Six Seasons and a Movie

For this post, I will be analyzing Introduction to Finality, the 22nd episode of the 3rd season of Community. This is the third season finale and aired on May 17th, 2012. This was also the last episode with show runner, creator, and genius, Dan Harmon. Since Dan Harmon was leaving, the show was written as both a season and series finale. The show still wasn't picked up for a 4th season and it was moved from it's original time-slot. This is one of my favorite episodes of the show for many reasons. The character development, callbacks, moral issues presented are tremendous and are amazing for a silly show about a community college.

The show opens with the group (minus Troy and Abed) trying to study Biology in the cafeteria. First off, this is strange, the group is studying outside of their famous study room and Troy and Abed are missing. Second, Jeff is actually trying to study. Throughout the whole series, Jeff was the slacker, least likely to try hard in a class. While Jeff is trying to motivate the other members of the group to study, they voice their concern for Troy and Abed, while Jeff urges them to stay on target with Biology. They are studying cellular mitosis, which is the division of cells,  A clever way of foreshadowing that the group is on thin ice and "division" might be imminent. The Dean shows up and surprisingly everyone is happy to see him. Everyone except Jeff who is too busy focusing on his schoolwork.

The Dean announces that Shirley's business that Pierce helped fund is being put in the cafeteria. Everyone is happy and clapping, except Jeff, who is looking down studying. This further distances Jeff from the group because in previous episodes, Jeff rallies for Shirley's business, now he doesn't care at all. All he cares about is finishing school with a degree, getting his old job back, and forgetting he ever went back to school. This is the same mindset he arrived to Greendale Community College with.

Shirley and Pierce fight over who signs the ownership agreement for the business. Arguments between these two characters are not out of the ordinary, but usually Jeff steps in to save the day with a speech and some wise words. Annie, shocked that Jeff hasn't said anything yet, commands Jeff to get involved.  It is here that Jeff says "No. I am here to replace my fake bachelors so I can get back to my life as a lawyer. Nobody else is sacrificing their interests, don't ask me to sacrifice mine." This sums up Jeff's change of heart perfectly. He doesn't care about his friends anymore, just getting out.

We see Abed pacing in his apartment, waiting for Britta to arrive for his psych counseling. Abed is clearly distressed over the absence of his best friend Troy. He is also nervous about how his counseling will go with Britta. He then sees Evil Abed inside the dreamatorium, a room dedicated to creating stories and acting them out in your imagination. Evil Abed is from the darkest timeline, referenced from an earlier episode where everything in that timeline is evil, terrible, and sad. The arrival of Evil Abed can only mean that something very dark is about to happen. Abed realizes this and simply states "This can't be good."

Abed tries to ignore Evil Abed. He refuses to go inside the dreamatorium and refuses to talk to Evil Abed. Since Evil Abed part of Abed's imagination, he doesn't ever leave the dreamatorium, he just stands in the doorway. Evil Abed also can tell exactly what Abed is thinking saying "You're worried you'll go crazy without Troy. That's why you are gonna let Britta fix you right? Because you think you're broken, you are gonna get diagnosed by someone who said her favorite superhero was X-Man."

This could be scoffed off as Britta misinterpreting superheroes, but i think it is very telling. X-Man was a real superhero. He is the version of Cable from the Age of Apocalypse, a different timeline. After the destruction of his timeline, X-Man was stranded in the mainstream Marvel universe. Most of the driving force behind X-Man comics is him trying to make sense of this different earth and, more often than not, drawing the wrong conclusions with those he interacts with. This mirrors Britta exactly and shows why Abed would not want her diagnosing her.

This interaction between Evil Abed and Abed is very important. Abed represents the fear of his uniqueness and the fear that without someone by his side, it is him against the world. Abed wants to be normal and that means shunning everything that Evil Abed stands for. Evil Abed is the part of Abed wants to embrace the uniqueness. It is the other half of the spectrum that resents anyone who is normal, therefore he needs to make everyone as weird and evil as him.

Jeff is back in the library, trying to study when Shirley shows up and tries to get help with her problem with Pierce. Jeff refuses to get involved, and continues to try to study. Pierce shows up and starts to argue with Shirley to which Jeff tries to overpower their arguments with his studying he says "Cellular... Mitosis." This once again hints that the group is doomed to split without Jeff there to fix problems and bring them all together. The Dean shows up once again and says that Greendale court will fix this problem. Jeff hides behind his Biology book and tells Shirley that his exam is at 5, but he can help her from 3-4. There is a little hope for Jeff here, but I think that he didn't agree to help because he cares about them, just that he likes to argue in court to get his way.

Britta shows up to Abed's apartment for counseling. She walks into the open dreamatorium and sees Abed wearing a felt goatee. This is the physical representation of Abed being taken over by Evil Abed. We see a POV view of Evil Abed and we are shown a computer heads up display. At the bottom it says "Timeline Darkness - 2%" signifying that things are just starting to get bad. Evil Abed invites Britta into the dreamatorium.

We now see Troy in his new Air Conditioner Repair school, where a pastor tells Troy that the Vice Dean was killed when he inhaled a lethal dose of freon. Troy looks puzzled, but says nothing.

At the courtroom, Shirley is looking physically nervous, while Jeff is still trying to study, saying out loud "Mitosis is when cells divide" stating again the inevitable split of the group. They are waiting the arrival of Pierce and his attorney when Jeff tells Shirley that she has nothing to be nervous about because "Whoever he brings, won't be prepared for me." The cockiness is nothing new for Jeff and brings Shirley little satisfaction.

Pierce enters with his attorney Alan, a man from Jeff's old work who ratted out Jeff to his boss and got him fired. He is corrupt, amoral, and will do anything to win a case. Jeff looks very nervous, knowing that he is now pitted against someone with the same tactics and is possibly more amoral than him. Jeff is nice to Alan but secretly hates him. When asked why he is here, Alan claims that Pierce is a cash cow and that the firm wants to keep him. Jeff replies simply, "I just want to be done by 4" showing that Jeff doesn't care one way or another who wins the case, as long as its over soon.

Back at Abed's apartment, Britta is doing her best to try to council Evil Abed, but is scared of him and requests to talk to "Good Abed". Evil Abed replies saying that where he comes from he is know as lame Abed. Britta says that she thinks he is here because Evil Abed is more equipped to deal with fear. This is, I believe, is true, showing that Britta can be a good Psychologist and showing the true nature of Abed's manifestation of Evil Abed. Abed is afraid of facing life without Troy. Evil Abed responds with his version of why he is here, to darken this timeline. When asked how, Evil Abed asks about Britta's parents, a mystery to both the characters on the show and the audience. All we know is that Britta did not have a very good childhood, forcing her to rebel. Britta, looking very afraid, replies "Um... no".

Troy is back at repair school when he talks to the new Vice Dean, asking how the old one ruptured a freon tube if he was so good, raising suspicion of foul play. The new Vice Dean releases Troy from the school but Troy doesn't leave. He does miss his friends but his need to do the right thing over powers everything else. He has been called the truest repair man by the old Vice Dean and Troy challenges the new Vice Dean to a repair off to which Troy wins and the Vice Dean admits to murder.

Back at the dreamatorium, Evil Abed is counseling Britta about her childhood, where she is crying and talking about her dropping out of High School. Evil Abed is pleased and tells her that their timeline is now 10% darker. Evil Abed then says "Do you know what kind of person becomes a Psychologist Britta? A person that wishes deep down that everyone more special then them was sick because healthy sounds so much more exciting than boring. You're average Britta Perry." This strikes Britta hard because it is everything she doesn't want to hear. She tries so hard to be herself and to be an individual. She starts to cry and it shows Evil Abeds POV again saying that the darkness level is now 12%.

Back at the courtroom, Jeff is not having an easy time at what comes so natural. With Pierce on the stand Jeff cannot find a reason that makes Pierce look bad in the eyes of the court, when Pierce is one of the most horrible person ever. Jeff realizes what to do and asks for a joke, to which Pierce tells a very offensive joke and Pierce is booed. Alan calls a recess and talks to Jeff saying that he has to throw the case or figure out where he is going to work after because he will not hire him back. Alan says "Do you want the last 3 years in this toilet to be a waste? Then I'm the guy you got to make happy." Jeff looks distressed knowing that this is a huge decision he is going to face.

Britta show up to the courtroom and doesn't seem to care about anything. Annie tries to fill her in with whats happening but Britta replies, "Who cares, everything is terrible." Annie is baffled to why Britta is so darkened, because usually Britta is always in everyone issues trying to make things right. Evil Abed bursts through the door but is stopped by a hologram of Abed. Abed asks Evil Abed to stop but Evil Abed zaps him away. This shows that Evil Abed is in full control now of Abed. There is nothing he can do stop him from darkening this timeline.

Shirley tells Jeff that she knows Alan isn't above making trouble for him at his old firm and that she wants Jeff to get what he wants. She tells him that its ok for him to throw the case because it will allow him to get his old job back. Jeff is puzzled but is thanks Shirley sincerely. I think this is a huge turning point for Jeff because he realizes what these people will do for him. That they are his friends and not just peers. He finally realizes that he needs to do whats right. He says his closing statement.

"Your honour, I have no closing statement because I’m throwing the case.

No, no, it’s okay. It’s fine, don’t worry. My client, Shirley Bennet – my friend for three years, she told me that it was okay. She said what I want is more important. She’s right…right? I mean, guys like me, we’ll tell you there’s no right or wrong, there’s no real truths, and as long as we all believe that, guys like me can never lose because the truth is I’m lying when I say there is no truth. The truth is…the pathetically, stupidly, inconveniently obvious truth is…helping only ourselves is bad and helping each other is good.

Now, I just wanted to get out of here, pass biology and be a lawyer again instead of helping Shirley. That was bad. And my former colleague wanted so badly to keep his rich client that he just asked me to roll over in exchange for my old job. So I guess we all walked in here pretty bad. But now, Shirley’s gone good. Shirley’s helping me.

It’s that easy. You just stop thinking about what’s good for you and start thinking about what’s good for someone else.

Then you can change the whole game with one move.

Now, if you like this idea, you can make it true by doing something good for everyone here: throw this case out of court, it’s dumb. That is all."

This brings Jeff's character full circle. In the very first episode, Jeff says "I discovered at a very early age that if I talk long enough, I can make anything right or wrong. So either I'm God or truth is relative." Jeff realizes the truth and the truth is that helping only ourselves is bad and helping each other is good. This is something that Jeff has been struggling with all episode, only wanting to help himself. Now he realizes he needs to help his friends.

During Jeff's speech, it shows Evil Abed's POV with the darkness level decreasing. A hologram of Abed is seen smiling next to him, knowing that Jeff is the key to saving the group, de-eviling Abed, and lightening the timeline. Abed zaps the goatee off of Evil Abed's face and morphs back into his body. Abed is now good again.

Pierce withdrawals his case and Jeff says that he never got around to thanking Alan for turning him in. Alan replies "This place has made you so gay." To which Pierce replies "Hey! Don't use gay as a derogatory term, booyah good person." This simple statement brings Pierces character full circle because it shows that Pierce is learning to be a good person.

At the wrap up, Abed apologizes to Britta and Troy returns. Abed says that he wants Britta to stay his Psychologist because he wants someone who has as little of control of his own mind as himself. Jeff then closes by walking down the hallway, book open, with his friends behind him and saying "Cellular Mitosis, what is it." This shows that the group is not in danger anymore and that division is as abstract as ever. It ties up all the characters with Jeff doing an Internet search for his father, Abed taking down the dreamatorium and Shirley getting her shop.

The shot of Jeff with an open book mirrors a shot from the very first episode where Jeff is holding an open book and alone. This shows that his friends are now always by his side.

 

Each character represents something and when they are not together in a group, things can go bad. Abed has the power to make the world dark and evil. He is dangerously sane, he sees the world as it is, that the "Ultimate Truth is Chaos" and intentionally exercises the power to change and manipulate it. This can be bad though and Evil Abed leaks through.

Troy is the fixer. He is the truest repair man and up until now, was the only one who could "fix" Abed. Troy is not a leader, he is a fixer.

Jeff is the leader and does not manipulate or try to change the world in his image, only make his way through it any way possible. At the end, Jeff points out "The Ultimate Truth of Friendship Amidst Chaos" and this gives good Abed a way to defeat Evil Abed.

Britta is the breaker. She is constantly being called the worst and "breaks" every thing she touches. It is her that allows Evil Abed to escape through her story of her childhood, which allows Evil Abed to realize that chaos is the only truth.

Annie represents Empathy and was one of the few unaffected by Evil Abed. She is pure and kindhearted and throughout the whole episode only wanted to help.

Shirley is a guide and although her life is a struggle, her want to overcome allows other to be good. She is the guiding factor which allows Jeff to realize the Truth of Friendship. Without her, the group would definitely be split.

Pierce represents greed and selfishness. Living in the wake of his father he creates most of the groups problems and represents pure chaos. It is his actions that lead to the manifestation of the Truth of Friendship and Pierce realizes this also and becomes a "good person".

Since Abed has realized the power to control Evil Abed, he no longer needs the dreamatorium to keep his imagination. That is why it is taken down at the end. Troy also starts his romantic relationship with Britta. This is foreshadowing to Troy "fixing" Britta.

Sorry it's so long. I love this show.

The Death of Cap

Yes, I know this is a bit late, but I figured it's better late than never. Comics have been a big part of my life in the past couple of years. I have funneled a lot of cash into colored pieces of paper and even got a Scott Pilgrim tattoo. I just got back from the Buffalo Comic Con where I met Graham Nolan (the creator of Bane), and picked up some indie comics.

Comics mirror the real world, as does most fiction. One of the best examples is the death of Captain America in 2008. He was fatally shot following the events of Civil War, a story arc that compared super powers with weapons of mass destructions and the controlling of them. Super heroes were split, when the debate of registering your super powers and identities was brought up. Captain America believed that this was a violation of our civil liberties and brought the debate to court, after which he was shot on the court steps and killed.

Captain America defines the American spirit and is a metaphor for America itself. Following a post 9-11 world, Cap and his writers were put in the position of how he is going to handle these sensitive topics. His writers chose to make him a metaphor for for a liberal America and his death as a statement on documents like the Patriot Act and America's involvement in foreign affairs.

Creativity Beats Piracy

Today's music industry is in a middle area. The artists are confined by the labels and the labels are confined by the customers. The labels control every aspect of the artists they sign, just like the trends and purchase rate of the fans control every aspect of who the labels sign, drop, and pay.

Pirating music is illegal, no doubt about that, but it isn't wrong. Some of the bands I spend the most money on, I downloaded their first cd. Piracy is a way for artists to be heard. CD sales do not mean anything anymore, the artists make more money on their merch sales and touring. Piracy is a necessity in todays music industry and if bands cant see a way to make a profit other than CD sales then they are doomed.

Bands need to find new and creative ways to give their fans the music they want and also give the fans something different they would want to buy.

Björk recently released her album as an interactive application over the Itunes store. The app sold for $12.99 and was the first time that an album was sold as an interactive application. The album did extremely well and I think that was due to the fact that how she released it was both creative and different. This encouraged fans to spend the cash and support the artist to get something new.

In 2007, Radiohead released the album In Rainbows in a revolutionary pay-what-you-want online digital download. You could pay $0 for the album or $100, it was totally up to the buyer. In the first month, 1 million fans bought the album with about 40% of the people paying an average of $6 for it. This gave the band almost $3 million. Not too bad for a band that skipped all label involvement and all the money going directly to them. Also, the band owned the master tracks, so they were able to sell the album to a label to have it pressed on CDs too. This successful experiment was the first of its kind and now more and more artists are following this approach.

Jack White, from The White Stripes and The Dead Weather, currently owns a record store and label called Third Man Records. TMR are constantly doing creative things to sell records and gain support for the label. They sell exclusively vinyl records of the bands they sign and are pushing the boundaries of what vinyl can do. Recently, for record store day, they released a liquid filled vinyl record. TMR are giving fans the music they want in collectable, and creative packages.

In short, piracy is not going away. It will always be here and bands will always lose money from it. Instead of punishing and putting more restrictions on the internet, bands and labels need to find creative ways to get the fans to want to buy the product again. Instead of hurting the fans with restrictions and DRM and other password protected files, artists can give the fans something new and creative.

A Skeptic's Unknown

I think that humans have a tendency to put all their fears and wants into unexplainable activities because they are too afraid to face them themselves. Maybe they will believe in a ghost because they aren't ready to accept the death of a loved one. Or maybe they create monsters because the even a monster is less scary than not knowing whats out there. I think this is also a big reason that religion is very very popular. The idea of a life after death brings comfort to people. I understand why people are religious, and i understand the need for religion in our culture.

Personally, I do not believe in anything paranormal or spiritual, including religion. I am more fascinated with the unknown rather than creating false answers to pen ended questions. Space is extremely scary to me, more scary than any ghost. The fact that we know so little about something so massive and that can kill us all any second is terrifying. Exploding stars and an unlimited amount of galaxies forming, all of which are happening at this very moment.

Another unknown that I put my fear into is that ocean. The fact that it makes up over half of our planet and we know so little about it is crazy. Just this year, we sent the the first person into the Mariannes Trench, the deepest part of the ocean. There is still so much to be explored and so much to be discovered.

I think that peoples obsession with spirits and ghosts all stem down to their own personal fear, and curiosity with death. The fact that no one knows what happens after death makes ghosts and spirits extremely interesting, with knowledge from the unknown. Peoples obsession with death and ghosts seems to be booming now, with scary movies like paranormal activity touching on hauntings and the internet allowing people to research any aspect of ghosts, death, and spirits.

I don't think this obsession will stop anytime soon. If anything it will only get worse. Shows and movies about ghosts will rise to the top. The internet will continue to spit out information about ghosts and spirits. Pictures of murder and death will litter the internet as well. and in the mean time, places like NASA are losing funding, while the Catholic Church does not pay any taxes. I think that people need to realize where they put their interests into and what is most important.

The Wild West Preserved

The field trip to Sinclairville was an experience. I have never met 2 people so passionate about what they do and wanting to teach it to everyone else. The time they spent putting together their wild west show and mock town must be insurmountable. To be honest, it would not be my first choice of activities to do on a Friday afternoon, but it turned out to be kinda cool.

The whip tricks and rope tricks were my favorite part. They were the most entertaining and required a great amount of skill. I think that cowboy culture needs to be preserved but i think that wild west shows cannot survive in this day and age. In the time CGI movies and great spectacles, live performances seem to be falling by the wayside. I think that in about a decade or so, there will be no more remaining wild west shows.

Instead, people seem to be inclined to shows of great spectacle, like demolition derbies and the Nitro Circus. The gun tricks, whip tricks and rope tricks were amazing and all, but I think that today's modern audiences want more. They not only want to be amazed, they want to be blown away.

To preserve American cowboy culture, i think that movies need to be more realistic in how they actually are and show the difference between the working cowboy and the show cowboy. With movies like Cowboy's and Aliens showing an unrealistic portrayal of cowboys, it will be interesting to see how far American cinema takes the representation of cowboys.

My Role as an American

For the longest time I have thought of myself as having other countries ideas and preferring their culture to that of America's. I prefer English television shows and comedy to that of America's. I agree with the health care policies of other countries. And don't get me started on English punk rock. Activities and things that unify us as Americans fail to spark an interest inside of me. Most American comedy revolves around insult and slapstick. Our national sports are Baseball, Football and especially Nascar, none of which I have any interest in.

The start of a unifying culture of American's began with Blackface minstrelsy. From then on, it can be argued that the American Culture has risen to a higher moral standard, but I fail to see that. It may be not be the social norm anymore to put on black face and dance,  but it is common place to use violence and insult of other races for entertainment and comedy purposes. I have always preferred the comedy of the British version of the Office to the American. Also, the British humor of the IT Crowd trumps any other American show to date.

I think that blackface minstrelsy being the first true American entertainment set the stage for insult and slapstick to pave the way for popular American entertainment today. This may unify some in the American culture, but not me. I'm not sure why this humor doesn't resonate in me the way it does others. I wouldn't say that I am more cultured or more mature than any one who prefers American humor to British humor.

Finally, If you do have the chance to check out some British comedy shows. Check out the IT Crowd. The writing is brilliant and the actors are amazing. All 3 seasons are currently on Netflix instant. Also, check out The Office and The Mighty Boosh.