I was out of town last weekend and I'm not close to caught up with my TV viewing yet. I have, however, seen last week's Community, Parks and Recreation, and The Office. Since I'm barely getting this out before this week's air, it may be a little shorter than I would like.
Community - "Geography of Global Conflict"
Another week of "meh" Community. By no means a bad episode, just not everything worked for me. I'm referring mostly to the Britta and Chang storyline. I feel the gag worked really well in their first scene and got progressively worse from there. I understand they want to show Birtta being scared at things changing, but as thing got more and more over the top I just wasn't invested. Usually Community going over the top is great (they go there a lot), it just didn't click for me this time. The Annie story, though, I liked. First of all, I love Martin Starr as the Poly-Sci teacher, and I hope we seem him again (oh Freaks and Geeks and Party Down, cancelled before your times). Of course the other do-gooder, know it all at Greendale would be named Annie. This also opened us up to delving more into the Annie-Jeff relationship. The two have great chemistry, but I like that they keep acknowledging how weird it would be for them to actually get together. Now Community thrives on weird, so you never know, but solid work from both actors. Pierce made me laugh with everything he said, which was nice, and Troy taking off the cup lid and replacing the cup really cracked me up. The final solution of trying to connect to Earth-2 was a nice little rap up and very, very Abed.
Parks and Recreation - "Ron & Tammys"
Now here was a great episode. I don't know how they are going to keep doing and Ron and Tammy episode year after year, but I hop they can keep it up because they've all been gems. This one even had three Tammys! Patricia Clarkson as Tammy One was cold and cutting, but still hilarious. April's love of her was great. She's the woman April wishes she could be, but thankfully Andy keeps her in check. Ron's mom, Tammy Zero, had a whole Mags from Justified thing going on, which I think is awesome and totally convincing as Ron roots. We even got a small scene with our original Tammy just to reiterate how scared she is of Tammy One (and to hit on Andy). Ron shaving his mustache and being kind and helpful was just so, so weird. Nick Offerman, why were you not even nominated for the Emmy you so deserve? And Tammy One turned out to literally be a gold digger. Speaking of that, the Chris and Anne storyline was a nice diversion and a good showcase for Rob Lowe, but ultimately inconsequential. Ben with Tom is usually pretty great, and it was here again. Entertainment720 is, as to be expected, going down the toilet. More Jean-Ralphio is always a good thing, as is Detlef Schrempf (much more fun to say than type). We all know Tom is going to be back at the Parks Department eventually, but this diversion is been good so far. Also, Leslie drunk is wonderful, Amy Poehler is a master at it.
The Office - "The Incentive"
Another week of more of the same from this show. Andy seems a little too Michael-ish, Robert only pops in for second to be a little strange and to set the plot in motion, and things are resolved very sweetly in the end. It's the resolutions that keep me coming back. Jim's little talk to Andy outside the tattoo parlor and the actual Nard Dog tattoo were enough to give me hope that this show still has life in it. I also enjoyed how the whole office came together to get things done. The rest was very take it or leave it, especially the Darryl plot about his ex-wife. That just stopped cold. I hope we see more of what's going on there because this show usually doesn't leave things hanging like that. All in all, I hope for better and think the show can achieve that, but I'll take it.
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