photo: nbc
Community
The Psychology of Letting Go
Original Air Date: Oct 7, 2010
Meg – Sr. Reviewer
meg@thetwocentscorp.com
This week everyone’s favorite study group tackles some pretty serious issues: religion, mortality, loss, and… oil wrestling? Is it just me or was this a theme-week in TV-land. Glee, Modern Family, and then Community all had episodes dealing with faith and religion. I’ll give the award to Community, though, for managing to balance the Big Issues with grace and, of course, humor.
Read on for the full recap and review—and make sure to leave your comments!
Britta and Annie make an elaborate diorama to raise awareness about the oil spill crisis. It’s a little hokey, but definitely more impressive than anything I made in college. Annie, in yet another of her implausibly bright skirt and cardi combos, is just thankful that the oil spill has pushed Haiti off the front page, as Haiti was not very diorama-friendly.
Pierce’s heretofore unseen mother has just died. Poor Troy is shaken, after having discovered the body. Seeing Troy this upset is like watching someone slug a baby seal. Pierce, however, seems to be a-okay with the unexpected, jarring loss of the woman who gave him life and raised him. Why is he so chill? Because he’s a Level 5 Lotus neo-reformist-Buddhist/*cough* Scientologist *cough* and he knows that although mama’s “heart, lungs, kidney and brain stopped working,” she’s still alive as a magical vapor. And it must be true because he even has a flow chart from the church illustrating the vaporization process. Pierce also carts around his mom’s energy vapors in a lava lamp and explains to an enthralled Troy that in neo-reformist Buddhism you gain levels and then at a certain point you actually can eat a ghost.
The group jostles over religion. When militant nonconformist Britta says that even she thinks Pierce needs to do something to mark his mother’s death, you can just see the look on Shirley’s face saying “atheist strumpet says wha–?” My favorite exchange of the night happens here:
Jeff: I see no difference between pierce’s religion and others.
Annie: Then you’re not listening, because his has lasers!
Since Betty White got fired in the season premiere, the new Anthropology teacher is… Professor John Oliver! Unfortunately, he’s drunk and doesn’t actually know what anthropology is. On the up side, however, the 25-foot restraining order he took out against Chang works like a magic force field pushing Chang out of class, the lunch line, and everywhere else. Chang retaliates with a counter-restraining order.
Britta and Annie try and fundraise in front of their diorama. Britta (as she is wont to do) shouts a lot—sparking a random student to point out “You don’t have to yell at us. Nobody is on the other side of this issue.” Meanwhile, Annie is being her cute, wide-eyed self and wooing donations with talk of imperiled pelicans. Britta is not impressed. She and Annie try and out-impersonate each other, causing the sidelined Shirley to mutter about those skinny bitches and all their problems. Hee.
Word-fighting turns to fist-fighting, with the diorama becoming the first casualty. As oil spurts everywhere, Annie and Britta find themselves essentially oil-wrestling. Donations triple. They eventually apologize, but obnoxiously make their reconciliation all about Jeff (Britta claims she slept with him because she hates herself and Annie claims she kissed him because she wanted to be cool like Britta). That seems retcon-esque in Annie’s case and a little cheap, because their friendship stand on more than whether they like the same boy. Or maybe I’m overreacting because I fear The Triangle.
Jeff confronts his own mortality after a doctor tells him he’s not as ship shape as he thought he was. To pull himself out of his funk, he resolves to crush Pierce’s faith so Jeff can feel better about himself. He packs Troy and Pierce into a drive to the morgue, under the pretenses of visiting an ice cream parlor. I’m having flashbacks to childhood car rides “to Disneyland!” that inevitably ended up at the dentist’s office.
On the drive, Pierce finds a CD left to him by his mother. They play it and I have to say it is probably the most moving, sentimental moment I’ve ever seen on this show. Pierce’s mother lovingly tells her son, “I’m dead. I’m not vaporized, I’m gone forever. Life is only worth a damn because it’s short. You fill life with mistakes and then you let go. I love you. Goodbye.” Awww. Funny how a character we never met or saw can have such an impact.
Apparently Jeff agrees, because Even though Pierce dismisses the CD message, Jeff changes course from the morgue (thank god – can you imagine the Troy tears?) and takes the gang to ice cream.
Those are all the main storylines this week—except for the one, you know, where Abed delivers a baby. If you’re thinking I’m nuts, rewind and watch the action in the background. Did you catch it? Overall, this was a good episode with lots of fun moments. It wasn’t as hilarious as some of the first season episodes (although I’ll admit my nostalgia may be inflating my perception of Season One’s awesomeness), but it was still a solid, funny effort. What did you think? Leave some comments and let me know your two cents.
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