Community at a Convention

Article first published as Community at a Convention on TheTVKing.

Grade: 82%

In this week's episode of NBC's Community, "Conventions of Space and Time," Troy (Donald Glover), Britta (Gillian Jacobs), and Abed (Danny Pudi) attend a science fiction convention celebrating the guys' favorite television series, Inspector Spacetime. (If you don't know what Inspector Spacetime is, it's Community's take on Doctor Who, without having to worry about copyright issues). But, rather than just having a fun weekend, they are plagued by a test of their friendship and the tag-along of the rest of the study group.

For those waiting for a good Abed / Troy / Britta relationship story, this is the episode for you. Britta is shown to be very supportive of Troy and Abed, and even does her best to get them back together, not caring at all about spending alone time with Troy. She does remain herself, pushing Abed's buttons by championing the one female Inspector, even though she hasn't seen any episodes with said character, and the fans all agree she's horrible, Britta does put Troy's needs first, and is shown to be a loving girlfriend. This dynamic works.

Plus, the opening sequence where Britta does gymnastics outside the apartment so that she can try to fool Abed into thinking she's not sleeping over, is fantastic.

Abed, on the other hand, is ready to distance himself from Troy. I'm not sure this totally makes sense for his character, but we have seen some tension between the two lately as everyone prepares for graduation and moving on with their lives, and Troy finds regular sex. So, Abed befriends a foreigner named Toby (Matt Lucas, Bridesmaids, Little Britain), who shares his obsession with the show, and is far too obviously rude towards Troy. Though I like the e-mail-Nigeria scam joke.

I like that "Conventions of Space and Time" proves to Abed that he needs a Reggie for a companion, not another Inspector, and so Troy comes to Abed's rescue, and Toby is displaced. However, I can't help but thinking the parallels between the Abed/Troy story and the Inspector Spacetime show should be more pronounced. What happens to them at the convention could fit in with an episode of their fictional show, so why not make it feel like one? In the past, I think Community would have tried a little harder to do so.

Jeff (Joel McHale) and Annie (Alison Brie) road trip with the others, intending to ski while the nerds do their thing. But the slopes are shut down, so Jeff immediately wants to go home. Until he meets an attractive woman (Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer) who thinks he is the actor who plays Inspector Spacetime's foe.

Annie, on the other hand, is thrilled when the hotel staff mistakenly call her Mrs. Winger, and takes pleasure in building up a fake marriage between her and Jeff. When the staff sees Jeff flirting with someone else in the lobby, though, it interrupts Jeff's fun.

The fact that Annie's actions do not thoroughly creep Jeff out is a good sign for a relationship between them. He knows who she is, in all of her weirdness, and doesn't judge her for it. Jeff doesn't end up being very upset about losing his chance with the other girl, though I do question why he is flirting with someone else when he and Annie clearly intended to share a hotel room on this trip. Are they dating or not? Casually sleeping together? If it's the latter, why isn't Jeff allowing things to go to the next level, since "Conventions of Space and Time" make it seem that he cares deeply for her, and really likes her in spite of everything.

Last week, I voiced my opinion that Jeff should end up with Britta. This week makes me question that, and now I'm undecided. At least the chemistry between Jeff and Annie is handled well, even if their story isn't.

I give the production team credit for making the Inspector Spacetime foe look just enough like Joel McHale for it to be believable that Jeff is mistaken for him, but not so much so much so that it just looks like a picture of Joel McHale. There's a delicate balance here, and they strike just the right note.

Meanwhile, Pierce (Chevy Chase) is mad at being left out (again), so he drives Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), who is also not invited, up to the convention. Once there, they are pulled into a focus group deciding how an American remake of Inspector Spacetime should be, and while Shirley tries, for the sake of her friends, to preserve what makes the show beloved, Pierce butts in with lots of series-destroying ideas.

It seems a bit of a stretch to give Pierce and Shirley this subplot. It's fine that they get up to the convention, but after doing so, they should be integrated into the main story, rather than being so separated. Or at least whatever they are doing should tie into the rest, which it doesn't really do. The fact that the tag at the end shows that Pierce's ideas have been taken to heart is terrible, and takes a focus group criticism to the extreme. Not at all realistic.

Once more, this episode is a great idea for Community, with some terrific one-liners, just not executed well enough overall. The individual bits are fine and amusing, and the two guest stars are wonderful, but there is a lack of cohesion that makes the installment fall a little flat. Some tweaks, and this would be fantastic. Instead, it's entertaining on the surface, and hollow underneath. It has been this way for three episodes in a row, which makes me pessimistic about the outlook for the rest of the season.

Community airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.