Community – “Modern Warfare”

For all of you loyal TUiW readers, you know that I’m a fan of Community. The problem I’ve had is that as good as some of the episodes have been, I’ve been reluctant to promote it from “good” to “great.” Tonight however, Community had an episode that is in very serious contention for my episode of the season, and probably the year.

Jeff and Britta kick off the episode with their normal bickering, but it seems that it has the Study Group more annoyed than usual. It seems that their frustration with each other makes everyone else agitated, and Abed points out that their Ross and Rachel ways are preventing them from being friends. While Jeff and Britta down play the gang’s suggestion that they simply blow off some steam so to speak, Shirley mentions her Mother’s Day plans that involve her making her own breakfast, and then having her kids serve it to her in bed. Then walks in the Dean, who tells of the Spring Fling later, with a paintball assassin game that has a prize TBD. Jeff leaves to take a nap in the car as the group argues. And then everything changes.

Jeff wakes up, the campus a desolate war zone of paint splashes. A confused Jeff wanders into Greendale, where Abed saves him from a possible attack. They meet up with Troy, who is elated to see Jeff okay. They catch him up: The Prize has been selected, and it’s Priority Registration. The classes you want, when you want. It seems that after the Dean shared this information, the entire school went crazy on each other. Abed and Troy joined together though, with the strategy that if they stuck together, they could last longer, and have a better shot at one of the two of them getting The Prize. Jeff has no other choice but to take off his shirt and join them.

After a quick take down of the Chess Club, and a meet up with Pierce (who shoots Starburns), the three of them decide they’re going to take a bathroom stop. Everything looks clear…that is until Abed notices a little big of paint dripping down the wall. Before they know it, the three guys are in a standoff with Britta, Shirley, and Annie, who jumps out of the trashcan. They all realize they have too much to lose by take one another out,  so they join together. As they head out onto the Quad, Troy offers Shirley a deal: take out the group, and go on the two of them. Before they have a chance to decide though, Troy is shot in an ambush by the Cast of Glee…er…the Glee Club. In the ensuing attack, Pierce and Annie get shot, and the Cast of Community slams Glee for being awful. (Except you Jane Lynch. You are always awesome.)

The four survivors gather around a fire in the library and talk about what they’ll do with The Prize. Shirley tells them she’ll use it to take morning classes so she can spend more time with her kids, and Britta promises her that if she wins, she’ll give her The Prize. Jeff disagrees, and before he and Britta can bicker too much, they’re ambushed by disco loving roller skaters. In the attack, both Troy and Shirley are lost. Jeff is actually injured (“oh good, it’s just blood!”), and as Britta fixes him up, they finally kiss and, well, blow off steam.

Meanwhile in the Dean’s Office, the Dean is getting worried about the never ending paintball war. Enter Senior Chang, a professional paintballer who can end it all if the Dean just registers him for a class.

In the library, Britta pulls a gun on post-coital Jeff, who wisely has pulled the clip. Before they can resolve anything though, they’re interrupted by a supremely bad-ass Senor Chang and his automatic gun. Britta sacrifices herself for Jeff after a kiss, and it looks like Jeff is safe, that is until Senor Chang opens his jacket to reveal a paint bomb. Jeff dives from the room just as it explodes into a green tidal wave. When he makes it to the Dean’s Office, a crazed Jeff learns there is no Priority Registration, just a DVD player (with remote). But Jeff has come too far. He uses force to get just what he came for.

And suddenly it’s all over. The floors are being mopped, and an awkward Jeff and Britta decide its best to just pretend nothing happened and not tell anyone, but Abed feels something is different. No matter, as no one else catches on. Jeff shows off his Priority Registration, and also his generosity by giving it to Shirley so that she can spend time with her kids, a move that genuinely touches Britta.

And thus was a terrific half hour of television. Community started with a slight meta streak, and has since transformed that into their own blend of parody and humor that has only improved as its phenomenal cast and writing staff have figured out their strengths and weaknesses. When Community returned from it’s midseason break, it suddenly decided it wasn’t content being about a fancy lawyer mixed with the rejects, a formula that was actually working quite well for it. But it started with the plot involving the Greendale newspaper, with Jeff as editor and Annie as the no-nonsense reporter. Then came the episode with the sailing class, that allowed for some maritime parody. Then there was the Goodfellas tinged episode about chicken fingers. And now, there’s “Modern Warfare,” and episode that has taken the show to the point I believe it was always supposed to reach. Now that Jeff has embraced life at Greendale, it would make complete sense that he’d embrace the goofiness and melodrama of paintball war, complete with images like Senor Chang bursting into the library, automatic gun in hand. Greendale has gone from being a loser populated community college to being a big time newspaper, an ocean, a mob front, and now, the biggest of all, a war zone. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Michael’s Score: 98

TUiW Grade: A+

EDITORS NOTE: The last paragraph has been updated since the original post.