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Community – Absolutely no Ghosting!

As 'Community' takes place in a college, it's only fitting that it teaches us some important lessons: Troy can swim, Senor Chang needs to invest in a padlock, Jeff isn't special, and practicing being a doctor won't bring your brother back. I feel better, how about you?

- Season 1, Episode 19 - "Beginner Pottery"

I wasn’t totally in love with last week’s episode of Community, but this week it came back fighting. While Jeff’s complete and utter mental breakdown in the face of a “cooler” classmate was pretty funny, it was really Tony Hale‘s aversion to “Ghosting” that made the episode for me, especially because I’d bet that storyline comes out of a real truth. Can you imagine how many  people in the past 20 years have made a Ghost joke any time they’ve gotten within 10 feet of a potter’s wheel? My conservative estimate would be all of them.

As much as I agree with the writers’ decision to vary the plot and mix up the characters a little bit, I have to say that not seeing Troy and Abed together at all in this episode made me a little sad. As much as I love Ken Jeong, at the end of each episode, I look forward to seeing another Troy and Abed adventure. So while I did get a kick out of Senor Chang getting robbed at the YMCA yet again, I missed Troy and Abed.

As far as the sailing class goes, it was all about Pierce. The writers have done a really good job of not making him a completely pathetic character. Even though he’s a truly ridiculous individual, he shows enough glimmers of insight to make him believable, instead of some pathetic sad-sack. That way, we don’t feel nearly as guilty when we laugh at him.

Community also went the extra mile when it came to the payoff to the pottery story. I really see this as a two part thing: the first part was when Jeff exited the class with a bang, or an Unchained Melody, as it were. I love that he looked at the situation, realized he was screwed, and decided to just make it a grand exit. The second part was the very end, when it was revealed that not only was Rich an expert pottery maker, but he was nearly Norman Bates-like in his obsession with it. I don’t know why, but having the voice-over of his mother telling him that practicing being a doctor wasn’t going to bring his brother back, completely cracked me up.

What was your favorite part of the episode?

Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures

Categories: | Community | Episode Reviews | General | TV Shows |

7 Responses to “Community – Absolutely no Ghosting!”

March 18, 2010 at 10:13 PM

This episode was freaking brilliant! I loved every part of it and thought the sailing plot was just as strong as the pottery one. Such a great show.

March 18, 2010 at 11:37 PM

it’s driving me crazy – who did the voice of rich’s mother at the end?

March 18, 2010 at 11:40 PM

also, did abed say ‘you’re goldbluming again’ to mchale, he was kind of channeling jeff goldblum acting crazy with the santa fe research – or did i hear that wrong?

March 19, 2010 at 9:24 PM

No, you definitely heard right. And he totally had a Goldblum face on, too!

March 19, 2010 at 12:14 AM

They way Tony Hale molded that clay looked way too much like Buster Bluth giving a back-rub to be a coincidence.

March 19, 2010 at 10:09 AM

An extremely well-done outing. What struck me most was the very cinematic music throughout the episode, as I normally don’t notice BGM at all.

What was that about trying not to sexualize Annie? Jeff and Abed weren’t blinking.

Even though he’s a truly ridiculous individual, he shows enough glimmers of insight to make him believable, instead of some pathetic sad-sack. That way, we don’t feel nearly as guilty when we laugh at him.
Yes, it was a bit weird to have this scene followed by the Jerry-centric storyline on Parks and Recreation right after.

March 19, 2010 at 9:25 PM

You’re absolutely right. I cover Parks and Rec for TV Squad, and I made that same comment. The whole Jerry thing made me uncomfortable– with the exception of Leslie’s Tom impression, which was just hilarious.

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