Monsters of Television

“Who cares about a stupid exam? We’re a study group.”

They could’ve stayed in Spanish forever. It could’ve been that simple. And it would’ve been kind of easy for them, and Community isn’t really about easy and simple. It likes to tweak the sitcom enough to do different things, including acknowledge the passing of time in a fairly realistic way given its setting. And after the awesomeness of last week’s “Modern Warfare,” “English as a Second Language” was kind of a nice refresher course on the series overall structure.

Of course, a show sets a precedent like this and I start holding it accountable: it had better end in 4 years. I don’t want to see Community: The New Class with Jeff as the instructor for Introduction to Judicial Systems helping a bunch of new kids figure out their way in life.

…I just doomed us all, didn’t I? (I expect a creator credit and an associate producer credit if that happens, Dan Harmon.)

The show sets itself up, structurally, for next season remarkably well in this episode, and in a way that is both funny and sensible. Annie’s desire to keep the group together for another semester (which means at the end of the first half of the season, they’re going to need to figure out another class to take together…) is entirely consistent with her character, and it’s a nice beat for Alison Brie who continues to do interesting things with Annie, including the Arc of the Covenant-esque sad puppy dog face (my girlfriend needs to take lessons, as I’ve grown immune to hers).

Annie’s desire to keep the group together also plays with the larger theme in the show regarding the study group as a community (family) and exposes the darker side of that mentality, if only a little bit. I mean, most sitcoms don’t want to acknowledge that about a group of characters, regardless of if they’re related or not. Hell, even Friends mentioned it once (I only remember it because of Fisher Stevens, I swear), but never got around to really digging into the inherent dysfunction of these tight-knit groups. That Community is willing to tweak that convention while still ultimately embracing it is a pleasant bit of freshness that goes beyond a format issue (mockumentary’s supposed saving of the sitcom) and strikes a genre one, which is far more interesting.

Countering this is the status of Señor Chang. The backbend of having him not be an actual teacher is believable, but it felt sudden. Perhaps Chang wasn’t expected to break out as he did (a silly notion to have given Jeong’s excellent performance), but I simply think it was more a case of: “How do we keep this great character on the show? Make him a student!” I hope that the show resists the urge to overuse Chang, who like many breakout characters, works bests in moderation and not as a fully integrated part of the ensemble. (He’d throw it off like Jack Black!)

Sadly, the episode weak point is the underdeveloped B-story of Troy stuck in a Good Will Hunting homage about him being a prodigal plumber. It delivers some good lines (“I want to be able to understand HBO.”), but given the class and racial components inherent in the story, it really needed to be an A-plot, and so ended up feeling like half-baked filler. But I don’t get to say that very often about this show, and so like a forgiving professor, I’ll grade on a curve.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Loved that Pierce is the one who solved the exam woes. Really showed how valuable he is to the group, but doesn’t want to flaunt it.
• I always like Britta, but because of her hating Avatar, I’m willing to marry her.
• Another sublime study table scene as Jeff lawyered Annie. Everyone covering their eyes, and keeping them covered? Brilliance.
• Can’t think of anyone I want to play the Anthropology professor. I never took an anthropology class, so I don’t know what they’re like. Suggestions?