Quick Take: Community, “Regional Holiday Music”
“We have to save Christmas to save our friends.” – Troy and Abed
Review: Community, “Regional Holiday Music”
(S0310) Community always knows what I want for Christmas, even if I don’t know that I want it yet. A sexy song and dance number from Annie (Alison Brie) – check. Watching Donald Glover channel his musical alter-ego, Childish Gambino, into his portrayal of Troy – check again. The institutionalization of an entire Glee Club – also check. I must have been good this year.
I didn’t think it was possible to top the stop-motion spectacular that was last year’s “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” – in fact, I thought the musical gimmick would put a damper on the unspecified hiatus that Community heads into after tonight. I should know better by now. Dan Harmon has orchestrated what has got to be one of the greatest musical episodes of any series ever. (For comparison, Fringe’s “Brown Betty” previously held that title in my mind).
When the Glee Club gets “lawyered” by Jeff and are forced to stop singing their copyright-infringing songs, they experience a mass psychotic break, leaving an audible absence to Greendale’s holiday season. Abed is the first to give in to the nefariously joyful Mr Rad, who wants to recruit the study group to once again fill in for the Glee Club. The festive spirit starts to infect Troy, then Pierce, and then Annie, Jeff, Shirley, and Britta.
By the time they all convene for the school pageant, however, everyone has gotten so absorbed in being gleeful that they’ve turned into automatons programmed to sing, dance, and smile, with no semblance of the Christmas spirit to be found. Only when Abed realizes that Jeff’s instincts were right – that trying to force joy into an already dark semester can only make it darker – does he set out to sabotage the pageant, inadvertently revealing that Mr Rad killed the first Glee Club by cutting their bus brakes.
The entire episode is layered with meaning, as per Dan Harmon’s typical creative genius. The standard clash between the students’ dogmas takes the backseat, however, leaving room for a commentary on the network’s trying to force the show to be something it’s not, a drug allegory, and a trip through the last seventy years’ worth of music pushed into a ninety-second bit.
With the fate of the series up in the air, there’s still plenty of time – more than half a season – for the darkest timeline from “Remedial Chaos Theory” to be realized. The #SaveCommunity campaign has been going strong, however, sparking this recent video from the show’s cast, along with the folks over at CollegeHumor. I'll let them lead us into the cold, incipient hiatus.
You liked Fringe's "Brown Betty"? That episode didn't work for me at all. Buffy and Scrubs' musical episodes remains my favorite.
I liked Brown Betty precisely because it didn't feel gimmicky... had that "film noire" feel to it that I thought was a nice bonus.
The Scrubs episode is definitely in my top 5, as well. "Guy Love" was phenomenal and is stil a running inside joke between friends. I think I'm going to make a post out of this - best musical episodes.
There's just no beating this rap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=e-_vhRIxvf0#t=29s