COMMUNITY: Biology 101 Recap

Firstly, welcome back, Greendale! I’m so glad that you’re back to being crazy and providing me with an endless stream of inside jokes that relate to all of the other shows I already watch.

For a season opener, I’m all for the absurd, and when it comes to Community, I’m never disappointed by what the show can pull together.

Case in point, opening this season with a musical number that gives us all the background (for those who haven’t watched before) and also planting the seeds for things I desperately need to see (Jeff and Annie having sex, I’m looking at you!).

After we left our insane musical cold open, there are plenty of giggles as Troy and Abed admit that they’ve moved in together and are registered for things at Linens N Things. Of course their bromance so far would be crystallized into that move, and I’m more than happy to see it after Abed said he’d not live with Troy at the end of the first season.

Scarily as the group is talking about their new semester, they’re interrupted by Dean Pelton trying to look the part of a real Dean–no nonsense. Though why with that goatee he thought anyone would take him seriously, I can’t tell at all.

Once the Dean leaves, I’m also impressed that Britta is, yet again, the one to muck things up. This time with a Chem book instead of Biology.

At this point I was ready to tune out for a bit, mostly because Pierce’s storyline has been on my last nerve since last season, but it has to exist and so I’ll just get through it. The group authentic is still where I’d expect them all to be, but Jeff’s tirades are starting to grate on me (in the same way that Pierce’s particular brand of weird still irks me). But the typical Jeff-speech about the group had to happen, and of course I know that nothing good will come from it.

Also it wouldn’t be the crazy campus without Annie’s Boobs and Chang being all full of insanity in the vents.

Much like everything else, the flow from Chang and Annie’s Boobs to Abed’s crying fit about Cougar Town not being on until midseason was so bizarre, but fitting as only this show can do. Trying to calm a man who lives off popular culture must be very hard, and for that I don’t envy Troy his new roommate.

By the time we’ve met their new teacher for the year, the show has already gone for another meta reference — their Biology Professor (Michael Kenneth Williams) had previously been in jail, a very loving nod to his role on The Wire so many years ago. (Might this actually get me to watch that show? Only time will tell.)

Because every episode needs Jeff to fall just a bit, he’s kicked out of Biology, which opens a spot for Pierce in the class (which Jeff didn’t want earlier, part of that part where I wanted to zone out).

In another moment that I missed earlier, Dean Pelton has a new foe in his Vice Dean from the annex’s Air Conditioning program. Vice Dean Laybourne (John Goodman) will always be that shortly appointed President to me, but has a mean streak that has me seriously worried about Dean Pelton’s sanity and job performance.

But back to our study group, especially Abed’s bereavement over the lack of Cougar Town; Britta introduces him to the British original version, Cougarton Abbey. Much later, it’s discovered the series is only six episodes and Abed’s fit returns with a high pitched scream that would make dogs run away. (I also fully admit that Cougarton Abbey might be the worst idea for a British show, EVER!) The ending of that show is a killer, though, and mocks everything I love to hate about British series (currently I’m looking at you Law and Order: UK for the episode that just aired here). By the time Britta finds another show to bring Abed out of his funk, I was about to die laughing. Inspector Timeclock (I wonder why it couldn’t be Doctor Who?) had me rolling.

When Jeff returns from this dream that rivals most really good drug highs (or so I’d imagine), I’m fairly certain that Annie should know that Jeff can’t evolve too much. It also brings me one favorite sides of Jeff: loner Jeff who has a crazy dream and who is berated by Leonard. Speaking of that dream, I felt like I was watching HAL slowly killing me in a space ship, and that’s not actually a good thing. But it only served to remind me of Jeff’s neuroses that we sometimes skirt over because he’s usually put together. Then once the dream is over, there was a really offensive Jeff who keeps making racial jokes that are not playing well. If I was supposed to feel like Jeff had turned into Jack Torance, then great job Community writers’ room.

By the end of the episode, we’ve all learned a valuable lesson about friendship, and because Starburns is an idiot, Jeff is back in Biology. I’m sure that won’t be the last of any of the group’s dysfunctions. Happily, I look forward to whatever is coming, and know that another twenty-two minutes will force me to write another lengthy review.

Until next week, Human Beings!