Sometimes recapping television shows is a drag. Here's what I mean: Ostensibly, if you're recapping a specific show, you're a fan of said show. Unfortunately, though, you're forced to watch it each week with an eye toward the critical. It sorta saps the fun out of it! So despite the fact that last night's episode of Community was perfectly pleasing and the type of episode that you'll watch on the season two DVD without a passing thought before moving onto the next one, I had some issues.
Unlike "Basic Rocket Science" -- which actually got funnier in my memory as the week progressed -- "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples" returned Community to the roots of its character. That's good -- it's a long season and the characters need development -- but unfortunately "Ancient Peoples" developed stuff about our favorite study group that had previously been developed last season. (If that sentence reads like some meta-y, Charlie Kaufman-like critique, I apologize.)
Anyway! Remember the season one episode, "Romantic Expressionism," where Vaughn and Annie start dating? Of course you do! Or maybe you don't. Regardless, that episode already set up the conceit that Britta and Jeff were the mother and father of this group (see also: "Introduction to Film"), so the fact that Jeff and Britta were positioned as Pierce's "parents" last night felt redundant. Oh, sure, the idea that Pierce and the "Hipsters" were using their advancing age/dementia to get away with whatever they wanted was amusing enough -- and it did yield a touching Jeff/Pierce moment at the end of the episode, highlighting one of Community's sneaky best relationships -- but the crux of the gag has been done already with other characters. I get that Dan Harmon and his writing staff need to focus on the non-Joel McHale/Alison Brie/Donald Glover members of the ensemble, but couldn't they have found something different to give Chevy Chase instead of the same old? Couldn't they have referenced Pierce's dead mother as a way to explain his lashing out?
In that regard, the Abed/Shirley main plot was a success. Too bad it wasn't actually funny. Here's how you know the entire concept of Abed making a meta movie about a movie about Abed making a movie about Jesus was a failure: It barely yielded any laughs. There were a few chuckles -- even though the Charlie Kaufman jokes were dated beyond belief, I chortled at them -- but otherwise, it was stiff. And when was the last time you could say that about an Abed-centric episode?
As for Shirley and her faith -- it's interesting and a little sad to me that Community so often defaults to that specific angle for Shirley. In the beginning of the series she was known more for her gossiping and ex-husband-hating; now it seems like whenever the series casts a spotlight on Shirley, she's doing something religious. It's a cop out at best and slightly pandering and insulting at worst. Plus, it robs us all of the range and skill possessed by Yvette Nicole Brown. Often cast aside as the weakest link of Community, she does the heart-tugging stuff better than everyone -- it would be nice if they just gave her some material worthy of the heart-tugging.
All in all, a mediocre-to-bad episode at a time when Community can ill afford mediocrity. Still, as with everything there was at least one bright spot: The episode tag -- which your DVR probably cut off -- was one of the best this season. Take that Betty White!