"Community" Watch"-Course Listing Unavailable"

Chang's got an army now,
but will the show put it to good use?

We're on to week 3 of NBC Comedy watch & my reviews seem to be getting progressively longer so for this week at least I'm giving each show its own post.

Community-"Course Listing Unavailable"

Whenever a show attempts a serialized story there are bound to be episodes that move the various characters around & then there will be episodes where those moves pay off. This was very much the former kind of episode, which prevented it from reaching the heights of the last 4 weeks.*

*Todd VanDerWerff at the AV Club gives a great review of the episode in which he discusses the potential downside of the serialization of a comedy.  



At the end of last week's episode we found out Starburns had died when he was rear ended & the meth lab in the back of his van blew up. As far as ways to go that's not bad. The show treats this with some seriousness as Annie &, especially, Troy are affected by it but the group quickly devolves into selfishness regarding Starburns' death. Shirley just wants to show off by singing "Ave Maria" at the memorial service, Britta wants to flaunt her new found psychology knowledge (which gave us the fantastic Jeff line, "When I first met you, you seemed smarter than me), & Jeff could give a s@#$ (which as Britta points out is the first stage of grief-Denial) until his summer is taken away due to Professor Cain's resigning** because of the incident & everyone receiving an incomplete in the class (Pierce & Abed don't seen all that affected either way).

**Alan Sepinwall points out that in both of the first 2 seasons the original teacher was replaced so it's somewhat of a plot stretch for Greendale to be unable to find a replacement again. 

The actions of the group tell us something we're well aware of-these are some very flawed human beings (pun intended)-but at the same time they also remind us that mourning someone's death, be they a close relative or your school's top hat wearing drug dealer, is often a selfish experience. After all most people die either at an advanced age or after a long struggle with sickness, making death a release from pain (&, possibly an entrance into a better place), & yet we weep & moan at their passing. We do so out of a combination of sadness that they will no longer be there for us, and because we are reminded of our own mortality-a point Community made when Pierce's mom died in season 2's "The Psychology of Letting Go" (a better episode than this regardless of what Dan Harmon thinks).


Of course in this instance Starburns' death is all but forgotten as his memorial service devolves into first an airing of grievances by the "Greendale Seven" at having lost their summers due to the school's incompetence, & then a riot (stage 2-Anger; the highlight of which was Pierce's, "Let's burn this mother down!"). Naturally this prompts Dean Pelton to sign off on Chang's demand for full police powers & Chang release his prepubescent army. This is all pretty ridiculous, which is ok, but it's not all that funny, which is not. The episode then goes through the motions of having the Dean meet with the seven in the nurse's office where they decide to place all the blame on Chang (which isn't entirely fair, but then again Señor Chang never was either), only to have his minions overhear & report back to their leader (Do these kids not have school?). Chang then tranks the Dean & replaces him with the his doppelgänger from the bas mitzvah in "Contemporary Impressionists." All of which leads to the group's getting expelled by the school board which is firmly entrenched in Chang's pocket (stage 3-Bargaining).


The group then heads back to Trobednie's apartment where they're all wallowing in despair (stage 4-Depression), with Abed wondering about the darkest timeline as the pizza guy from "Remedial Chaos Theory" came to deliver, until Troy saves the day, or at least their spirits, by pointing out that so long as they're together things can't be too bad (stage 5-Acceptance). On the one hand this continued Troy's growth & the idea that he may be the best leader for the group, that's been hinted at since early season 2, on the other the winsome glances shared between Troy & Britta and Jeff & Annie are starting to get old now (Just let one of them hook up already!) & the callbacks to "Chaos Theory" served as a reminder of how much better that episode was. Though to be fair that episode is a masterpiece.


All in all a pretty mediocre episode by Community's high standards, especially following 4 fantastic episodes, but like I said before, this was a moving the pieces episode. For most of the last 2 seasons the show has struggled to find a role that consistently works for Chang the way being a Spanish teacher did (if you look at the best episodes of this season, "Chaos Theory," & the Halloween, Glee, & Dreamatorium episodes, you'll notice Chang is conspicuously absent), if this Chang's Army storyline pans out then this episode, indeed Chang's whole role this season, will look better in retrospect. We'll just have to wait & see.

Grade: B


As always your thoughts are welcomed.