"These episodes aired two week ago!" you may say. I know, I'm super lazy, what can you do? Anywho, on to my thoughts on old(ish) episodes!
Community - "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux"
The biggest showcase for Jim Rash as Dean Pelton to date and he shines in it. How great would it be if he won an Oscar for writing The Descendants? His descent into madness while making a new commercial for Greendale was portrayed wonderfully. Him slowly corrupting the rest of the cast in their own quirky ways played well. I especially loved the never ending hug between Troy and Britta. Troy crying is never not funny, but the best part was when they were done, went in for a celebratory hug, and recoiled in horror. Joel McHale also does a great extra campy Dean. Greendale's favorite (read: most famous) son, Luis Guzman, finally showed up at his alma mater. I'm really glad the Community guys pulled this off before it gets cancelled. Ever since the first episode, I've been wondering if he would ever make an appearance. Abed stepping in at the end to help, even though that's against the documentary filmmaker's ideals, was a nice touch for his character and showed the human side of a mostly emotionless character.
Parks and Recreation - "Smallest Park"
Leslie and Ben! Hooray! I can't think of a better handling of a romance in a sitcom (maybe even drama, too) in a very long time. They didn't drag it out over multiple seasons when it was obvious they were meant to be together. When they had to break up it was for real, legitimate reasons, and the consequences of the break up were dealt with over multiple episodes. Now in this episode they come to the realization of "damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!" To get to that point we had to see Leslie at her most obnoxious since they leveled her character out in Season 2. It was funny this time, though, because it was acknowledged obnoxiousness and a reaction to the stress of not being able to hang out with Ben even as friend. Ann finally breaking in to explain to Leslie exactly how annoying she was being was great. Andy, April, and Ron trying to find a college course for Andy was a fun detour outside of City Hall, and I want to take "Women's Laser Studies." The Tom storyline was a little slight (it was an overstuffed episode), but it was nice that Jerry inadvertently sparked a good idea.
The Office - "Gettysburg"
When Steve Carrell left, this aging show was supposed to get a kick in the pants with a change at the manager position. Instead it's fallen into more of rut than before. Andy comes up with some scheme, everyone begrudgingly goes along and things go bad, in the end Jim reminds Andy that everyone in the office really does like him. Robert California hasn't done much to shake things up either. I find myself laughing less and less each week. This ensemble can do great things, I just hope they can move away from the same Andy plot every week. I know it's been two weeks, but I'm hard pressed to remember any good gags from this episode, when I had no trouble for the two shows above. I remember thinking Gabe as Abe Lincoln (and Gabe in general) is not funny, and Kevin's cookie idea was wierd. Ah well.
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