Got a girl crush on: Lindsay Weir

It pains me everytime I think about Freaks and Geeks and it’s unjust plight to the TV graveyards. I even held off watching the last episode because it was too much to handle knowing that there’d be no more. This show was way beyond it’s time and so underappreciated. For once, a show that wasn’t about the pretty, popular kids. A show that championed the ignored. A show that accurately depicted the trials and tribulations of the everyday teen’s life.

Lindsay Weir (played by Linda Cardellini and John Francis Daley) was an excellently developed character, and one that many girls could relate to. She was intelligent, but not a nerd. She was cool, but not popular. She questioned the status quo, but wasn’t a bad kid. She was, for lack of a better word, normal.

Her storylines mostly centered around her and her “freaks” group of friends (played by one of the greatest TV ensembles in history), but her interactions with former best friend Millie were the best moments for me. She was somewhat ashamed of her past with Millie, but too kind to drop her as a friend. Millie (uptight, goody-goody, and #1 fan of the Big J) served as a constant reminder to not get swept up in the petty dramas of high school life and to embrace her compassion and academic prowess. Lindsay’s relationship with her younger brother Sam (a “geek”), was also especially endearing. The siblings had a palpable connection, filled with many “aww” moments that contributed a lot to the show’s ability to tug the viewer’s heartstrings.

So, here’s to our army-jacket-wearing friend!