Let me start by making this simple proclamation: “Community” is better than “The Office.” I know… I know… That’s blaspheme, especially coming from someone like me who’s been pushing “The Office” on people for the past 5 years (At this point I don’t even know who’s got my Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD… No, seriously I’m freaking bidding on eBay for replacements). However, when you see an episode of “Community” like last week’s “Epidemiology” there can be no doubt (Sadly, judging by the ratings only Casey Johnson, my brother, & I watched the episode. What the hell do you people do on Thursday nights? Get hammered? Do homework? Get hammered while doing homework? Either way you’re making a mistake). In fact “Community” actually surpassed “The Office” last season with its brilliant paintball, action send up “Modern Warfare” (the best half hour of TV all last season). Out of loyalty I gave “The Office” a chance to come back this season, but Community remains the stronger, & much funnier, show.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that “Community” would give us probably the greatest Halloween themed episode of all-time (which is saying something considering how good last week’s “Modern Family” was). No live action show does a better job of poking fun at/paying homage to movie genres. First there was last season’s mob themed chicken finger episode with homages to “The Godfather” movies and “Goodfellas”, then “Modern Warfare,” followed by this year’s space themed episode of two weeks ago & then last week’s zombie apocalypse masterpiece “Epidemiology” (officially the half hour that all other comedy’s will be judged against the rest of this season).
Before I give a recap of the episode’s events I would like cover how well thought out the costumes of the characters’ were. Dean Pelton as Lady Gaga fit his character much better than it Gabe on “The Office” with the dean’s very badly closeted homosexuality. Jeff’s David Beckham-dressed in a $6,000 suit, with a 5 o’clock shadow & carrying around a soccer ball-was an inspired choice highlighting his obsession with looking cool which would play a part in the episode. Britta, who last year complained that too many girls use Halloween as an excuse to dress like sluts, wore an ill conceived T-Rex (or “dragon-turtle” as Jeff guessed) costume that prevented her from being able to use her arms/hands (brilliant). Pierce once again proved how of touch he is with pop culture by dressing as a William Shatner version of Capt. Kirk (last year he was Conan). Annie’s Little Red Riding Hood costume somehow pulled of the coup of playing up both her innocence & her attractiveness. Shirley followed up last year’s Harry Potter outfit, which everyone guessed was Urkel, with yet another ambiguous costume that had everyone wrongly seeing Miss Piggy. Chang as figure skater Peggy Fleming was an inspired choice allowing for Michele Kwan & Kristi Yamaguchi guesses from Jeff & Britta leading to Chang’s very funny line, “Just been proven racist by the racist prover.” Lastly we get the 2 costumes that would play the biggest role in the episode. Abed as an alien from “Alien” & Troy as Ripley in that machine she uses to fight the aliens in “Alien 2.”
When Troy fights off Abed’s alien in front of a couple “hotties” at the school’s Halloween party (I love how involved everyone is at Greendale Community College) & then tries to pick up their numbers only to be dismissed as a “geek” he is forced to face how much he’s changed from being in college & becoming Abed’s best friend. Troy was the classic dumb yet popular jock in high school, yet over the last year he’s become increasingly more geeky while hanging out with the tv/movie obsessed Abed. Naturally, upon realizing this, Troy attempts to counteract this development by going topless, (to reveal a pretty ripped Donald Glover) with the exception of a toilet seat cover as a necklace, & declaring himself to be a “sexy Dracula” despite Abed pointing out that his alien costume only makes sense when Troy is in his as well. What’s great about this is how the writers create conflict out of previously established character traits & storyline as opposed to just making some bull-crap up like a lesser show would do (or in fact they did to a certain degree w/ Annie in the space episode). This sets the show up for its later dramatic turn, now on to the action!
Peirce and some of the other students eat some of the dip the dean bought from an army surplus store and immediately develop a fever that Doctor Rich (previously seen in the season 1 episode “Beginning Pottery”) originally diagnoses as food poisoning, until Peirce bites Starburns (that’s a character for any newbs) leading to Rich’s hilarious, “Okay. I’m ruling out food poisoning.” Panic ensues . Our group heads for the doors only to have Dean Pelton lock them for quarantine, having been told by the army to do so. They then make a break for the study room where Chang attempts to lock them out & upon failing tries to save face with an enthusiastic, “Welcome. Oh thank God you’re all right.” Annie thinks of a way to possibly turn back the effects of the zombieism by turning down the thermostat to stop the fever (Ridiculous? Yes, but so are zombies). Rich then asks if anyone’s been bit & everyone denies having been bit but we see that Rich was in fact bitten on his ankle. A fantastic sequence follows with Rich describing all of the symptoms as he experiences them until he reaches the last one. “I forgot one. Sluuuurrrreddd speeeeeeeeach.” Everyone then freaks out & Rich claims he though he was “special,” leading to Britta’s revealing she was bitten, “You’re not special! I’m special! I was bitten ten minutes ago and I’m fiiiiiiine.” The remaining uninfected grab chairs to defend themselves & Chang yells, “You have to destroy the brain!” & throws his skate at the Britta & Rich zombies only to have it smash through the window and allow the zombies to break into the study room and grab Annie. The remaining survivors make a break for it & then the episode only gets funnier.
We get Chang & Shirley holed up in the ladies’ room (“Occupied! Occupied!”), & eventually sleeping together, when it’s revealed they’re each the only person who knows who the other is dressed up as, before they’re overrun by zombies. Jeff, Troy, & Abed escape the zombies, finding themselves in some sort of boiler room/storage area where they’re confronted by a cat that keeps jumping out at them (Troy: “Is somebody throwing it?!). Jeff gets bit due to his vanity regarding his suit & Abed sacrifices himself to save Troy, “Make me proud. Be the first black man to make it to the end.” Then Abed: “I love you.” Troy: “I know.”
Now realizing how important his friendship with Abed is, & how foolish he was before, Troy puts his Ripley costume back on to go turn down the thermostat & save the day telling the zombies, “Prepare to meet the power of imagination!” However a costume of plastic, cardboard, and tape proves not to be a match for zombies, “Ok… I don’t know why I thought this would work.” He them makes a mad dash for the thermostat but zombie Abed & Shirley intercept him & begin biting him, “Ok… Ok… I’ve been bit ya’ll. You did what zombies do.” Escaping their grasp he crawls to the thermostat & turns it down just before turning, & everyone eventually comes back to normal & the army arrives just in time to wipe away everyone’s memory of the event.
Now the only possible criticism of this episode would be that it took the show to a plain of reality further than it had ever been before, which is true. My counter would be it’s okay because the characters remained grounded. Sure Jeff being more concerned with his suit than being eaten by zombies is ridiculous but it’s consistent with a character who once wore socks that matched his plaid shirt. This is in essence what makes “Community” superior to a show like “Glee.” “Glee” alters its characters’ personalities , especially Shuester & especially in the terrible “Rocky Horror” episode, so as to be able to take the episode wherever the writers want. “Community” on the other hand will put its characters in outlandish situations & then have the characters react according to their personal traits (& on the rare occasion it doesn’t the cast is so good that the episode is usually redeemed). Plus this was just one of the funniest half hours of television I've had the pleasure of watching.
Episode Grade: A+
Other thoughts:
· Loved the Dean’s ipod being on throughout the episode allowing us to enjoy both Abba’s greatest hits & the Dean’s voice memos which included a “Human Centipede” reference and “Add ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ soundtrack to workout mix.”
· The Halloween specific opening credit sequence was fantastic (I love the regular one as well)
· “Leonard you better back that pumpkin ass up or I’m gonna make a pie.”
· “The army’s going to be here in six hours.” “Why six hours? Are they hosting the Oscars?”
· The zombie dressed as a Hamster & Chang screaming “Hamster! Hamster!” was gold.
· “Zombie Annie what big fists you have… In your face!”
Brilliant decision to have the zombie versions of characters retaining some of their characteristics including : Zombie Annie reading a book, zombie Troy & Abed’s handshake, & zombie Jeff texting & then continuing to do so as he turned back.
· George Teke’s phone message for Kevin’s made me wish just for a second my name was Kevin.
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