Monsters of Television

“I once met Sting at a Cracker Barrel.”

I often worry about running out things to say about Community. I can only say so many nice things every week about this show, and at some point I think I’m going to get repetitive. I almost want a bad episode to happen so I can lament it, say “Oh, I knew it when…” for a nice change of pace. I doubt this will happen.

“The Art of Discourse” is a very fine episode, with plenty of nice laughs but also some good structural elements in play, even if the the one element I wanted to pay off, the conflict between Jeff and Britta with the jerk-ass high schoolers, didn’t really reach the conclusion I wanted.

Indeed, I was very excited about the jerk-ass high school trio mocking Jeff and Britta. For two of the more diabolic group members (though not nearly as shrewd as Abed), I was eager to see Jeff and Britta take down the terrible trio (no, not that terrible trio), but it never came to fruition. The spastic “Duho” showdown at the end wasn’t terribly funny, nor was Abed’s explanation about their fragile egos. I honestly wanted Jeff to do more with Lynn Echolls, but to bring all the story lines together, there probably wasn’t time.

That said, the other storylines worked pretty well for me. The Pierce and Shirley dynamic is one that I don’t think has been fully explored in the course of the season, and as many have noted, the show is always at its best when it allows those unexplored dynamics to really pop. This entire plot felt surprisingly organic, which I really credit to Yvette Nicole Brown striking a smart balance between the necessary pride for this plot to work but not oversell it or slip into ruffled Shirley that we’re used to. The impact of the reconciliation scene wouldn’t have worked otherwise

And that reconciliation scene between Shirley and Pierce was very well-played. Chase’s dedication to Pierce’s absurdity is, well, absurdly good, but he also knows how to let moments of genuine feeling come through. The scene of them coming to terms with another, and Shirley accepting Pierce’s bizarre logic caused an incredibly large smile to cross my face, and I can’t really explain why, save to say that I think Community‘s ensemble and their stellar writing staff have crafted a group of characters that I genuinely care about despite all the craziness they engage in during any given episode.

In fact, this plot actually works as a complimentary piece to Jack Black’s appearance earlier in the season. In it, Black’s disruption causes the group to lose their dynamics. But when people leave the group, the dynamics also get thrown out of whack (the lightning storm of insults to decide who the new Pierce is to be was great). Again, the ensemble and the writing make this work.

Finally there’s the meta-plot of Abed and Troy doing a list of collegiate things that movies have told Abed must happen during his first year of college. This plot essentially serves as an answer to any criticisms about the show being “all over the place” or forcing the jokes and situations into the narrative inorganically, with Abed and Troy each commenting on this at one point or another, and much of the silliness is inorganic.

I’d argue, however, that people who feel that the humor is inorganic are missing the point. Abed’s pop culture obsession provides much of the justification for it, but that’s not everything. As I’ve said many times before, that the stories get grounded in character beats helps absurd and surreal moments not only seem funnier but have emotional pay-offs. See the Pierce/Shirley plot this episode as an example of the show’s most consistently off-kilter element, Pierce, totally working in the plot and giving it an emotional heft.

Next week is a paintball war to get class registration rights (a true war in and of itself as many of us know). I almost wish I hadn’t seen the promo. Now I am psyched the hell up for Matrix and John Woo references, and if it doesn’t deliver…I may get to write that post I wanted after all. But I don’t want to. Not for that episode.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• How brilliant were Annie and Britta’s near-silent communications about realizing that not only were they not the hottest girls in the school and that Abed didn’t want to sleep with them? Their looks of disappointment slayed me. Both times.
• Senor Chang’s random appearance was actually pretty funny. NBC writers really like Girl Scout cookies.
• I should clarify that my use of the epigraph is because I love Cracker Barrel and would love to hear “Desert Rose” play over the PA system in one.