I thought it was a good episode too. It was sitcom cliche, but it was cliche about being cliche. Of course you knew the singer would show up and that Jeff would change his attitude at the end.
Maybe this conversation has already happened before, but I’ll bring it up.
I think all the characters of the study group are much better in the first season than they are now.
Going back and watching episodes, I realize what I really like about season one and some of season 2: the characters just felt so real. They had their problems and it was as meta and stuff as it is now, but the season 4 characters seem like they’ve taken the wrong direction. Go back and watch the first episode and you’ll see a Britta who is actually a smart, capable woman and that is what I loved about her so much in the first place. While she had some hipster-ness running in her, she wasn’t nearly as bit a retard as the in season 3 and 4. The second she started doing psychology was the second her character went down the tubes.
I don’t know what it is, but I just find the season 1 characters so much more cool. Troy seemed more real as the former football star, not as Abed’s second fiddle nerd. While I loved all the ideas for the episodes they did, I think they sacrificed real character to do that. I absolutely enjoyed the season 1 finale and I was seriously connected to the characters and their love interests as it built up to the end, but you don’t see that type of thing any more. You saw the paintball episode, which was awesome, but it lacked the drama and climax that arose simply from the character’s interactions with eachtother.
Am I wrong here? What do you guys think?
Are you saying they Brittaed the characters?
Has anyone else noticed we haven’t seen Professor Duncan lately?
I agree. The characters were so much more complex and I thought Community would be the one show that wouldn’t fall victim to the flanderization of their characters.
The characters as “meta’d” in this episode shows awareness of the simplification of their characters but it’s spun too far out to reel back in.
Okay that Puppet episode was just great. I loved the jokes, the direction and the songs. I have been a fan of Season 4 in general but I think even the doubters would have to agree at least this episode was a triple if not a home run.
I don’t know about a triple, but it was certainly far above the first couple of episodes this season. I think the season has been getting better since the Halloween episode, and I am enjoying Community again.
(By the way, we’ve seen the Halloween and Thanksgiving episodes. What happened to Christmas? Are they holding out on us?)
I do have to give the writers credit. I was positive the tag at the end would be the reveal as to where Pierce had been the whole time (um, in the woods, duh … he was off taking a dump, admitting he had never made love to Eartha Kitt but only dry humped in her tour bus, when Sara Bareilles finally found and rescued the rest of the gang). But they didn’t go there. They let the audience realize that on their own.
I’ve been dumping on this season, so let me say that this was by far the best episode since last year.
The puppets were uncanny. Jeff’s eyebrow has to become an Internet meme or a band name.
I didn’t watch after the first episode because I found Britta so irritating. (I started again in the second season) In the episode spoofing My dinner with Andre they even came right out and said “everybody hates Britta!” They knew they had to soften her character in some way. They made her dumber and more pathetic. Not the best solution but they fixed the problem.
Troy’s original persona was boring. I think they let the actor inspire the character and it works.
This was the last episode filmed (out of order) and Chevy had quit by then. And I can see why, he’s been even more short-changed than usual this season.
Guess I’ll break the trend, I thought it was pretty meh. There was a lack of actual funny anywhere in there. They didn’t really do much with the puppet concept - there wasn’t much in there that couldn’t have been done in some form with regular actors. Chang’s puppet saying “He’s not what he seems!” is the only time I remember chuckling. Again feels like a fan fiction effort “hey, let’s try one of those concept episodes!”
Was that actually Chevy’s voice in the puppet scenes, or did they use an impersonator, or what? If he was gone by the time they filmed this episode, I wonder how they handled the voice issue. Plus, I just prefer to believe Pierce got left in the woods, while he was taking a dump and crying over Eartha Kitt. 
I do agree with you on his underuse (underutilization?) this year.
Either Chevy was contractually obligated to come back for his voice performance, or it had been pre-recorded before he quit. Not sure which.
I was Googling this and came upon this Website which says,
Wondering if Pierce is getting written out of the show by being left behind in the woods or if their are more episodes with Chevy to come.
I hope not. Pierce has consistently been the worst part of the show for me.
I’ll agree somewhat with SenorBeef in that I wasn’t really clear why they needed to be puppets. I liked it but I like musicals.
I was hoping to love this episode, since I have a soft spot (groan) for puppets, but…nope.
A few good gags and the puppets were extremely well-made, but it fell flat. The premise seemed completely forced, the plot rambled nowhere, and none of the “darkest secrets,” save Shirley’s, were very interesting. Even the songs were a waste; mostly just exposition.
Ignoring the puppet aspect, “the gang go on a hot air balloon trip, hijinks ensue, and the gang then goes on a wholly different kind of trip” is a stupid sitcom blurb.
Community wasn’t just funnier than this, it was better than this.
That was my verdict: they just forgot to put enough humour into it.
They’re just following in the footsteps of the Christmas episode and the video game episode.
Those conceits played better in their respective episodes. I almost would have been happier with straight up puppets and no framing device of the dean and puppet therapy.