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Community: Geography of Global Conflict

“Looks like someone woke up on the regular side of the bed.”

Urgh, again with the teasing. Did they not think I was being serious with my threats last week? Because, you know, I wasn't. But I was very serious about appearing to be serious.

Doppelgänger Hi-Jinks

Initially, it seemed like this episode was going to be all about the rivalry between Annie and her multi-cultural evil twin, Annie Kim. Evil Annie's presence caused our Annie to start reverting to her old self. Suddenly two years worth of character development went out the window, leading to the mother of all temper tantrums during the Model UN Battle Royale (trust Greendale to have a history professor with an unhealthy obsession with model UNs).

But in the end this was just a ploy by the writers to get Jeff and Annie to sit down have a little talk about their rather complex relationship. It wasn't exactly the talk I was hoping they would have about their complex relationship. That talk would be longer and involve more decelerations of 'I Love You'. But at this point I'll take what I'm given. Just seeing the two of them in the same frame is usually enough to makes me happy.

Britta, Chang and Lionel

While the Annies were leading their respective Model UNs to war, another, far less entertaining rivalry was brewing at Greendale between Britta, that eternal rebel without a clue, and Chang, Greendale's new sheriff in charge of making sure no one bumps into the bin outside the library. Jealous of her old friend getting tear gassed, locked up and beaten in Syria, Britta needed a machine to rage against. Chang needed to feel like he had some power. So they develop this twisted co-dependent relationship of rebellion and oppression.

This all got too silly far too quickly and only got worse and worse as it dragged on. By the time Britta showed up in her suit of Barbie dolls I was cringing so much I was worried that my face would crack. Poor Britta, I feel so sorry for her. She's no longer resembles a believable (Greendale) human being. Now she's just another crazy caricature. Come on, something is seriously wrong with you when Chang is the more stable person in your relationship.

The Adventures of Troy and Abed across the 8th Dimension

For reasons I can't begin to comprehend, they decide to play Operation on Pierce, complete with hospital scrubs. Okay, when are we going to see these two living together?

Notes and Quotes

-- I'm disappointed they didn't do more with Evil Annie. It was something of a missed opportunity that the show didn't have fun with the concept of evil twins. We didn't even get to hear Abed's take on the situation. Now that is just criminal negligence.

-- This isn't a Spartacus thing but I want everyone to know that I farted.

-- No Dean or Vice Dean this week.

-- This could be entirely coincidental, but the colours of the teams were blue and red, the same colours used to distinguish between the two universe on Fringe. I like to think this is why Abed thought there were two universes.

-- Chang better pray no one ever thinks of moving those bins slightly to the side, so they are out of everyone way, otherwise he's out of a job.

-- How cute was Annie's little smile while Jeff lays into Evil Annie?

-- Britta is useless at kicking stuff over. Chairs, bins, you name and she can't kick it.

Jeff: “Wow, Annie, how progressive of you to have a multi-cultural evil twin.”
Pierce: “An Asian Annie. Obama's America.”

Abed: “Earth-2 is out there, we can't ignore it forever.”

Jeff: “Abed, what did I tell you? You can't just mumble nonsense. No one's cutting away.”
Abed: “Okay fine. Here's my actual plan.”
-- Cue cut away.

Jeff: “Uruguay kindly requests that Somalia stops pronouncing it 'You're a gay'”.

Britta: “Yep, I'm getting serious. I got a backpack, got a new notebook, oh I got one of those see-through yellow pens so I can do that thing where you colour in the words.”
Shirley: “Highlight.”
Britta: “Probably the backpack.”

Jeff: “When you feel the way I feel about you, the easy loophole through the creepiness and danger is to treat them like a child. ‘Chip off the old block.’ ‘You’re the best, kiddo!’ It’s a crutch. It’s a way for me to tell you how important you are from a distance. But now you’re becoming this mature, self possessed, intelligent young woman, and I can’t keep patting you on the head or talking down to you.”
Annie: “But I like how close we are. I don’t want to grow up if it means losing what we have.”
Jeff: “Well, tough, Annie. You have to grow up because the world needs more women like you. We can’t keep doing this forever, kiddo.”
Annie: “Can’t we?”

I didn't enjoy this episode as much as the season opener. Two episodes in and it feels like Community hasn't really come out all guns blazing this season.

Two and a half out of four Earth-2s, kiddo.
---
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011. More Mark Greig.

8 comments:

  1. I got a satisfactory dose of Jeff and Annie. I prefer them to Jeff and Britta. No matter how creepy it is.

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  2. I really loved the bit that Troy did with Annie's straw. And the burned Barbie dolls on Britta's outfit. It's the little things.

    No one ever actually said, "I am Farticus," did they? Maybe it was unspoken.

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  3. "You're behaving like a schoolgirl, and not in the sexy way" had me in stitches.

    And the sillier the Britta storyline got, the funnier I thought it was. I really laughed.

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  4. Hey Billie,

    I'm new to community. Actually I just watched the first two seasons in 2 days and I think it is awesome.

    I just have to ask though, why do you ship Jeff and Annie? I personally think Jeff and Britta have more chemistry and the actors play off each other very well. At least when they are not doing stupid things with Britta's character.
    Love their bantering, even though it has become quite rare.

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  5. Hey Rishabh,

    Actually, I don't ship Jeff and Annie at all, although I think they're cute together. Mark Greig wrote this review. :)

    And welcome to Community! I love it, too. I also discovered it late and watched the first couple of seasons very quickly. Not in two days, though.

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  6. Yeah, well thanks.

    BTW I'm really irritated at what they've done to Britta. Kinda like Cordelia.

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  7. I can’t decide how I feel about Jeff and Annie. They have incredible chemistry and they are very cute together, but the age difference keeps rearing its head. Having said that, after this week, I don’t want Jeff anywhere near Britta ever again. Glad I wasn’t the only one cringing, Mark!

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  8. Ah, one of the 3 ep's that I watched with pleasure yesterday.

    Annie's tantrum deserves to be put in my electronic museum of TV Anthology.

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