Way to go, Julia. You write about how great the episode endings with Abed and Troy are, and Community stops doing them. As much as I did enjoy the rap at the end, it really just wasn’t the same. Other than that, I loved this week’s episode, although it brings up a worrisome point for me: where are these people going to go?
Yes, that’s a concern in any school-based series, but Community faces some challenges that others don’t. If this were a group of high school students, they could all randomly decide to stay in town and go to college together, as has been the way for years, from Saved by the Bell‘s UC Berkeley (CAL) to Gossip Girl‘s NYU. If it were a regular college show, new castmembers could be rotated in to pick up the slack after original ones graduated. However, Community is a little bit more difficult– and this week’s episode highlights that difficulty.
Community colleges are generally only two-year programs (which has made me question how Jeff is planning on getting his bachelor’s degree since the beginning, but let’s just leave that aside for now), so the timeline is even shorter than a normal college show. Plus, these characters, with the exception of Annie, Troy, and Abed, are not straight out of high school students. They’re adults with bills, and mortgages, and fancy faucets. Jeff doesn’t have a job. How is he going to continue to support himself?
Even if he does graduate and get his license back, is he going to be a creepy lawyer still hanging around the community college he used to attend? Are he and 18-year-old Annie going to remain friends? I’ve been pleasantly surprised by many things on this show so far, most notably the evolution of Abed’s character from punchline to actual person, so I do have faith in the writers. I’m just really curious as to how they’re going to get out of the corner they’ve seemingly painted themselves into.
Speaking of Annie, I love the Annie/Troy storyline so much more than the Britta/Jeff not-romance, and it was nice to see the focus placed on the former this week. There’s something that’s just so much more entertaining to me about a quiet, slightly crazy, unrequited love, than a “will they or won’t they” situation.
I just like the fact that Annie and Troy have become genuine friends, after he ignored her all through high school. I’d actually like to see that friendship explored a little more instead of Annie telling him her feelings right away. Him pretending to be her backpack was so funny and sad all at the same time; I don’t want to see Annie suffer, but it does provide some entertainment.
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Nov 06, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
I thought this was a great episode. It seems like Community keeps getting better and better.
I could totally see this show going the way of The Simpsons and never advancing in time. I’ve never really understood why so many shows have insisted on having time advance with real time. The first thee seasons of Lost covered months, not years.
If we’re copying The Simpsons, we could totally have the show occur in real time, but have no consequences come of it. We could have Halloween/Christmas/Arbor Day episodes every year, but no one would ever pass Señor Chang’s class, so the study group would remain together.
Since so many people have questioned what Jeff sees in Britta, I like how this episode showed that his single-minded pursuit is less about the girl and more about Jeff’s own need to strive toward a difficult goal.
Actually, a lot of community colleges now offer Bachelor’s degrees (as an academic, I’ve had to learn this). So, that gives them 4 years of material. Also, after that, it’s a community college, meaning they live in the community. So, if Jeff’s law degree from ‘Columbia’ stands, then technically he could work as an adjunct (some associate’s degree granting institutions hire faculty that have experience in lieu of a having an MA/PhD to teach).
I work at a job where I deal with a lot of transfer student information. I am not kidding when I say that most people take at LEAST four years, and frequently up to 8, years to leave a community college. My hometown CC is so known for this that it’s called the 8-year-degree there. Trust me, there is no reason for anyone on this campus to ever graduate and leave. Most people are not taking full course loads of classes guaranteed to get them into a 4-year school transfer from the getgo, especially dabblers like Pierce, or people with day jobs (Shirley?).