only heard of those things being pulled when people were playing ultimate Frisbee in the hallway or drunkenly emptying fire extinguishers in the hallway.  As a teacher I had an autistic student pull the fire alarm because he said it told him to pull.  Before Daniel pulls the fire alarm he is caught by Mr. Rosso who then tries to be cool and fails.  Rosso sentences Daniel to work the A/V club.  Well the geeks don't like it because their sanctuary is being invaded by someone like Daniel.  Sam, however, is optimistic and he thinks this may be his chance.  There is a painful scene where Daniel has to show a Romeo and Juliet to an English class and he is belittled by the teacher.  Kim, Lindsay, and Nick are disgusted by Daniel.  Then Daniel ends up breaking up with Kim because he tries to vent his frustration but she makes fun of him.  Think of all the times in the previous episodes where Kim vents to Daniel but she doesn't offer that shoulder.  Well Daniel is invited to play Dungeons and Dragons by Harris who in a previous episode mentioned that Daniel would be good for the game.  Surprisingly the geeks loved having Daniel around despite earlier consternation.  The geeks opine if they are cool and once again this leads to what the future may have held.  Sam and Bill becoming cool and Neal sliding into a gothic-type phase.

I have to admit that I once played a Dungeons and Dragons type game in high school.  I think that you think I'm cool, right?

The Nick story was inevitable.  They had to include disco into the series because it was a big thing at that time.  We see Nick has a new love interest although he may not totally be over Lindsay.  The freaks disrupt Nick at the disco and we see the DJ is the clothing salesman played by Joel Hodgson.  The freaks don't understand Nick's new thing for disco and he buries himself when he compares that music to Led Zeppelin.  I love how Ken begs Lindsay to start dating Nick again so he drops disco.  We see that Nick never got his drum kit back so he is probably out of that.  He then has a heart to heart with Lindsay before his dance contest.  She breaks his heart and you can see that he is crushed but he still performs.  I have to say his dancing was very nice.   There are differing stories as to what may have happened to Nick.  Some say that he would clean up and join the military with his new girlfriend/wife in tow.  Another possibility was that he never got over Lindsay and would stalk her throughout the next season.

Lindsay's storyline was great because it included some of my favorite music, The Grateful Dead.  Lindsay is awarded a chance to attend a state academic summit and she is stressed by this.  Mr. Rosso gives her one of the best albums of all time, American Beauty by The Grateful Dead.  The hippies see Lindsay with this album and they say one of the most profound things: we wish that we could erase it from our mind so that we could hear it for the first time all over again.  That album is like that and I would say Dark Side of the Moon is a better example.  Anyway I still remember the first time I listened to American Beauty in its entirety.  Lindsay takes home the album and listens to it and I think one of the hottest moments in the series occurs when she dances to "Box of Rain".  The hippies talk to Lindsay about how they tour and follow the Dead around during the summer and this gets Lindsay thinking.  She tells Kim and Kim talks about how she never leaves the town and wants to get out.  Well the time comes for Lindsay to leave for the summit.  Neal and Bill show up along with the Weirs family.  Neal somewhat professes his love for Lindsay but she shoots him down.  Lindsay gets on the bus and end of story...nope...she gets off at the first stop met by Kim and the hippies.  They hop in the hippie van and cruise, my favorite song by The Grateful Dead plays("Ripple"), the glaring error occurs, and roll credits.

The storylines for Lindsay would probably have seen her becoming a deadhead and being a burnout.  There was also a rumor that they would explore a possible pregnancy scare with Lindsay with her new boyfriend in the second season, none other than Daniel.  You could see that happening because he was so welcoming of her and always seemed to be interested in her.  The commentaries say that they wanted to explore a storyline of Daniel going to jail.  They also said it would point to Daniel becoming a low life and going in and out of prison.  Kim' storyline could have been positive in that she would become geek-like and start pulling good grades so she could get into a major college and out of her home.  Sadly we will never know what happens.

I like to think that Sam and the geeks stayed together in high school and then became cool in college.  Sam probably went to business school.  Neal probably pursued comedy and was part of the founders of The Onion at the UW where his brother metriculated.  Bill, because of his love of Dallas, probably went on to work for an oil company.  I see Ken joining his father's business after high school and running that.  Kim I like to think got out and made something of herself.  I see Nick doing that military thing.  I also see Daniel and Lindsay making a living through activism and being married.  These are just my opinions so take them for what you will.

Things to Watch For:  The glaring error in the final scene is that the hippie van passes a late 90s model minivan.  The show was set in 1980-81.

Dave Allen played Mr. Rosso and Mr. Fleck is played by Steve Higgins, who, along with Allen and Higgins' brother David Anthony Higgins (from "Ellen" and "Malcolm in the Middle"), were the stars of "The Higgins Boys and Gruber," one of the first series on The Comedy Channel (one of the two channels, along with Ha!, that merged into Comedy Central). The creator and producer of that show? Mr. Joel Hodgson, who played the DJ.

And speaking of Hodgson, I've neglected until now to mention that one of his "MST3K" co-stars, Trace Beaulieu, appeared repeatedly on this series as the biology teacher, Mr. Lacovara. He has a very funny moment here in the cafeteria, where after assuring Lindsay that attending the summit put him on the path to his current level of success, he turns and knocks over a student's lunch tray. As the students all jeer, he raises his hand and says, "That was me! I'm a clumsy clod!" in an overly-cheerful way that suggests he suffered many such humiliations when he was younger before learning that self-deprecation is the only way to survive them. (God, this show was great with the little moments like that, wasn't it?)

The beret Sam wears while playing D&D.

Music: "Hot Number" by Foxy; "Box of Rain" and "Ripple" by The Grateful Dead; "I Don't Want to Be a Freak" by Dynasty; "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor; "The Groove Line" by Heatwave; "Space Funk" by Paul Feig

Trivia:  This episode was shot after episode 12 so the producers would have a final episode to air for when the show was cancelled and production was stopped.

Daniel and the Geeks are playing D&D using a copy of the Players Handbook with the Jeff Easley cover art. This was not issued until 1983.

While Nick (Jason Segel) and Sarah (Lizzy Caplan) are practicing their disco in Nick's home, Nick says, "I know, Liz, I'm kind of freaked out about it." Her character's name is Sarah - Liz is her real name.

When Daniel is setting up the movie in the English class, the poster of books behind him shows "The Color Purple". This book wasn't written until 1982.

Quotes:
Mr. Rosso: Don't think you're the Fonz or something? If a jukebox was broken, think you could hit it and it would start playing?

Bill: He thinks being the Dungeon Master gives him the license to mess with our heads.
Harris: Oh, I'm sorry. Perhaps I should let you encounter kittens and grandmas, so as not to upset you.

Bill: Does him wanting to play with us again mean he's turning into a geek or we're turning into cool guys?
Sam: I'm going to go for us becoming cool guys.

DJ: Aren't you one of those guys who's always running in here yelling "Disco sucks?" What's the matter, cat got your bong, man? Is that how you learned to communicate? Running in here and yelling stuff? Is that what your precious "rock 'n' roll" teaches you?
Ken: No, it teaches me that disco sucks!!
DJ: Disco is alive! It's alive, I tell you! You know it, and I know it, and Miss Gloria Gaynor knows it, too!

Daniel: Greetings Princess. It is I, Carlos the Dwarf. The dragon has been slain and you're free to rule your kingdom.

Nick: They didn't say you're allowed to do magic!

Harold: You're not lying, are you, Sam?
Sam: No.
Harold: 'Cause you know what happens to liars in this world, don't you?
Sam: They end up getting killed in jail.
Harold: Right.

With all that being said, here is the final episode of Freaks and Geeks, enjoy!

I am sorry about the length of this post (hey, it's not too often that I get to apologize for something being too long) but I loved this series and it really meant a lot to me so I thank all of you who enjoyed these episodes and "watched" along with me.