Community - "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" Review

“Did someone say Pegasus? A word I understand in every language” -Abed

Community is consistently one of the funniest and most creative on television. Dan Harmon and his writers do an excellent job of weaving character creation and comedy. Community, unlike Glee, does an incredible job creating themed episodes. Tonight was a Dungeons and Dragons episode and boy did it deliver. Full disclosure, I did not like last weeks Community so I was glad to see it return to form this week.

This week, the crew played a game of D&D to help improve the confidence of a new character, Fat Neil. We learned about Fat Neil in a very clever opening sequence, complete with an eloquent voice over lady and custom credits. This really set the tone for the rest of the episode. We learned all of their character names that Abed created for the crew. My particular favorite was Annie as “Hector the Well Endowed.” I thought that the joke was going to end there, but we were treated to a brilliant scene of Annie wooing the Elven Waitress her super powers. I think my favorite was when she counted from 2 to 4 on her fingers and Troy looked on with surprise and amazement. Britta trying to defend the civil liberties of the elves was particularly nice as well. She even got in a great burn at Jeff when he asked, “What am I not good at?” She quickly responded, “Sex.”

What I thought was especially interesting in this episode was how they made Pierce the outcast and villain in the episode with no real attempts at redeeming him. This resonates with me because I, truthfully, could do without Pierce on the show. Jeff’s quote was so appropriate once Pierce joined the game and started turning it into a selfish excursion. “Pierce. You have made your point. You can successfully ruin anything.” So true Jeff Winger. The writer’s also sneakily allowed to Chang to join the group, albeit in black face. The voice over lady explained that they let the Chang stay in the game because they were too embarrassed they hadn’t realized he was there the whole time. I’m seeing a trend where Pierce might be on the outs and Chang might take on a larger role. One can only hope at least.

How did you feel about tonight’s Community?

What are your thoughts on Pierce’s role in the show?