Community Ep. 6, "Football, Feminism, and You"

To steal a quote from tonight's episode, I really feel as though "Community" and I are bonding through our mutual adolescence. Every now and then, though, even your longtime teenage friend can do something new and unexpected to shock you¹. The specific developments that surprised me tonight? (A) That Britta's character was shown to have another side and (B) that Troy's character was proven, unexpectedly, to actually exist.

Logically I ought to open with the football element of "Football, Feminism, and You". To this point in the show Troy has consciously if uncomfortably assumed the role and, as we find out tonight, the head of the college isn't looking to let him escape his one-word identity any time soon. As played by Jim Rash², the Dean pleads with Troy to join the struggling football team, but when such liberal appeasement(!!) doesn't work, he blackmails Jeff into using his effortless cool to persuade his new friend.

I should state that I am a fan of Donald Glover from his days on Derrick Comedy and that so far as Troy I have found him to be okay. He's landed some killer lines and elevated others with unique delivery, but I unfairly assumed that he would remain a cardboard one-liner factory³ in the way that 30 Rock uses... well everyone but Jack and Liz. Of course Community has already shown itself to be more interested in character than that show, but as I said at the time even Abed's turn in "Introduction to Film" seemed to be a mere origin story that, like all origin stories, might as well be forgotten⁴. Troy's journey as a dumb jock archetype discovering himself had more pathos for me, and despite the heavy afternoon special irony I was emotionally involved when he chose to defy Annie, the Dean, Jeff, etc (thus disproving the Dean's theory that if Jeff said "Stop", Troy would respond with "Hammertime").


As for Jeff's coming to support him, I struggled with it. Obviously Jeff's continual march towards crisis and self-improvement is part of the formula of the show, but the balance between sentimental and ironic was off tonight. The noise of Jeff's growing a conscience (again) at the 11th hour (or 23rd minute) should never drown out tender character moments like it nearly did tonight.

Compared to Troy's development, Britta's exposure was more necessary and less hilariously inspired, though there is nothing unfunny about shedding tears over the sentence "I've peed alone my whole life." Anyone can observe that women often go to the bathroom in groups⁵, but to wed this inconsequential fact to a plot that advances character is... good enough for a B plot. I think most students of television character psychology (like myself) realized that Britta's unrelenting toughness and sarcasm were masking some insecurities, so it was important that the actual reveal turned out to be believable and pretty funny. "Soft in there" Britta (as Shirley would say) may not be the same thing as a truly vulnerable Britta, but I consider it a step up from the half-ass character motivations provided in "Advanced Criminal Law". Kudos for allowing her to resolve Annie's boy troubles in the bathroom as well.

... Which was the real strength of "F, F & U. Every character but one served a vital purpose tonight and that even this character's absence was explained in a direct, albeit joking way. The meta-ness of Abed taking a break from his meta comments was rather meta, yes, but it was also an ingenious maneuver to let the show breathe. Dean Pelton ably took Abed's place in what was more than a mere 30-Rock-guest-star role⁶. In fact, I enjoyed him enough as the embodiment of political correctness (teamed up with Pierce to find a Greendale Community mascot) that I consider him the star of the episode... which is obviously something very different from the episode's standout character©. I could go on about how on-the-nose the satire about celebrating mediocrity and avoiding ethnic identifiers- ie "Irish chins"- was, but really it's faster to paraphrase Jeff and say that in this case "not being racist is the new racism".

Episode Grade: A-

Standout Character: Troy
Standout Moment: “Football is part of you, Troy, I can see it in your eyes.” “That’s racist.” “Your soul!” “That’s racist.” “Your eyes?” “That’s gay.” “That’s homophobic.” “That’s black.” “That’s racist!” “Damn.”

Footnotes

1. Figuratively. I have no teenage friends and if I did I'm confident that they would be resolutely predictable.
2. A solid, funny actor whom history will surely place directly in between Verne Troyer and Stone Cold Steve Austin on the bald-and-pale spectrum.
3. To be clear: a factory made of cardboard that specializes in one-liners. I have had worse mixed metaphors.
4. Obviously this is patently incorrect. What I meant was that all bad origin stories- Australia , Daredevil, Australia- ought to be forgotten.
5. At least since the societal contributions of the Observational Stand-Up Movement of the 1990's.
6. 30 Rock is really taking a beating in this conversation.