One of the more annoying aspects of most TV shows that follow a group of friends who do extraordinary things among ordinary extras is that their activities usually go unnoticed. Think of the group in Friends, always snagging the best seating in a popular Manhattan coffeehouse, loudly discussing their tangled love lives, occasionally coming in with a rhesus monkey. I suggest that they would have attracted a certain amount of attention.3 Tonight we were introduced to a character who saw the show from the perspective of, well, the show’s audience.
That he is played by Jack Black is a sure sign that Community has its supporters in Hollywood (think the revolving door of guest stars on Arrested Development), but I'm fine with that. Not fine with the network's method of handling the situation, however. NBC ruined a 4th wall-breakingly hilarious moment- the shock of panning to the right and finding Jack Black politely praising Jeff- with its heavy, heavy promotion.
As it was, Black was a worthy addition to the table on his own merits. We know this guys bag of tricks well (spontaneous singing, eyebrow dancing) so it was interesting to see him tip them subtly away from funny into annoying. In the same way that someone has to be a skilled driver to appear to be a bad driver-under control- for the camera, Black’s showcase of anti-timing can be viewed as a testament to his skill as a comedian. Or something like that.
As it was, Black was a worthy addition to the table on his own merits. We know this guys bag of tricks well (spontaneous singing, eyebrow dancing) so it was interesting to see him tip them subtly away from funny into annoying. In the same way that someone has to be a skilled driver to appear to be a bad driver-under control- for the camera, Black’s showcase of anti-timing can be viewed as a testament to his skill as a comedian. Or something like that.
While, as our representative, Buddy has absorbed the full emotional impact of watching our heroes grow together, his message is one of change...might they for instance benefit from a chubby agile guy??... And therein lies the big-picture theme of “Investigative Journalism”, which, for maybe the first time, is just as funny as all the little jokes. Mid-season, Community is anticipating the possibility that the mechanics are beginning to creak.
This desire for change is most evident in Jeff, who has finally admitted to himself that he has feelings for this lovable band of misfits. Taking a cush job- nothing groundbreaking there- as editor of the school newspaper, he also takes on the persona of a (gasp!) CBS lead4 from a different era, M*A*S*H’s Hawkeye. This television critic has never seen MASH, (something I share with Jeff and most people born after the New York Jets' last Superbowl) but stylized, oversimplified mimicry is my kind of bag... especially when the target is my good friends and personal favorites the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea. Community’s style seems to be gentle, respectful ribbing of agreed-upon classics like "MASH" and "The Dark Knight", and outright geek love for obscure medium-sized hits like “An American Tail” and “Beastmaster”. Also justified contempt for Ryan Seacrest.
Other steps the gang considered taking to shake things up included a succession of ironic T-shirts for Pierce (“World’s Greatest Grandpa”- get it?) and replacing Abed with a near-silent Finn named Gary. For her part, Annie hopes to move on to bigger and better things outside Greendale with an expose uncovering the Dean’s subconscious racist tendencies.5 Unsurprisingly, that threatened change is the most important, as in order to protect Annie, Jeff is forced to realize that there's more to being Hawkeye than just cracking wise. Oh, and that Hawkeye=leader. It's a moral lesson that has more real-world applications than you might think.
The ending of tonight’s episode, in which everyone becomes creeped out by Buddy and votes to eject him from the group6, was not as skillful on a technical level as the musical conclusion to “Environmental Science”. Nor was it as gloriously anarchic as “Comparative Religion”’s ending. However in calling back to the meta truth that our heroes are not really that cool at all (or successful for that matter), it was pitch-perfect on a thematic level. Unlike Ryan Seacrest.
Episode Grade: A
Standout Character: Jeff Winger
Standout Moment: Going low-key... “I hope you’ve got an army of raisins, because I’ve got the scoop.”- Annie
1. Albeit a world in which 6 broke college students never ask their older wet-nap mogul friend for money.
2. Me? I’d probably be Jeff.
3. Other "who are these people's neighbors" examples: Lassie... a dog who saves basically one human life per week. As a stand-in for all "double life" characters, Chuck on Chuck constantly bringing models/international spies into the BuyMore supermart.
4. I wonder how hard NBC will come down on Community for encouraging the time-travelling demo to flip the channel.
5. Which apparently would be more damaging than his known tendencies towards homophobia, extortion of his students, and general incompetence.
6. Or rather lets the creep back in when Jeff has an epiphany about what a special group they are... and then watches as he choose to go with his first-choice cool kids instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment