Community/The Office

Community "Epidemiology"

First of all, regardless of the fact that shows traditionally go all out for Halloween epsiodes and I expected Community to be no different, this episode really adds another vibrant crayon to the chromatic multitude that is the Community crayon box. (PS Did you know that Crayola used to have a crayon color that was called "flesh" and it was like a light peach color? Seriously.) Let's see here, in just that past three episodes, Community has covered a zombie movie parody, an Apollo 13 tribute and an episode molded after the Gospels and Jesus. I'm all for shows that maintain a certainly consistency throughout, but I'm even more for shows that can orchestrate such a grand variety of styles and actually pull it off. And pull it off really really well too. (I could also mention the Goodfellas episode and the paintball episode, which this somewhat reminded me of).

Let me bring something up. What's up with Dean Pelton? Is he gay or does he just have eccentric sexual fetishes? Be me guest to deliberate on that topic. Either way, his repeating iPod ABBA mix interspliced with his voice note reminders was great. ("Add Eat, Pray, Love soundtrack to workout mix.")

-I was wary at first about the believability of this episode but then eventually thought "Eh, fuck it"
-"Zombie Winger...still cool"
-Not trying to be a Dean Pelton but, Troy is in pretty good shape.
-Senor Chang and Shirley??? Yeesh.

The Office "Costume Contest"

Eh, yeah this episode was alright. I'm never going to rag on an episode of The Office (unless they do another clip show like last year) because any new glimpse we get inside Dundler-Mifflin is eternally welcomed by me. However, I wasn't really feeling the story last night. Here's is basically the two prongs of each episode. 1. The story or plot of the show and 2. The individual character performances. When those two both click, then you have a great show. However when one is lacking (and it is often the plot point because the characters are pretty much always spot on) then I basically say to myself "OK, that's fine, lets see what Andy or Kevin is up to tonight then."

The cold open, I thought was pretty inspired. Yeah it was ridiculous having Stanley not notice ANYTHING. "Our branch on Jupiter is up a million dollars..." or the donkey in the office or Kevin as Phyllis, but who cares. The cold opens, in my opinion, are becoming a blank slate usually for the office to play around with a short funny concept. And last night's was pretty funny. ALSO!! Just so everybody know and I can settle this debate right now. The greatest cold open in recent memory you ask? Oh, I know exactly what it is. Two words: Kevin's chili.

Speaking of that loveable Teddy Ruxpin that is Kevin Malone, I'm going to say something about him as I'm prone to do. (I find that the small windows into Kevin's life we have gotten over the years has made me more fascinated with him). First, Michael Moore costume: loved it, great idea. Second, and more importantly, his conversation with Gabe/crying to Michael was actually pretty unexpectedly good acting for him and somewhat out of character. You know what else was out of character and tremendously hilarious? When Kevin said "Fuck you, Gabe" because somebody had to say it. At that moment, as I was laying on my couch in a position I can only describe as a mix between an Ancient Roman being fed grapes on a sofa and a polio victim, I started clapping and laughing. Now, when I laugh it means I think something is funny. When I clap it means I appreciate something. But when I laugh AND clap, well...I don't know what that means. Could it be that I appreciate the quality of the humor? Perhaps, probably. Could it mean that I have some sort of palsy. Even more likely.

Anyway, I don't know how much I cared for Michael in this episode because I prefer when he is accidently smart rather than when he behaves like a buffoon. Although, nice MacGruber costume (Am I the only one that saw and/or thought that movie was funny? Come on!)

And I don't know what they were hinting at by Darryl saying he has big plans for this company, but I'm not sure how much I liked it.

-A quote that I didn't laugh at at first but then, the more I thought about it, the more I found it hilarious: In response to the office being invited to Danny's bar.."What’s the crowd like, Danny - our age?"