Queer Studies and Advanced Waxing
That was a long one, am I right? This is the very first episode of Community to go beyond the 30 minutes mark. The extra length can be a blessing sometimes, adding more jokes and balancing the pacing so it’s nether manically fast nor ridiculously slow, but in this case I felt the extra time made the storylines feel quite scattered.
We have 3 basic plots to the episode: 1) The Dean decides to play along as a gay member of the school board to be able to make changes from the inside. The trouble is, gay doesn’t even begin to describe his sexuality. 2) Elroy is in charge of repairing the wi-fi issues on the school, but he and Abed find out that there in middle of the wires and they are set to protect it so the birds can survive. 3) Chang and Annie are cast on a play that recreates the karate kid, and Chang is constantly abused for his performance.
All of these storylines work, they bring along with them many great lines, and the cast has more than enough material to have fun, however, it felt at times that I was watching 3 different episodes of Community all at once. Sure, plot 1 and 2 tied back together, but more often than not the Dean plot had many other things going on and so the Elroy and Abed storyline.
As such I felt that in transition some of the energy one scene is carrying is lost to the next one and there is this need to build said energy all over again. And the show does it, wonderfully I may say, but there’s clear lack of synergy among all these plots. Skipping back and forth through these 3 plots through these 30 minutes made the illusion that the episode lasted longer than it actually did, it felt more like everything was crashing down together rather than coming organically.
That’s not to say Community can’t deal with an A plot while working with a B plot, but some of the strongest Community episodes are those who focus on a single plot instead of drifting into 2, or in this case 3 different plots at once. We have a golden moments, like the one with magazines and the gay dean song, but then we go directly to an scene that has to build its comedic momentum again. As such, the episode drags even with its firing multiple great jokes at each storyline.
The Dean storyline plays perfectly with Jim Rash, as he is conflicted with recognizing only one part of his sexuality, and it offers a great opportunity for the show to directly tackle the issue: it’s not that it is needed, Community has always established the Dean’s sexuality as a question mark but has never explicitly worked on it. Due to its build up, it’s not surprising, but it is different since the show usually works that in the sidelines.
It works great, and it comes in a very organic manner; the gay dean song is a perfect representation of Community’s gags, and it is great to see the Dean deliver golden lines such as “please, I make gayness look like mormonism” among others, and his come out as a politician is as great as a conclusion as we could have hoped.
However, I did like how at the end everyone ended up going to the play to watch Chang deliver the performance of a lifetime while Annie is replaced by Annie Kim - ouch! -. It’s amazing to see everyone connect with Chang’s performance and Annie is able to push her pride aside and congratulate Chang for a work well done, though she doesn’t know what the moral of the story should be, and Elroy comes in saying “Maybe that’s the lesson”, which is a great line and probably the best way to describe life as we know it.
The end scene with Abed freeing the bird is a good conclusion to the episode as it sets up everything straight; I wouldn’t like to watch Community if Abed would be perpetually angered at the Dean, so I liked to see him there as if nothing happened - and after all he was sorry about what he did -, but by the end I couldn’t help but once again say “woah, that was a long episode”.
So while amazingly funny, Community should tried to avoid working on so many things at the same time; the extra length allowed for them on Yahoo can work to their advantage, but in this case it pretty much crippled an episode that would have been outstanding if it was re-worked into two episodes instead of one,
Grade: B
Stray Observations:
-Even when she doesn’t have a prominent role, Paget Brewster delivers. She is a perfect addition to this show.
-Elroy's reaction to terabytes was great. Keith David really shows his value.
-Dean: “Get ready, America! Dean Pelton is coming out as approximately two-sevenths of what he is!”
-♪ GAY DEAN
GAY DEAN
I'M BEGGING YOU TO BE THE GAY DEAN FOR THE SCHOOL BOARD
YOUR LIFESTYLE IS ALTERNATIVE
YOUR INFLUENCE IS POSITIVE
YOUR EVERYTHING THAT'S CHANGING OF TIMES
GAY DEAN ♪
-"Are you crying? You cry when I tell you to cry. So reabsorb that disgusting droplet of salt and bad choices back into your doughy body and then call your mother to see if you can be reabsorbed back into her doughy body or, so help me God, I will take that tear and I will freeze it and I will stab you in the eye with it, you waste of soul shaped hole forgotten by God."
-"You are the worst actor i have ever directed and I directed both Wahlbergs"
-"I lost a button."
"Maybe we all lost a button."
Laws of Robotics and Party Rights
To this episode’s merit, it gives Jeff more screen time and we get to see the wilder side of him, which is always fun; once Jeff gets off his high horses he proves to be as crazy as anyone on Greendale and brings some really great energy to the show, which is due to Joel McHale’s great acting skills.
However, I do not like plots that involve deceive and turning people against each other. Actually, I don’t like them when they are caused by a suddenly brought in third party, like Willy, who decides to discredit Jeff at all cost after crossing roads with him at class.
The criminals quickly develop into some of the most liked students on Greendale and Jeff’s feud with Willy does bring a few chuckles, but most of the times it just seemed like time wasted that could have been used for some better jokes. Their clash at the end, fighting with ipod sticks is pretty epic and made me laugh a lot, and as it is revealed that Willy was never charged with murder, the criminals are taken away from Greendale and everything is set back to normal, as the Dean dances with the ipod stuck on a broom that has Jeff’s face - another great moment.
Her plan obviously backfires as Abed obsesses over the project and takes over every moment of the apartment’s life. Which leads to Britta desperately coming to Annie for help, as she so clearly predicted.
Britta is forced to tell Abed that a never ending party can’t be done, and Abed drops the project.
I think the best thing about this storyline - aside from Abed using the pop up moment as a meta element - is that we get to see for the first time in, like forever, a plot that ties to Britta and Annie, and we get to see them recognizing their own mistakes by the end of the episode, and bond a little.
It’s important for Community to push these relationships forward, and Britta and Annie usually don’t have a chance to play each other, so it’s great to see them have some time together on the episode, and it shows that the show still has some grounds to explore.
Unlike some of the episodes of season 5 that seemed like newer versions of old episodes, the episodes of this season are very unique and are doing a very good job refreshing Community, but I’d also like for the show to try to rely more on their best tactics to make great episodes: the party plot worked better because it relayed on the core relationships on the show and it may have some effect on the everlasting relationship of Annie and Britta, while the A plot has been resolved and will likely have zero effect on what’s to come.
Grade: B-
Stray Observations:
-The best line of the episode came from Annie:
“Before this is over, you’ll beg for my forgiveness.”
-I’d be bored as hell on Jeff’s class. A documentary on the planet earth? I think the guy could at least show an episode of The Good Wife instead.
-Britta: “Who the hell are these people?!”
I honestly had some kind of similar reaction as I saw the Dean and Frankie’s doubles. Abed really know how to pick his doubles. It brought a few chuckles.
-Jeff: “Look Willy, I’m a murdered! Can I be cool now?!”
-I’d watch a spin off called “Female Friends”, I’m sure Gillian Jacobs and Alison Brie would make it work.
-Love how Abed over takes every ipod and says “eradicate”, while the only free ipod is used by a janitor who has no idea what’s going on and joins on the “eradicate” line. Awesome way to end the episode.
