As episodes of Community go, last night’s was not my favorite. There were definitely things I liked about it – general wackiness, character-driven storylines, meta commentary, Abed. But for some reason “Contemporary Impressionists” didn’t come together as well as I would have liked.
The episode was about Abed hiring a bunch of celebrity lookalikes to reenact movies with him (new birthday party theme idea?), and the gang all working for a night as celebrity impersonators in order to pay off his growing debt to the company. Also, Jeff started taking anti-anxiety meds, but without his normal paranoia his ego grew to intolerable proportions.
There were some great Britta-Jeff moments, and some even better Troy-Abed moments. But was anyone else dying to see more of Shirley’s Oprah? It felt like there were some wasted opportunities in this episode, and the Chang subplot really did nothing for me. (Though perhaps for Chang fans it was great – I’m not one, so I don’t know.)
I liked the final moments with Troy and Abed, because Troy realized that Abed was acting really irresponsibly and selfishly and, more importantly, had no idea he knew he was doing that. The gang got Abed out from under the thumb of his unsympathetic dad, but now they need to make sure he does become a somewhat functioning adult. This was an interesting step towards Troy becoming that for Abed. And of course, I loved the appearance of Troy’s evil alter ego at the end.
Overall I didn’t think it was a bad episode, I just didn’t love it. What did you guys think?
Favorite quotes & moments:
- The Chang/Dean Pelton bit about Renee Zellweger was a big favorite.
- Deal Pelton being completely overwhelmed by Jeff Winger in aviators was pretty similar to how my friend Allison reacted to seeing Peeta the first time when we saw The Hunger Games tonight. (Sneak peek! It was amazing.)
- I liked the double Michael Jacksons. “If you have anything else do say, say it in a high-pitched voice while walking backwards.”
