'It Got Real Up in That Memory Cave': Community Recapped

There was a bit of debate between critics on Twitter after last night's Community about whether or not comedy series should be judged on the amount of laughs they draws from viewers. In short: Yes, they should, but that doesn't mean a comedy always has to LOLz-funny to succeed. Coming on the heels of "Mixology Certification," it looks like Community is finally learning that lesson.

During my recap last week, I complained that "Mixology Certification" hadn't earned its rich pathos because Community had never established itself as more than an exceedingly well-crafted joke delivery system. It was, admittedly, a double-edged sword of criticism: I've been wanting Community to have more stakes, more heart, more humanity, and then when it finally offered those traits in excess, it wasn't good enough. Call it the First Job Corollary: You can't get that first job in a new career without some necessary skills, but you can't get those skills without a first job.

"Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" got the job. Building on the melancholy established in "Mixology," the Rankin/Bass-inspired Christmas episode was the most human of Community's up-and-down second term. That it featured nothing but stop-motion animated puppets for the entire time (save a nice little moment of the human cast reflected in the television screen at the very end) is ironic, of course, but perhaps Dan Harmon wouldn't have it any other way.

Despite the fact that Troy has been the breakout star of Community this season, the show still runs through Abed. He's the writers' surrogate. More important, he's Dan Harmon's surrogate. Abed allows Harmon to get away with referencing the fact that Community is a television show in a way that few television characters have done in the past (the closest one in recent history would probably be Hurley). That makes for great Meta comedy, but it also keeps many of the heavier emotions at arm's length. There have been glimpses of Abed's heartache this season -- most notably in the Mean Girls episode, which star Danny Pudi totally owned -- but for the most part, he's been left to reference bottle episodes and zombie attacks.

It goes to reason then that Abed would be needed to transition the show onto a deeper plane of emotion. (You could argue that he already did that during season one, but "Introduction to Film" -- when we learned about Abed's family life -- happened in episode three.) And it goes to reason that if Abed was going to get his own "Mixology Certification," it would have to be done in a way commensurate with his character. Thus, stop-motion animation!

Unlike "Epidemiology" or "Basic Rocket Sciene," "Abed's Unontrollable Christmas" worked because it felt rooted in some basic reality. Spurred on by some emotionally traumatic event -- which we'll later realize was being abandoned by his mother at Christmas because she has a new family -- Abed breaks from reality and starts seeing everyone as rejects from the Island of Misfit Toys. Concerned for his well-being -- and by the contrived idea that the Dean will expel him for being somewhat crazy -- the group reluctantly goes along with Abed on his search for the meaning of Christmas. That meant some precious songs ("Sad Christmas Song" was my favorite), some funny sight gags (Troy Soldier!) and a lot of truly touching moments.

Make no mistake: This was the best written episode of Community all season -- what could have bordered on sappy, was actually heartfelt; what could have been treacle, was sublime. Harmon and co-writer Dino Stamatopoulos threaded the needle with expert aplomb and made a Lost joke to end all Lost jokes in the process. (One that even got Damon Lindelof a-twitter on the ol' Twitter.) We learned more about Abed in a 22-minute cartoon that featured humbugs than we have in 35 episodes.

It was also a tribute to Danny Pudi. Not only was he the best voice over artist of anyone in the Community cast -- Chevy Chase, sound less interested -- but Pudi was also able to reach levels of emotion heretofore unexplored in his performance. In the season two battle to see which burgeoning star is a more well-rounded actor, Pudi may have edged ahead of Comedy MVP, Donald Glover.

Glee celebrated Christmas this week as well, and as stated here yesterday, the two shows share a lot of traits that fans of either might not care to admit. But whereas the Glee Christmas episode used typical holiday tropes to sell music and recall a trip to the mall, Community used typical holiday tropes to create something brand new; "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" felt immediately indelible, immediately classic, immediately honest. It was Christmas done right.

Thanks to back-to-back episodes that were more than jukebox joke hits, Community has earned its pathos. It's ready to become something greater than just a sitcom. That might mean less laughs, but it should also mean a more rewarding Community for -- God bless us -- everyone.