I imagine that seeing a review coming up so soon after another one was posted may be a bit weird, but that actually helped me to remember what was going on last week, so in a way it is helpful to get some fresh perspective on what the season it is doing so far.
Let’s start with the cold opening: the texting bit was truly funny! I honestly laughed through the whole sequence; the cast did excellent facial work and voice over while texting and Jim Rash just owned the scene while he was texting to those asian boys thinking they were Jeff. Oh god, that was honestly hilarious!
This episode felt like classic Community. Only on Greendale it would be possible for a dog to get enrolled and get a diploma; as an attack ad is coming from City College the group has to fend off against it. But sadly for Annie, learning that a dog may have been given a diploma and got to classes is the tipping point in her dedication for Greendale. So she’s set to debunk that fact while Jeffrey gets ready to strike back.
While last week on episode 2 Frankie didn’t have much to do, she gets plenty of stellar lines - which you can see on stray observations-, and the rapport she has with Annie makes for this new dynamic the show is trying quite fresh while still feeling like Community.
The texting we saw on the cold opening is kept as a recurring gag on the episode and Jim Rash keeps doing great job, like bringing 5 cans of olives while Jeff is concerned that such a weird attitude may mean something is wrong.
Meanwhile, Britta is incredibly drunk as she drank during her late shift as a bartender. She gets a chance to interact with another new addition to the group, Elroy - the guy who owned the virtual reality thing -, and they bond over music. And for a minute there it seems as if Britta is honestly singing well in a typical Community dream sequence, and when we get back to reality we see Gillian Jacob singing terribly, which feels like a callback to season 3’s Glee episode. And of course, Elroy decides to get everyone coffee to get away from that signing.
Frankie and Annie find out that a dog was actually enrolled in classes, but that it never got the diploma. Such a discovery drives Annie over the edge, but Frankie sees it as an opportunity to fend off against City College out of the technicality that the dog never got the diploma.
For a moment I did wondered if the show would have actually enrolled Annie in City College; it would have been an interesting twist for a storyline in which Alison Brie would get new material to work on as she went to the rival college, but instead the show takes the choice to fix everything by the end with an ad that has the Dean saying that they need to get their sh¨t together. It’s not a bold choice, but it’s an endearing ending.
We are only 3 episodes in, I know that the crazier episodes are coming, but I do feel like Community is committed to be more endearing this season, and honestly, it’s working. The show only works as well as the relationship among the character work, and everything really clicked on this episode, with the exception of a few kinks, but as a whole the endearing feel to it won me over. Not to mention I also laughed a lot.
Grade: A-
Stray Observations:
-Happy 100th episode! It was a great one :)
-Forgot to bring it up in my last review, but Keith David is surprisingly great addition to the cast. At first I thought he was only going to be on last week’s episode, but I’m glad to see he’ll be sticking around.
-Annie’s to do list:
Order new folder’s label.
Print new files for boxes.
File new file folders label.
Order new archival file boxes.
Organize to do list.
-Jeff: “Annie, if you are not dying I’m gonna murder you. I had to remove my night cream, it is 200 dollars an ounce!
-Annie: “Chang, how did you even find out about this?”
Chang: “I have a right to be here.”
-Chang: “Could you guys be bigger nerds?”
Abed: “No, we reached our maximum potential.”
Now that I don’t believe.
-Vicky: “Believe, we’ll be lucky if we get three words-...”
-Frankie: “I’m not a psychic Annie, that’s an illusion by extreme preparedness.”
-Frankie: “Oh god, no, I never hope. Hope is pounding in advance.”
-Annie: “You sounded a little like Jeff.”
Frankie: “Jeff said I sounded like Abed. I wonder if Britta thinks I sound like Chang. I assume Chang thinks I sound like distant explosions and crying babies. You know he is unstable, right?”
-Elroy: ”Some things are silly and evil. Like candy cigarettes.”
-Jeff: “Annie, this started with me sleeping and being yelled for not helping. If this ends up with you yelling at me for not sleeping that’s not a story, it’s a german art film.”
-Chang tried to make a porno on City College to ruin their reputation, and as expected it backfired as he did it by himself, on a white background, and with his Greendale T-shirt on. And that’s why people use “gross” to describe Greendale.
-I honestly didn’t need to read the subtitles at the end, proving that my japanese is getting better and better by the minute. Not related to the episode, but something that made me happy and wanted to share with you :).
-Also, I love that the Dean being unable to tell Takashi wasn’t Jeff drove Takashi to be leader of the Yakuza. Though I really hoped that he would take a flight to USA and enroll on Greendale; he looks like a great addition for the cast.
