Community - "Political Developments and Uncivil Disobediance" Review

“I’m no politician. I’m just a fella. I think that beer should be cold and boots should be dusty. I think 9/11 was bad. And freedom? Well, I think that’s just a little bit better.” -Jeff Winger

Community thrives because of it’s commitment to consistent characterization. There is a strong core group of characters that we all love and an equally compelling group of supporting cast members that service the whole. We love certain things about all of them and we love to watch their relationships grow. This episode dealing with student government was a great chance to show the hierarchy of the group and to gain insight into their wants and desires.

Jeff and Annie are our most three dimensional characters. They both have a past that haunts them whether it be Jeff’s sleazy lawyer career or Annie prescription medicine addiction. Yet, while in the study group they are not only bettering their lives, but are becoming better people. I enjoy watching heart felt introspective moments where they both become self aware of their negative traits. It almost makes me root for them to get together, almost. That would be A) creepy and B) be a bad decision for the show. I don’t think the show has flourished using romance. The Jeff/Britta thing was nice at first, but I think it’s clear a relationship would divide the group and their believable chemistry is necessary for the show.

I particularly enjoyed seeing Abed get as close emotionally to a female as we’ve seen. I love the idea of Abed in the show. A sort of mechanism that Dan Harmon uses to show the audience how much he loves TV and how it effects us. The danger with Abed can be that it just becomes a convention and not a character, so it’s always nice to see his human side. It was smart to not let it be just some regular girl he fancies, but an equally emotionless and sharp Secret Service agent. I wonder if this will come back in the future. I doubt it. The relationship between Troy and Abed can’t suffer. Though I stated last week that it’s nice to see both characters flourish without the other present. I hope we get to see more of Abed opening up.

Community seems to be going to great lengths to make Pierce out to be the bad guy. There was a great moment of self awareness at the beginning where they “welcome” Pierce back into the group. Shirley states, “Well Pierce, we’re very glad to have you back...I’m assuming.” The group unsurely responds that they are. At least Community is acknowledging the issue. In the breakdown of presidential candidates Pierce’s age is “66, dick,” and his rant about what he’s going to do to the other candidate are more reason’s to believe that the show is embracing him as a negative person. All of Pierce’s negativity though is counteracted in this episode by great simple comedic performances by the dean and Magnitude. I’ve been missing the dean lately so it was great to see him back. Not sure what else there is to do with Magnitude, but I have enjoyed his two short spots on the show.