“Who want’s to take a break and build a birdhouse?” -Chang
Community returned with an all new episode this week after being off the air for what seemed like 8 weeks. Before I get started on a review of this episode, I’d like to congratulate Community on getting renewed for a third season! Community’s ratings are some of the lowest on network TV, but it scores well with the key demographic of 18-39 year olds, so NBC, who’s desperate to stay relevant, picked it up. I’m not sure if this is due largely to the show or that NBC has no real great pilots in development that could do better. We should all be happy Community airs on NBC because on any other network, Community rest firmly in cancellation territory. But when the most watched TV show on your network is Harry’s Law, you’ve got to start taking any show that gives any kind of critical appeal.
This episode wasn’t one of their finest. It wasn’t particularly bad, but nothing stuck with you like in previous episodes. We do get a fine performance from Gillan Jacobs as Britta, which is always good because I feel like she’s been underused since her romance with Jeff has ended. I’m not sure what it is with Britta, but every time I see her on screen, I think she’s fabulous, but when she’s not there, I don’t particularly miss her. I’m not implying the show could go without her, but we’re just not invested in a relationship she has right now. It would become boring and clash with her personality if her only purpose was to constantly fawn over Jeff, but I need her to stay relevant!
This week’s episode proved the show can be just fine without Pierce. Did anybody miss him? Anybody at all? Didn’t think so. His sole purpose was to make a cheap racist joke at the beginning of the episode and then do nothing. If he left the show for season 3, I don’t think anyone would miss him. We also learned that Shirley and Chang can’t carry an episode. The strength of the show lies within the interaction between members of the study group. No matter what the writers try, Chang will never feel like part of the group, so the attempts to humanize him and make us care for him always fall short to me. And it’s not that I dislike Shirley, quite the opposite. I think she’s great at being the moral compass of the group and can always be counted on for a quip about wrong doings of others, but she’s not central plot material. It’s possible it’s because her main story came with the baggage of Chang, but I just wasn’t interested and even Jeff’s charisma could’t help the story finish strong.
In a show where I feel so strongly about the main characters, introducing a supporting character is always hot and cold with me. On one hand I’m curious how the characters will act with an outside force impacting their decisions, but on the other I don’t like losing screen time to some of my favorite episodes. Annie’s lack of presence was definitely noticed at my house. When it came to Lukka, I’m not so sure he served some great purpose, Basically he was just a walking gag that Britta liked some guy who committed genocide and was trying to not bring it up. It wasn’t awful or anything, but I don’t think we revealed anything new about the characters of Britta, Troy, or Abed in this episode.
Community has had a few choppy episodes like this in the past, but they always bounce back. Look for Community to do some allegorical take on Bastille Day done in film noir style or something equally as crazy and ambitious. Nothing would surprise me at this point with show. Congratulations one more time Community on getting renewed, but let’s not get complacent!
Showing posts with label jeff winger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jeff winger. Show all posts
Friday, March 18, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Community - “Early 21st Century Romanticism” Review
“For the record, I never thought you were cool. I only thought you were a lesbian.” Paige
Community has always been one of the smartest and most creative comedies on television. However tonight’s episode felt a little forced. It got away from what makes it great, unique ways of showing different people forging unlikely relationships. We saw relationships forged and characters experience events that let us know more about them, but they given to us in a way that I am not on board with. They gave us all this through other people not in the study group.
Annie and Britta learn more about their relationship through a girl named Paige who Britta befriends because she thinks she’s a lesbian. Annie’s naivety is beginning to be less than cute. She can be sweet and hopeful without being dumb. Her asking a million questions to Britta about lesbianism illustrated where we are with Annie. I’m curious when we’ll get to see more of a real side of Annie. We caught a glimpse in the Anti-drug play, but it was dragged down by Pierce using her to get more lines in the play. I think we’ll like Annie even more (if that’s possible) when see her grow up a little bit. Same goes for Britta. We get that she’s trying to be different and has a bleeding heart, so I’m anxious to see when we get to see her with her guard down again.
It may sound hypocritical, but I love seeing Troy and Abed’s relationship be unchangingly awesome. In their wooing of the sexy librarian they learn that their friendship is strong and they’ll need a girl to accept them for who they are. I was scared that the librarian choosing Troy was going to create a rift in their relationship and I just don’t think the show would gain anything by pitting them against each other.
We’re beginning to see Jeff accept what we’ve been sensing for a long time now: he likes being a part of the study group. Jeff Winger is at his best when he tries to be above the group, but his heart ultimately comes out. However, I didn’t think the Chang and Duncan angle worked so well to illustrate this. We care when Jeff cares about those we care about and I just don’t care about Chang and Duncan. And it didn’t help we got a cheesy voiceover to end the episode.
Other thoughts:
-A Britta/lesbian story line and they put her in a cutoff denim and leather vest, yeah, that was totally on purpose.
-It makes perfect sense that Andy Dick is who Pierce hallucinates whilst hopped on pain meds.
-Winger’s apartment looks like he just moved in.
-Magnitude was a fabulous one note joke.
Community has always been one of the smartest and most creative comedies on television. However tonight’s episode felt a little forced. It got away from what makes it great, unique ways of showing different people forging unlikely relationships. We saw relationships forged and characters experience events that let us know more about them, but they given to us in a way that I am not on board with. They gave us all this through other people not in the study group.
Annie and Britta learn more about their relationship through a girl named Paige who Britta befriends because she thinks she’s a lesbian. Annie’s naivety is beginning to be less than cute. She can be sweet and hopeful without being dumb. Her asking a million questions to Britta about lesbianism illustrated where we are with Annie. I’m curious when we’ll get to see more of a real side of Annie. We caught a glimpse in the Anti-drug play, but it was dragged down by Pierce using her to get more lines in the play. I think we’ll like Annie even more (if that’s possible) when see her grow up a little bit. Same goes for Britta. We get that she’s trying to be different and has a bleeding heart, so I’m anxious to see when we get to see her with her guard down again.
It may sound hypocritical, but I love seeing Troy and Abed’s relationship be unchangingly awesome. In their wooing of the sexy librarian they learn that their friendship is strong and they’ll need a girl to accept them for who they are. I was scared that the librarian choosing Troy was going to create a rift in their relationship and I just don’t think the show would gain anything by pitting them against each other.
We’re beginning to see Jeff accept what we’ve been sensing for a long time now: he likes being a part of the study group. Jeff Winger is at his best when he tries to be above the group, but his heart ultimately comes out. However, I didn’t think the Chang and Duncan angle worked so well to illustrate this. We care when Jeff cares about those we care about and I just don’t care about Chang and Duncan. And it didn’t help we got a cheesy voiceover to end the episode.
Other thoughts:
-A Britta/lesbian story line and they put her in a cutoff denim and leather vest, yeah, that was totally on purpose.
-It makes perfect sense that Andy Dick is who Pierce hallucinates whilst hopped on pain meds.
-Winger’s apartment looks like he just moved in.
-Magnitude was a fabulous one note joke.
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