Community: "Paradigms of Human Memory"

Season 2, Episode 21

A brilliant deconstruction of every clip show you have ever seen

I hate clip shows. It doesn’t matter how well the material surrounding the clips is written/produced, there is something about the idea of spending the majority of an episode watching a bunch of things that I have seen before that just really grinds my gears. (It is a particularly frustrating experience when one is watching a DVD set of a show for the first time, as it is not always clear whether or not the surrounding material is of any value, and you are practically forced to sit through a bunch of clips, most of which you probably saw within the last week or two. )  And given how flimsy most of these “plots” are for these kinds of episode, they usually serve as proof that the show is just half-assing its way through an episode.

Thus is should probably come as no surprise that I’m a sucker for episodes that spoof clip shows, with two of my favorites being Duckman’s “Clip Job” (which is still technically a clip show, but has enough original material to justify its existence) and "The Clipshow Wherein Dante and Randal are Locked in the Freezer and Remember Some of the Great Moments in Their Lives" from Clerks: The Animated Series. Well, it looks like I will have to add “Paradigms of Human Memory” to that list.

I suspect that there might be a lot of people who won’t like this episode (and as this season goes on, I find myself using the phrase more  and more frequently). For starters, there’s not really a whole lot of substance to this episode, as it mostly boils down to throwing a bunch of random sights gags out there and hoping the audience will laugh at the absurdity of it all. (It also means that they show didn’t have as high of a quotes-to-laughs ratio as usual.) And while this sounds awfully similar to the MO of Family Guy or any other of Seth McFarland’s demon spawn, the gags here worked, giving us what may be the funniest episode that they show has ever produced. The reason these gags worked is twofold: A) The cutaways all felt like something the show and characters would do and B) by connecting the gags by having running jokes between them – The old west town, Caesar Salad Day, Abed watching/acting out The Cape – the show kept the randomness from getting out of control.

I also imagine that those Community fans who don’t care for the meta humor (yes, such people actually exist) will be particularly irate at this episode. The show didn’t just mock the clip show format; it also pointed that accusatory finger on itself. Jeff’s dramatic monologues, the will-they/wont-they between both Jeff and Annie and Jeff and Britta, Chang’s actual position in the group, all of these elements were put under the microscope tonight. Though it’s slightly problematic that the show is being so flippant with these character relationships – what exactly does this hold for the future , I wonder– it’s still promising to note that the show seems capable to taking a long, hard look at itself.

And that look starts with a very important realization: These people can be fucking awful human beings to one another, yet time and time again, they keep on coming back together as a group. The show has spent a good deal of time letting us know that yes, these people are deeply flawed, and yes, they do need each other in order to survive the social world. The events of tonight’s episode don’t change these assertions one bit. Where most shows argue that a group of dysfunctional people who come together can form strong, loving bonds with one another over their flaws, Community argues for a more realistic interpretation. According to the show, throwing a bunch of flawed people together doesn’t automatically mean that their flaws become less of a problem; instead, their flaws end up creating even more tension. Yet these people stay together –and end up forming true, lasting bonds that can survive their inevitable, semi-regular fights – because there is no one else in the world who they can befriend. It is a statement that is both equal parts happy and sad, yet it is 100% Community.

There are a few other moments from tonight that play into this happy/sad dialectic – Chang’s little speech to Annie’s Boobs at the end of the episode, and Dean Pelton’s catharsis in cartoon form that we saw in the tag – moments that only this show can come up with. Yet these are moments that feel intrinsically real, in a way. We’ve all had moments like this, moments where we attempt to cover pain with humor, or fantasy, or even the company of a weird person that we still call “friend.” And it’s these moments from the show that prove me that even though this show produces some of the most far-fetched scenarios – a zombie attack set to the sounds of Abba, a claymation dream sequence, a school-wide paintball tournaments – it continues to remain one of the most realistic comedies on the air.

Any other opinions?

Quotes, Etc.:

There were so many golden moments from the “clips” tonight, but my favorite would have to be seeing “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” viewed from a realistic perspective. What was yours?

So I’ve finally done the math: Shirley’s due to give birth late July/early August. I wonder how the show will work that one out. Or if they’ll even deal with the birth at all. Eh, who am I kidding? Such a moment is so rife for meta humor, there’s no way the show will pass it up.

A lot of this episode felt like a bottle episode (and clearly “Cooperative Calligraphy” greatly informed this episode), given that most of it took place in the study room, yet all of the cutaways required a ton of costume and set changes. I wonder how close this episode’s budget was to the average.

“Trust me, I know these vents like the back of my Chang.”

“Is that a new stereotype?”

“Oh, Hubba Bubba. I thought they stopped making this.”

“It’s like a reverse cow birth.”

“That dude was hardcore racist. Like 1800s Disney style.”

“Yeah, but I was remembering around that…”

“But there’s a much larger issue here: We’re friends with a grown man who clearly believes in leprechauns.”

“Troy, we never said ourselves.” “Okay, now I’m really mad.”

“Okay, let’s give them some examples. Troy, drop a beat.”

I think Britta did Troy and Abed a favor changing the channel from The Cape.

“This habitat was for humanity.”

“I’LL BE A LIVING GOD!”

“That show’s gonna last three weeks!” “Then a movie!”

“Abed, it’s called chemistry. I have it with everyone.”

“It’s Feline Aids Awareness week. Let’s whip it in the keester.”

“Can we please stop fighting? We’re hurting innocent perverts.”