series rewatch discussion post: s05e7 - s05e10
Season 5, Episode 7 - Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality
Jeff helps Duncan romance Britta; Britta runs into some old anarchist friends and discovers they've moved on; Abed accidentally destroys some of Hickey's drawings; Chang has a supernatural experience.
Season 5, Episode 8 - App Development and Condiments
Dean Pelton lets two designers test their new social networking application at Greendale, leading to a war among the students; Professor Hickey decides to go underground until the battle ends.
Season 5, Episode 9 - VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing
Jeff, Shirley and Hickey's discovery of a hidden stash of textbooks causes power shifts within the group; Abed and Annie play a VCR game to decide who gets to choose their new roommate.
Season 5, Episode 10 - Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
When Professor Hickey reveals that his estranged son (David Cross) has had a baby, the gang decides to help them reunite through a game of dungeons and dragons.
Reminder: No bashing of other characters, ships or fans. Gifs, graphics, recs and other fan creations in relation to these episodes are encouraged in the comments. Be civil and respectful in all discussions and have fun!
I wanted to get this up in time (I usually aim to have it up around 7PM as we do with regular episode discussion posts during currently airing seasons) but it just seems impossible right now. Still, I'm getting it up before the night is through and that's something, right? Right? Ugh. Anyway, we're on the home stretch, really. This is the second last discussion post for the series rewatch. Now is the time to start discussing the episodes in context of overarching character and plot developments as well as individual episodes. This is probably my least favourite stretch of episodes in the season but, overall, I still enjoyed them a fair bit. As usual, let me know what you agree and disagree with in the comments! See you next week.
Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality
Have I mentioned yet how much I love Duncan? I assume he doesn't really care whether Jeff has ever or will ever respect him and a character that wallows so lovingly in his own patheticness and filth is... Well, he's a joy, isn't he? I mean, that may just be John Oliver and the verve with which he plays Duncan, but either way, I adore him. This episode actually opens really strongly and it's nice to see how S5 returned to showcasing the friendship between Jeff and Duncan. As Annie pointed out way back in S3, everyone that Jeff seems to know (or talk to, anyway) is in the study group. Having characters that exist within Greendale but outside of the study group (and I mean, relatively fleshed out characters) who can float in and out of the story is so, so important and the show utilises them incredibly well to create fresh stories, dynamics, and generate real character development. Duncan is, perhaps, the best example of this. Are you as vocal in your love of Duncan as me? Or do you prefer someone like Leonard, the Hipster with the crooked wang?
I feel a bit like I'm beating a dead horse when I say this, but... Do you get the impression that Jeff knows how to pick up Britta because he knows her so well? My take on it was a combination of a few things but Jeff's high regard for Britta wasn't one of them; he knows Britta, he used the tip we heard him give Duncan back in S1, and he's intelligent enough to observe, analyse, and adjust his strategy with woman such that he applies that knowledge to Britta. If I recall correctly, this is the first really solid evidence that Dan Harmon was laying down some tracks to revisit Jeff/Britta (such that he did) so in retrospect, we know that is supposed to raise some questions. On your initial watch, what did you think about how this plot line started out? With Duncan (who has been interested in Britta since S1 too, don't forget) asking Jeff (someone Britta was hooking up with from S1 to S2) for advice on how to pick Britta up?
The study room scene is actually hilarious in a low-key, not-actually-hilarious-hilarious way. Jeff's face, upon realising that Shirley and Annie are into Duncan's idea, is one that's wondering why everyone is into this. It seems to me that Jeff clearly did not expect everyone to react with such support for Duncan's plans. I don't think that it's Annie, specifically, who gets to him either. It's that all the women seem to be on board, not just Britta as Jeff expected. The backfiring of his advice (and the subtle acting and direction) is spot on and really lays the groundwork for the revelation that Jeff wants whatever everyone else wants. Jeff is envious! I really love how Annie goes from super judgey to casually planning their meet up time. Unfortunately, that scene (and the fifteen seconds immediately following) are the last we see of both Shirley and Annie who shine in their teensy parts.
I love how both Jeff and Duncan are super casual about the whole situation. I mean, it's a little gross that Jeff is secretly giving Duncan insider's tips on Britta but they're not actually manipulating her or playing on her vulnerabilities so I'm willing to roll with it. The only thing that squicked me out (and squicked is maybe too strong a word) was Jeff's use of the words "former lover" which is technically accurate but seems oddly outdated and not a wholly genuine representation of their relationship (which they did have, though it wasn't, I would argue, a romantic one). Lover, to me, indicates a sense of intimacy, familiarity, and, yes, love or affection. While I believe that Jeff and Britta shared familiarity, I tend to think they lacked on all the other fronts I mentioned. Anyone care to disagree? I'm eager to hear people's opinions because I think language is a powerful tool and what and how we say things matter - so Jeff's use of the word 'lover' matters, but does it evoke the same idea for you?
Jeff is staring at Britta after her speech like she's the Golden Fleece and, as per my previous words, I say that for a reason: because Shirley and Annie made me think of Big Macs and golden arches and because he looked like he wanted to possess her. As if she were a possession, not that he's a demon or a ghost or whatever (sorry, I just marathoned the last three episodes of Supernatural). Anyway, Duncan, who is more perceptive than people give him credit for, picks up on Jeff's suddenly renewed interest and is angrily hoping Jeff does have an issue with alcohol misuse. I snickered. Duncan is a great foil for Jeff because while they're, at first glance, at completely different ends of the social status spectrum, Duncan has his life more together (in theory) than Jeff does and he's equally intelligent. He could so easily be reduced to less attractive sidekick but he holds his own so very well. Jeff doesn't hold back with Duncan and vice versa - this is a guy who knew him when he was a lawyer and now at Greendale and it lends their relationship a dynamic that can't be replicated in any of Jeff's other (on screen) relationships.
I'll take a break from my gushing over Duncan to talk about Abed.
I have a complicated relationship to Abed as a character which stems mostly from S3. I enjoyed most of S3 but Abed took a lot of the narrative focus which made for some emotionally complex and dramatic stories. This is not a bad thing and it encouraged a lot of character development for Abed which Danny Pudi handled admirably. But, it also made him less likeable in a very visceral, if surface, way for me. Abed, underneath it all, was still loveable but the way he refused to consider his friends' needs made it tough to empathise because they established it as a character trait and that meant it affected all of Abed's behaviour going forward. But how to let that play out while not diminishing the character's likeability? I don't know that S3 managed that. And here, you have Abed feeling bored (and, yes, more than that, lonely) so he seeks out company and finds Hickey.
What Hickey does is despicable and as an educator (and as a former police officer), he should know better and he should be reported. But Abed's behaviour wasn't cool either. They aren't comparable, I know. But in an effort to discuss Hickey and his reprehensible actions, people often ignore Abed's. The reality is that he walked into an occupied space, uninvited, and proceeded to (attempt to) force bonding on Hickey despite Hickey's fairly obvious disdain for it. It's fair to say that Abed has trouble reading social cues but he often can and does accurately read situations and people - he just doesn't always understand the why of it. Do you think Abed's difficulty processing emotion works differently? Why? As I see it, Hickey has made comments out loud, in the past, to the effect of disliking Abed and his behaviour such that Abed likely knew they weren't going to bond just because he said they were bonding. I actually thought Abed's insistence on showing Hickey the foam blaster was out of character but I can see chalking it up to being out of sorts because of Troy's departure.
I tend to think that both characters raise some good points about each other in the ensuing discussion. Hickey is, essentially, being a bully. But Abed did ruin Hickey's papers because he didn't care. By no means, let me reiterate, does one action negate the other, but it's interesting that the writers (and Dan Harmon) were well aware of how Abed was sometimes coming across on screen, especially from S3 onward. How did you feel about Hickey's behaviour? Abed's?
I said earlier that I wasn't going to call Duncan and Jeff gross, but I've changed my mind. Their little exchange once Duncan confirms that Jeff wants Britta is gross. They negotiate access to Britta as if she's an object to entertain them, a trophy to win, and it's gross on both their parts but moreso on Jeff's. Jeff who claims to be her friend and Jeff who identified himself her former lover. It's pretty clear (explicitly stated, as it happens) that Jeff's desire for Britta is borne of a need for whatever is cool and that it's a problem he has. That self awareness is nice to see but since he doesn't do anything with the knowledge, points docked. The idea that Jeff is willing to back down for an hour, as if Britta's sexual and/or emotional availability to him is a given is the grossest. Jeff's confidence, while usually attractive, is egotistic and skeezy here. Anyone read it differently? Because I'm curious as to how it can be interpreted differently.
Speaking of Britta, I feel for her. I've been in similar situations (yay for activists and people in helping professions!) and her friends are jerks because while activists may struggle with feelings of guilt, issues of how to balance a desire for upward mobility with their high-minded ideals, etc., etc., ad nauseum, they turned on her almost immediately. They literally made fun of her and laughed behind her back within the span of 10 seconds of the conversation devolving. But this is where Ian Duncan, of all people, displays a better grasp of being a good friend that Jeff Winger - he offers Britta a hanky and... Takes her home. Yes, Duncan wanted to take advantage of her but he couldn't actually manage it. He ended up being a good friend to Britta and to Jeff. My question is more, do you think Jeff (in this episode) displayed behaviour that warranted Duncan telling him he was a good friend?
I struggle with that idea because in doing the series rewatch, I've discovered that while Jeff is very likeable, he does and displayed a lot of shitty behaviours and attitudes. Is he a good friend? A good man? A good person? Those aren't straight forward questions and they don't have straightforward answers and I'm very willing to read dissertations on Jeff Winger, the character, for anyone who would like to write one. I read all of the comments even if I don't always respond!
Back to Abed and HIckey. They end up resolving their conflict and, in their own way, bonding. I don't know that the payoff here was what I expected. During the scene where they yell at each other (and didn't Hickey end up releasing Abed about a minute after Abed said he could make the movie if he hit all the greens? I guess by that point he couldn't chance it since the probability was low.), they both deliver some ugly truths to each other. Their reconciliation feels earned but given the ugliness and anger and pain that coloured their scenes together, I'm not sure it wasn't rushed. No residual feelings were mentioned, they just moved past it? Alright. How'd you feel about how it went down and how it ended up coming together at the end?
Okay, one final thing before we adjourn, or two: Chang. C-plot, a little confusing (were they ghosts? No, right?) simply because there were a lot of threads dangling since Chang is an unreliable narrator. I assume that the janitor was messing with him and the audience went along with it (or assumed it was interactive performance art?) and the Old Timey Photo Club which had nothing to do with anything was a random red herring. DId you like the execution? What did you think was going on? And in ending, the end tag was glorious and I wish we got more Dean/Duncan (but really, more Duncan/anyone).
App Development and Condiments
Given how he's been sort of an ass for a lot of the series (which I only really noticed on rewatch!), I now find myself hating when I have to agree with Jeff except... I agree with Jeff. In the opening sequence, we see Jeff manipulated ruthlessly by Shirley. Now, I've never really liked Shirley's method of manipulating people with guilt because it's a total mom thing (#notallmoms) but I have to admire her ability to do so because she's certainly good at it. And I think Jeff, of all people, should admire it too. Or do you think he looks down on it because it's "too easy" of a way to manipulate people? Just spitballing. Anyway, it is only dinner so I'm on board that it's not that important, even though I can understand feeling left out.
MeowMeowBeenz sounds like a terrible idea right from the start, doesn't it? The ability to rate other people (and things) often brings out the worst in people and it's Greendale, so... It puts the display of Shirley's guilting power in context almost immediately, though, doesn't it? I don't think I ever noticed it before (in this episode) but they're leaning hard into the 'Jeff craves attention and popularity' idea. His demeanour, once he realises that everyone finds MeowMeowBeenz more commanding than him, changes. It's not until he realises that Hickey, Annie, and Britta are all into it (well, not so much Britta) that he starts to really cave, though. I love Britta's impassioned speech simply because it leads to Leonard saying, "That's the general idea, baby." He's such a gem.
I like how Annie half-ignores, half-takes into consideration Britta's retort, "Maybe it distracts from your stupid butt." How often do you recall seeing Annie, Jeff, and Britta paired together? Or grouped together, I guess? I would venture that it's something we seldom see. It's either a group effort, or Annie and Jeff, or Britta and Jeff, or Annie and Britta. The three of them tend not to interact as a trio very often and I wonder how much of that is to do with perceived backlash from shippers, how much is simply logistics, and how much is that the writers/directors/producers want to preserve the so-called romantic tension. Because honestly, they played off each other well here and it had nothing to do with romance. How did you feel about the scene?
Now, Shirley downed Vicki and it wasn't done via guilt. I would argue that it was power-tripping. At this point, Shirley is a five which means her opinion holds more weight than others' and she uses that resources just as ruthlessly as she might guilt. But, guilt is no longer her only avenue. Did you think Shirley was the type of person to fall under 'absolute power corrupts absolutely'? We've seen glimmers of this in episodes like Digital Estate Planning. But, to be fair, all of the study group members (including Troy and Britta) have a certain ruthlessness and sense of survival that isn't always apparent, but definitely exists.
This is the second episode in a row that we hear Britta say something along the lines of being not lying to yourself, of knowing why you're doing what you're doing and I tend to think it was foreshadowing. There's a certain sense, in retrospect, that Jeff had to go to back to Britta in order to see the truth. It was, in fact, by trying to be with Britta that Jeff he was scared and that his feelings for Annie became readily apparent and undeniable. I'm just hypothesising out loud, really, but the more I think about it, the more I think it fits for me.
So listening to Jeff's story... I don't get it. Was it a reference to something? I mean, I get that he's aping 'brotastic' behaviour and being gross on purpose but was it a reference to 2 girls, 1 cup or something? I've never seen that (nor do I want to, don't post links!) but was the story just random words thrown together or did it mean something? Anyone?
As with the ACB episode, the title cards demonstrate just how quickly Greendale devolves into a wildly cartoonish place that makes no sense. It's grounded in a certain sense of 'this could happen, if schools existed in a vacuum in cartoon universe' but still, the mention of Facebook way back at the beginning is meant, I think, to evoke a sense of what apps and social media have done to the landscape of social relations and contained environments like a college or university campus. It's Day 8 and the 2s are now delivering snacks to the 5s. That's where we are. Who are the 5s? Chang, Shirley, Abed, Hickey, Coogler. That's five 5s. And it's a strange bunch, right? Like, I see how Chang got there (mercilessly lying for sympathy MeowMeowBeenz), Hickey (lying about his birthday, coasting on not being downvoted), and Shirley (nice to everyone, except when she's not). But how exactly did Abed move from a 3 on Day 2 to a 5 on Day 8? Annie, a devotee of the 5s it seems, is a 4. It's in the 5s best interests to limit who becomes a 5 and since their opinions hold the most weight, it's within their power to a degree.
Guys, MeowMeowBeenz is messed up.
But Coogler is a play on Jeff, right? Jeff who isn't yet a 5? Coogler, "Hey, it's Coogler! He's cool, he likes to get laid, he's not that old!"
Anyway, the system is messed up and Britta knows that. They're planning a revolution but you can see how Jeff is maybe mildly seduced by the idea of holding that much power and popularity. I think I sometimes get caught up in how different the characters are by as it's been pointed out, time and again, they all want to be liked and accepted. It's why they're at Greendale. They messed up and now they need somewhere to go and lick their wounds. Jeff and Shirley both felt like outcasts as kids and now they're in a position, with MeowMeowBeenz to become the popular kids, is it any wonder that the power, or pursuit thereof, goes to their heads?
The scene in the office is part of the rebuild toward J/B so they they don't feel totally out of left field, I assume. People mistaking them for a couple suggests, I guess, that they might or could be a couple. It puts the idea out there, even if it's not true and unlikely to ever be. In Debate 109, Shirley mentions that Jeff and Annie kiss in Abed's video and it makes them laugh nervously because now that the idea is out there, it's not as easily ignored and I assume something similar is meant to be happening here with the audience, if not in text. I'm very open to disagreements on this, though.
So I'm assuming that this is essentially what Joel McHale doing stand up is like. I haven't had a chance to go see him as of yet (he's not often in Canada during his tours, unfortunately) but it sounded more like Joel McHale (or, actually, a stand up comedian, the rhythms of whom he fell into) than Jeff Winger. The stories were nonsensical (if anyone else laughed, let me know) which took away just a tiny bit but Britta's outrage made me giggle a bit. Does anyone else find that this season was a bit lighter on laughs? It was creative and it was lovely to see the characters we know an love in stronger and better storylines, but I don't think it's been that funny up to this point. It's not unfunny, but I think there's been so much course and character correction that the laughs have suffered in direct correlation? Although, you know, I did laugh at the last apple bit.
I don't know what movie this was meant to be an homage to (it was more of a genre spoof, right?) but I have to admit, it's not one of my favourite episodes. I don't get a lot out of this sci-fi/fantasy conceptuality (I might be one of the few people who can't make it through Bladerunner) and so 3/4 of the way through the episode and I'm ready for it to be done. Did this episode work for you? Please tell me why. If it can be made more appealing by reading someone else's analysis, I'll take it.
I did like how Britta was styled as a guerrilla fighter even though she had become what she hated, a dictator. The lesson there could be, and I admit I'm reaching, but her partnering with Jeff led to betrayal, of her, and of her principals. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Only Abed who wanted desperately to fit in and Annie who was a high level bureaucrat escaped without real consequences. By the way, the Dean was, I asusme, a 4, but he never thought to stop any of this? Oh, Dean... Also, I liked Starburns' boots.
VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing
The episode opens with Annie fooling (or just by sheer luck) Jeff into taking on the only task they have that week. Her refusal to fit into a pattern is excellent and very Annie-like. It's followed by an un-Annie-like interaction with Abed where she simply gives in to his hemming and hawing over what she was going to make for dinner, a dinner that he wasn't technically invited to. It was nice that he asked permission for Rachel to come over and play the VCR game (considering, it seems, that Annie didn't ask permission to have her brother over for dinner?) but it's still oddly selfish. It's been about three episodes (so around a month, Community time?) without Troy and this episode really brings to a head all of the issues that are likely simmering as a result of Annie and Abed being roommates without Troy as a buffer.
The Dean's rap is amazing as is his reaction afterward when he starts crying. Jim Rash is criminally underrated.
I recently had a chance to attend Dan Harmon's documentary screening and podcast recording in Toronto and it was actually pretty cool (the D&D portion wasn't actually all that good) and Spencer seems like a cool guy (though the cult status he's achieved is startling) but an actor, he is not. The personality on screen seems reflective of Spencer as a person and I can get behind that but did you imagine, if Annie had a sibling, that this is who they would be? I'm also curious, because no mention is made, as to what his relationship with their parents is like. We know that Annie's parents are no longer together and that Annie and her mother have a strained (potentially non-existent?) relationship but it seems like that isn't true of Spencer and that he wasn't subjected to the same scrutiny or expectations that Annie was?
Okay, I'm not sure why Annie decided to ask about her brother living with them in slang but that exchange was marvelous. Danny Pudi must be truly amazing at tongue twisters because he spat that out without slurring or slipping at all and that's not easy. Well, not for most people, I would wager. Abed's right that Annie is putting him on the spot and Annie is right that Rachel and Abed have only been dating for a month. There's no real right answer.
We switch to the B-plot and it's another grouping that isn't very common (though I guess no grouping with Hickey is that common). So we have here a group of three highly competitive, highly willful people. It's a recipe for shenanigans, isn't it? I like that Hickey talks Shirley into committing a crime/sin and yet, she's the one who takes charge and gets shit done. Holla, Shirley. You will be missed in S6.
I think this was the episode where Rachel really grew on me because she was no longer represented as some slightly more "normal" version of Abed. She's a person who enjoys whimsy and pop culture but she picks up on social cues considerably better and both Annie and Abed's behaviour is weirding her out. She knows something's up but she's not in on the joke. Basically, she's the audience stand-in, injecting an element of reality to the proceedings and it's occasionally necessary to remind us that these characters and Greendale don't exist in a magical vaccuum.
They play into the parallel between the textbooks and drugs and it's actually pretty funny to me. Mostly because Britta acts like she's already high and Chang wanders into the room to get high (he's carrying a bong). Shirley is clearly supposed to be the Walter White of their little crew and I assume that's a slight homage to Jonathan Banks' former role. I haven't seen Breaking Bad (I think I made it through the first two episodes) so I don't know what roles the other characters fill but it's great. I assume Jeff falls into the role of Jesse Pinkman since he wants to defect? (I have no idea, to be honest.)
The ultra competitiveness displayed by Annie and Abed is probably what makes their friendship (and that of the group's) work, at least in part. They both get so willingly caught up in things that don't matter that they all descend into adventure together and it bonds them. I like this Annie and Abed because there's conflict but there's also a distinct underlying similarity that softens the blunt edges of their issues with each other. It's why they're working on a handshake together (someone mentioned that Alison Brie and Danny Pudi had been trying to slip that in for a number of seasons) and it's why they so readily agreed to play Pile of Bullets for roommate pick, if I had to hazard a guess.
According to this episode, Annie is maybe slightly mad at her brother (who was 13 when Annie was 17?) for taking their mom's side. I see his point, since it's hard for 13 year olds to really have a lot of autonomy in situations that are complicated and involving older siblings and/or parents. I can see where her hurt feelings come from but I also see exactly where Spencer is coming from. What are your thoughts on the sibling relationship between them and the knowledge about Annie's background that is revealed in this episode?
The textbook plot line is resolved neatly but in a way that I found oddly satisfying. Shirley's empire crumbles before it even gets started. How did none of them notice there were no page numbers? Greendale's education is worth what you pay for it, I guess.
It seems like (as fandom has suggested multiple times) that Britta is next in line (and that's definitely the textual suggestion) to move in to the apartment. What do you think about that potential development? It sounds good in theory to me but like it might be a terrible move in practice? I'm open to it but I'm cautious about applauding it just yet. It creates another reason for Annie and Abed's apartment to be a central meeting place but in terms of relationships and character dynamics, I don't know how that would play out. Do you think it would work? What would the impact be on Annie? On Abed? On Britta? On the study group in general?
Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
Admittedly, and this may just be me, but Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons has a bit of a forced set up in my opinion. Abed essentially lampshades it by talking about sequels and it's true, a sequel is a difficult thing to do. I tend to think the first D&D was so well-received that they went into S5 knowing they wanted to do a remake and broke the story around the concept. (If anyone has watched the commentaries, correct me if I'm wrong, please.) When they do that, it tends to show, I think. Of course, this is only conjecture on my part. I was one of the people (the majority, I'm sure) that loved that first D&D episode. It's part of why S4's rebellion against the group didn't make sense to me, but whatever. I was excited on my initial watch, I remember, because I was hoping for something just as good as that first go round. It also got me interested in both D&D and Magic: The Gathering again.
By the way, whose was the suicide they almost caused? Did they mean Neil's? Because, yeah, I think at one point, there was some concern over that (that is, the group exacerbating the already existing issue) but the group turned it around pretty quickly. I don't know if some dicey moments in the middle count in the grand scheme of things. I do like, however, that the group (or Annie, as it may be) feels comfortable enough with Hickey and with their tendency to get overly involved to decide, just like that, to play D&D and "fix" Hickey and his son's relationship. I know there were some complaints about the amount of screentime Hickey got in S5 but I found Professor Kane to be vastly underutilised, Dean Laybourne poorly utilised, and I was grossed out by Professor Cornwallis, so... I can't say Hickey was badly used, underused, or gross which is as good as an endorsement as you're going to get from me for any professors introduced after S2. Still, this was a very Hickey-centric episode with him as the driving force. What did you think going and what do you think now, on rewatch?
They jump right into the D&D which I think supports my belief that the entire Hickey-son thing was just a way to have them play D&D again but I'm okay with it because this was the fun part last time and it's the fun part this time too. I love that, for whatever reason that isn't explained, Annie is Hector the Well-Endowed again. I also really enjoy, and I don't know if this was at all intentional, the idea that with Jeff and the Dean being "father and son" in a fantasy setting (both in terms of it being a fantasy-ie-daydream and a fantasy-ie-magic realm), there's an element of incest because of the Dean's less-than-platonic feelings for Jeff which is, from what I understand, a big part of Game of Thrones (a popular, what do you know!, fantasy show).
I don't think I ever noticed how frequently Hickey threatens violence but it's actually just funny here. Why he has faith in these people (to help him win) such that he made a wager on it is beyond me but speaks to how he's growing as part of the group. I really like that! It's such a simple way to demonstrate that they've come along way by this point. I can't imagine him following through on his threat which is why I think it works - hitting Annie and Shirley just doesn't seem like something Hickey would do. He has a grudging respect for both of them at this point, I think, and he likes Jeff, sort of. They're colleagues at any rate. And that means something. Either way, the group ends up fractured and I like how the groupings work out. Of course I love Annie and Jeff paired up but Shirley is good at curbing any googly eyes (and there aren't any here) and Hickey plays off all three of them well. Chang and Britta have undeniable chemistry (they're my crackship) and the Dean and Britta have this slightly adverserial but still loving relationship that I enjoy a lot (side note: do you think the Dean's put downs of Britta come because it's Britta or out of jealousy of her former relationship with Jeff?). Hickey's son adds a wildcard element too. What did you think of the groupings? Did you have high hopes for what would happen?
As pointed out before, these guys are all competitive and willing to get lost in adventure together and Hickey, despite his protestations, is too. So right away, Shirley and Hickey (and Annie, who's attempting to be a little more strategic) get right into it. Hickey, having never played D&D before is mostly running amok with Shirley trying to temper him while Annie attempts to exert some reason/control and Jeff just follows his lead. There's no real discussion in text but this must have quite the effect on Jeff. Their last D&D game was organised by him because he was worried about Neil which, it's revealed, is a situation he is partly responsible for having coined the nickname "Fat Neil", This time around, he's watching another father-son duo hash out their issues and their relationship is at stake in a game of D&D. That's big and, moreover, that's big for Jeff. I'm curious as to what you think the impact on Jeff was throughout the game.
Shirley dies (that's the second episode where she disappears halfway through) though at least she gets more to do than she did in Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality. That leaves Hickey, Jeff, and Annie which is still a great combination for me. I appreciate that Hickey gets called out on his behaviour and Shirley uses her guilting powers for good - pointing out that Hickey's rash behaviour and cavalier attitude resulted in her dying and his "team" being down a member. Abed flat out tells him that he needs to take it seriously since his son does and I think it begins sinking in that Hickey doesn't know what to do or how to do it. Annie, ever considerate, takes a minute and then loots Shirley's character's corpse. Let me just say that in a zombie apocalypse or the event of a catastrophe, I want Annie on my team. And Abed, but definitely Annie.
Hickey's son (Hank, I just remembered!) does the same gesture as Hickey when Chang holds his hand out for a fist bump. It's some nice character building that you might not notice if you aren't looking for it. I have to really give kudos, yet again, to Danny Pudi. The Dungeon Master role might, in another's hands, be a throwaway role. The Dungeon Master (if I have it right) is meant to be mostly unnoticeable - there as a guide and narrator but not a participant. But Danny Pudi (and it's also, obviously, a fictionalised version of D&D and they give him more to do), does a stand out job of getting right into the role and into playing hobgoblins and all manner of things. It makes it a lot of fun to watch. The Dean's voiceover might be my favourite thing from this season as far as recurring gags go, on a side note.
The action sequence that follows the group's reunion is pretty grand, in my estimation. It's mostly yelling and sound effects but given that the Dean's overacted death (kudos to Jim Rash, because it's hilarious!) starts off the drama, it's really effective in conveying the quickness of the events and the heightened emotion of the moment. Annie and Jeff are now a pair facing off against Britta and Chang, and if I could ever come up with a better dream team showdown, I don't know how. Meanwhile, Hickey (and Hickey!) have both managed to rally the troops to their side and now they're off on a race to the finish. It's a good third act, I think.
It leads to the unintentional reconciliation of Hickey and Hickey. They shrug off Jeff's admonishment to hug it out and his offer of free frozen yoghurt (doesn't anyone eat ice cream anymore?) and continue playing. It's a parallel, to some extent, to what happened with Troy and Abed in S3's Pillows and Blankets - they don't want to be apart (even if they don't know how to be together) so they keep going with what they're doing so that they don't have to decide. The ending isn't really an ending so much as the start of a new story (that we don't get an update on) but I'll take it. It's a good way to put a pin in the story. And this episode makes me sad that we won't see Hickey again in S6.
While I don't think this episode is as good as S2's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, it was certainly a good episode. I like David Cross and I loved the humour woven throughout the episode, even if it was light on character development. Sometimes an episode just needs to make you laugh, after all. Do you have a differing opinion of the episode? Of Hank Hickey? The resolution? Or did you enjoy the episode too? For different reasons? Let me know all the details in the comments!