It’s the first installment of Community‘s finale event! Or, you know, a way for NBC burn off the last batch of episodes. Either way, there’s a lot to talk about, so be sure to catch the recaps and reviews of the next two episodes this weekend. For now, we’ve got an episode that has nothing to do with our big overarching story. On the upside–video games!
Recap:
Pierce gets a letter from the executor of his father’s estate, telling him to bring seven of his closest friends to a warehouse, though he only brings six. Gilbert Lawson (Breaking Bad‘s Giancarlo Esposito) reveals himself as Cornelius Hawthorne’s assistant, and is the one who brought them there. In order to receive his inheritance, Pierce has to play a video game. Back in 1979, Pierce asked his father to invest in a video games, and as a result his father spent 30 years creating a game for him for after he died; the lesson is to teach Pierce that moist towlettes were the way of the future, while arcades weren’t.
They play a 16-bit (8? 32?) game called “Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne,” and they are instructed by the voice of Cornelius (voiced by Larry Cedar) that they must compete to reach throne inside Castle Hawkthorne to receive the inheritance. The group says they have no intention of competing since they’re friends (and there wouldn’t be much sport in beating someone as bad at the game as Pierce.) Gilbert appears and reveals that the game is insanely complex, he knows how it works, and he’s able to kill all of them incredibly quickly, sending them back to the study room at the beginning of the game. They also learn that 30 seconds after leaving their chair, there will be an automatic forfeit, meaning they must keep playing the game. They venture to a village, where they meet an NPC named Hilda, who tells them they must unlock the castle with the White Crystal of Discipline, which they must free from the Black Caverns. Also, Abed is instantly attracted to her wealth of information. Pierce and Troy play poker and lose everything, making their characters totally naked. Jeff and Britta find a secret room, where Britta brews a potion she believes is a strength potion. Annie and Shirley accidentally murder the blacksmith and his family; it turns out they’re Hilda’s family.
Gilbert arrives having leveled up and attacks the group; Jeff tries to get Britta to drink her strength potion, but Gilbert kills her before she can. Gilbert drinks Britta’s potion instead, but it turns out she screwed it up and it kills Gilbert instead. The group moves on, but Abed stays behind with Hilda. They make it through Village Forest, the Valley of Laziness (taco-, nacho- and Mexican-themed), Gay Island (Pierce notes that Jeff “did great in there”), Free Ride Ferry (aka a wheelchair), and Black Cavern (unsurprisingly full of racism, like fried chicken and jive turkeys.) They find the White Crystal, but when they make it to Castle Hawkthorne, Gilbert confronts them—but now he’s using cheat codes, meaning he can’t be hit and he kills them instantly. Jeff and Pierce confront Gilbert—who reveals that he, too, is Cornelius’s son. Pierce’s childhood nanny’s hot cousin is Gilbert’s mother, and Gilbert believes he is more his father’s son than Pierce.
Even though they have to start over, the group decides they must reach the end again. They make it to where they left Abed, and it turns out he’s managed to build an entire city and learned enough front-end scripting language to create numerous custom Babyabeds that can do anything. Meanwhile, Gilbert makes it into the castle, and is presented with a contract from Cornelius, who tells him to never besmirch the Hawthorne name by revealing his genealogy, referring to Gilbert as a bastard child who will lose the inheritance if he ever reveals the truth. Gilbert is angered, and declines; as a result, the head of Cornelius becomes a boss and starts fighting him. The study group arrives, and helps Gilbert fight off Cornelius, even after he shifts to a more powerful boss. Pierce decides that Gilbert does deserve the inheritance because he had to take all of his father’s crap, so they forfeit and let Gilbert take the throne. They all end on good terms; Abed goes back and saves Hilda to a flashdrive.
Review:
Unfortuantely, “Digital Estate Planning” really suffers from being put in this big finale slot. The past few episodes had been leading up to a big climax, and now we have a random high-concept episode that seems totally out of continuity. I would have enjoyed the experience much more without always questioning, “What about the Dean? What about saving Greendale? Why are Troy and Abed back in the school in the tag?” According to Producer Andy Bobrow, Troy and Abed being in Greendale in the tag was a last minute change, as a result of Chevy Chase walking off the set. So this is sort of forgivable, but at the same time, that doesn’t quite explain why the entire episode abandoned the narrative momentum. Admittedly, it feels really nitpicky to judge it on that—it’s probably so late in the season because it took so long to animate, and its production code is 322, after all. So like “Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts,” it’s understandable why it wasn’t aired before this final arc began in “Basic Lupine Urology.” It’s just very, very jarring to shift away from the main plot after the group’s revelations and sense of urgency last week.
But let’s ignore that for a moment, and appreciate just how well-done this little endeavor was. This was definitely an episode made solely for the fun of it, but it shows in the details. There’s lots of great little moments with how the group (and any person, gamer or not) plays—Jeff punching at the wall when Gilbert first attacks, or the incessant jumping when they first start playing (the little flip Troy’s avatar does is adorable!) The redesigned opening, unsurprisingly, was great, as were the voices of the NPCs; the blacksmith’s dying scream, his wife’s terror, and Hilda’s drawn-out crying were horrifyingly funny. Overall, the animation was just phenomenal all the way through, clearly taking reference from every type of 8/16-bit game out there, from obvious choices like Super Mario Bros. sequels to classic Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger. I do feel sorry for viewers who were never big gamers (especially in the 80s) because a certain amount of nostalgia is necessary to get the full feel of the episode. But considering the majority of Community‘s audience would totally appreciate this, and the dialogue was still plenty entertaining with or without the animation, it was a risk worth taking. So continuity issues aside, I can’t help but give props to the staff for just going for this idea.
Giancarlo Esposito was an absolute treasure in the role of Gilbert, somehow managing to ground the animated weirdness in reality just thanks to his presence and delivery. He made the exposition about the game being “more complex than you can imagine” legitimately scary, yet was still able to turn it around in the last act and become very sympathetic. And for fans of Breaking Bad, it’s fun to see him just being a nice guy at the end. Gilbert as a character was well-handled, and functioned as a nice foil to Pierce, both as a son and as person in general, until they both put aside their differences and bonded. It was also really fun to hear Larry Cedar back as Cornelius; I wasn’t a huge fan of him in “Advanced Gay,” but he was great voice acting-wise here.
This is the first episode written by Matt Warburton, who only recently came on as a Consulting Producer, and has written episodes of The Simpsons (including one of the best recent episodes, “A Totally Fun Thing Bart Will Never Do Again.”) His jokes were great, though sometimes the types of jokes and wit often felt like they came from the wrong characters. Shirley’s “Yeah…from an axe wound!” and the exchange after Jeff’s “let’s not die” unmotivational speech, for example, were all very funny, but felt strange. Pierce saying “Is he being ominous? Why are you being ominous?” also seemed more like something Troy would say, but Chevy Chase’s delivery was so funny that it’s more forgivable. But really, despite who delivered them, all the jokes were funny. I also have no idea how to go about directing something like this, so props to show veteran Adam Davidson for doing…whatever he had to do. And of course, kudos once more to the animators.
Despite it not really affecting the current story, the episode still built on some earlier plot threads regarding Pierce’s father, and carried some emotional weight through Gilbert. It doesn’t really work paired with the next finale episodes, but for a fun romp and send-up to computerized entertainment of old, it should be right up your alley.
Some stray tidbits:
- Tag: Troy and Abed go to the study room and find a baby, thinking it’s theirs; Troy freaks out, but it turns out the mom was under the table. Also, the baby says “coolcoolcool!”
- LeVar Burton (who previously appeared in “Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking”) as Pierce’s “maybe” is great.
- Of course there’s a crystal meth reference in an episode with Giancarlo Esposito.
- Britta accidentally killing Pierce because there’s no hug button is hilarious.
- Note that Jeff says Pierce is “technically our friend.”
- Love the aside with Cornelius discussing why he’d record his character dying.
- I can totally see why people might be offended by some of the racism and such in the game—especially the Black Caverns—but it’s kind of the point. And looking at it through the lens of poking fun at the racists who believe those things, it’s really really funny. And we had Britta to point out when things were racist!
- The Babyabeds saying “Coolcoolcool” are adorable.
- A margarita served in a glass an entire yard long?!?!?!?!
- “I didn’t bring my likeness…”
- “What kind of game is this?”
- “He’s shooting lightning and I’m naked!”
- “I thought we could count on Britta to not screw up drinking!”
- “Troy and Abed shooting laaaava!”
