Quiet at the back! Welcome to Death 101. Feel the fear and eat the doughnut anyway. And do try and ignore the mud wrestling women. You’ll only encourage them. Kicking off with the shock revelation that Pierce still lives with his mother, oh, and that Troy found her dead in the garage, the episode forces Jeff to confront his mortality, something he apparently skipped as a teenager, and the fact that eating doughnuts and ice cream is infinitely preferable to living forever. Discovering that his previously perfect physical condition has been marred by the arrival of a heart attack-tempting high cholesterol level is too much for the ex-lawyer, and his belief system all but collapses. Worshipping at the altar of himself suddenly seems like a waste of time, an attitude highlighted by the useful presence of Prof. Duncan, drunk, slovenly, with a face full of fried food, and still likely to outlive Jeff, throwing the anally retentive quest for physical perfection into sharp relief. Jeff finally takes the stick out of his ass, and puts some ice cream in his face. A life lesson that we can surely all get behind. It’ll never last. Lucky, then, that the rest of the episode held many other delights. This week saw the return of La White, currently on holiday in the Congo, explaining the intricacies of Inception to a tribal leader. Student Chang and Prof. Duncan continued their rivalry with a restraining order force field showdown. And let us take a moment to fully appreciate Troy’s description of Pierces’ mother’s final moments as ‘Gangsta.’ The highlight of the episode, however, and proof, if it were still needed, of how well put together this show is, occurred almost completely in the background. No dialogue, no explanation, just a superb glimpse into Abed’s life outside the group. Almost completely removing a lead character from the main arcs can be risky, but in this case it’s a move that totally pays off, providing you caught it. Otherwise, you might worry that Abed has developed a strange obsession with newborns. Designing in-jokes specifically for the audience members that happen to notice them shows just how confident the production team at Community is, and rightly so. Take that Big Bang Theory et al. Fresh, funny and doing more for the art of TV than anyone else out there, Community is fast becoming the model for a 21st century sitcom, unlike many of its poorer, throwback cousins. You know who you are. Which begs the question: why is the UK broadcasting this show on the obscure music video channel, Viva, which not all viewers can get? For shame UK networks. For shame. Read our review of episode 2, Accounting For Lawyers, here.
