warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

"Community" Recap: "Geography of Global Conflict"

Salomon Fuentes |
September 30, 2011 | 1:12 a.m. PDT

Staff Writer

One thumbs up is about right (Creative Commons)
One thumbs up is about right (Creative Commons)
Community” gets things right more often that not but on Thursday, to borrow a baseball metaphor, the show didn’t bring its best stuff. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t have its fun moments (and you really should still watch if you aren’t already).

On the surface, this episode is about Annie and her new rival Annie Kim. Annie Kim becomes the “new smart girl.” This clearly rubs our Annie the wrong way, though Jeff as always tries to make light of the situation: “Wow, Annie. How progressive of you to have a multi-cultural evil twin,” he tells her.

Professor Cligoris, played by guest star Martin Starr, allows the two to have a Model U.N. contest to determine who will run Greendale’s official Model U.N.  (Side note: Starr has always been a gifted actor on cult classics including "Party Down" and "Freaks and Geeks", both of which were cancelled. Let’s hope he doesn’t curse “Community.”)

This is actually more fun then it sounds and if real Model U.N.s were like this, you would be crazy not to join. Our Annie gets the study group minus Brita against Annie K and her team. The always-funny Garrett is the moderator and each member of the group serves as a nation. The best part about this might be Troy’s southern accent when he represents the nation of Georgia and Pierce believing that Somalia is a tropical paradise with accommodating beaches for Ethiopian refugees.

The group manages to get every resolution passed until the last one, where some bathroom humor sends Annie overboard. “You’re acting like a school girl and not in a hot way,” Jeff says. “Okay, that made me sound creepy,” he adds.

Annie storms out and Jeff follows her leading a conversation where he admits still having feelings for her and admits that his calling her “kiddo” is a crutch. Ultimately, you have a ’shipper episode here, albeit a well-disguised one. Even if the two don’t pair up right now, because for them it’s weird, it allows people who get emotionally involved in the show to get a bone thrown their way. 

There’s nothing wrong with a ‘shipper episode this but at the end of the episode, nothing has really moved forward. That’s fine with more static sitcoms but it’s not what we’ve come to expect from “Community.”

Annie, with Abed’s help, finds a loophole in the contest’s rules and they end up winning. Britta for her part spends the entire episode doing a petty “rebellion” against Chang who seeks to assert authority. It’s a story line that leads to a chuckle or two but the Lionel Richie “Hello,” montage is just too over the top for it to really work. Good try, though and here’s hoping next week is better.

Reach writer Salomon Fuentes here 

Best way to find more great content from Neon Tommy?

Or join our email list below to enjoy the weekly Neon Tommy News Highlights.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness