Community - "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux"

Season 3, Episode 8

“This is it. This is how I get to put Greendale on the map.”

I must fight it. I must fight the urge to talk about tonight’s episode in light of the recent dustup over NBC’s decision to bench the show for a few months. Much like I discussed with “Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps”, it’s key with any episode of Community to keep authorial intent in mind, especially when it comes to a show as meta as this one. As self-referential as the show can be, not every connection between the show and the real world is intentional. That being said, it’s hard not to at least mention how dense “Documentary Filmmaking: Redux” was as an episode, and how off-putting that most likely was to any new viewers who happened to tune in to the episode in the wake of the general internet outcry over the show’s fate, and somehow think that they were watching another knock-off of The Office or something. But unlike The Office, “Redux” was an episode that intentionally injected unreal situations in a genre that strives for authenticity, perhaps to the episode’s detriment.

I feel like I don’t say this enough, but I love “Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking”, the prequel of sorts to tonight's episode. I realize that in my original review of the episode I come off as overly critical, and while my criticism of the Pierce arc that the episode resolved still stands and affects in part my reaction to it, it still stands as an excellent piece of television, and my opinion of it has only grown upon rewatch. (Another reason why it appears that I hate the episode in my review: I wasn’t very good at writing them back them. In fact, just save me the embarrassment and don’t click on that link.) Part of what made the original “Filmmaking” work so well was that, as with the show’s best theme episodes, the theme wasn’t just slapped on, but that it helped to build the story that the episode was telling. While the style allowed Abed to stay out of a story in which his character just wouldn’t have worked, it also allowed for a gripping emotional realism that allowed the show to wrap up Pierce’s storyline.

It was this emotional realism that I believe the show was searching for yet again as it returned to the format, in an attempt to finally give Jim Rash’s Dean Pelton a storyline more suiting of his regular cast member status. (It also allowed Abed to once again to refrain from the action, as once again the A-story was something ill-fitting of his character.) But, much like the show’s return to the paintball/action genre, by piling on other references on top of it of the original theme, “Redux” felt like it overstretched its bounds just a bit by reaching beyond the superficial theme and piling in other references on top of that.

Obviously, thanks to both the title and the name-dropping within the episode, “Redux” is meant to serve as an homage to Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, the 1991 documentary about the troubles that Francis Ford Coppola and his crew faced in their attempts to film the Heart of Darkness reimagining Apocalypse Now.  Haven’t not actually seen the film, I can’t actually speak to whether or not the “filmmaking” style of this episode – which looked purposely more skilled that it did in “Filmmaking” – is meant to ape Hearts style, or is just another sign of Abed’s growth (more on that later). However, what I did notice is that “Redux” did lift some images for Apocalypse – specifically Pelton smearing his face with Ash, and the drunken breakdown that happened prior – and while I appreciate the show doing references like this, I’m wondering if combining these two films blurs that line between reality and fiction that’s so important for this episode. (Again, I haven’t seen the doc, so it’s quite possible that those film images made it in, and I know Wilard’s drunken breakdown wasn’t planned, but was rather the film’s own blurring of the lines with a fortuitous capture of a drunken Martin Sheen trying to work through the pressure of filming, but still.)

And I think that keeping that line between fiction and reality is important because of this episode’s focus on Pelton. The show’s move to promote Rash to series regular was one I applauded, because he’s funny guy, but also one that I was a bit confused by, given his marginalization in the show, and ultimately feared he would be as useless yet ever present as Chang, now that the show had to include him in every episode. And while his role didn’t seem to change much for the first few episodes of this season, but that changed last week when we saw a more human side to Pelton, and that seemed to continue on tonight, as he gained the spotlight of the episode, both in terms of laughs and pathos. (To highlight just how weird this is, remember how marginalized the rest of the cast was, especially the “stars” of Joel McHale and Chevy Chase, and the “breakout character” of Abed.)

And it was that pathos – which really hit home to night, thanks the show placing focus on a heretofore unexamined character – that both makes this episode important, and highlights the episode’s flaws. What the show was trying to do was to not only look at Pelton in the same sort of dark, probing manner that they’ve been doing with all the characters this season (including looking at the chaos and destruction he can unintentionally cause), but to also flesh him out as human being, bringing him beyond just and one- or two-joke character. (While I see Alyssa Rosenberg’s point that the show should probably make him, the only real gay character on the show, at bit more likeable, I like that this episode allows him to remain the unintentional antagonist to the group, and that his sexuality has nothing to do with his moral standing.)

And while I think the show did that – especially by highlighting just how prideful and narcissistic he can become with the right motivation, and then latter revealing his the underlying cause of most of his actions when Luis Guzman took him down a peg – I think my making some of those references, which are meant to be seen as jokes, the show blinked away from its more serious moments. While Pelton’s conversation with Guzman was unequivocally serious in nature and tone, as well as fairly moving, seeing his breakdown in his office was a bit more ambiguous. While it was an understandably moving and importantly dark montage, showing us just how deep Pelton’s neuroses go, I feel like the show undercut this with those Apocalypse references. This could have been an episode on the level of “Mixology Certification”; instead it ended up being slightly less than.

But please don’t misunderstand when I say “flaws”: this was near-perfect episode of Community, and a fantastic attempt by writer Megan Ganz (who is really blowing up this season, considering she also wrote “Remedial Chaos Theory”) to fully incorporate a character into a fairly heavily established world. In fact, given how upsetting this week has been since that horrible Monday news, getting to watch a new episode of Community is akin to wrapping myself in a warm, reassuring blanker, albeit about three days too late. Even if Pelton’s storyline wasn’t as pristine as it could have been, there was still plenty to like.

Even though this was an episode about the Dean, Pelton also served as a stand-in for Dan Harmon himself, who famously also tends to grow a lot of stubble when throwing himself into the show, loses sleep, sometimes yells at his writers and production staff – all by his own admission. (How much of this story was his idea - though he rarely gets writing credit, Harmon is very involved with the conception process for episodes – and how much was inspired by the writer’s experience working for him is of course unclear, and I can’t wait to hear the commentary track for this episode.) I’m less certain about how many creative battles Harmon gets into with NBC – though last season’s “Epidemiology” did put his production cost grossly over-budget, thus leading to “Cooperative Calligraphy” – but it’s obvious that the Greendale board member (and their love of that wacky Chinese guy) were stand-ins for network execs. Giving this episode a personal connection for those involved not only helps to inform the meaning behind it, but I also think I made for a stronger overall execution.

And then of course, there were the character moments from those that weren’t the Dean, which were surprisingly solid considering where the focus was. The joke about Britta and Troy’s continuing mutual infatuation was a nice callback while also turning what was once a joke into a serious possibility. I also liked how Annie’s drive for control (notice how she equates being the line producer with being “the star”) eventually led her to create a delusion belief that the Dean had to be a genius, or else admit total failure on her part.

But I was most interested in Abed, even though he received perhaps the least amount of screen time of the regular cast. Though is his absence from the action in “Filmmaking” was out of narrative necessity, tonight his purposeful “fly on the wall” stance, and his eventual break from that stance to help Pelton out, was, I think, I purposeful statement on where he is as a character, and a continuation of the show’s study of the study group’s individual members. Abed’s insistence on being the metaphorical fly feels not so much like a compulsion but rather a more conscious act to maintain distance, and his e eventual break from that stance feels like a statement on how far he’s come socially thanks to the groups. For as much as the show has been focusing on the group’s negative aspects, it’s also a nice to have reminder every once in a while of the benefits their social interaction can bring.

In short, tonight’s Community wasn’t the best episode the show’s ever done, or the most accessible. But considering how many goals it was trying to accomplish, how high-minded it’s ideas were, and how well it all worked together, it may have been the best evidence of why this is a show that deserves to stay on the air.

Quotes, Etc:

About that Luis Guzman statue: It first appeared early in season one (“Advanced Criminal Law”) after the show was unable to get Mark Hamill’s permission to use his likeness. They do in fact have to pay him royalties every time that statue is shown.

And speaking of new viewers pulled in by the internet shitstorm: last night’s episode saw an uptick of 0.1 in the demo and and increase of 200,000 in total viewers. So, so much for that plan. Let’s just hope that syndication theory pays off.

“Abed, true to form, has decided to do the weird thing, instead of helping…”

“This isn’t Hollywood, Pierce. If it was, these glasses would be tinted, and I would be friends with Stevie Nicks.”

“We open on a typical day at Greendale, except the students are look happy, and you can’t smell that smell.”

“Welcome to Deandale Community Colledean! I’m a silly goose! Honk, honk! Diddly-doo!”

“Peirce Hawthorne, screen of stage and star, will not leave this trailer until he gets a trailer. And then I’m not leaving that trailer until there’s catering!”

“I’m thinking about breaking into the TV game. Because apparently it’s sticking around.”

“He’s also using the PA system for casting calls.”

“It’s says I’m supposed to be a book reading a book. That doesn’t make sense.”

“This commercial is going to push every button, including the one that is so hot it will sizzle your finger. RRRRAAAAACCCCCCEEEEEEE.”

“Fight the power. Fight it with your hugs!”

“You get this wrong one more time, I’m segregating the school.”

“STOP SAYING I’M DIFFERENT!”

“You are a microscope. No, that’s a toilet. That’s clearly a frog that can’t get out of a box.”

“And whatever embarrassing photos the can get from my two-faced mother.”

“Are you by any case familiar with Stockholm Syndrome?” “It that something the Dean created? Because if not, I don’t care.”

“I have worn this stupid thing for twelve days. I’ve made bald friends!”

“Oh, that’s a possum. Once you spend some time with him, you’ll see they’re just like big gentle rats.”

“You know what? It’s better than good – it’s good enough.” “Is there any more of that crazy Chinese guy? He pops.”

“Can someone please help me get a live possum out of my office? It just keeps jumping and skittering. You think you’re prepared, then it skitters again.”