TV Review: Community 3.14, 'Pillows and Blankets' (Part Two)
Community returns to the documentary format for the second time this season to tell the tale of the battle of Greendale in a Ken Burns fashion.
rating: 4.5
Community returns to the documentary format for the second time this season to tell the tale of the battle of Greendale in a Ken Burns fashion. The rivalry between Troy & Abed gets personal whilst Jeff does his best to keep the feud going to stay out of class. Elsewhere Pierce becomes half-pillow, half-man, all bad-ass. Pillows and Blankets is a season highlight and was much needed after last weeks lukewarm offering. The episode is told in the style of the Ken Burns/PBS documentaries, including voiceovers, interviews, found footage segments, photo stills and terrible amateur photography (she Brittad it). The episode was also perfectly narrated from start to finish by the great Keith David. The Dean, with the Guinness Records film crew, attempts to enlist Jeff to help resolve Troy & Abeds conflict and continue one of the forts, unfortunately his sarcastic imaginary friendship hats dont work on Troy & Abed, despite the fact that they take them off their heads. This intercuts with a great recap of the events leading up to the divide by the narrator, a highlight being the Dean shouting Jeffrey come find me! as he panics during the pillow fight. Jeff, as always, is reluctant to help out believing the situation to just play itself out. The Dean asks what the rest of us have been thinking, Do people go to classes? Shirley becomes Troys second in command whilst Pierce joins Abeds army, her sincere talking head segments worked wonderfully. Elsewhere Britta managed to be funny with basically no dialogue as she documents the battle with terrible amateur photography thats also trying to be artistic, whilst Annie plays as Florence Nightingale by treating the wounded soldiers. Wounded being broken glasses or grazed testicles. Another great moment came from her text messages to Jeff, who gets up to Ferris Buellerian type antics as he gives both armies pep talks to encourage them to fight, purely to get out of class. After suffering a laundry list of injuries, including erectile dysfunction, Pierce approaches Abed with plans for a secret weapon. Were then introduced to the Changlorious Basterds, as Troy enlists them to attack the pillow fort. Annie explains how the Basterds have been making necklaces out of mattress tags, creepy. Abed releases his secret weapon, half pillow, half man, Pierce Hawthorne. He takes out the Basterds like Sauron. No one seems to mention a psychotic man hanging around with a group of boys. The battle gets ugly as Troy intercepts a message Abed sent out of Troys weaknesses, both personal and comical. Troy retaliates by telling Abed that he will never have any friends because no one is patient enough to put up with him except for Troy because of his condition. It cut deep, but at least they can say dick on TV now. Jeff decides to step in again when he finds out how theyve been hurting each other and attempts a reconciliation during a cease-fire. This only makes matters worse as they decide whoever loses the fight has to move out of the apartment. The closing battle takes place in the cafeteria and is all too brief, culminating in Dean Pelton saying the Guinness Rep isnt coming now, What a colossal waste of two and a half days! The troops leave, apart from Troy & Abed who continue fighting. Abed explains to Jeff why theyre still fighting, This is the last thing well ever do together, which says it all really. Jeff then brings it home with a Winger speech about growing up doesnt mean forgetting who you are. They reconcile with their custom handshake and Jeffs imaginary friendship hats, all is well. The closing tag was even fantastic, which featured Troy & Abed hosting a telethon to keep Community Greendale Campus Television on the air. Please tell your friends about this show. Id pay $200 for a DVD of Thats Enter-Chang-ment. It was a great episode for the supporting characters too, were treated to interviews with Leonard, who it turns out fought for the Korean Army, Star-Burns is pummeled by the Basterds and Fat Neil returns as a radio host, making a great callback for the song Daybreak. Damn, now its in my head. Dan Harmon also makes another hilarious cameo, this time in painted form, as English Memorial, a Portuguese sailor who was searching for a cure for syphilis when founding Greendale. Those hoping for action scenes to rival the paintball episodes will be disappointed, as most of the epic battle is told through still shots, echoing battle cries and narration. Wouldnt it get boring if they kept trying to top the paintball episodes? Im glad they took a different (and cheaper) approach this time. Nevertheless some of the found footage sequences are shot perfectly, particularly the moment when the pillow fort is first attacked. Overall a memorable episode that took on a new documentary format and nailed it perfectly, whilst managing to squeeze in some touching moments of friendship, which give Community its heart. Community returns next Thursday on NBC with Origins of Vampire Mythology. The second season of Community begins in the UK on April 10th. My interview with Joel McHale discussing Season Two will be on WhatCulture! Monday morning.