Community

I think I need to preface this blog by admitting that I watch way to much tv. You know it. I know it. That being said, is anyone watching Community? Last Thursday's episode was undoubtedly the funniest episode I have seen since the show started.

Community started off pretty slow in the fall. In fact, at one point I almost quit watching. As I sat down to watch the fifth or sixth episode last fall I told myself, "if this episode is no good, I'm not watching it anymore." I live alone, so anything I put in quotes is something I probably said out loud to myself. That's not sad, that's just how it is. Anyway, that particular episode delivered like Domino's and I have been enjoying the show ever since. It stars Joel McHale, who is always funny on The Soup. It also stars Chevy Chase, which is really why I wanted to watch the show in the first place. You would probably recognize several of the other people on the show if you watch, but I do not know any of their names. The Spanish professor is the guy who delivered the baby in Knocked Up and jumped naked out of the trunk of the car in The Hangover. He was also the king in Role Models. He is funny in everything, but I have no clue what his name is.

The show pretty much upholds every stereotype that you can think of when it comes to community college. They have traditional fresh out of high school students mixed with non traditional students of varying backgrounds and creeds. The seven main characters are are a rag-tag group of misfits that became friends after forming a study group for their Spanish class. Jeff is the leader. He used to be a lawyer, but when the Bar Association found out that his degree was a fake, he ended up in school trying to get back what he had. Brita is just getting her life in order and decided to go back to school. Chevy Chase's character, Pierce, is an eccentric older man who has made his fortune, but got bored and went to community college for something to do. Abed is a budding filmmaker and constantly references film and tv shows and how they pertain to the group. Shirley is a recently divorced mother of two taking some classes to finish the degree she never got. Annie and Troy are both fresh out of high school. Troy was the star athlete in high school, but has not been able to translate that to anything else. Annie was a star pupil but never had a lot of friends. If you're still reading this, I'm sure you can see how this group could be pretty funny.

Fast forward to last Thursday's episode. The semester is coming to an end soon and Abed is disappointed that the list he has compiled from college movies of quintessential first year college experiences is no where near complete. He ends up "pantsing" Troy so he can mark it off his list. Troy does the same to Abed, which also happened to be on his list. They are sort of the Laurel and Hardy of the bunch, so they took it upon themselves to finish as much of the list as they could this episode. Pierce pants' Shirley when she walks in the room to get in on the college prank action and it does not end well for him. She is mad at him for that, and in turn for everything else he has done to her that year. He is mad at her for ruining his joke. They all begin to voice grievances with him too. Brita takes offense that Pierce refers to her as a lesbian, even though she is not. Annie did not like that Pierce said she had a "crafty Jew brain." Abed did not like that Pierce thought he was a terrorist. They collectively decide to kick Pierce out of the group for what he did to Shirley and for what he has done to all of them.

They soon find out that Pierce was a scape goat for the group. Even though his "compliments" were not to their liking, they did not realize what a hard time they gave Pierce. They begin to turn on each other, calling each person they make fun of "The New Pierce." Brita pronounces bagel with a short a, as in BAGel. Annie constantly does a shocked "huh" response to most things. Annie claimed that Shirley was the most bigoted after Pierce. Shirley invited her to a "pool party" that was actually a baptism, knowing that Annie is Jewish. Her response was, "Well excuse me for trying to sneak you into heaven."

Jeff and Brita were dealing with their own problems. While sitting in the cafeteria at the beginning of the episode, three high school students lean over to them and say "can you let us know exactly what happened in your life to get you here so we do not make the same mistakes?" Then they start laughing and calling Jeff and Brita "Smitty," which Pierce quickly points out probably means "Loser." They go back and forth with the group of kids the whole episode, getting "owned" by them in one way or another. The episode culminates in the cafeteria, where Jeff and Brita are face to face with the group of teens. Jeff looks at Brita and says, "it's a matter of pride." He walks over to the group of kids. The lead teen says, "What are you looking at." Jeff responds with, "What are you looking at, duh." Lead teen comes back with "What are you looking at, duh, a-duhhhh." The girl teen says "school his ass Mark!" Brita runs up and says "School his ass Mark, duhhhh." This leads to the whole group yelling "duh" at each other while the whole cafeteria watches. The scene changes and the screen says "12 minutes later." They are still going at their "duh" fest, but Jeff and Brita have gotten tired and had to sit down. Pierce and Shirley, who made up, walk in. Pierce looks at Shirley and says "Why are Jeff and Brita making fun of those handicapped kids?" They realize what is going on and that Jeff and Brita really need to "win" this one. They walk over and pants the kids, which breaks their concentration. "You forgot to say duh! You're the Smitty's!" The kids got owned. They turned to leave. Abed is disappointed that they have had to create so many "quintessential" college moments and that they did not happen organically. Just then, Troy and Abed get hit in the head with pie that the high school kids threw as they were leaving the cafeteria. They look at each other and both yell "Food Fight," which causes a massive food fight and their first organic quintessential college experience.

If you are still reading this, I'm impressed. I thought it was funny, but I also have the show to reference. If you have not seen the show, this episode is a good one to start with. NBC.com and hulu.com both stream this show and more for free. You should check it out.

I tried to find a clip of the show to post, but was not successful. Below is the link to watch the show on hulu. Enjoy.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/144934/community-the-art-of-discourse#s-p1-sr-i0