J/B Focus in This, Part 1liz_marcsDecember 6 2014, 23:09:25 UTC
It's interesting to me that Dan seems to revisit his "choice that Jeff would have to make" idea in this season. It didn't quite come off because of the truncated nature of 13 episodes and the fact that he had to accomplish *a lot* during season five (not the least of which was dealing with the departure of two cast members).
The real problem? Is because he was going to tie the Jeff's Dad storyline to Britta, which would have been the emotional wallop to make Jeff's sudden re-emergence of his feelings for Britta more rooted in something real. Instead, it plays out rather shallowly in Bondage and a little bit in App Development. Sure, the shippers picked up on what Dan was doing (both J/B and J/A shippers), but it's interesting that a lot of viewers simply missed what was going on to the point that Jeff's sudden proposal to Britta in "Basic Story" really DID seem completely out of the blue and based on absolutely nothing.
In a weird way, S4 laid the ground work much better for a return to J/B because the Jeff's Dad storyline made it believable that Jeff would be re-evaluating his relationship to Britta. The problem is that they basically threw away the momentum laid down by the Thanksgiving episode by having Jeff verging between treating Britta like crap or acting like her snarky brother.
I also find it interesting that both S4 and S5 handled the potential re-emergence of J/B in exactly the same way: by literally removing Annie from the picture at key points. Not-so-surprisingly, Dan actually did a better job at this. In S4, you could practically see the strings because the only time Annie was excised from the picture was when there was a big emotional moment for Jeff or Britta, and the other half of that pairing needed to be around to witness it. Plus, the side plot Annie was shoehorned into (her ongoing rivalry with Shirley over everything) made zero sense for either character. In S5, Annie when Annie needed to be separated from the action, the reasons for her separation made a lot more sense and it wasn't centered around one person. In this run of episodes alone, Annie was sidelined with Shirley (twice) for reasons that made sense and once with Abed for reasons that made sense.
RE: J/B Focus in This, Part 2liz_marcsDecember 6 2014, 23:09:37 UTC
In any case, I always found Jeff's self-knowledge about what triggers his attraction to Britta in "Bondage" (She's shiny! I want to be shiny, too!) a bit on-the-nose and maybe a bit OOC. It could be he talked it over with one of his therapists at some point, but I never took Jeff to be all that self-aware about why he does what he does. What's more, he comes right out and admits that there's nothing romantic about it. It's not even about Britta. It's about him. I'll be honest. It didn't actually feel like it was Jeff talking. More like it was the writers talking through Jeff. It's akin to Abed's moment of comfort for Annie in "Basic Sandwich," where you didn't feel like it was Abed talking, but rather the writers talking through Abed.
As for the shippy moment in App Development where Jeff and Britta are mistaken for a couple who is going against the "norms" of the MeowMeowBeanz society... Yikes. It's made blatantly obvious that Jeff is using Britta as a means to an end, which is to get back at Shirley. Britta is the one who's being sincere, thinking that Jeff is on her side. Hell, it's even to the point that she gives him the ol' google-y eye during his mean-spirited stand-up comedy routine where he repeatedly punches *down* instead of up, and only takes one real potshot at his fellow fours.
I also want to take note of Jeff's and Britta's interactions in "VCR Maintenance," because I found it weirdly interesting in the wake of "Bondage" and "App Developments" where the potential for a return to J/B was laid down most heavily. Believe it or not, Jeff shows similar moments of strong disapproval towards both Shirley and Britta. Near the beginning of the episode, Shirley makes a bigoted crack about Catholics, which results in Jeff shooting her a glare, clenching his jaw as if he's biting his tongue, before he looks away. Later, when Britta walks in blindfolded, she talks about how she knows where she is based on the lingering smell of weed, and not her brand of weed, either. Jeff reacts in exactly the same way to Britta's comment as he did to Shirley's. It's an interesting acting choice on the Joel McHale's part, and I almost wonder if it was deliberate. Either way, it's pretty obvious that, at least in that moment, Jeff strongly disapproves of Britta's weed habit, or at least disapproves of her openly talking about it.
In any case, this attempt at re-building Britta as "the viable option" for Jeff makes me wonder about how they'll tackle J/A in S6 (if they tackle J/A in S6). I almost think that if Jeff makes any kind of show of affection towards Annie, I wonder if it's going to be when Annie is at a horribly low moment as opposed to a moment when she's riding high. It would certainly signal that this particular attraction to Annie is fundamentally different from his attraction to Britta.
The real problem? Is because he was going to tie the Jeff's Dad storyline to Britta, which would have been the emotional wallop to make Jeff's sudden re-emergence of his feelings for Britta more rooted in something real. Instead, it plays out rather shallowly in Bondage and a little bit in App Development. Sure, the shippers picked up on what Dan was doing (both J/B and J/A shippers), but it's interesting that a lot of viewers simply missed what was going on to the point that Jeff's sudden proposal to Britta in "Basic Story" really DID seem completely out of the blue and based on absolutely nothing.
In a weird way, S4 laid the ground work much better for a return to J/B because the Jeff's Dad storyline made it believable that Jeff would be re-evaluating his relationship to Britta. The problem is that they basically threw away the momentum laid down by the Thanksgiving episode by having Jeff verging between treating Britta like crap or acting like her snarky brother.
I also find it interesting that both S4 and S5 handled the potential re-emergence of J/B in exactly the same way: by literally removing Annie from the picture at key points. Not-so-surprisingly, Dan actually did a better job at this. In S4, you could practically see the strings because the only time Annie was excised from the picture was when there was a big emotional moment for Jeff or Britta, and the other half of that pairing needed to be around to witness it. Plus, the side plot Annie was shoehorned into (her ongoing rivalry with Shirley over everything) made zero sense for either character. In S5, Annie when Annie needed to be separated from the action, the reasons for her separation made a lot more sense and it wasn't centered around one person. In this run of episodes alone, Annie was sidelined with Shirley (twice) for reasons that made sense and once with Abed for reasons that made sense.
Reply
As for the shippy moment in App Development where Jeff and Britta are mistaken for a couple who is going against the "norms" of the MeowMeowBeanz society... Yikes. It's made blatantly obvious that Jeff is using Britta as a means to an end, which is to get back at Shirley. Britta is the one who's being sincere, thinking that Jeff is on her side. Hell, it's even to the point that she gives him the ol' google-y eye during his mean-spirited stand-up comedy routine where he repeatedly punches *down* instead of up, and only takes one real potshot at his fellow fours.
I also want to take note of Jeff's and Britta's interactions in "VCR Maintenance," because I found it weirdly interesting in the wake of "Bondage" and "App Developments" where the potential for a return to J/B was laid down most heavily. Believe it or not, Jeff shows similar moments of strong disapproval towards both Shirley and Britta. Near the beginning of the episode, Shirley makes a bigoted crack about Catholics, which results in Jeff shooting her a glare, clenching his jaw as if he's biting his tongue, before he looks away. Later, when Britta walks in blindfolded, she talks about how she knows where she is based on the lingering smell of weed, and not her brand of weed, either. Jeff reacts in exactly the same way to Britta's comment as he did to Shirley's. It's an interesting acting choice on the Joel McHale's part, and I almost wonder if it was deliberate. Either way, it's pretty obvious that, at least in that moment, Jeff strongly disapproves of Britta's weed habit, or at least disapproves of her openly talking about it.
In any case, this attempt at re-building Britta as "the viable option" for Jeff makes me wonder about how they'll tackle J/A in S6 (if they tackle J/A in S6). I almost think that if Jeff makes any kind of show of affection towards Annie, I wonder if it's going to be when Annie is at a horribly low moment as opposed to a moment when she's riding high. It would certainly signal that this particular attraction to Annie is fundamentally different from his attraction to Britta.
Reply
Leave a comment