Quick Take: Community, "Pascal's Triangle Revisited"
"Finally, a last day of school plot twist." – Abed
Review: Community, "Pascal's Triangle Revisited"
(S0125) It's the end of the school year at Greendale Community College, so that means it's time for a good old fashioned Tranny Dance… to celebrate transfer students moving on to "real" schools, of course. And in essence we received a brilliant end to a first season of Community, with big laughs, big plot developments, and even a few twists that would make Abed (Danny Pudi) himself happy.
This probably won't get discussed all that much, but I'm most struck perhaps by how well this episode was plotted: the Troy-Abed-Pierce triangle of sorts intersected perfectly with the culmination of the Jeff-Slater-Britta triangle in fact. And that, of course, led to the twist-and-a-half ending in which Annie (Alison Brie) breaks off her relationship with her aspiring pro hacky sack boyfriend to share a very much in the moment kiss with Joel. If nothing else, Jeff (Joel McHale) has confirmed that he is indeed worthy of his self-appointed cool guy on (community college) campus title, with three attractive ladies after him by the end of the episode!
Because Community does frequently go into farcical mode and is always drenched in self-conscious and ironic pop culture references, it could easily become a show that holds little substance and pull beyond the jokes. But I think one of the reasons why Community is a brilliant show (a term I don't use lightly) is because it knows how to deftly shift gears and turn in fine character and story moments. Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed's friendship feels pretty real and eccentric and special, doesn't it? Same goes for the ties of the group "community" itself. Annie can't run off to Delaware (and love the randomness of getting a hacky sack scholarship to a college in Delaware), I thought, it'll break up the whole group vibe!
Britta (Gillian Jacobs) and Jeff's relationship was handled exceptionally well all season long. We're so attuned to the guy-meets-girl, girl-blows off-guy, they finally get together dynamic that it seems part of sitcom DNA. Therefore, it was amazing and truly original that not only did we have Britta and Professor Michelle Slater (Lauren Stamile) professing love for our Community hero, but we had a "third way" ending with Annie and Jeff outside of the Tranny Queen dance. A storybook Community ending, no? (Yes, I realize by the way that Annie is supposed to be a college freshman and Jeff/Joel McHale is obviously a dude in his thirties, but I'll let that go for the time being!)
It helps, of course, that was plenty of hilarity. Ken Jeong as Senor Chang is always comic gold and it was a treat to see him and John Oliver as Professor Ian Duncan in the same episode. Troy also got in plenty of great lines while waltzing around with a 60-inch diameter cookie, and Chevy Chase as Pierce seems to get stronger and funnier and weirder each week. Back to Troy and Abed, finally: their meta discussion about "jumping the shark" was fantastic, as was Troy's realization about the nature of his friendship with Abed while munching down his cookie: "Unless too much of a good thing is actually a bad thing. My friendship with Abed is a giant cookie!"
Where does Community go from here? The possibilities are limitless for this show – it has a true shot to be one of the all time greats.
More thoughts on Community's season finale:
Video: Community, "Pascal's Triangle Revisited"
Check out the season finale hilarity in full from Hulu, while available:
Recap: Community, "Pascal's Triangle Revisited"
Britta and professor Slater fight for Jeff's affection and Troy is upset when Abed doesn't ask him to move into his dorm room.
From Around the Web: Community, "Pascal's Triangle Revisited"
