COMMUNITY

S02E19
"Critical Film Studies"  (A+)

          A damn fine cup of television, indeed.  Community knows its audience fairly well, and their gamble that much of the audience would be somewhat unfamiliar with My Dinner With Andre pays off in spades.  I am somewhat embarrassed, being the A/V junkie that I am, to admit that I have never seen said film, but if I had spotted the parody at the beginning of the episode, it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun.





          It's Abed's birthday, and at his request he is having dinner with Jeff so they can have an "important conversation".  When Abed's chosen venue is a fancy restaurant, Jeff begins to suspect that there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.  It's not Abed's style at all, in fact, nothing about the way Abed is behaving is typical of his pop-culture-geek persona.  Jeff is uncomfortable and anxious, for the rest of the study group awaits him and Abed for a Pulp Fiction themed surprise party at a somewhat Jack-Rabbit-Slim's-esque diner.

          Jeff makes a few none-too-subtle suggestions to Abed that they should go to the diner, but an unfazed Abed continues in his Andre homage, ordering an appetizer and diving right in to their "important conversation".  It seems that Abed's Cougar Town fan club has drawn the attention of the show's producers, who in an act of goodwill saw fit to invite Abed to the set of the show.  They even allow him the opportunity to have a non-speaking role as an extra, which Abed naturally takes far too seriously.  In an act of thespian dedication that even Strasberg would blush at, Abed invents an identity for his non-speaking role, and identity so consuming that he finds it very difficult to break from the role.  Once the scene has ended, Abed collapses and shits his pants.  This might sound tragic, but the setup to Abed's revelation of self-defecation is one of comic genius.  And of course, the entire story is a fabrication of Abed's in order to justify the "important conversation".


            While all of this is going on, the rest of the study group wait at the diner, tensions mounting.  As it turns out, Britta works at this diner, and has convinced the manager to close the diner for the party.  Britta is fast becoming Pierce's rival for the title of study group pariah, and rightfully so, as her being antagonized by others is much funnier than Pierce's constant antagonism of everyone else.


          Abed's pseudo-sincerity bewilders Jeff into a moment of actual sincerity, in which he admits to telling phone sex operators he is obese, and even tells a story about a trick-or-treating trek he spent dressed as a little Indian girl.  Naturally, Jeff's openness weirds Abed out to the point where he wants to jump ship on his Andre homage, particularly after Abed figures out that there is a Pulp Fiction party lying in wait for him.


          Jeff is understandably upset at Abed once he discovers he's been unwittingly taking part in a "My Dinner With Andre" spoof, but you know this isn't going to last long.  The last three minutes of almost any episode of Community usually consist of hatchets being buried and friendships being strengthened.  What makes this particular ending sequence work so well is the unusual juxtaposition of Andre's visual style and narrative with the cast of the show dressed as characters from Pulp Fiction reenacting memorable scenes from the film.  Like I said, Community knows its audience well, and it knows how to reward them with quality episodes of television.


Potent Quotables

• "It's a 30 minute film about a group of friends who enjoy cheeseburgers, dancing, and the Bible."
• "Courtney had nailed it."
• "What, I have 3-D vision, now?"
• "Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool."
• "Ah, that's good no-no juice."

Tags: Community, NBC Thursday, My Dinner with Andre, Pulp Fiction, Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover, Childish Gambino, Alison Brie, Yvette Nicole Brown, Chevy Chase, Several Butcher's Aprons.