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.
Loved the episode only gripe? They should've spared Shirleys scene from the season premiere for this one. It was the 100th episode and we didn't even see any cameo from a former castmember
ReplyDeleteThat would have been great! Then again, it was necessary in a way to have it featured on the premiere so we would have known that they didn't forget about Shirley, but it would have fit right in here
ReplyDeleteI'm really liking Frankie a lot. Her response to Annie's assertion that she kinda sounds like Jeff was hilarious.
ReplyDeleteAlso LOL funny was Elroy's reaction to Frankie saying she doesn't own a TV.
Frankie and Elroy are bringing a great new energy to the show, especially Frankie who had some stellar lines today
ReplyDeleteYeah it was needed for the season premiere but still...I would've loved at least a cameo
ReplyDeleteProf Duncan, Pierce, Troy or Hickey would've worked as well. I mean...it's not like they can't just use a Chilidsh Gambino song and reference Troy while showing a trailer for Last Week Tonight and all being like "does Duncan have another life we never heard of before?"
My god was the sub-plot with Pelton texting the Japanese boy hilarious. I'd love to know what Jeff thinks cans of olives are code for... ;)
ReplyDeleteBritta's musical sequence has a nice homage to Glee since that just had its series finale the other day.
I want this dog to become a recurring character.
I'm a bit bummed that the show hasn't directly acknowledged the absence of Duncan or Hickey. I'd be fine with it if they canonically established that they're still around and relevant, just off-screen.
ReplyDeletethey actually referenced Duncan in Abeds first montage sequence (the cleaning one, he cleans Duncans office sign)
ReplyDeleteRuffles is a must for a recurring character!
ReplyDeleteAnd I really would have loved for Takashi to become a Greendale student, it would have made me grade the episode "A"
I think my favorite thing about this season has been how much more grounded it has been, at least compared to the past few seasons. I love the theme episodes, hell some of them are my favorites, but they were getting to be a bit much. So I'm enjoying the Season 1 vibe we're getting. Like the speakeasy in the premiere, that was totally Season 1-esque in that it didn't take the whole episode and it didn't transform the school, similar to the Chicken Fingers Goodfellas episode in Season 1.
ReplyDeleteMy main complaint with this episode (which I liked more on the second watch) was the whole Annie potentially leaving thing. We had that in Basic Rocket Science where Annie was going to leave the school and her friends to go to City College, and after everything in Season 1 and Season 2 up to that point, I thought it was unbelievably absurd that Annie would leave. So to have it show up here again, even as a threat that was almost carried out, I thought it felt weird. I expected Jeff or Abed or Britta to fight to have Annie stay, although they sort of did by making that ad, but it seemed like a late, last minute reprieve.
Other than that though, this episode was full of laughs! The Dean's texting was hilarious, but a little concerning. Chang was great, per usual. This is the perfect level for Chang, insane but calmer, as opposed to evil, maniacal Chang.
One of the biggest laughs for me in this episode was Elroy's reaction to Frankie not having a TV. I had a similar reaction when she said it and Keith David's face was hilarious.
All in all, I am thoroughly enjoying Season 6 so far. May not be the best episodes the show has ever done, but they are up there in the stronger episodes, which is saying something considering everything the show and the cast has gone through.
I do feel some late season 1 feel around; it is only natural since there has been so much cast shuffling, but Community has done an incredible job to make Frankie and Elroy feel like organic characters, as if they were here before.
ReplyDeleteThe Annie leaving bit didn't annoy me at all, in fact I thought as an opportunity for her to leave, at first pissed, and then become some kind of undercover agent there and got really excited about that potential storyline, but it ended before it even began. And though what you say is true, Annie does have the tendency to jump the gun when she is mad, so I wasn't that surprised that she was ready to enroll; she has been on this place for six years now and to see it all becoming a bigger joke with no standards is nothing she could stand, and that's not really out of character for her.
So far this season has offered rather strong episodes. Episode 2 wasn't really that strong, but 1 and 3 have been pretty great; if they keep this up Community will enjoy its life on Yahoo with an air of being both fresh and the same, which is the best thing that could have happened. And I'm sure that there will be an episode this season that will make it among the best :)
This would've been brilliant. I would've loved to see that :D. Very in keeping with the show's sense of humor/meta abilities.
ReplyDelete"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?”
ReplyDeleteThis may well have been my favorite line of the entire episode, possibly matched by Jeff's German art film comment. The way Frankie just rattled that off was priceless, and the random description of distant explosions and crying babies at the end was a great bit of WTF? In short, Frankie's already fitting into this group just fine :p. I also like how she and Annie discovered that file that had an actual taco in it-I always love those random throwaway details that help make this school that much stranger.
Agreed with everyone else that the texting back and forth thing with the Dean was hilarious. The olives, and Jeff being completely confused by it all, and Pelton refusing to accept facts at the end... I will never, ever tire of the Dean/Jeff back and forth. I kind of crack ship those two, not gonna lie :D. I also loved the campaign ad stuff-I love the moment in the City College ad, when they mentioned the dog getting a four year degree, in the corner they had a thing saying "28 year degree". Cute. And Abed's original attack ad response was hysterical...and so cruel! I actually felt bad for poor Ruffles (but OMG what a cute doggie!)!
But Abed's final ad idea was really sweet, and LOL at the dean admitting they needed to "get their shit together". I too honestly briefly wondered if they would've had Annie leave the school-I did feel that part of the story was wrapped up a bit abruptly, but I agree with others that the main point of this season is to bring back the endearing connection between the group, so I'm cool with it ending as it did. I mainly chalked up Annie's little tantrum to the fact that everyone was up since 3 am and getting dead tired :p. And just as I loved Frankie helping Britta out last week, I loved the interaction between Frankie and Annie this week. Funny yet sweet and honest.
It was great to see more Elroy this week-I especially loved the scene with him and Britta bonding over music (and I wanted that little fantasy sequence of Britta's to be a full length music video! Aw! That was nice, I was kind of sad it ended so quickly!). And Chang-I know lots of fans complained about the way he was used in the past, but it seems they've figured out a way to make his craziness work on the show-that porno thing was just...oh, god. I was a little scared that Abed liked his film technique-the two of them working on a film together would be...terrifying, LOL.
Simple premise this week, and yet still infused with just the right amount of wackiness. I liked this one, too :). Can't wait for what's next! And congrats to the show on hitting the 100 episode mark! How lucky we are that the show managed to reach that milestone.
Yeah, I saw that, but it was pretty indirect. I would've liked a one-liner saying why he can't currently be a participant in the Save Greendale Committe.
ReplyDeleteI dunno if I'd like Takashi to become a Greendale student, but I definitely want to see him and Pelton texting each other again in the future.
ReplyDeleteFrankie is becoming my favorite this season. The best part of the episode was the Asians pretending to be Jeff to Dean. Good thing for Yahoo saving the show.
ReplyDeleteanyone else getting tired of Annie saying she's leaving the school?
ReplyDeleteI wish she either just leaves or better, she would star to give a hard time to everyone that wants to leave. This is like the third time already!