Yvette Nicole Brown, Jonathan Banks, and John Oliver in Community
Community has always been a show that isn’t afraid to make fun of itself or even make jokes about the network it unfortunately gets aired on. And Dan Harmon has never been the kind of guy to hold back. If he wants to say something, he says it. Harmon and company definitely make some statements in this episode. But at least it was done in an extremely funny and tasteful manner. “Basic Sandwich” is the season five finale, and immediately follows the events of “Basic Story.”
This show has always been ridiculous. But the story idea of a treasure hunt kind of takes the cake. But it allowed them to have a ton of fun in this episode, as the always seem to do. I always thought that Community would be the most fun television show to visit on-set. These actors just work so well with each other, how could it not be a blast? And this is without the always-hilarious Donald Glover, who I miss dearly. So when you get a story this ridiculous, it is on the strength of this cast to sell it. And they do.
So we continue the story with the treasure hunt, along with Subway being villainous in their own way; trying to get Greendale sold as soon as possible before anything stands in their way. There were multiple hilarious moments this week. Dean Pelton yelling “I was dying!” while no one noticed him choking on a toy rocket launcher was classic Jim Rash and super funny. Adding Chris Elliot to the mix this week added a bit of comedy, as the man who has been isolated for so long. Abed updating him on the times was really funny. Introducing him to the internet and emoticons was classic. There really were numerous laugh-out-loud moments this week and it is hard to just pick a few to talk about. But the “Who’s hotter: Elliot Gould or Donald Sutherland” bit was hilarious; as was the minute-long “Shh” scene.
Obviously, we knew that Britta and Jeff weren’t ever going to get married. I like the idea of them together, but it would be kind of against the fabric of this show for that to happen. Dan Harmon has gone so long with not coupling anyone together (Troy and Britta happened during his year off), it would be more shocking if he went that route. I may not always buy the Jeff-Annie relationship but I must say it was really well done in this episode, even if it came through a weird mind-connecting scene. Hearing the call back to season one (“Mi-lady and Mi-Lord”) was a cool little moment. There is still hope for them yet apparently. And I am more than okay with it.
But the huge standout this episode was Danny Pudi as Abed. He has been doing great work this season. From acting out like Nicolas Cage to his moments this week, Danny Pudi is doing his best to fill the void of Donald Glover’s absence. And his comedy is top-notch. All of the best moments this week came from him. Talking about shows not getting theme songs anymore all the way to talking about the group in terms of TV and it was hilarious. Also, the inclusion of Dave Matthews Band, once again, made me smile. This show’s future is undecided at this point, but with this quality, it is going to be damn hard for NBC to get rid of Community now.
WHAT I LIKED:
+: Danny Pudi did great work this week as Abed, as he had many of the episode’s best lines and moments. Him talking about the future of Greendale and also this show as a whole was awesome to hear.
+: Jeff and Annie’s moment was a nice call back to season one and showed that hope may still be alive for the two. Or, it could be Harmon playing with people’s feelings. Who knows.
+: Multiple laugh-out-loud moments this week. Not a scene went by where I wasn’t laughing.
+: Dave Matthews.
+: The end tag was hilarious. It made fun of NBC completely but in a really tasteful and funny way.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:
-: The Jeff and Britta thing was tossed to the side pretty easily. I didn’t care that much because I knew it would happen. But it could have gotten more of a dismissal than it got in the episode.
