"I hate bottle episodes," Abed proclaims repeatedly during Community's bottle episode. I usually agree with him. When many shows try the bottle episode, an episode in which the core characters are all isolated in one small environment and don't interact with anybody else, it usually means that there will be no real plot and the writing will be forced. But this was another example of Community being so well-written and -produced that they can just do things better than any other show, and I this was one of the best episodes they've ever done.
I should start by saying that I was looking forward to this episode probably more than anything else on TV ever because of this auspicious tweet from star Alison Brie: "Tonight on #NBCCommunity (8/7c) we TAKE OFF OUR CLOTHES!!! Also, it's funny." But even though there may not have been as much eye candy as many of the gentleman viewers might have hoped, the episode totally lived up to the hype.
What happened is that the gang is working on their evolutionary chain project for Professor Duncan's anthropology class (Britta: "I still think that man will evolve into woman, not a three-headed dragon"), but when they all have to leave - Jeff has "a catch to date" and the rest are heading to a puppy parade in the quad. But as they are leaving, Annie notices that her pen is missing - again. Apparently she's lost a bunch of pens recently, and this time she is not going to let it go unchecked.
This becomes what the whole episode is about: finding Annie's missing pen. They go through increased stages of depravity, from checking each other's bags to doing the strip search that Alison referred to in her tweet. At various times, they all want to leave and go to the parade, but one of them steps up and keeps them there. One of the funniest moments in the show is Pierce criticizing the gangs indecision: "People like you are why we took so long to get into Vietnam!"
Even things that annoy me about Community, like Abed's constant self-referencing and metaness, were used perfectly in this episode. I loved that stuff at the beginning of the show, but then I thought it was being used too much. However, in this episode it was used to perfection. It was a great running gag and I cracked up whenever they went back to it.
And then the gag at the end of the episode, Troy's old monkey Annie's Boobs (we didn't see her actual ones but at least the monkey's back!) hopping out of its little lair where it has all kinds of trinkets, including all of Annie's missing pens. There are some great callbacks in this scene, and if you've seen every episode of the show like I have then you will love it.
Some other random notes:
When Jeff empties out Troy's bag to just find a pillow and says "You are my new hero," I could not agree more. Every single day when I'm trying to sleep on my bus ride I wish that there wasn't so much other stuff in my backpack so that I could just put a pillow in it.
In the end bumper of the show, where the puppy parade is actually shown, the dean's comments are absolutely hilarious. "Responsible pet ownership is always in season" and, when a float comes by with a puppy and a kitten together, he says "Oh, well this feels a little preachy." Brilliant.
Yeah, so basically this is amazing episode. And if you haven't seen Community before, now is the time to jump in.
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