Community S1E23 "Modern Warfare": I would like to announce the death of television. It died in a furious rage of paintballs and chaos and Dan Harmon is responsible for creating an episode so good, that TV isn't watchable anymore.
Greendale is hosting a paintball tournament, and the person who wins was going to get a blu-ray player, but that was stolen. So instead it's TBD. Troy wants that TBD bad. Jeff, uninterested in all of this, takes a nap in his car. 1 hour later, Jeff wakes up to see the school in ruins and paint. In walking around a post-apocalyptic Greendale he is assaulted by Leonard. Abed swoops in with Pitch Black goggles and wall-runs in front of Jeff, shooting Leonard. From here Jeff learns what has happened. The TBD prize is now the opportunity to choose all your classes for the next semester before everyone else, and it caused a frenzy. Meeting back up with Troy, the three students take out the Chess Club and come across Pierce and Star-Burns, who are stealing all the snacks from the vending machine. Wanting to be with the popular group always, Pierce shoots Star-Burns in the side to join them. But then, Troy, Jeff, and Abed need to take a piss, and they come across Shirley, Britta, and Annie.
These gifs speak for themselves, really.
The study group is ready to finish off the last of the competitors, knowing fully that when that is done, they will have to turn on each other. There are discussions of giving it to Shirley no matter who wins, which Jeff isn't going to do. Running outside, the group gets ambushed by the Glee Club, taking out Troy and Annie. Using Pierce as bait, he gets shot up in favor of the remaining team taking out the enemy. Sitting around a barrel fire, an ambush occurs from a group of roller-skating disco students, but not without a Warriors reference. Shirley and Abed get eliminated, and it's down to Jeff and Britta. It's now late in the morning and the dean just wants the game to end. He hires Senor Chang for the job, and he's a douchebag that brings his own equipment. Jeff and Britta, who are under a lot of pressure, wind up inadvertently having sex, and afterwards Britta uses it to pull a gun on Jeff. Jeff, too clever for his own good, made sure to remove her magazine first. But then... A CHALLENGER APPROACHES
No seriously, what movies did they NOT reference?
Britta, in a sacrifice to Jeff, takes the plunge to end Chang's hail of bullets, leaving Jeff alone. He takes it to the dean, who is happy to say he has a DVD player for Jeff! But that isn't enough. He wants that priority registration. And shoots the dean. Wrapping up, Jeff gives the priority registration to Shirley, but she has to pretend like she has gout since it violates school ethics policy.
They could and ended the episode right here and I would be fine.
This was an incredible episode. For months fans who has been following Dan Harmon's twitter were curious to see how awesome the episode that went grossly over-budget would turn out, and it really dampened the rest of the night. Parks & Rec was great, but it felt like a shadow compared to Modern Warfare. Everything does. If you have any love for any action movies, from Predator to Pitch Black to Hard Boiled and even Face/Off, this episode has it all. I'll say it every week if I have to, if you're not watching this show then there is a big gaping hole in your life.
Hulu: Community S1E23: Modern Warfare
Parks & Recreation S2E22 "Telethon": Despite being overshadowed by the greatest thing TV has to offer, P&R was really funny. Leslie signs everyone up for a telethon that runs from 2AM to 6AM, and she spent all last night making shirts for everyone, so she hadn't slept in over 24 hours. Much like how I feel right now. The sleep deprivation is solved by snacking on lots of Sweetums bars, which leaves Leslie more crazier than she started.
clipboard mouth. CLIPBOARD MOUTH
A block of sugar, indeed.
Leslie entrusts Tom to pick up Detlef Schrempf, an NBA player, as the celebrity guest, but not before Tom taking him to his club and starts drinking heavily. Mark in considering proposing to Ann, while Ann is considering dumping Mark, both of which have told Leslie about their plans. Leslie first tells Mark he should propose for the telethon since it will be a memorable story, but when she hears what Ann wants to do, she breaks down and isn't sure how to handle it.
Meanwhile, Ron Fucking Swanson skimps out to go sleep and we find that he has a condition known as "sleep fighting."
Have you ever seen this man sleep? It's like an underwater ballet.
Ron wakes up enough to do a segment on how to cane a chair, which causes the telethon to LOSE money. Tom is still MIA with Detlef Schrempf, and it's nearing 6AM. Desperately trying to pull things together, Leslie tries several ideas to entertain the audience in the last remaining moments, like recapping her top ten favorite episodes of friends, and attempting to drink 8 glasses of milk in 3 minutes (to which Ann stops her immediately, since she'll die). Other acts inclue someone doing the worm, and Jerry on piano. Finally Tom arrives and declares to the viewers of Pawnee that he is very, very drunk. Detlef offers a $5000, putting them above the goal, and to a well-deserved sleep for Leslie. After she drove onto Ann's lawn.
This was a very hectic, chaotic episode and Leslie really took control of the whole thing. It was one disaster after another and I was reminded of her more neurotic side from the first season, except with added sleep deprivation and a massive sugar rush. Everyone got to have some fun moments and while Leslie held the reins, there wasn't a moment of thinking "where did that character go?" I wouldn't place it in the same tier as Hunting Trip or Sweetums or Possum, but there wasn't a moment that didn't make me smile the whole way through.
Hulu: Parks & Recreation S2E22: Telethon
The Office S6E24 "The Cover-Up": Truthposting here, didn't pay attention to most of this. There was some really funny interaction in the beginning with Jim and Pam messing with Dwight, and it's always nice to see Zach Woods bring some of the same asshole charm he had with Chad from In The Loop.
Sorry for the lack of review, I usually spend this half hour making dinner!
Hulu: The Office S6E24: The Cover-Up
30 Rock S4E20 "The Moms": Everyone's mother is in town for TGS, from the actors to the execs. Jack has to deal with Colleen trying to play a hand in his women troubles, Liz is wondering if she should just try to get married and not waste time waiting on Astronaut Mike Dexter, Jenna and her mom are having a conflict on what to wear, Lutz's mother is literally Lutz in a wig and a sweater. Tracy, who doesn't know his mother, has to have another actor come in to play the part, and Tracy protests. Jack tried to use Kenneth to distract Colleen, but being the mastermind she is has no trouble distracting Kenneth.
The big part of this episode was Liz, when she finds out that her mother passed on her true love instead of the man she married. Her true love being Buzz Aldrin, who guest stars. Liz meets with him and finds out he missed his window of opportunity, and would put Margaret through hell to still be with her. Then one of the most adorable, yet awesome things ever happens:
I don't know about you but I would LOVE to yell at the moon with Buzz Aldrin.
Eventually Jack caves in ans asks Colleen to help him with his love life. And for once, she doesn't have an answer. Jenna and her mother sort out their wardrobe differences, and seeing how happy they were, Tracy decides to accept his fake mom as his mother. The episode ends with a song and to stay tuned for the Mother's Day episode of Bitch Hunter. Fakeout to Bitch Hunter credits, than snap to Marriage Ref. You bastards. I want it to be a real show.
Much like last week this was a cute episode but didn't have too many solid jokes. The two callbacks to Bitch Hunter were great (PUT THE MIMOSAS DOWN... BITCH). I dunno, usually I'm defending 30 Rock left and right this season but this episode felt watered down a bit. It's taking a slight turn for the serious but I think I'm starting to understand why people are not liking the Jack/Liz dynamic. In older eps where Floyd and Liz's other loves came into play the show is still a priority. At first the disconnect was subtle but the final shot of the end of a TGS show during the credits made me snap out of it and see that. TGS is now no longer a part of the show anymore, and I'm still liking 30 Rock, but it needs to get back on the rails for season 5 before it goes from likable and cute to taking off in a different direction.
Granted, I say this as I oogle over a show that spends most of its time not caring it's taking place at a community college, but the writing is so solid and tight to make the backdrop meaningless to the jokes and the delivery. Newsradio is in a similar vein, no one cared about the backdrop being WNYX because it was so well put together. I used to think 30 Rock was in the same boat but it's starting to lose focus, and I don't want to see that happen.
Hulu: 30 Rock S4E20: The Moms
I still can't get over how good community was
ReplyDeleteIt really drowned out everything else after it
ReplyDeleteI've posted this elsewhere, but I'm really impressed by how well the gimmick of the episode worked. It's always a risk to do that sort of thing, but they integrated it so well into the beats and rhythms of the show and the characters were able to live and breath in the world the episode provided that it didn't feel gimmicky at all. Or to put it another way, it was still definitely an episode of Community, even with the action movie parody beats. It's exciting to see the show clicking on all levels like this, and this episode just expanded what is possible in the world of Greendale and what the show is capable of. Community is one of the most exciting things happening on network TV right now.
ReplyDelete