Is it just me, or does it seem like more shows are going all out for Halloween this year? This week was Community’s Halloween episode, and it made me ridiculously happy. While the plot was another “Jeff acts like a jerk, makes people sad, learns his lesson and fixes everything” one, the character elements really made it stand out.
It’s no secret that Britta has been bothering me the past few episodes, but I really enjoyed her in this one. From her ridiculous squirrel costume that she wears because she hates it when women dress up as sluts for Halloween (all of my college Halloween costumes involved me being hugely pregnant for the exact same reason), to her snapping the head off of Professor Robin Hood’s trophy at the end of the episode, she was interesting to me for the first time in several weeks.
What I like about the characters on Community, is that even though they appear to be one-dimensional caricatures, we keep on finding more and more out about them that gives them depth. Usually it’s only one character per episode, such as “Introduction to Film,” where we really learned a lot about why Abed is the way he is. In this episode though, we get at least glimpses into every character.
Pierce has been generally pretty funny, but we’ve seen very little of him other than his being a bumbling fool– and a bit of a creepy sexual harasser. While we do get plenty of that in this episode, I really like how they had him deal with his age. Any man in his position who is attending college and spending time with people who are so much younger than him has to feel uncomfortable at times, so it was good to see him actually deal with it.
We always knew that Annie wasn’t exactly popular in high school, but we really see the extent of that and how it still affects her in college. Plus, she comes out and recognizes that Jeff’s role is the “cool guy,” and you’ve got to think that most of that group hangs around him just in hopes that some of that coolness will rub off on them.
Even Shirley, who is usually in the background, had some nice moments when she was talking about her ex-husband asking for her ring back. We also got a nice scene with Abed showing some self-awareness when Jeff yells at him, “You’re not really Batman!” and he replies in that calm, flat way of his, “I know I’m not really Batman. You could try being less of a jerk.”
But let’s talk about Batman for a second, shall we? His Batman was amazing. I nearly died laughing the first time he opened his mouth and the exact constipated Jack Donaghy voice that Christian Bale used in the movie came out. He was so dead on, that every time he came on the screen, I instantly became happy.
Speaking of Halloween costumes though, I spent the entire episode trying to figure out why Troy had a fake mustache involved in his Michael Jackson costume. It wasn’t until his very last scene that I realized he wasn’t Michael Jackson at all– he was “Delirious”-era Eddie Murphy. Either way, with this episode, Community is climbing back to the top of my list.
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Oct 29, 2009 @ 20:30 EST5EDT
I thought Abed was doing Michael Keaton’s voice as Batman, from the first movie. But I agree it was the highlight of the show. I also liked Shirley as Harry Potter, being called Urkel.
But where was John Oliver? I’d imagine he’d have a sharp Sherlock Holmes costume at that faculty party. The show goes to a whole new level with him in it. I wish he were a regular instead of Ken Jeong, who I’ve yet to find even remotely funny (except maybe during his judging-at-the-pool screaming match with John Oliver).
You didn’t mention Abed’s awesome slow-motion rescue of Pierce and Jeff from the collapsing “building,” while the rest of the group cringed in terror. Or the question Troy had always wanted to ask the real Batman as to whether he was a good-looking boy. And the fact that Troy considers Grumpy Old Men hilarious.
I agree with Annie that Britta looked adorable in the squirrel costume. And about a foot shorter too. I was grateful that they kept her facial expressions vis-à-vis Jeff and Michelle suitably noncommital so that those invested in that pairing could read a bit of jealousy, and the rest of us just saw empathy for Annie and annoyance at Pretentious Ph.D. I also loved her mocking of Jeff’s non-rented too-tight cowboy outfit.
Pierce: “Message received.” Creepy. Also the Beastmaster costume. I saw both of those movies!
And when Jeff told Abed that he wasn’t Batman, Abed just hung his head sadly for a moment, then delivered that wonderful zinger to Jeff as he swooped out of the room.