Bitches! Bitches! Bitches! Sorry, I'm just letting my Abed flag fly following "Aerodynamics of Gender," the most "season one" episode of Community since...well, season one. Much like "Contemporary American Poultry" (the Goodfellas episode), "Gender" took a movie reference -- Mean Girls -- and used it to create an episode that was more than just strict homage. More of this, please.
Even as a staunch Community supporter, I can understand the negative reactions to "Epidemiology" last week. There comes a point when the parody episodes themselves descend into parody. Yes, ABBA and zombies made for an outstanding 22-minutes last Thursday, but do you really remember anything that happened? I gave that sucker a positive review and outside of "Waterloo," I certainly don't. In my memory it's just a mess of zombies, lame Halloween costumes and flying cats. Funny? Yes. Indelible? Heck, no.
That's not to say that comedy teachers will be talking about "Aerodynamics of Gender" in ten years (or even ten days), but this is the type of episode that Community needs to do more often -- and that it did so often in season one: It thread the needle, expertly. Love your Mean Girls references, with a dash of Robocop? Perfect, welcome aboard. Want some absurd B-plot, where Troy and Jeff find a trampoline, Pierce becomes a huge dick and the entire thing ends up being one long-con racist joke? There's room on this bus for you, too. That's the beauty of Community when it works; that's the reason I was so excited when it was announced that the series had been given two additional episodes for season two. The more chances for Dan Harmon to hit on the perfect formula, the better.
So, yes, the plot: Britta, Annie and Shirley decide to use Abed to combat Greendale's own cabal of mean girls. He succeeds like an assassin -- there wasn't a fat ankle, dandruff flake or outdated pair of jeans that didn't get taken down by his expert insults. Of course, this makes our trio of heroines into mean girls themselves, which forces Abed to go on the attack. It all ends in a truly heartbreaking bit of self-sacrifice: To restore the natural order, Abed gives the Queen Bee (played in a weak effort by Hilary Duff) ammunition with which to take him down. He's embarrassed in front of the school, and Danny Pudi's blank, sad face gives the moment entirely more weight than it deserves. It will never happen, but: Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy, anyone?
On the B-side of things, Jeff and Troy stumble upon a zen calmness when they meet Joshua (Matt Walsh) and his trampoline. Yep, trampoline. Frankly, this runner didn't work at all -- though it was nice to see Joel McHale play Jeff as something other than acerbically smug -- until it was revealed that Joshua was a full-on racist. Watching the episode a second time with that knowledge in tow made the jokes pop even harder. Well played, Mr. Harmon. Well played.
(Also, this is just a note to everyone: Let's get Matt Walsh into more comedies. K, thanks.)
If there was a misstep during "Aerodynamics of Gender," it was Chang -- once again nothing he did was funny, most of it was grating and it lowered my opinion of Ken Jeong's comedy chops even further. But, hey, that seems to go with Community's territory now, so it's just a grin-and-bear-it situation. The less said about this, the better. In that regard, let's end on a happy note: The return of Troy and Abed in the Morning! Enjoy: