Domestication And Friendship Not So Bad

Suburgatory, S02E06

George's old friends from New York came to visit while they were doing business in town and made fun of George for adapting so well to the suburban life.  Tessa wanted to enjoy spending time with her tablet alone, but Lisa wanted to spend all her time with her now that she was single again.

I think that George still has a little of his edge left from life in the city, but now that he is becoming "twinsies" with Shelia, I could see how his friends would think he was a sellout or too domesticated.  However, I absolutely hated how they were coming down on Dallas, who despite her looks, is a very smart and caring person.  I fell more in love with George when he not only admitted that the all-over phony woman that his friends pointed out was his girlfriend, but when he also defended her when they continued to talk shit about her.  I was worried that he was going to cave into peer pressure and try to relive his days as a "real" man as his friends envisioned it, but George stood by Dallas's side.  To me, that's a real man.  The best kind of person can own up to what they really love and not try to hide it because someone tries to make them feel bad about it.

Equally as great was when Dallas gave George the idea to bid against his friends for some architecture project.  George would have never thought of that on his own.  Plus, Dallas assisted him both in the concept and the presentation--they are a great team!  I was really proud of them as a couple to see them working like a dynamic duo!  They didn't end up winning the bid, but at least they made some waves and impressed the clients.  I could definitely see Dallas and George getting together on some good business deals in the future.

In Tessa's story, I was a little distracted by the open advertising for the Microsoft Surface tablet.  Nothing new to see products in TV shows, but I hate when it's all up in my face.  She even listed some of the great features of the thing at one point.  Wow.  Can't I get a little more of a break from the commercials?  Still, I've been interested in the Surface, so I wasn't too outraged.  I'm sure that they only did the advertising because it was necessary.  If it keeps the show going, I can't be too mad.

I felt Tessa on her desire to be alone with her tablet, though.  It's been a while since Lisa has sort of kidnapped Tessa's day to make her do some kind of dorky activity.  Lisa literally pulled out her trunk of tricks in this story.  If I was Tessa, I might have cut her off the beginning in the hopes that being alone would make her miss Malik.  It's obvious that Lisa is trying to fill her loneliness with Tessa.  I'm glad that even if Lisa isn't aware of it, she's not over Malik yet.  If she was, I'd doubt she'd need to try to shove a smoked fish down Tessa's throat.

I don't know how I feel about a "friendship fish." I thought it was cute that Tessa finally agreed to eat it with Lisa.  No surprise that Tessa got food poisoning from it, though.  I would be pretty nervous about someone pulling a fish out a trunk and asking me to eat it.  But she must really wanted Lisa to be her friend is she's willing to puke out her guts for the sake of friendship.  Her tablet is a nice alternative, but I guess only real friendship is worth all that suffering.

I'm also unsure what Ellen's prolonged stay at the Altman house will bring.  For a woman who knows that her daughter is a mess, she sure doesn't seem to like George too much.  Maybe she wanted to raise Tessa in the absence of her daughter?  I don't know.  But I don't see them getting along too well.  No matter what, George is a good parent, so I think she should at least respect that about him.  But I'm sure as a grandmother, Ellen's going to have a lot of suggestions for parental improvement.

This was a cute episode about George and Tessa sort of coming to terms with what they have become.  George has changed, but it doesn't mean that he's become some kind of pathetic loser.  And I definitely think with Dallas's help, he is going to continue to change and grow for the better.  Tessa's grown in the sense that she can't just sort of fend for herself and has to stick by the friends she's made.  She can't just callously cast them aside for some some wires and a shiny screen.  Lisa, as I said before, needs to hurry up and take Malik back.  Not just for her sake, but so we don't have to see Tessa suffering while wearing an airbrushed shirt and a watermelon hat.

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.