Thanksgiving Prison

Community, S04E05

Jeff was forced to have Thanksgiving with his estranged father because, despite he couldn't find the courage to knock on the door and bolted, Britta went ahead and entered his father's house without him.  Shirley invited the others to her house for Thanksgiving, but they were all so miserable there that they hid in the basement and plotted to escape without Shirley realizing it.

How I wish that Britta would have just burst into flames and turned into ash.  She was so intrusive in this story.  I guess I could blame the Dean for having such a big mouth and telling the gang about him going to meet his father, but I wish that Britta would stop trying to be a therapist to him.  If her ignorance about psychology was humorous maybe I could let her slide, but her stupidity just makes me so angry.  Leave Jeff alone!  He definitely needed a push, but she just thinks she knows exactly what to do to get Jeff to deal with his issues.  It's her smugness about her that made me not want her to be around for the whole first meeting.

That being said, it was great that Jeff didn't end up being too chicken to meet his father.  I think he might have found another way to get over his fear without Britta, but since she was the reason, I have to give her credit there.  I just wish she had left as soon as Jeff had gotten settled in--he and his father really got along well.  Obviously they were both regarding the other with all of their emotions heavily guarded, but they didn't go at each others' throats (at least at first) or act too stiffly as if each second together was torture.  I liked seeing sort of an older version of Jeff.  If that was what Jeff is going to be like, it doesn't seem too bad by his standards.  Still, William didn't seem like the best dad when Willy Jr. acted like the most insincere guy ever.

I loved Willy Jr.  I thought that Jeff's half brother would be some kind of asshole like him, but he was more like a little boy who couldn't get over that his parents had brought home a new baby.  In just a few seconds of meeting Jeff, he evaluated himself as inferior and felt threatened that Jeff would take his place.  His insecurity due to Jeff's existence was pretty funny.  My favorite emotional explosion was when he was having trouble getting out Jeff's name:

[Jeff] My name is Jeff.

[Willy Jr.] Don't help me! Mr. Helper Guy! First, mom died, and now this!

Willy was a mess, but I enjoyed every time he opened his mouth and got frustrated over every little thing.  I was set to be disappointed that Jeff and this little ball of emotions couldn't bond until Willy appeared in the back of Jeff's car.  I was happy that Jeff's outrage at his father's attempt to justify being absent in Jeff's life came to a boil when he heard how Willy was also a victim of William's bad parenting.  It was sort of a moving moment when Jeff exposed his neediness as child, where he faked an illness just to have someone worry about him.  To hear that he still holds onto the get-well cards from then really makes you see how sad Jeff is deep inside.  It was a very effective and colorful way to show that Jeff wasn't the superior child that William claimed to have contributed to by leaving him.  Although his deadbeat dad tried to fake a heart attack to get out of this emotional moment, Jeff's grandstand got through to Willy and he hugged the hell out of his older brother.  Aww!  I hope that Willy returns for another story--him and Jeff would make a funny pair.

In Shirley's story, I felt bad that her friends were so determined to leave her.  I understood that Shirley's family, though, sounded like such unpleasant people.  Anyone who could sit around and laugh at Pierce's antics (especially when he was trying to fake breaking a hip--they didn't think to worry about him) were probably not the best company.  And, as we later found out, they took joy in making fun of Shirley at these gatherings, making her situation feel all the sadder.  While her friends were trying to break out of the "prison," Shirley was locked in her own.  I don't think my heart has ever gone out to Shirley as much as when she admitted that she wanted her friends to be there as her buffer and yet they had been avoiding her the whole time that their presence didn't even matter.  They made me happy when they decided to grin and bear it for her sake.

I also liked how Abed, seeing that they were trapped in a prison-like state, started narrating their actions as if was Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption.  Although, he didn't get to break out of there through a secret tunnel (which was revealed in the extra that he dug out behind a Shirley's Sandwiches poster), he did enough spoofing of this movie that it was pretty funny. 

Troy, too, had a funny moment the first time he escaped to the basement:

What is going on?  Why is Thanksgiving so terrible?

I feel like that's a great summary statement of that holiday.  If this episode was aired in the right season, I'm pretty sure I'd be thinking that in my head at one point or another.

My favorite part of the story was when Jeff had set up the study room for the Thanksgiving dinner that they had all missed out.  Jeff was on a good-guy roll.  I really appreciate those times when he makes up for being so detached all the time (or at least pretending to be).  It assures me no matter what selfish thing he might do or say, he'll eventually show his true colors and win me over again.

This was a good episode, especially for a Thanksgiving story.  I can't remember if it was as good or bad as the others I saw this past year, but I'm betting it was up there.  The meeting between Jeff and his father went much better than I imagined and wasn't the sappy reunion that it could have been.  I most liked the introduction of Willy Jr.  I don't think they could have made a better brother for Jeff if they tried.  Shirley's Thanksgiving was equally as good because we got to see Annie, Troy, Abed, and Pierce act like inmates and attempt to break out.  Although they saw the merit in staying opposed to fleeing, it was amusing to see them struggle along the way.  And thanks to Jeff's surprise dinner for them all, everyone got to have the Thanksgiving they had really been looking for.  Nothing more I like than a great ending!

Winston Loves Fruity Drinks

New Girl, S02E01

Nick, Winston, Schmidt and Jess returned Tuesday night back in full comedy action!  Jess was fired from her job and did her best to hide how much it devastated her.  Schmidt threw a rebranding party to celebrate the removal of his penis cast.

This was a great episode to start things off.  I was just glad to see things back to normal (after Nick almost left the group last season) with everyone acting crazy.  Of course, with Jess losing her job it seemed that this event might mess up their whole dynamic, but really it's all about Jess acting a-fool in the most awkward way, and she had no problems doing that while unemployed.  My favorite thing, actually, about her getting fired is when she selected a tiny silver glitter hat from the lost and found box.  Nick hated it and tossed it away at one time, but Jess brought it back when she was attempting to do a sexy shot-girl dance toward the end.  But it was nice to see that she didn't give up on being a teacher.  I think that her childlike qualities and weirdness are best suited for dealing with kids, so I wouldn't want to see Jess in a different occupation.  Hopefully she can just get another education-related job, preferably one that causes more situations like that hilarious science fair fiasco from last season.

The best thing about the episode had to do with Winston, although Schmidt's fire dancing that he couldn't quite control wasn't bad either.  Before the party where we saw Winston acting crazy over some fruity drink, there was a good quote between him and Schmidt:

[Winston] I'm a changed man.  I mean, look at me--I'm wearing a suit.
[Schmidt] A suit?  Please, that's something they put on Morgan Freeman when they let him out of Shawshank.

But that was nothing compared to Winston from the first time he took a sip from Nick's special fruity drink.  I don't know if you want to call it drunk or if a special switch had been turned on inside him, but Winston was acting as fruity as the drink he was inhaling at that party.  Nick warned us beforehand that Winston was going to get weird, but he went beyond what I even expected--it was so funny!  Him talking about being "naughty" and his facial expressions just killed me.  I think that Winston sometimes ends up being the funniest now because he's the one who usually stands in the background around all the crazy doings of his roommates, so when he actually falls out of line and starts "joining the party," it tends to be so freaking funny.  My only complaint was that the focus was so much on Schmidt and Cece and Jess' unemployment that there wasn't so much time to see Winston under the spell of his most favorite cocktail.  However, I can't be too mad because there was this great scene where Winston stared at Schmidt's fire dancing while twisting a straw in his mouth:

This was probably one of the best Winston scenes of all time and it was in the first episode!  It's times like this that I can't believe that I didn't like Winston at all.  He's the wildcard on the show, where everyone is pretty unstable to begin with.

This episode would have been fine to start with on its own, but FOX gave us a bonus episode last week to enjoy as well!  But this one was good enough that I couldn't possibly be unsatisfied whether the next one was just as good or not!  It's great to have New Girl back on the air again!