For the last few weeks, I've been one of those reviewers bemoaning the fact that Community doesn't have any stakes, relatable heroes or weight behind its story arcs. Much of season two has been very funny -- not as funny as season one, admittedly, but still very funny -- but not much has occurred that is likely to be remembered. Watching season two of Community has been like eating Cap'n Crunch for breakfast: Delightful, a little bit naughty and wholly unsatisfying in the long run. Which is why "Mixology Certification" was actually a welcome departure from the track of the season. It wasn't funny, but it was certainly meaty.
Make no mistake, though: This was not a funny episode. It was Troy's 21st birthday, but there wasn't really a lot of celebrating going on. Unless by "celebrating" you mean beer tears (Annie) and pathetic attempts at holding onto failed youth. Yes, Britta and Jeff, I'm looking at you.
What little laughs there were, happened in the first act -- Pierce might have less than nothing to do on Community nowadays, but watching Chevy Chase struggle with a sheet cake while sitting in a wheelchair is comedy of the highest order -- and by the end of the episode, "Mixology" almost reached a level of pathos usually reserved for The Office (see last night's brilliant "China" as an example of this).
"Mixology" was exceedingly well-handled and fairly interesting, yet it left me wondering: Was this type of development actually earned? It sounds picky and finnicky -- especially from someone who has been beating the character development drum for weeks -- but much of "Mixology" felt flat to me because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. The comedy shoe, as it were. Community has been many things this season -- a Meta deconstruction of sit-coms, a parody-palooza, a Family Guy torrent of reference humor -- but it hasn't been this. And really, as The Office shows, you need to build to these types of dramatic-comedy episodes gradually, not all at once. Perhaps on a second viewing, "Mixology" will please me even more, but despite how much was accomplished, it still left me a tad unsatisfied.
That said, it's a credit to Donald Glover and Alison Brie that "Mixology" even worked as well as it did. Their performances were rich with not just comedy, but emotional pain and self-realization. The episode's final big moment -- when Troy walked Annie to her apartment and talked about her awesomeness -- was one of Community's best set pieces yet. A wholly believable scene, pushed along not by references or cheap sexual tension, but by deeper bonds like friendship, acceptance and familial love. It was sweet and rewarding -- I just hope it isn't an isolated incident.
Some other loose strands:
· I'm just going to say it: Shirley is not developed. And giving her a past alcohol problem that also wasn't developed (or dealt with afterward) felt cheap and silly and totally unnecessary. I know Community is an ensemble, but if you lopped off Shirley and Pierce, would the show really lose anything?
· Speaking of the ensemble: Remember when Joel McHale was the star of this show?
· Gillian Jacobs is never given enough credit for her work as Britta. Last night she embodied past-her-prime desperation so perfectly that I wish they gave Emmy Awards for Best Embodiment of Past-Her-Prime Desperation at a Bar or Tavern.