Would that this TV be a time-TV so that I might replay Community over and over again in an effort to patch together an accurate timeline of events that resulted in fake bloodshed and fake deaths. I could actually just rewind the episode on the old TiVo but a Time-TV would be much cooler.
"This is Greendale, Annie. If there’s a conspiracy, it goes all the way to slightly below the middle."
Tonight we learned that when Dean Pelton isn’t busy deaning, he’s at Starbucks trying to write “Time Desk,” a time-travelling novel that is sure to rival Michael Scott’s spy screenplay “Threat Level Midnight.” Pelton took time away from trying to impress Persian baristas with his novel to investigate Jeff’s schedule and figured out that Jeff’s trying to get away with getting credit for a class that doesn’t exist.
Jeff took Pelton and Annie to the fake classroom of the fake class, which was actually a broom closet, which was where they encountered a man claiming to be Jeff’s fake professor, Professor Professorson. And so began the multilayered conspiracy. This resulted in a car being blown up (a tiny car on Annie’s diorama, and it wasn’t so much an explosion as it was more of a series of sparks), a thrilling (crawling) chase sequence, and numerous revelations ensued. Shots were fired. People fake-died and in the end, Dean Pelton seemed to be the most victimized by the whole ordeal, despite the fact that he thought he had orchestrated the whole thing. In truth, various people orchestrated the mess, but it was the fake-professor that had the goods on all of them and the props to take them down.
Was there really a point to the plot of tonight’s episode? Not so much, though Annie did prove she’s capable of deceit, so points to her for that. In the end, I think this one was more about laughs and an opportunity to spoof the conspiracy genre with clever slow-mo’s, an overdone (in a good way) conclusion and intense chase-music. Jim Rash was hilarious tonight (“Would that this hoodie were a Time Hoodie!”). I also appreciated Kevin Corrigan’s guest appearance as the fake-conspiracy-professor/actual-theater-professor. Corrigan has plenty of credits but I can’t see him and not think of Superbad.
“Who wants to hang out in a blanket fort with grown men in tiny underoos?"
The B-Story followed Troy and Abed as they attempted to revitalize a piece of their childhood by creating a blanket-fort in their dorm room. Sadly, the simple fort that may have appeased them when they were children wasn’t big enough and so, they made it bigger and bigger, allowing others to contribute and participate in the fun until the whole project got much bigger than either could have imagined. Latvian Independence Parades and Civil Rights Museums are great in the real world, and certainly in college, but in a blanket-fort? I don’t know… It wasn’t until the campus paper ran a story on the hot new blanket fort that Abed and Troy knew it was time to hit the self-destruct button. Protocol Omega involved tugging two socks and effectively dismantling the entire sheet-fort city. Looting naturally followed.
I love how undeterred Troy and Abed were by their failed project. So, the blanket-fort outgrew them and turned into something they couldn’t allow. They took it down and without blinking, moved on to their next endeavor. A cardboard submarine sounds like a great way to waste the day (as long as they recycle the pieces in honor of Green Week.)
I’ll end this write-up by addressing Annie and Jeff. I’m actually not looking for romantic story arcs in this show because I think Community holds up really nicely without them, however it was hard not to notice the sparks flying between Jeff and Annie and I’m not just talking about the little car on Annie’s Diorama. Jeff tackling Annie to the ground seemed to hold a brief but charged moment of sexual tension for the two characters who locked lips last season. That alone wouldn’t have grabbed my attention much if not for brief look they gave each other when the blanket-fort came down on their heads. Hmmm…
