COMMUNITY: Virtual Systems Analysis – or How the Show Just Went More Meta

A tag with stand-up, I don’t even know what it means.

There are any number of ways to try and discuss a Community episode, but there are times when a cold open just defies the concept of logic and explanation, except to say that Annie is trying to set up Britta and Troy, and Abed is then left to play with Annie in the Dreamatorium.

The fact that Abed has room where the Dreamatorium can exist and function, and that Abed has run simulations on how the group interacts that will play out and change the group dynamics. When Troy warns that Abed’s going to break in the Dreamatorium without him, it really makes me want to ship Troy and Abed more than I already do. Of course, the warning turns out to be more than prophetic as by asking Abed to think about other people, Abed suddenly shuts down quickly.

The fact that Annie now has to deal with Abed as any other member of the group and that it manifests first as Jeff and Annie in a hospital administration fantasy, well, Abed might be a little too meta. But watching as it changes into Britta and Troy fake making out, well that’s even a little weird for me. Abed assuming that no one needs him in this simulation is odd, and a true sign that Abed worries that everyone will forget him makes me want to weep for him and wish him a social life where he can really interact with people on a level that is empathetic. It’s only going to end poorly, I’m just imagining it now.

I really love when this show gets meta, but this moment where Abed turns into Annie and then Annie turns into Abed is just too much for me. If Abed is truly a metaphor for science fiction, then I think that my world just got a little brighter. I suppose that it’ll make my life better in the end if I can find my way out of a bad mood and into an episode of [easyazon-link asin=”B005M2A4D4″]Doctor Who[/easyazon-link] (or in this case “Inspector Spacetime”), it wouldn’t be bad.

The end result is that moment with Annie is that Abed has learned empathy. I think that’s a great way to end the episode.

As Dean Pelton comes back into the episode in his half man-half woman outfit, I really have no clue how to connect any of that to the episode, unless there’s some hidden Harvey Dent line that I’m missing.

Technical difficulties after Annie redesigns the blanket fort. Oh my!