Community “Advanced Gay”: My Bones Are Tired Daddy

A gay party and a funeral all in one episode to deliver on Community’s promise to be “less weird” . Troy’s  plumbing talent established in season one is continued in this episode as the  janitor played by Jerry Minor makes a comeback and tries to convince Troy to do some plumbing with him to make him feel the joy of fixing things. I love the fact that even though Troy is becoming a man he is not becoming too serious about his life because that can be a drag…no pun intended.

In the cafeteria Annie is having peas,orange slices and a diet cola for lunch (um eat woman….) , just though it’s worth mentioning we never got to see what Annie eats and it may be trivial for some people but for me everything in Annie interests me, actually all the lunch choices were interesting. Two gay guys approach Pierce and Pierce doesn’t recognize them as gay men, is it homophobic to assume someone is gay if they act or dress in a manner that suggests so? if so then I guess at that moment Pierce was the least homophobic in the group isn’t he? The group tortures Pierce in a light hearted dynamic which is a little of a change from the perivous ones that can be a little mean.

Upon learning that his gay friendly campaign is making money regards to the fabulous Urbana Champaign Pierce is more than happy to support the gays, it is nice to see the CEO side of Pierce because we can easily forget he is a wealthy business man. Britta enlightens the group in Psychology pointing out that Pierce had an “oedipal complex, all men have to kill their fathers so they can do something to their mothers” I am not sure Britta was concerned about how related this information is to the situation she just saw an opprtunity to brag and took it with her half ass-ed version since she did not finish the chapter…she’s the worst.

Troy’s story is the driving force of a more mainstream sitcom, as one who is watching Community since season one like myself might see the character development that is about to take place  and an indication of what I think might be one of the most interesting story lines to be featured on Community, another viewer who is flipping through the channels might see a secret society initiation with John Goodman delivering a role that might be written for him and only him (nod to whoever pitched that idea in the writers room) , a black Hitler and an astronaut making Paganinis, It is a win win for both parties. Troy is offered a choice in the episode and while he chose to stay with Abed I did not like this choice and I don’t mean I didn’t like it as a critisim to the writers choice but this is the first time I see troy’s friendship with Abed hold him back to no fault of Abed’s and even though we see Troy growing into a man that doesn’t stop him from reverting to old habits like he did in season one where he confessed that he injured himself on purpose to ruin his chances of going to collage. Finding something  you are good at is hard enough and I feel sorry for Troy who refused to use his talent to better his future and I wanted him to choose something either air conditioning repair, plumbing or just say “I know what I have to do now, I have to find soemthing I love to do.” yet he chose doing nothing instead and he will regret that one day, but the idea that Vice Dean Laybourne will not allow him to squander his talent is comforting . This is also the first Troy adventure, he goes in a wild ride on his own  and has an important decision to make and no one knows about it except for Abed and Abed doesn’t go through it with him.

At last we meet papa Hawthorne and though I knew before hand he was a racist no adjective prepared me for Larry Cedar’s portrayal of Cornelius Hawthorne, one of the crappiest dads or human beings  to ever appear on TV (another nod to whoever pitched that idea). He offends and horrifies almost anyone and Pierce shrinks in his presence, even though I never hated Pierce and I never thought his role as a villain in season 2 was over the top for those who felt so this episode must’ve vindicated him for some people. Jeff takes Pierce’s relationship with his father personally and Britta is so quick in pointing it out, in this episode Britta is the one that has a perceptive look into what Jeff and Pierce are going through and because she is both right and so damn annoying no one is willing to listen to her.

The party is back on after Pierce’s father demands it’s cancellation courtesy of Jeff, regardless of why Jeff was defending Pierce it was nice to see him protecting one of his own again. The party looks fun and gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, the dean’s outfit alone needs its own article, Pierce is horrified and afraid that his father will disown him and as Jeff is pointing out what a relief it is to not have a father in Pierce’s life the words become sad as later on Pierce is free from his father forever. both Pierce and Troy have choices to make, Pierces has a choice to stand up for his father but chooses the easy way out  and fakes a heart attack when he is caught in the middle between the gays and his father and Troy has to choose between plumbing and air conditioning and even though I did not like his choice I have to admire the fact that he stood up to the frightening figure that is John Goodman.

In the hospital the most dramatic and brillaint scene in the episode is in a bare hospital room with Pierce laying on the bed and his father by his side Jeff has had it and Cornelious Hawthorne sense of entitlement and ownership that all of us as sons and daughters never understand triggers what in my opinion the most resonant and quotable Jeff speeches ever and because I love it,this was some serious acting on Joel Mchale part . In this moment Jeff had no agenda, he was not trying to prove a point or even trying to fix something, he just needed to say it and said it (which is the second time this season Jeff bares his soul for no reason at all only for the sake of honesty in the first time it was Annie on the receiving end in “The Geography Of Global Conflict” ) I will quote it all because the reason “I am His father’ is not always enough especially when you are a lazy one “Listen up colonel crept keeper: I can live a million years and I could spend every minute of it doing important things, but at the end of it all I would’ve only lived half a life if I had not raised a son,this was a gift that was handed to you , you squandered it.And the reason you have so much hate in your heart is because you are trying to fill a hole where your kid was supposed to go and now it’s too late, now you’re just stomping around trying to prove you exist,well mission accomplished. But here’s a question I’d like to pass on to you from every son of every crap dad that ever existed  SO WHAT?! I am done with you..He’s done with you, the world is done with you.”  and the world was done with Pierce’s dad because after this Pierce’s father has a real heart attack and dies and this might seem like a joke but it’s really not. Community has the ability of make you laugh,cry, thinks  and really feel so wisely sad , it has that ability.

Jeff feels like crap in the funeral because this is the worst thing you can imagine, to tell someone to go to hell and they actually do. He is the killer there is no way around it and unlike with the death of his mother Pierce is more than willing to let his father go, he has no problem with accepting death because in this case it brings him relief and freedom, it ia a horrible yet a very true thought. The similarities in what Jeff is going through and what Pierce is going through are staggering, but in the end Pierce faced his father issues postmortem and Jeff still denies them because I think for Jeff dealing with his father is just too hard and painful for him, his father left him and as was said before by Jeff  in season ones’s “Home Economics”  he insulted him and neglected him, Jeff’s dad made him feel worthless and his mom made him feel special and the only way to find balance between those two is to find none, to chose to believe his mom and trivialize the importance of having a dad because thinking of his dad reminds him of a time where he was not enough (though the speech made it clear he though of what he’s going to say many times). I have to note that in my mind Jeff’s mom is a once sexy woman who now depends emotionally on Jeff and once treated him as a replacement for a husband,not in a gross way. Jeff’s dad is a charming as hell 60 something man who has never had a relationship but gets a lot of action and lives in a crappy one bedroom apartment, it would be really sad though if he was successful.

the episode never really ends, there is no resolution which for me means that the writers are focused on one direction that will take place sometime near the middle of the season but I am not sure, what I know for sure is that it is going to be dark.