Community
Season 6, Episode 7 – Advanced Safety Features
Grade: B-
This episode will harken back to when Subway had infiltrated the school and gave itself a human avatar by which to enroll at Greendale. In fact, they brought back the same actor to reprise the role, but completely changed his name and identity, and most importantly, his backer, to Honda. Subway, now ‘Rick’, is using his powers of handsomeness and guerilla marketing to convince the denizens of Greendale to buy Honda products. Britta, recalling the love that could have been, goes to Rick on a mission to set things straight and tell him off. (Complete sidenote: Gillian Jacobs looks stunning with straight hair. Straight hair is my mustard stain for Britta).
The B-plot for this week’s episode is the group trying to get Elroy to like them. As a group, let’s be honest, their need for appreciation and attention is pretty high, and we’ve seen this before. Again, this is just a re-hashing of previous themes, and guess what, Jeff is too cool for school and doesn’t want to court Elroy as a friend. Jeff only seems interested when he thinks Elroy doesn’t like him. Oh, insecurity issues? BREAK NEW GROUND DAMMIT. (Though I really do want to play ‘The Ears Have It’)
We finally see Britta at her job, and it’s amazing that the bar she works at is called “The Vatican”. Between this episode and the brilliant Zoolander reveal, Billy Zane is enjoying a pretty good week. Britta realizes that she’s been guerilla marketing all this time, and if she does it with Rick, well, she can DO it with Rick. Gee, compromising her morals for a stab at ill-fated love? Haven’t seen that before. Of course, things escalate quickly, and Britta brings Rick home to see her parents. She doesn’t realize that no matter how things are between her and Rick, Rick is always on the job, and that’s his real love, leading to again, an episode long romance for Britta.
As dances go, they always provide a neat conclusion to an episode. The alumni dance is no exception. Rick can’t give up the sell, so he gives up Britta. Elroy is petrified by the lead singer of Natalie Is Freezing (who’s Julia by the way) and blows up Jeff’s attempt to try to extend an olive branch. At the end of the day, Elroy realizes that it’s his problems, and no one else’s that prevent him from trying to be happy, and Jeff, upon seeing that, learned another lesson that leads to his heart to grow a size, only that we know, it’ll shrink back down by next week’s episode.
I’m calling it. This season should be the last one of Community. At this point, it’s running on fumes. Even this episode is just a re-hashing of an old topic. I do like how that Frankie kind of acts as the show’s meta-presence. They’re right though, ever since Troy left the show, it has been a shell of itself. Troy Barnes and his earnest naivety balanced the show’s sarcastic and sometimes outlandish plots with heart and positivity. Since he left, the show hasn’t been able replicate that chemistry with the new cast members. The best episode this season has been when Chang was the main focus. Let’s use him more. There was even a meta joke in the last episode where he says he hasn’t been utilized properly since the first season. Unless the show grows, I think the movie part of #SixSeasonsAndAMovie is toast.
Though I will say, I would watch an episode where Chang just gives Powerpoint presentations. That and having the Dean (a level 7 susceptible) being bossed around by Frankie would be fantastic and an enthralling 30 minutes of television.
