TV Review: Community 3.5, "Horror Fiction In Seven Spooky Steps"

rating: 4.5

For the second week in a row, Community has employed a device which gives us strange (even eerie) insight into the previously inaccessible personalities of each of the characters. The ethos of this season seems to be a balance between growth and gimmick and five episodes in, the show is finally showing that it can walk that line. This week's episode was a little more of a delicate foray then the last, but it managed to be clever, organic, and what is par for the course at this point, just a tad bit goofy. With a sort of feigned enthusiasm, Brita decides to throw a pre-Halloween party for the group collecting them all in the study room. She alerts Jeff to her ulterior motive: someone in the group has shown homicidal tendencies in her psyche evaluation and she wants to find out who. She recites a lazy horror story to attempt to gauge their reactions for signs of psychosis. With his usual gust of bravado, Abed takes it upon himself to tell a much more engaging cinematic story and the game begins. Each member of the group goes around and tells their story, reenacted for us by the various characters in each scenario, getting closer and closer to figuring out who among them is not quite right. Each story had its little bit of flair and nested in quite nice with the members of the group. Annie's tells a sort of Interview with a Vampire story that is just a tad sadistic, but woefully sentimental. Troy's mad scientist story was over the top and campy. Abed goes for the classic slasher tale, while Pierce recounts a narcissistic non-horror story. Shirley leaks out her Christian side with an ending that gives sinners what they had coming. But unlike last year's Halloween episode, which was almost a perfect recreation of kitsch zombie horror, this episode accommodated more on in jokes. Annie's vampire tale was hysterical because of the way it played on pop culture's recent zombie obsession (you know what I'm talking about, I'm not going to say it) but also because we know Annie as wound tight with a secret desire to let loose and give in to some good old fashioned carnal desire. Abed's story was dry and flat, but locked into the horror conventions that he's studied forever. The show has managed to merge together the sort of turbulent relationship between pop culture reference and character persona that they have been struggling with since the first season. Bravo to the writing staff for pulling it off, and for some including some truly great take-away moments. Pierce confuses himself for Jeff in one of the stories, as his mind constantly tells him that he's the "cool" one in the group. Brita doesn't realize (spoilers here people) that of course she's the one that may very well be crazy, even though most of us had figured that out almost right away. Jeff tries to unite everyone with one of his polemic speeches, but the group has finally turned and called him on his shit. This is the stuff I've been waiting for. Some of you probably shared my hesitation in the first few episodes with the new direction the show was taking away from the seriously reflexive tendencies of the first two seasons. But if the episodes can be more like this week's, a blend of these two elements which make the show instantly accessible for the pop culture fanatic and devoted fan alike, then I'm all for it. Keep it up Community, you have won my loyalty once again.