Season 3, Episode 12
“Maybe too inaccessible and a little too dark.”
So perhaps the there was something to the fact that last week's episode felt so open, considering that that episode and this one were switched from their original production orders. My bad. However, no matter the degree to which this switch threw viewers off in terms of continuity – and I would argue that it wasn't really that jarring – I think it was worth it, because I would hate to have seen viewers turned off by an episode such as the one we had this week, which took Community's trademark weirdness, and turned the dial up just a bit too high.
In the Community's fan, well, community, it's become fairly common place to differentiate between the “concept” episodes and the “normal” episodes, with the general sentiment for most being that the former is better than the latter. (Obviously not all agree, but either way I think blanket statements like that do more harm than good when trying to discuss just why the show's so good. But that's a conversation for another time.) The problem with this dichotomy is that it forgets the third type of episode that the show occasionally does, the red-headed stepchild that is the “weird” episode. Now, part of this reason that this type of episode doesn't have it's own category is because it can be part or parcel of either of the other two. But every so often, the show will throw together a non concept, “normal” episode that nevertheless has a lot of weirdness going on in the center. (Think season one's “Physical Education”, season two's “Competitive Wine Tasting”, or even this season's “Geography of Global Conflict”.)
The problem with these “weird” episodes is that weird humor, perhaps more than any other type, is highly subjective, and if you can't tune into the wavelength, then the episode is pretty much sunk for you. So maybe you liked the humor on display here. Maybe you didn't. But did you like all of it? The show was juggling a lot of humor that was, if not conflicting, then at least not complementary to each other. Jeff's ego going out of control? That sounds solid. The group suddenly having to serve as not-all-that-convincing celebrity impersonators? That's an even better one. But both are fairly out-there sort of ideas, even if they are technically possible, and it just feels like too much weirdness to be crowing one episode.
But of course the show's humor isn't really the issue here; Community wouldn't have captured such blanket critical fascination – and engendered so many episodic reviews and think-pieces – if it were simply balls-out funny. At it's best, Community is able to tell imaginative stories that still manage to serve the characters in equal measure. (See “Mixology Certification”, which was both weird for how purposefully out of step it was with the rest of the season's episodes, yet still managed to tell some moving stories about each character.) To say that “Contemporary Impressionists” didn't serve that characters would be a flat out lie, but it's not a lie to say that the character work and the episode structure didn't really line up in way where the two could play off of each other and culminate it a really affecting episode. As it stood, we got some really affecting moments that felt off tonally from the goofy rest of the episode.
Jeff's expanding ego problem, as ridiculous as it may have been – I'm still not entirely sure I believe that anti-anxiety medication can somehow cause someone's ego to balloon out of control – was arguably the more important character development of the two, even if it was the one that had the smaller consequences. Now, Jeff being constantly compared to Ryan Seacrest, and Hulking out when he failed to receive the Most Handsome Young Boy award made for some good laughs, and having Jeff wrangle with his own ego – something that has been baked into the show since the pilot – is a good idea for a character move in theory, and it fits with the “Jeff is the corrosive element of the group” theory that's been floating around since “Remedial Chaos Theory”. However, since it feels as if the show has been subtly showing Jeff becoming a more caring person over the past three seasons, for the show to suddenly take the issue so head-on feels jarring, even if this season has been all about exploring these character's darker impulses. It's a logical character move that still somehow feels as if it comes out of left field, and that makes it much more harder to land emotionally.
Abed's story is even more jarring, and it's made all the more grating by the fact that this is probably going to be a major driving force over the next few episodes. (Between this and Chang raising an army of child security interns, this episode also turned into serialized territory very quickly.) Much like Jeff's suddenly reemerging ego problem, there's been some groundwork laid to the eroding of Troy and Abed's friendship, as well as Abed's extreme break with reality at the end of the episode. Long time viewers have no already figured out that Troy and Abed's is not an equal friendship, with Troy having a stronger emotional connection to it than Abed does. The show already teased us with a possible break in Troy and Abed's relationship back in “Advanced Gay”, when Troy contemplated giving up the life he has now for a more adult one in the future, so Troy realizing that maybe he was outgrowing Abed held a good deal of resonance, especially because their bromance is so endearing in the first place.
It's Abed's side of the equation that's more troublesome. We've seen Abed react horribly and negatively when somebody cuts him off emotionally in “Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas”, and in the tag to “Remedial Chaos Theory”, we saw Abed dream about Evil Abed saying he would work his way back to the original timeline and replace Actual Abed, so Abed using that dream to “summon” Evil Abed (i.e. his dark side) as a way to work through his feelings certainly makes sense from that perspective. But it's such as oppressively ominous ending to the episode that I can't tell how seriously weren't supposed to take it, or exactly how different Abed is going to be over the next few episodes.* It was an ending that was so steeped in unrealistic context and imagery, that I'm not sure it's implications, however symbolic, can work among those episode that adhere closer to reality
*(The messed up order also doesn't help. Based on the opening minute of this episode, it's obvious that this episode was supposed to air before “Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts”, yet Abed wasn't acting particularly evil in that episode. Maybe this was part of the reason for the switched production order, and the larger stories certainly make more sense that way, but if that wasn't the case the episodes were switched for reasons to do with the hiatus and possible new audiences, then it doesn't inspire much hope for how the show is going to handle the Evil Abed arc.)
In a lot of ways, “Contemporary Impressionists” feels like it's purposefully referencing events from season one. We've already discussed Jeff's continued struggle with (and his progress in) letting go of his ego, but his entrance into the study room here certainly felt like it was aping that of “Investigative Journalism”, though in that earlier episode he was only pretending to be a jerk, and here he was actually being a jerk. Also, Abed's selfish idea of what constitutes a friendship seems to mirror (or perhaps is inspired by) the events of “Social Psychology”. In that sense, it's hard to argue that “Contemporary Impressionists” has a problem with character, or that the show is leading us down a path that will end up somewhere problematic. Yet despite the fact that the show has proven itself capable of playing a long game, that doesn't change my mind about the sudden character turns that were present in tonight's episode, or my fear that this is the first in many episodes that show just harmful Dan Harmon being cutting off from the fan base really was.
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
For an example of somebody who buys into the shallow “the concept episodes are better” theory, check out Bill Wyman's review of this and the last episode. Just...sigh.
I can't confirm this, but considering that the Moby impersonator also played a character named “Not Moby” in a first season episode of How I Met Your Mother, I can't help but feel that this is a cross-show reference.
“I got a friend at the zoo.”
The problem with these “weird” episodes is that weird humor, perhaps more than any other type, is highly subjective, and if you can't tune into the wavelength, then the episode is pretty much sunk for you. So maybe you liked the humor on display here. Maybe you didn't. But did you like all of it? The show was juggling a lot of humor that was, if not conflicting, then at least not complementary to each other. Jeff's ego going out of control? That sounds solid. The group suddenly having to serve as not-all-that-convincing celebrity impersonators? That's an even better one. But both are fairly out-there sort of ideas, even if they are technically possible, and it just feels like too much weirdness to be crowing one episode.
But of course the show's humor isn't really the issue here; Community wouldn't have captured such blanket critical fascination – and engendered so many episodic reviews and think-pieces – if it were simply balls-out funny. At it's best, Community is able to tell imaginative stories that still manage to serve the characters in equal measure. (See “Mixology Certification”, which was both weird for how purposefully out of step it was with the rest of the season's episodes, yet still managed to tell some moving stories about each character.) To say that “Contemporary Impressionists” didn't serve that characters would be a flat out lie, but it's not a lie to say that the character work and the episode structure didn't really line up in way where the two could play off of each other and culminate it a really affecting episode. As it stood, we got some really affecting moments that felt off tonally from the goofy rest of the episode.
Jeff's expanding ego problem, as ridiculous as it may have been – I'm still not entirely sure I believe that anti-anxiety medication can somehow cause someone's ego to balloon out of control – was arguably the more important character development of the two, even if it was the one that had the smaller consequences. Now, Jeff being constantly compared to Ryan Seacrest, and Hulking out when he failed to receive the Most Handsome Young Boy award made for some good laughs, and having Jeff wrangle with his own ego – something that has been baked into the show since the pilot – is a good idea for a character move in theory, and it fits with the “Jeff is the corrosive element of the group” theory that's been floating around since “Remedial Chaos Theory”. However, since it feels as if the show has been subtly showing Jeff becoming a more caring person over the past three seasons, for the show to suddenly take the issue so head-on feels jarring, even if this season has been all about exploring these character's darker impulses. It's a logical character move that still somehow feels as if it comes out of left field, and that makes it much more harder to land emotionally.
Abed's story is even more jarring, and it's made all the more grating by the fact that this is probably going to be a major driving force over the next few episodes. (Between this and Chang raising an army of child security interns, this episode also turned into serialized territory very quickly.) Much like Jeff's suddenly reemerging ego problem, there's been some groundwork laid to the eroding of Troy and Abed's friendship, as well as Abed's extreme break with reality at the end of the episode. Long time viewers have no already figured out that Troy and Abed's is not an equal friendship, with Troy having a stronger emotional connection to it than Abed does. The show already teased us with a possible break in Troy and Abed's relationship back in “Advanced Gay”, when Troy contemplated giving up the life he has now for a more adult one in the future, so Troy realizing that maybe he was outgrowing Abed held a good deal of resonance, especially because their bromance is so endearing in the first place.
It's Abed's side of the equation that's more troublesome. We've seen Abed react horribly and negatively when somebody cuts him off emotionally in “Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas”, and in the tag to “Remedial Chaos Theory”, we saw Abed dream about Evil Abed saying he would work his way back to the original timeline and replace Actual Abed, so Abed using that dream to “summon” Evil Abed (i.e. his dark side) as a way to work through his feelings certainly makes sense from that perspective. But it's such as oppressively ominous ending to the episode that I can't tell how seriously weren't supposed to take it, or exactly how different Abed is going to be over the next few episodes.* It was an ending that was so steeped in unrealistic context and imagery, that I'm not sure it's implications, however symbolic, can work among those episode that adhere closer to reality
*(The messed up order also doesn't help. Based on the opening minute of this episode, it's obvious that this episode was supposed to air before “Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts”, yet Abed wasn't acting particularly evil in that episode. Maybe this was part of the reason for the switched production order, and the larger stories certainly make more sense that way, but if that wasn't the case the episodes were switched for reasons to do with the hiatus and possible new audiences, then it doesn't inspire much hope for how the show is going to handle the Evil Abed arc.)
In a lot of ways, “Contemporary Impressionists” feels like it's purposefully referencing events from season one. We've already discussed Jeff's continued struggle with (and his progress in) letting go of his ego, but his entrance into the study room here certainly felt like it was aping that of “Investigative Journalism”, though in that earlier episode he was only pretending to be a jerk, and here he was actually being a jerk. Also, Abed's selfish idea of what constitutes a friendship seems to mirror (or perhaps is inspired by) the events of “Social Psychology”. In that sense, it's hard to argue that “Contemporary Impressionists” has a problem with character, or that the show is leading us down a path that will end up somewhere problematic. Yet despite the fact that the show has proven itself capable of playing a long game, that doesn't change my mind about the sudden character turns that were present in tonight's episode, or my fear that this is the first in many episodes that show just harmful Dan Harmon being cutting off from the fan base really was.
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
For an example of somebody who buys into the shallow “the concept episodes are better” theory, check out Bill Wyman's review of this and the last episode. Just...sigh.
I can't confirm this, but considering that the Moby impersonator also played a character named “Not Moby” in a first season episode of How I Met Your Mother, I can't help but feel that this is a cross-show reference.
“I got a friend at the zoo.”
“If you had hit a small student, they could have died!” “I wouldn't do that. I have a tiny flashlight for that.”
“All that you are making me doing right now is making me hate Renee Zellweger.”
“Thank you Leonard, for that compliment and for your service to our country.”
“Wow this is rare – both versions of Michael Jackson.”
“Aw, zip it White Jacko.”
“Marlon Brando?....Could be under 'Fat'?”
“I was so sad to hear of your passing.” “Yeah, me too.”
“You have an unusually high butt crack!”
“It sure can, Fake Morgan Freeman.”
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