Excellent, excellent episode. They lure you in thinking you’re gonna get a Pulp Fiction parody/homage episode and it turns into something much more. More sitcoms should look at Community to see how to do an episode that’s both serious and funny.
Random highlights:
“Cougartown Middle School”
Abed’s face when Jeff told his girl Indian story.
Everyone hates Brita.
Annie as Honey Bunny - Very nice.
I love Community so much. There are few half-hour comedies with so many laughs, yet so much depth. My only problem: when I try to convince friends to watch this show, they say “what’s it about?”, and I can’t give a good answer.
Thanks to Abed, Community is deliciously packed full of cultural references, some of them rather obscure. The only other half-hour comedy I can remember that made reference to My Dinner with André was The Simpsons, many seasons ago.
I have to say, Britta was quite fetching in the Mia getup.
I loved Abed’s expressions during Jeff’s oversharing moments, but Troy’s bug-eyed reaction to seeing the bill in the tag scene was even better.
“…where Courtney Cox and the actors were doing the scene.”
Pretty subtle shot. I missed that.
I admit that I haven’t seen either Pulp Fiction or My Dinner with Andre so I’m probably missing quite a bit in this episode, but I loved it anyway. The darker episodes of Community always seem to reach for more layers and nuance in the characters and surprisingly, they always seem to pull it off with just enough humor to keep the pace going. Jeff’s pleasure in having a real conversation with Abed was as sincere as his stories were pathetic. Abed’s attempt to connect with Jeff using pop culture was predictable, but a little heart breaking as well. It’s such a great show because it manages to interweave the references with its own story and characters. I’m so glad it’s been renewed for another season.
My guilty pleasure of the night: Shirley as Samuel L. Jackson.
It was cute seeing Troy get so jealous of Jeff and his gift.
“He watched Cougar Town. It was as if he didn’t want people to like him.”
I still don’t get it.
The implication is that Courtney Cox isn’t worthy of being labelled an actress. So he said “Cox and the actors” rather than “Cox and the other actors”.
This was a strange ep, but I liked it. Abed had me fooled, I didn’t think he was pulling a pop culture reference out of his ass. But I guess they’re going full bore with character consistency. He’s a bit nuts.
I love the show, but this episode just didn’t do it for me. I like the characters very well, but it isn’t for any meaningful character development, really. There wasn’t enough funny in this one, and I kept feeling this pressure for them to get on with it that never got resolved. I enjoyed seeing Abed absent his PDD features, but overall this one was a big meh.
I also thought this was a fairly uninteresting episode. I like my comedy shows to be funny first and foremost; “thoughtful” or “full of character development” fall further down the list.
I’ve never seen Pulp Fiction, but the incredible acting of Danny Pudi made this a winner for me. I hated My Dinner with Andre and Jeff’s disgust made me laugh out loud. Also, +1 to Dio about Troy’s reaction to the bill.
I thought it was cute and very much in character for Troy to call wine ‘no-no juice’ yet still drink it.
Also, Pierce in full S & M (so far as I know) garb seemed pretty comfy in it.
“I’m a Jehovah’s Witness. We’re not allowed to drink, but it helps.”
It was good. It wasn’t that funny to me, as, even if I’d seen the films, homages in and of themselves don’t make me laugh. But the characters were perfect, even in their tiny snippets, and I enjoyed the emotion.
But I still would like them to get back to mile-a-minute one liners. As I’ve said before, Community was the first sitcom that left me howling in laughter, and not just small chuckles here and there. I miss that experience.
“It said ‘market price!’ WHAT MARKET DO YOU SHOP AT??!!”
My Dinner with Andre has always been one of my favourite movies. Excellent parody.
“I saw thirty minutes of it on an airplane. It’s about a group of friends who like cheeseburgers, dancing and the Bible.”
Oh. I thought it was “Cox and the actors”, as in she’s an actress, and she was with a bunch of (male) actors. So I didn’t see the insult.
The term “actress” is on its way out, along with aviatrix and tigress and negress. These days, “actor” is more often used gender neutrally.
Abed wanted another take, but Courtney nailed it.
So what do you call a female tiger? And is it still OK to say Negro?