All About Blade

Community, S03E12

Greta locked herself in the safety of Abed, Troy, and Annie's place to prevent herself from running back to her old carnie boyfriend, Blade.  Annie tried to stop Greta's obssessive behavior toward Blade by pretending to be him via texts, but it only made her cling to him harder.  The madness only stopped after both Troy sent her a nice text and Jeff revealed that Blade's irresistibility resulted from a former head injury that shut of his sense of shame.  The dean also was ordered by the vice dean to lure Troy into the air conditioning program and was mysteriously hanging around Abed and Troy's apartment all night.

I felt like I didn't exactly see how bad Blade could be for Greta, beyond her own testimony.  She claimed that he was the reason that she didn't believe in love and other negative things, but I just wasn't buying that he was the scum of the earth.  Or at least that him passing into town was cause for an emergency situation.  I wish that Annie wasn't so damn nice (or wanting Greta to be better friends with her) that she easily agreed to watch over her.  I almost felt like Abed and Troy who wanted nothing to do with the Greta situation and were only interested in watching Blade.  The more Greta tried to trick Annie into giving her phone and texted "Blade," the more I was reminded of what an airhead she is.  Her friends were right to laugh at her about her ex-boyfriend because Greta's love life is a train wreck.  I'm really curious to know what it was that Troy wrote to her that was so sweet that she thought Blade was a loser.  Greta deserves someone like her ex that won't respect her if she's going to be such a moron.

Jeff, too, was a moron in the way he was equally obsessing over Blade, just in a different way.  He dropped over 300 dollars just so he could pick Blade's brain, thinking he would discover some kind of great trick on how to snare women.  It was just as painful to watch him simultaneously bragging to Blade, while questioning his life with the hopes he'd figure him out, as it was to watch Greta texting "him."  Jeff is always going to one end of the spectrum:  either he's too disinterested or super-focused on some insignificant matter.  The funny thing was that I thought that Blade seemed like a very collected person in the face of Jeff freaking over what it was that women loved about the carnie.  I never thought Jeff would get an answer from him, nor did I think the answer would be that Blade lacked the mental capacity to feel shame.  The only good thing about Jeff understanding this was that he was able to set Greta straight.  No matter how stupid (and mostly likely instigated by his ego) it was that he was stalking Blade, at least it had a purpose.

What's up with the dean showing up at Abed and Troy's?  I was really confused by that, and he refused to answer that no matter how many times he was asked.  I was going to just write it off as another weird thing that you can't explain about the dean until I remembered that the vice dean had told him to figure out a way to get to Troy.  Of course, the dean didn't do anything but sit around like the unwelcomed guest he was, but if he wasn't there to spy or wait for an opportunity to steer Troy into the vice dean's arms, I couldn't imagine what would possess him to show up at his students' place in his pajamas.  He's not that wacky.  I wonder if the dean is going to continue to show up in the group's activities from now on without explaining his reason for being there.

Oh, and another weird thing was Pierce and Chang becoming best friends for a second.  Once upon a time, Chang was gunning to become a permanent member of the study group, so him latching himself to the first person who asked him to be his friend was easy to believe.  As crazy as the two of them are, though, they didn't make much of a good pair. They were funny and fancy-free in their frolick through the carnival, but I knew it wouldn't last very long.  I have no idea why Chang exploded and ended it; if someone was going to screw things up, I would have bet on Pierce.  I guess Chang is too much of a psycho to have a real friend for more than an hour or two.  I really wish that Chang had more of a significant role in the show.  He's so hilarious, but lately he rarely shows up for more than a few minutes or two.  I'd like the writers to "chang" that soon.

Good episode that seems to be building up to something.  Annie may be starting to get over her secret longing for Jeff, and the dean may be working in the shadows to bring Troy to the "dark side."  Also, Jeff's actions toward Blade made it seem like he may still have some feelings for Greta.  Those two have always had this thing between them, but they never really got together (for a significant amount of time).  I think Jeff might be better suited for Annie, who could possibly steer him toward a better version of himself, so if they go down that road, I'll hope that Annie hasn't given up on him just yet.  After all, Greta's track record with men is terrible.  She'd be no different if she was with Jeff.

Pillows Versus Blankets, Part Two

Community, S03E14

The conclusion of Abed and Troy's epic pillow fort battle was told to us in a mock documentary style, narrated by Keith David.  There seemed to be no reasoning with the two commanders of Blanketsburg and Pillowtown, even with Jeff's weakest attempts.  In fact, Jeff was content to stay on the sidelines, texting and occasionally giving speeches to the two sides to prolong the battle as long as possible to keep himself out of class.  Thanks to Annie, he gradually changed his position to be neutral and tried to get the two friends to reconcile.  Meanwhile, Pierce was battling Chang's army of kids, and Shirley was knocking down as many people as she could with her mighty pillow attacks.  It was Jeff who got Abed and Troy to eventually put down their pillows, but it was them losing their chance to get the world record that made the rest of the "soldiers" throw in the towel (or blanket, if you will).

Hearing Keith David's voice and watching the format of this episode, made me feel like I was back in class for a minute.  I really enjoyed that since they were mapping out Greendale like a real battlefield.  The serious way that they presented the story emphasized how little meaning the fight had at all.  It was easier to laugh at it, instead of getting annoyed about how Troy and Abed were acting like kids who just needed to make up already.

I particularly liked that the narrator was making fun of Greta's photographing skills.  He made a good point that just because it's in black and white, doesn't mean that it's good.  Greta's pictures looked like the stuff people take by mistake from their pockets with their camera phones.  He gave her credit for capturing the moment that Abed and Troy became one again, but she just got lucky when she was trying to get the light hitting off of a stack of pancakes.  What??  Who takes pictures like that?? I loved the stupidity.

What I didn't love was the cheap shots that Abed and Troy were making on each other.  Abed wrote an email that listed all of Troy's weaknesses, making it seem like he didn't have an ounce of respect for him or his feelings.  Troy, in return, told Abed that Troy was his only hope for a friend because no one else would have the patience.  They were being so mean to each other!  The worst kind of mean where it's nothing but the ugly truth.  But I guess it's good they got some things off their chest.  A friendship without any arguments sounds a little too good to be true (even for TV).

Usually, when Jeff comes to "save the day," it just makes me roll my eyes.  But this time, when he used Abed and Troy's child-like nature to prove they valued their friendship, I thought he was sweet.  I mean, he didn't just pretend to put their friendship hats on them again, he went back to the dean's office, pretended to find them, fixed them, and then brought them back to place on their heads.  Way to go above and beyond, Jeff.  He may never stop being self-centered, but he does care about his friends on some level.  Even if Annie needs to push him (though, I feel like he's always trying to please her because he wants to date her), he'll eventually get it through his thick skull what the right thing is to do.

On a random note that I meant to mention last time, it's pretty annoying that Subway is sponsoring Community.  Advertising on shows is nothing new, but I absolutely hate it when it's so obvious (an example that comes to mind is recent episodes of Psych where they practically have a commercial within an episode).  I suppose now with Subway being a part of the cafeteria, we will have to see a glimpse of their brand in every episode now.  Boo.  It might be necessary for funding or whatever, but can't we make these things subtle??  Ugh.  I'm not going to go to Subway because I like this show.

Anyway, as long as Troy and Abed got back together (and we got to see them doing their routine extra at the end of the episode--pledge drive), I liked the episode.  I wish their battle was a little more exciting and less of a joke, frankly.  It was good, but it could have been better (I'm shooting for the stars because the paintball episodes were so good).  Also, I liked how it ended with Jeff talking with the narrator and him asking if he was in The Cape.  The narrator pauses and says no, but we know that Keith David surely was.  Good ending to a good episode.

Pillows Versus Blankets, Part One

Community, S03E13

The stories of Jeff apologizing to the mysterious Kim who sent him a hate letter before "she died" and Shirley and Pierce's using Greta as a pawn to bring down a personified version of Subway Corporation were nothing to the story of Abed and Troy starting a war over a pillow and blanket fort.  This was an unfinished story, so it's unclear whether the rivalry between the best TV duo I know is going to end up being a permanent thing.  Despite that the vice-dean had a hand in creating the rift between these friends, my dislike of Abed continues in this episode.

I have little to say about the non-Abed Troy stories, but I was interested in one aspect of Greta's story.  The man who played Subway was Travis Schuldt!  No matter what I see him in, I will always see him as the original Ethan Winthrop from Passions.  I don't think I've seen him since his short-lived role on Srubs.  In this episode, he managed to sweep someone as cynical as Greta off her feet and was his usual charming self (Ethan was always pretty hot).  It's too bad he had depraved sex with Greta and the corporation took him away and replaced him with a less handsome look-alike.  He and Greta could have made a cute couple.  And it would have been nice to see her in love instead of being the source of negativity for everyone.

Now onto to Troy versus Abed.  I worried if the tension we saw last week would still be there this week, and it totally was, even though it looked like the two were fine.  Nothing says Abed and Troy like a pillow fort, but thanks to the dean suggesting that they go for the Guinness Book of World Records for a fort made of either pillows or blankets, Troy started to feel second-rate to Abed.  It's so hard for me to abandon all of the love I have for such an unique character like Abed, but through Troy I see how selfish he can be.  Troy was eager to take on the challenge of breaking the record, but Abed (although, wanting no glory from building a fort beyond the fun they could have) ignored Troy's desire completely.  No wonder it was so easy for the vice dean to whisper in his ear that Abed didn't respect his opinion--he wasn't lying!  When Abed was telling him how to stack the pillows before he told Troy to basically go ahead and waste his time building a pillow fort but he wasn't going to help, I was almost a little happy that Troy ran off.  I say little because I don't want them to fight!  But I understand why Troy would feel like he wasn't important to Abed unless Troy was doing something for him.  

I changed my mind a little about Abed later when he rather easily agreed to tear down his fort in order to make room for Troy's (so he does care about Troy's desires?), but of course, the vice-dean came and interfered right before Abed pulled the crucial sock (I guess that would have sent everything crashing down?).  After that, Abed wasn't backing down, nor was Troy, so they were both the leaders of their own little pretend forts.  Seeing them stand on opposite sides broke my heart, but at the same time it was a little exciting to see.  They usually work together, so if they go against each other, which one of them would win?  I wouldn't be mad if they resolved their issues easily after one heart-to-heart talk (because I love them together and I don't care about plot when that's concerned), but I doubt it will happen if they are going to drag out the story until next time.  And what sort of fights will they have with pillows and blankets?  That's extremely interesting to me.

If the next episode can turn to anything like that fabulous paintball story, I will die.  That was insanely cool!  I didn't think they would do anything like that again any time soon, since they just brought back Community and all, but perhaps they're playing all their cards while they can (who knows if someone stupid will try to cancel their prematurely again?).  I can't wait for the conclusion of Team Abed versus Team Troy!

"Normal" Abed And Troy Are Still Funny As Normal

Community, S03E11

Finally Community came back last week!  It was worth the wait to see the gang back to their usual Greendale routine.  This episode was mostly about Shirley's second marriage to Andre (Gotta love Theo, aka Malcolm Jamal Warner).  This standard ceremony (as standard as a marriage ceremony set up in a room at a college could be) sets the background for everyone to act anything but normal, except perhaps Annie who was unsurprisingly her typical girly self who was dying to get involved with the wedding.  It was sort of relief to watch this show after a while (especially fearing that it would never be picked up again) and see that it was still as funny as I remembered.

Greta was her usual self, giving everyone her downer opinion of why marriage was horrible and repressive, but she contradicted all of her complaints by being the "Martha Stewart" of weddings.  She could amazingly arrange flowers into a beautiful piece of art and transform that study room into a romantic wonderland that most girls would give their left leg to have their nuptials performed.  It was good that she was fighting so hard against her natural instinct to become another "Stepford wife"; sometimes with Greta's need to argue against everything, you forget she's a woman for some reason.  She comes off a little manly, I think, because she's not very honest about her feelings and thinks that every establishment is some kind of social scam.

Jeff, as if to mirror Greta, went off in a drunken spiral about how marriage was a lie and would have ruined the ceremony if not for Greta's ranting and Shirley and Andre's fight beforehand.  I definitely would have guessed that his parents got divorced, although I don't think that is the main factor that leads him to be so jaded.  But the fact that his parents couldn't stay together must have hit him really hard since he couldn't bring himself to just lie and make a semi-decent speech about how wonderful it was that his friend was going to get married.  I'm glad that Andre and Shirley got the "marriage is the worst" club to shut up and renewed their vows.  I couldn't listen to Jeff whine about how miserable he was made through the loss of his parents' union nor Greta about how she was surrendering to marriage (she should be so lucky that someone would want that brand of crazy to wake up to every morning--though, I bet only Jeff would be able to match that as a husband).

My favorite thing about the wedding was that Shirley asked Abed and Troy to act "normal."  Although I love the two to death, I think it is a reasonable request because they have imagination levels that are off the charts at most times.  When they decided that they would tone it down for Shirley's sake, I was worried that they would become so stereotypically "normal" that they would be even weirder than usual.  Instead, they pulled off normal pretty well!  It was hilarious when they were talking to Andre in their sympathetic, "normal" tone, but all he could hear was sarcasm.  So great.  I almost didn't want them to turn back, but I'm sure it wouldn't be as funny after a while.  I mean, it only works in a comedic fashion because it's a contrast to the bizarre rocket these two can get on over even the smallest thing once they have set their mind to it.

On a completely different note, does Pierce look a little younger?  It might be perhaps he wasn't dressed too much like a retired old man and his hair isn't as white as it usually was.  I'm not entirely sure.  I'm a little disappointed that he and Shirley didn't get to have their little sandwich shop together.  I think that would have set up some crazy situations down the road.  But I guess they don't really need to try hard in Community to set up the weirdness.  It will just come naturally as this weird study group interacts with each other.

So glad that Community is back in the NBC mix.  It was especially nice since there was no Parks and Recreation to watch last Thursday.  I've heard some buzz about Chang (you brought the show back and didn't have him all up in it??) being up to no good in an episode soon, so I'm excited about that.  "Senior Chang" was probably one of my favorite characters a while ago, and I have missed the insane stuff he used to say.  He best be in the next episode.