COMMUNITY

S02E20 - "Competetive Wine Tasting" (B)
                                         or
"The One Where Abed Shows Ned Ryerson Who's the Boss"

           After the last episode's foray into a very specific genre-mash, things settle down a bit this week, with Jeff and Pierce butting heads, and Abed showing a TV academic just who the boss really is.  Spring electives are being taught at the school, and most of these electives border on the preposterous.  There's even a PA announcement class, taught by none other than Dean Pelton.

          Abed, being the telephile that he is, takes a course on "Who's the Boss?", taught by Professor Peter Sheffield (played by veteran character actor Stephen Tobolowsky) who seems to have based his entire course on the ambiguity of the title's question.  Over-analyze TV as he might, he can't hold a candle to Abed's perception of the medium, and when Abed presents his case, via a Goldbergian-in-magnitude chalkboard diagram, that Angela may, in fact, be the boss, the walls come tumbling down.  Sheffield's long-standing concept of the show has been cut down, and he is left to ponder: "What Is Happening?"

          Troy and Britta are taking a drama class together, taught by Prof. Sean Garrity (Kevin Corrigan, reprising his role from "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design")  When Garrity presses the students to relive profound emotional memories, Troy draws a blank, as he is not profoundly emotional.  As another student professes her feelings of unimportance, Troy blurts out "My uncle put his finger in my no-no."  This instantly wins Britta over, as she is quite attracted to the emotionally damaged types, and sets up a painfully awkward yet fun-to-watch flirtation between Troy and Britta, which thankfully ends with the episode, but it's a lot of fun watching Donald Glover play a completely shallow person feigning depth.

          Jeff and Pierce end up in the same wine tasting class, where they both take a fancy to a young asian lady.  Jeff makes a pass, and gets the "no-speaka" turndown.  Pierce, contrarily, ends up engaged to the young woman.  Jeff knows something isn't quite right, despite the fact that she is seemingly just as racist as Pierce, and after his detective efforts fail him, a simple polite gesture from the young woman reveals her plot: she's after Pierce's pre-moistened towlette fortune.  But in the end, the two stay together, as they both work in the towel wipe industry and are both absolutely ruthless and awful people.

          All in all, it was a pretty good episode.


Potent Quotables

• "The Red Dragon ordered a number 37 with a side of pork-fried snap!"
• "Don't preach to me about romance, Annie.  I had a three-way on a hot air balloon."
• "No, Uncle Louis, I don't want to play in the laundry room!  My emotions!  My emotions!"
• "For homework, drink a glass of cognac in a bathtub."
• "My mind is open, professor.  It's as open as the door to Mona's bedroom.  It's a shame yours isn't."