And so my foray into criticism begins. Critic time is a terrible name for this. I'd be grateful for suggestions, as I am drawing a blank on all good names.
Community has been one of my favorite TV shows over the past few years. I wanted to review the show because criticism should be a labor of love. As much as I love reading reviews that trash awful subject matter , I wanted to start off in a nice way. Community also presents a challenge-- it can be highly experimental and abstract, and for me, this is going to help out a lot in future criticisms.
I'm starting with Episode 5 of Season 1 because I recently watched 1-4 and I want to give it a little bit of time before I do those in earnest. I'll get to it on a lazy weekend. I'm only going to judge the show on the events of previous episodes.
This episode puts Jeff's scumbag lawyer skills to the test. This was the main reason that I took interest in the show-- a hotshot busted for his chicanery is forced to start all over with a bunch of perennial screw-ups? Joel McHale oozes a douchey charisma in his role that reeled me in through some excellent NBC promos (which they subsequently forgot to do). He has fantastic chemistry with both John Oliver and Gillian Jacobs, and this episode puts both relationships center stage. All the rapport between Jeff and Britta is fantastic-- Jeff recognizes that he cares for Britta beyond a visceral level, but he doesn't want to sacrifice the possibility of romance for her continued friendship. The scene in the locker room, where Britta admits that she expects failure and believes Jeff's confession is masterfully done. Britta is both a fire brand and deeply insecure, and Jacobs exudes both characteristics wonderfully.
Britta got caught cheating, and Chang has her put on trial (at the 6,000 dollar judges' table). The episode falters here-- the motivations of Duncan get lost up until the very end (he wants to bang Britta, despite her ridiculous name) and the relationship between Duncan and Jeff is compromised. I can't complain too much, as the Dean's ambitions being undercut by the divers and swimmers of the pool is pretty funny. Overall, this was a strong episode for the Dean. He overpowered both Chang and Duncan in the trial. Jeff's speech about Greendale being a shelter for crazy people was a nice touch. Jeff's speeches often walk the line between apt and overly blunt, and this one did a nice job of tying the motivations of the main players into a cohesive resolution. While this plot line was uneven, it had some nice moments, and it tied up nicely.
I absolutely loved the B story with Troy and Abed. Both actors were given free reign to play up their characters, and the payoff was fantastic. I was a little skeptic at first-- with all the TV that Abed watches, how can he not understand sarcasm? I loved his realization of what Troy was doing, and I loved even more that he was willing to push the concept to ridiculous levels to better establish his friendship with Troy. It was a silly story that respected the intelligence of both of the characters. Perhaps my favorite thing was that it didn't turn into a kitschy message about the power of friendship-- Troy just said, "let's not do that anymore" in a moment of exasperation, and that was that. Danny Pudi really showed his knack for physical comedy here. Perhaps my favorite part of the episode was the fleeting exchange between Abed and Duncan.
"Cheers!"
"M*A*S*H!"
"Fawlty Towers! Hah!"
This is one of the strengths of Community: even with such witty, polished dialogue, it rarely feels forced. The scenes have a flow to them that expand and push the rapport to its limit, and then the whole thing will deflate with an awkward stare-down or a Garrett intrusion. The individual scenes know exactly when they'll break under the duress of cadence, and they almost always toe that line. And if push comes to show, Pierce can fall over or Troy can start crying.
I wasn't a fan of the Pierce/Annie story. It felt tacked on, and it really didn't do anything interesting with the characters. Annie is controlling and Pierce sucks at things. Stereotypes of characters aren't always bad-- we saw that here with Jeff and Britta. The C story here was too obvious about it, and it contributed almost nothing to the story. Luis Guzman will be used well in the future, but here, it added little to an episode that had quite a few moving parts.
A flawed episode of Community is still a damn fine piece of TV. Final Grade: B
Any objections? Suggestions? Fawning praise? Leave a comment? Seriously. I crave attention, and I want people to read this.
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