By
Jon David Garca
Ian Duncan asks Jeff for advice on how to hook up with Britta. This leads to the whole gang, except for Abed and Hickey, to attend a charity event where Britta meets up with some of her old anarchist friends. Meanwhile, Abed and Hickey gets into a heated fight, after Abed inadvertently destroys 5 hours of Hickey's work.
There aren't much laughs to be found this time around, it instead focuses on little character moments; establishing the pairings with the new additions of the group. And every once in a while, I like that. It keeps the character from being caricatures of their former selves.
Take for example, Britta Perry: Britta was never my favorite character, but at the start of the series she was actually a cool idealistic girl. Yet by season 3 her idealist personality had become a joke; relegating her to the group's "airhead." So it's to my surprise that the writers made an effort to humanize her again. In this episode, when she comes face to face with some of her old anarchist friends, she comes to realize she is a failure of the standard she holds herself up to. This episode did what I thought the writers could never do again; they made me like Britta again.
Another example is Ian Duncan: Again, Duncan isn't my favorite character. He's rude, selfish and a creep; generally unlikeable. And his running gag of "being British" was never funny to begin with. His friendship with Jeff was never developed and seems to only exist so that, in the very few times Jeff isn't with the group, he has someone to talk to. But with Duncan now in the study group, it was only a matter of time for the writers to let Duncan and Jeff have a dynamic. Question is, would it come out organically? The answer is, yes. The writers point out that their friendship never came out as actual friendship; a revelation to the characters themselves. So by the end of the episode the problem has been fixed and they now feel like actual friends. Again, this episode did what I thought the writers could never do; they made me like Duncan.
Meanwhile, Abed and Hickey gets to lock horns. It's been hinted before that Hickey doesn't like Abed. Now, it's revealed it's because Abed never gets to suffer the consequences of his actions just because he's Abed. People left and right enables him, too accepting of his quirks. Hickey believes him to be spoiled. And this time things must have consequences. When Abed destroys Hickey's drawings, he ties him to a drawer with handcuffs; making Abed miss a "Kick Puncher" movie. Abed gets mad and used his super observational skills to psycho-analyze him. They get in a verbal exchange that cuts deep to both men. If anyone misses the "Troy and Abed" pairing, at least we have this new pairing and I'm excited where it leads.
And for some reason, Chang is getting funnier. I never liked Chang. I think he's the weakest of all the cast, and it got me worried when they added him in the study group. But the writers seem to be learning, and he's not as loud and insane as before. His storyline might not be important like the others, but it's hilarious anyway. Again, This episode is doing what I thought the writers could never do; I might be liking Chang.
This episode might not be the best the show ever had, and the new study group can't replace the dynamic of the original study group. But this show has life left in it. And if anything Community can do is surprise the hell out of you with each episode it release.
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