# Community 2/3 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112 "2011-02-04T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/61 "2011-02-06T01:47:32Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Not at all. First, most published adventures kind of suck, IMO, and that’s necessarily so: they’re very generic, in order to be applicable to a large number of groups. A good DM needs to tailor it to the group that’ll be playing it, and to the campaign, if there is one. > > Second, players always do crazy things in a game; a good DM needs to be flexible enough to handle the craziness in a fun fashion. In my group crazy was the norm. I was running them through Ravenloft when they got to the organ room. My brother was playing a thief. He looked at the organ, and asked what the keys were made of. “Ivory,” I said, “Count Strahd is a very wealthy man.” “Real ivory?” “I rip them off and put them my Bag of Holding. Now those dining sets back there, didn’t you say they were golden? Were you talking about the color, or the metal?” And so did the Castle of Ravenloft become a thieves’ paradise. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/62 "2011-02-06T02:14:57Z")
I’ve wrung out the intarwebs and can find no name for the cleaning lady or the voice we heard. The gauntlet has been thrown! Or did I just need to throw an 18 or higher to succeed? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/63 "2011-02-06T04:54:14Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > Is it a bottle episode if they had to build Pierce that throne room? Which was awesome, by the way. And the slightly wild hair and glass of red wine totally made the scene. Nope. Nor could they have had the stuff at the beginning that didn’t involve the main characters. Also, you guys should check out the [exclusive behind the scenes video](http://www.hulu.com/watch/212711/community-ding-dong#s-p1-sr-i1) on Hulu. You can actually hear what people were saying in parts of silent scenes. Annie has an uncharacteristically foul mouth during that one scene… Oh, and there’s also a [video](http://www.hulu.com/watch/212777/community-dd-explained-by-an-amateur#s-p1-sr-i1) of what an outsider thinks D&D is about. I’m certain you guys will get a kick out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/64 "2011-02-06T07:11:58Z")
The more I think about it, the more I realize the one who’s _really_ out of character is Shirley. I’d’a thought she’d consider D&D to one step removed from full-on Satanism and, if told about a potentially suicidal student, she try to tell him about Jesus rather than indulge him in something she’d likely consider a symptom of (or even a cause of) his evil self-destructive thoughts. Shirley could have been left out of this one. In fact, it’s not necessary to include every character in every episode. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/65 "2011-02-06T14:24:43Z")
I could see Shirley liking it, but they at least needed a throwaway line to explain it. But I do think they couldn’t have actually done the show without her: the whole plot requires that Pierce was the only one left out. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/66 "2011-02-06T14:35:08Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Was Cate Blanchett the narrator? (I’m guessing it wasn’t really the actress playing the cleaning lady.) The narrator was Lisa Monahan who I can find no listing on the IMDB . The cleaning lady was Gloria Sandoval. Are the ratings on this show good enough to get it renewed? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/67 "2011-02-06T15:32:47Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > The more I think about it, the more I realize the one who’s _really_ out of character is Shirley. I’d’a thought she’d consider D&D to one step removed from full-on Satanism and, if told about a potentially suicidal student, she try to tell him about Jesus rather than indulge him in something she’d likely consider a symptom of (or even a cause of) his evil self-destructive thoughts. > > Shirley could have been left out of this one. In fact, it’s not necessary to include every character in every episode. Shirley is super Christian but she’s not a crazy Christian. Didn’t she dress as Harry Potter in the first Halloween episode? Besides, part of the whole plot of the show is for each character to grow. Do you really think Jeff would’ve wanted to participate back in season one? ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/68 "2011-02-06T16:51:05Z")
Oh, Jones Soda and your embedded ads here…there’s only \*\*one \*\*‘D + D’ inspired flavor anyone would believe and Jones doesn’t make it. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/69 "2011-02-06T21:54:37Z")
[QUOTE=enalzi] Shirley is super Christian but she’s not a crazy Christian. Didn’t she dress as Harry Potter in the first Halloween episode? [/QUOTE] I thought she was Urkel. 🙂 A good but not great episode. Really loved the themed opening credits and Chang’s elf makeup. I thought they could have done a better job with the D&D stuff. It didn’t really seem to pay off, comedy-wise. Agreed that they are changing Pierce’s basic nature, and not in a good way. He’s been racist/sexist/etc. before but not in a truly deliberate way. He was just a clueless old guy. But to have him knowingly being a jerk throws off the group dynamics. You already have Chang for that. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/70 "2011-02-06T23:17:33Z")
I see Pierce’s behavior as extreme in this episode but not necessarily as out of character. He’s desperate for acceptance and inclusion: he paid a hustler ex stepdaughter $25,000 to spend time with him and is always at his worst when he feels he’s being excluded. After seven divorces and losing his mother (at least until she’s reanimated) he’s more clingy than ever and nastier when he feels threatened. His “evil old man” rays were directed at Fat Neil in this, basically trying to drive him from what he sees as his family like a queen bee going after a royal larva. ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/71 "2011-02-07T05:11:14Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > I’ve never played D&D before but this episode actually made it look fun. 🙂 > > Was Abed the best DM ever? It’s a tossup between him and Moss from The IT Crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/72 "2011-02-07T05:53:06Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Besides, part of the whole plot of the show is for each character to grow. Do you really think Jeff would’ve wanted to participate back in season one? Yes. I figure Jeff has an _affect_ of being too cool for emotional involvements, but throw him into any ongoing social or workplace relationship and he’ll show the same emotional range as anyone, including feeling bad about hurtful things he’s said. I have no problem with this _not_ being a show about growing. Sure, Troy and Annie will emotionally mature, since they were essentially kids at the start. Abed won’t (or at least he shouldn’t, given his condition) and the older characters will experience such changes as an adult would over any four-year period, which could be significant or could be nothing. Sure, hanging around a group like this could make one a different person. Hanging around _any_ group can do that. I dislike the notion that we should expect them to become _better_ persons, and I hope the writers manage to avoid the toxic-saccharine temptation of making the stories about growth and friendship and crap. I can watch that elsewhere, assuming I take my nausea pills beforehand. I watch _Community_ for sarcasm, clever innuendo and Tory and Abed recreating scenes from movies just because they think it’s cool. I’d be okay if, at the end, they all graduate and: [ul][li]Jeff immediately resumes his law career, determined to put his unpleasant Greendale penance behind him[/li][li]Britta get some corporate job somewhere, though she continues paying lip service to her various social causes[/li][li]Annie relaxes a little after getting laid a lot, including a third-year hookup with Troy that proved a bit disappointing[/li][li]Shirley gets a better but not great job and the prospects for her family improve[/li][li]Pierce signs on for another four years, since what else has he got to do with his time? He immediately latches onto another study group, where he finds he has to completely relearn social interaction since the habits he picked up from _this_ study group prove useless.[/li][li]Abed continues being Abed[/li][\*]Troy gets married, irritates his new wife by continuing to hang out with Abed for a while but they eventually lose contact. Troy regrets this for a while and then moves on. Abed barely notices.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112/73 "2011-02-07T14:35:36Z")
> [@Crawlspace](#): > > Amazing episode. I thought the best line of the night came from Troy. It was so subtly brilliant. > > Troy: Shouldn’t there be a board or some pieces or something to Jenga. > Abed: No, no. This is a role playing game. It takes place entirely in our collective imagination. > Troy: Ooohhhh, Nnneal. > > You can tell he was trying to say “Ooohhh, neat” but just couldn’t bring himself to do it, so it came out like “Ooohhh, Neal, you’re in worse shape than we thought.” Hm. I interpreted it as meaning “I’m so disappointed that there’s nothing to Jenga, but I’ll stick with this only to help Neil.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/community-2-3/570112.md?page=3)