User Reviews

Willy is the bane of Jeff's life for sure, in this episode that pretty much predicted the rise of Zoom in the classroom in the pandemic. Here Jeff becomes very sour and unfunny when he matches wits with convicted murderer Willy through a Black Mirror (yes Charlie Brooker would be proud I guess) that's an ipad really.

This episode also casts sharp commentary on Elroy's racial background at the beginning (with the Dean referring to Troy and Shirley) and at the end when Elroy impersonated a prisoner and passed through security without any checks.

Six seasons and a movie please.

This episode felt off. What was very strange was a few characters acting very out of character for me. Community has always been able to use very weak or irrelevant premises in exploring the group dynamics and how they interact with each other, say when Annie loses her pen and goes psycho. Yet this episode starts with a very un Britta like action. After having been taken in by Annie and Abed and staying at their apartment she then takes advantage of their hospitality to try and throw a party. After being so prideful and so indignantly independent in the episode with her parents Britta then throws this in the face of hosts. Britta goes from a person who doesn't even want to burden her parents or her friends with the cost of a mattress to suddenly trying to be underhanded and sneaking a party in someone else's home. I think there is a fine line with how you write Britta. We all know that her early season 1 personality was more a facade then anything but she still doesn't have to be dumb or obnoxious. The scene earlier in the season with her singing along to the Natalie is Freezing song is a good example; showing her goofy and silly side but not putting down or attacking her character.

Instead she goes ahead and tries to trick Abed in throwing a party. It's a pretty dumb Abed in this episode; either he is too naive to realise that Britta is just using him in order to have a party, or he is aware of it and does it without consulting Annie. What's more is the place-holder theme of his film: party like there is no tomorrow. What happened to Abed's films having an emotional or creative intent behind them, like the divorce film starring Jeff and Britta or the talking heads in Intermediate Documentary Filmaking? Ultimately Abed is just there to serve as an aloof antagoniser between the fighting females. He serves a more interesting role when he actually doing a bit more than just talking in TV show references, like playing the video game with Annie last season to determine who gets to choose room-mates.

The A plot was kind of bizarre. There are a few very funny parts, like the attempted murder of Jeff by Willy or the race gang comment by the Dean. Yet the episode takes a running joke of the series (The Dean in love with Jeffrey) and tries to add some depth to it, perhaps under the guise of a straightforward chick flick plot. A couple in love, then having a falling out over a misunderstanding, jealousy, a third wheel entering the scene, and a resolution with a rousing speech where the loving couple is back together. The episode toes the line between serious and parody but never really decides where it stands. Willy as a character was uninteresting; we know that Greendale is a messed up place and would take to a murderer quite fondly but there simply is no development of his character to make us believe that the Dean is suddenly swept off his feet. I didn't believe he was evil enough to kill Jeff (albeit in a comedic way), or charismatic enough to charm Jeff's class or the Dean.

Ultimately Jeff's plot falls on its feet because the overarching premise of Save Greendale from season 5 is no longer available; we know Jeff is teaching a blow-off class without much conviction so what's the point of hist storyline moving forward? Having refused a generous and obviously more financially stable position from Subway university and instead focused his moral compass on saving Greendale, why is he suddenly so unmotivated and so easily content to waste the school's money and lie to the Dean for this long? Jeff's reaction to the Dean and Willy's new love is understandable but feels a lot more like season 1 Jeff, a lot more insecure and desperately trying to stay in the spotlight. Only in season 1 Jeff hadn't gone through all that characterisation. He hadn't given that heart-warming season 3 finale speech. And also Rich was a much better character than Willy.

I hope this is the worst episode of the season because the last week's one with the bird and Chang really showed promise. The new half hour run time made the progression of Chang's storyline possible and let the other side plots breathe and develop. With "Laws of Robotics & Party Rights", it only serves to expose how deeply uncharacteristic and frivolous this episode really is.