Community Ep. 14, "Interpretive Dance"

UNDER CONSTRUCTION


Looking back, there were at least two early indicators that should have tipped me off to the fact that "Interpretive Dance" was going to be a step back from Community's excellent run of late. Of course there was Annie's contraction of "preliminary" and "pow-wow" into "prelimi-wow". Even accepting that Annie's sense of humor is separate from the show's sense of humor, that joke is pretty wow itself¹. What she said next, however, should have been just as worrying. The library's back door closes at 5? And the front door stays open? Has there ever been a lower stakes plot catalyst in the history of television? Excepting the entire body of boardwalk activities on Jersey Shore?


Unfortunately I was distracted from these obvious points by the awesome joke of Pierce showing up late and the group worrying that he had died (cherry on the icing on top that both Britta and Troy had told him to suck it the last time they spoke to him).  And I suppose some of you will say that that's the nature of Community- grit your teeth through the bad joke and it will usually be followed by a good joke². Unfortunately I have fallen into this habit of assessing episodes as a whole. And I score SAT style, bitches: points off for wrong answers.


But I'm less nitpicky than it sounds. In fact I'm willing to give the larger story behind "Interpretive Dance" a fair shake, even though I've said in the past...


Episode Grade: B
Standout Character: Britta
Standout Moment: 

Footnotes
1. You didn't like that wordplay? Take it as further proof that lame jokes are not funny for being lame.
2. Or by a bad joke followed by a good joke. Or by a bad joke, followed by an eh joke, followed by a good joke. But it rarely goes beyond that.