My LEAST Favorite Community Episode

 

Now I don’t think it needs to be said at this point, but Community is one of, if not the best sitcoms of all time. It’s also a show that doesn’t have that many episodes that fans actively dislike. Though, if you were to ask someone what their least favorite Community episode is, they’ll probably name something from the latter half of the show, usually from season 4. (So something like Intro to Felt Surrogacy, History 101, Conventions of Space & Time, etc.)

Not my pick, though. No, MY least favorite episode comes from the worst season pre-Dan’s Departure: Season Three. So, which season three episode do I consider the worst, I hear you asking? I’ll tell you right now. The episode of Community that I consider the worst is… Competitive Ecology.

…Okay, now that you got that out of your systems, allow me to elaborate.

First off, I do get why people would like this episode, there are some good jokes, and a few iconic moments (What happened with Legos?, Offense Taken, etc.), I like Professor Kane, and Chang’s security guard subplot is good, all things considered, but the reason I have a particular dislike for this episode, is because I feel the main plot does a great disservice to the seven main characters that drew me to the show in the first place.

I’ve said this in an old Facebook post, but my favorite season of Community has to be the first one. In fact, when it comes to first seasons of TV shows, Community is one of the best, because out of all 6 seasons, this one did the best job at portraying the Greendale Seven as individuals, but more importantly as a unit. That’s what sold me, and I’m sure many others on the show: The bond that Jeff, Britta, Abed, Shirley, Annie, Troy, and Pierce were able to forge together, and how that bond inspired all of them to start becoming better people. Every episode from the first season showcases this to some extent, but not Competitive Ecology. In fact, I’d go so far as to say this episode in particular does the opposite of that. It turns these characters I’ve come to know and love into outright malicious jerks, and I’m gonna be using quite a few episodes from season 1 to help illustrate my point.

So the basic plot of this episode is that our protagonist study group is taking a biology class, and are each assigned different people as their lab partners… to which they immediately request to be partnered up with each other.

Annie: I know you haven’t been at Greendale very long, but um… We’re a study group.

Britta: It’s kind of a thing, we’ve been through a lot.

Shirley: You’ve probably heard of the space bus.

Abed: Paintball.

Pierce: I had sex with Eartha Kitt in an airplane bathroom, and these are the only guys I’ve ever told.

Troy: Yeah, we’re like a family. We love each other.

Abed: Second paintball.

Jeff: We’d really prefer to partner amongst ourselves.

And this is where I start to raise an eyebrow. Now, I get that these guys are pretty much a family and families stick together, but I don’t really think they’d have any trouble working with other people in a class, especially considering they’ve done it before, multiple times. Just look at season one: In “Social Psychology”, Annie took a psychology class, In “Interpretive Dance” Troy and Britta each took different dance classes at different times, in “Physical Education” Jeff is on his own for Billiards class, in “Romantic Expressionism”, Pierce consults a sketch comedy troupe by himself, and in“Environmental Science” sees Shirley tackle a marketing class by herself. Yes, Pierce did try to coach her to be better at public speaking, but he wasn’t taking the class with her.

My point is, the Greendale 7 have done plenty of school-related stuff by themselves or with other people, so I don’t see why they couldn’t suck it up and at least attempt to work with their assigned lab partners this time around. It’s not like they couldn’t arrange time to study together like they usually do, because they totally could.

So anyway, Jeff pairs up with Annie, Troy pairs up with Abed, Britta pairs up with Shirley, and Pierce is stuck with his OG lab partner, Todd, who is going to get the short end of the stick all throughout this episode, but I’ll talk about that in a bit. Right now, I want to discuss the way the group decides they don’t want to be partners anymore and the issues I have with it.

Jeff is too occupied with his phone to actually collaborate with Annie, Troy and Abed immediately feel like they’re spending too much time together, and Shirley won’t stop showing Britta pictures of her kids and help out.

First off, not a fan of how Jeff is blowing off Annie here. I know he’s the laziest group member and always tries to do as little work as possible, but he usually puts at least some effort into his assignments. Even in what he calls “The Ultimate Blow-Off class,” he still does what's asked of him. In this scene, he’s not doing anything of usefulness whatsoever. Also, why is Annie being passive with Jeff, and not pushing him to do more? The Annie I know wouldn’t just stand idly by and let Jeff not lift a finger somewhere other than his phone. Remember in Debate 109, where Annie and Jeff taught each other the values of preparation and improvisation, and they used their new lessons to beat City College? And it was shown throughout the episode how Jeff was willing to put in work to help Annie out? Well, all of that got chucked out the window in Competitive Ecology and now Annie is just letting Jeff be lazier than he normally is. Fantastic.

As for Troy and Abed, I find it odd that now and only now they feel like they need a break from each other when it’s never really been an issue for them in the past. Okay, aside from Pascal's Triangle Revisited, but at least there, it happened organically. Here, it just feels forced and contrived.

And finally, instead of asking Shirley to put down her phone and help her gather stuff for the terrarium, Britta instead tells her to stop feeding her kids sugar, saying it’s like meth. Yeah, there is some truth to that statement, and I guess you could argue that it’s in line with Britta’s character, but it still annoys me that Britta didn’t let Shirley know the real problem she was causing, especially since she’s been able to do so before. In “Introduction to Statistics”, Britta was able to figure out why Shirley was acting so angry about Jeff and Professor Slater, and in “Comparative Religion” (my personal favorite episode), she’s the one to let Shirley know that if she really sees her, and the others as her second family, she has to start delivering on that, regardless of the things they do or the choices they make.

In basic summary, the way each duo gets into conflict in this episode feels forced and kinda OOC, which makes what comes next look even worse.

So the Greendale Seven and Todd meet up outside Group Study Room F and come to the conclusion that they should switch partners and spend a good majority of the episode bickering about who should be partnered up with who or who’s more popular than who, and this is where my main problem with this episode arises: How it portrays these characters and their relationship with each other.

These scenes have Jeff & Co. bantering like they normally do, but the energy their banter here exudes is bitterness and contempt, rather than warmness and comradery. Take a look at episodes like “Advanced Criminal Law”, “Beginner Pottery”, “Environmental Science”, “Comparative Religion”, “English as a Second Language”, and “Romantic Expressionism”, these are episodes where this group of seven get into a few squabbles, but the difference is that I can buy that those squabbles have reasons for happening and even though the characters are fighting, they still feel like a tight group of friends. Heck Jeff and Britta did this so much in “Modern Warfare” that the rest of the cast was getting sick of it. In “Competitive Ecology”, I don’t know, but the way the characters bicker here feels like they genuinely don’t enjoy each other’s company.

I mean, let me use a visual aid to help explain what I'm talking about. Let's compare this scene from "Introduction to Film", the third episode of the series.

To this scene from the subject of this review.

Anyone else see the difference between these two clips? If not, allow me to explain. The latter feels like watching seven angry, selfish jerks who hate each other tear into one another, while the former feels like watching seven friends being friends, and suffice to say, I definitely prefer the former much more than the latter. 

And it's not even like the Greendale 7 being bitter towards each other over petty things can't work, because it can, and it has, in the season 2 episode, Cooperative Calligraphy, the bottle episode. There, the bitterness between Jeff and his friends made perfect sense, because it stemmed from Annie making a huge deal about her pens going missing, and as the seven of them failed to find said pen, the stress and distrust of each other kept on building and building, until finally at the end of the episode they decided that instead of letting a pen come between them, they instead should just make up a reason as for how it disappeared. The bitterness made sense, was built up continuously, and was resolved in a heartwarming matter. In THIS episode, the group's hatred of each other isn't built up to at all, and it kinda feels like it comes out of nowhere. Like I said, I'm not watching seven friends get into an argument, I'm watching seven jerks verbally abuse each other, and an innocent bystander.

Speaking of which, the other issue is how Todd, the outlier, is treated by our main characters. Throughout this episode, Todd tries to be as friendly, helpful, understanding, and useful as he can be, and yet the Greendale 7 make very little effort to return his kindness, instead opting to insult, belittle, and snap at him at almost every turn. More power to you if you thought the Todd abuse was funny, but I couldn’t get past it, because I find it kinda OOC for these seven to treat a new group member so harshly. Why? Because they’ve already done this kind of episode before, and much better, IMO.

Now, I hadn’t watched “Investigative Journalism” before I got the idea to do this review, and boy was that a mistake because it’s one of the best episodes of the season. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s Competitive Ecology done right. In it, the Greendale 7 formally meet Buddy, (played by Jack Black) a fellow student in their Spanish class who wants to join their study group. What makes it the better group outsider story, is that even though Buddy makes things pretty awkward as he tries to join in on the banter, none of the other characters are ever mean to him, at all. (Except for Jeff towards the end, but that’s actually part of the plot.) And, while Todd never did anything negative to Jeff and his friends, Buddy was kinda trying too hard and overreacting to everything they did. It even has the seven get into a disagreement about group member policies, but unlike CE there’s no malice to be found.

But what brings this episode from good to great is the ending. Where after literally dragging Buddy out of their study room, Jeff invites him back the very next day, and explains his decision to the group, in what might be one of the most wholesome and heartwarming moments of the show:

Jeff: Buddy’s crime is thinking we’re cool. But I get it. I mean, if I were him, and I missed out on you guys, I’d be sitting in that classroom, watching and wondering. So, how can I exclude someone from something that I’m so lucky to have? I say we let him in.

And even though Buddy does ditch one group for another, it doesn’t feel like he has any ill will towards the Greendale Seven and will always treasure the time he spent with them. It’s all so feel-good. Compare that to Competitive Ecology, where Todd is thrust into this group dynamic unwillingly, and none of the protagonists make any real effort to treat him with respect.

But it's not just how the main characters treat Todd that's the problem, it's that this episode doesn't allow him to have any interesting dynamics with any of them. What do I mean by this? Well, when we compare Todd to Professor Slater, I think you'll be able to see.

Like Buddy, Professor Slater is a much better group outsider, because the show actually gave her time to form at least some dynamics with the other characters. I mean the obvious example is Jeff, being that they were an item, but she also had a memorable scene with Abed.

Slater: Why are they looking at me like a zoo animal?

Abed: Well, Jeff acts as sort of the dad of the group, so emotionally, this is kinda like being told that you're our new mom.

Slater: But, you know it's nothing like that, right?

Abed: Absolutely. Do you cook macaroni?

Slater: I have.

Abed: Macaroni's my favorite.

And an interesting read on Britta.

Jeff: She says Valentine's Day ritualizes a connection between affection and candy, so girls can learn the ropes of prostitution.

Slater: Translation: No date.

Granted, the show never took advantage of said dynamics, but they were still formed, nonetheless. 

This also applies to Buddy as well, because even though he gets hardly any one-on-one time with any of the group, each of them has a different read on him that aligns with their established characters, so you still get a sense of how they would interact if they were each paired up with him.

But in Competitive Ecology, since all seven original group members act like the same, angry, bitter, jerky person, Todd doesn't really get a chance to form any unique character dynamics, which sucks because each of them are very unique characters who have the ability to stand out with whoever they're paired up with, even themselves, and I know this would be the case with Todd, if the group was actually written as who they are. Like the scene where Todd mentions he has a kid, and Britta uses this as evidence for why he and Shirley should pair up. That's a good setup for interesting character interactions between two characters who have something in common, but the episode shoots it down in favor of crapping on Todd. 

Todd: Does anyone else have kids? Because I have a gorgeous little newborn that I'd like to get back to-

Britta: Perfect! You'll enjoy talking to Shirley about HER kids!

Shirley: Uh uh! Don't go trying to pawn Todd off on me!

Todd: ...Again, none taken.

And that's just not very nice to watch.

Now someone could make the argument that Todd is supposed a stand-in for a real-life person who’s reacting to how insane these characters really are. But putting aside the fact that Buddy is a much better audience stand-in than Todd is, this kind of thing was done a lot better in The Simpsons with the episode “Homer’s Enemy”.

Now the people behind this episode have stated before that Frank Grimes was supposed to be a real person put into the wacky world of Springfield and reacting to Homer’s buffoonery. What makes it work better there instead of Community? Simple, Homer does cause Frank quite a bit of grief in this episode, but it's never intentional. Homer sees him as a friend, and when Frank gets angry at him, he feels bad and wants to do whatever he can to make it up to him. Also, while Frank does suffer a lot more later on, it’s pretty much his own fault. Everything Frank does after Homer takes his criticisms to heart is entirely HIS doing. He's the one who can't accept Homer's good-hearted attempt, he's the one trying to make Homer look stupid in front of people who really don't care, he's the one who has an extreme meltdown and he's the one who touches those high voltage chords. Frank's jealousy, bitterness, and refusal to accept change are what ultimately bring his downfall. We feel bad for him, but we understand he dug his own hole.

In Competitive Ecology, Todd doesn’t have ANY moments of jealousy or bitterness. On the contrary, he’s probably the nicest person in the whole episode, and the Greendale Seven don’t make any attempts to be cordial with him, so while Homer’s Enemy was about a guy letting his resentment of the world consume him, Competitive Ecology is about our main characters bullying a guy who’s done nothing wrong to them, as well as each other, and that just isn’t as enjoyable to me.

Anyway, as you may have seen from the clip a few paragraphs above this one, Jeff tries to get Abed’s popularity list from him, causing Britta to step in, burn the list, and then dump it into the bucket where Todd’s turtle is. Luckily Todd retrieves his turtle before it burns to a crisp, and at least Britta has the common decency to apologize, but that doesn’t matter to Todd, as this is the moment where he finally snaps.

Todd: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!?! HUH?!?! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FRIENDS!!! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO LOVE EACH OTHER!!! YOUR LOVE IS WEIRD AND TOXIC, AND IT DESTROYS EVERYTHING IT TOUCHES!!!!

Those last two parts really hurt, because while the love Jeff and his friends shared was weird, it wasn’t toxic and it didn’t destroy everything it touched. If anything, I’d say it made quite a few things better. I mean just look at Season 1, and how many times the characters were able to leave a positive impact on themselves and others. It’s honestly too many to count, and that’s why Community made such a good first impression on me because I was seeing actual friends become friends and make each other’s lives better.

And after Todd leaves, Jeff blames everyone but himself, and storms off as well. Charming. The next day, aside from Annie, none of the group finished their terrariums, Professor Kane berates them all for everything they did to Todd, calls them “The Mean Clique” (See my earlier paragraph on why that hurts), and tells them for the rest of the semester, they’ll all be sharing one microscope, one bench, and one grade. And also they all failed on the first assignment. Now, normally, this would be around the time when Jeff and Co. realize what they did wrong and do something to atone for their behavior. But that doesn't happen. Instead, they come to the conclusion that Todd was the problem all along and start slandering him.

...(Sigh) Look, I've talked about this episode with other Community fans, and some of them say that this episode was supposed to be an allegory for toxic codependent groups of people, and that's a valid way to view the episode, but I still can't find any enjoyment of this plotline, because the characters we’re following here aren’t the same seven dynamic, caring, somewhat crazy weirdos I once knew, they were strangers. Jerky strangers who seem to only say that they like each other, but never actually act on it, and torment anyone new they have to incorporate in their group. It's like whoever wrote this episode forgot what show they were writing for and wrote something that wouldn't be too out of place for It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

And I think this should go without saying, but the Greendale Seven is NOT the gang of Paddy's Pub.

I really think if “Competitive Ecology” had been the first episode I ever watched, I wouldn’t be persuaded to watch any more full episodes. And while I don’t like it, it made me appreciate that “Comparative Religion” was my first episode, cause it hooked me by showing me that these characters did actually care about each other and will stand by each other when things get hard. I know I’ve been mentioning season 1 a lot in this review, but I truly believe it’s the best that Community has to offer. It managed to show me what good characters Jeff, Britta, Abed, Shirley, Annie, Troy, and Pierce were, but more importantly, it showed me how great they were together. When I watch Competitive Ecology, I don’t see any of what I just described. I see seven people filled with spite, and contempt, who think of no one else, but themselves. They may look like the Greendale Seven, and they may sound like the Greendale Seven (Voice-wise, anyway), but they’re not the Greendale Seven. Not the Greendale 7 I know, anyway.

Now, some of you are probably thinking to yourself...

Well, it's pretty simple, actually. I would have Jeff and his friends stay with their original lab partners and follow each of the new pairs that come with this premise. Each partner would be presented as a foil to each of our main characters (Annie gets someone who's laid back, Jeff gets someone who's not afraid to bring his ego down, Abed gets someone who's more into books than television, Shirley gets someone who can match her anger, Britta gets someone who's very shy and scared to speak his mind, Troy gets someone who's younger and more innocent than he is, and Pierce can be with Todd, but have them actually establish a unique dynamic and don't have Pierce put him down constantly. Somewhere near the middle we could have our seven mains meet up for their usual study group, and discuss how their projects are going. The group wouldn't be that happy about it at first, but throughout the course of the episode, they each grow to appreciate their partners and form friendships with them. The group even sees a bit of each other in their partners. And at the end of the episode, each pair gets a good grade, and our seven main students walk out of the classroom together and talk about how working with new partners wasn't as bad as they thought, and it was the experiences and relationships that they made with each other that were able to help them get through, and Jeff closes the episode by saying that as long as they remember that, they'll be fine.

Yeah, I don't mean to brag, but I think this story idea is pretty sweet. It acknowledges the relationship the Greendale 7 has formed, still has them bantering like the good friends they are, and even adds 7 new characters to the supporting cast to populate Greendale and show off all new dynamics in the show. And again, if you liked this episode, more power to you, I just wanted to share my thoughts on it, and how I would improve it.

Well, I think that's all the time I have for today. Thanks for coming to my Community TED Talk, I hope you enjoyed it, and I’ll see you in the next review. Bye!