Community
Episode 3: Conventions
of Time and Space
By: Carlos Uribe
Community
is a show about the senior year of a group of friends attending
Greendale Community College.
Spoilers
Ahoy!
I
have never been to a fan convention. I've always wanted to go because
they always seemed like they were right up my alley but the
opportunity simply hasn't presented itself. It's not just the major
comic-con in San Diego that I would like to attend but some smaller
ones as well. This is an episode that takes place at a Inspector
Spacetime convention. All of the characters, for different reasons,
attend. Abed and Troy because they're big fans of the show, Britta to
support her new boyfriend, Jeff and Annie to ski together, and Pierce
and Shirley crash the convention because he likes to be involved. The
episode promptly splits them up so that they could have their own
adventures. Jeff and Annie are largely at the hotel where their
relationship is explored with mixed results. Troy finds that he might
lose his best friend Abed to another Inspector Spacetime fan. Pierce
and Shirley get involved in a test focus group which gives Pierce the
power to change the American adaption of Inspector Spacetime into a
product that is barely recognizable from the original. All of these
plots converge together but none of them really work as a coherent
whole. They don't even work in-and-of themselves. Conventions of Time
and Space might serve as a loving satire of Doctor Who fans but it
doesn't really work as an actual episode. It's simply lackluster and
immediately forgettable. If there are any fans who were on the fence
about this new season then this might have been the episode that
convinced them that Community simply isn't good anymore. I disagree
with that assertion as I still think it's too early to tell but this
wasn't a good sign.
It
was a smart move putting Troy and Abed's relationship at stake. The
friendship between the two has become a pillar of the show. Their
connection to each other forms the core of the episode. The two are
excited to show up at the convention but Abed quickly ditches Troy
for a friend he's met online. This new friend is a giant Inspector
Spacetime fan who is basically able to connect with Abed because
they're supposedly the same. The two aren't like normal people so it
would make sense that they would hang out. A lesser show would have
split them apart by having them disagree on their tastes but
Community doesn't fall for that trap. What comes between them is
Troy. It's not because he lays down an ultimatum but because Abed
realizes that he needs Troy. Without a normal friend, he would lose
his tether to reality. He compares himself to how the alien Inspector
Spacetime needs a human companion so that he can invest in the world.
It's a nice revelation for Abed to make that basically acts a sign of
how important Troy is to him. This new friend isn't able to accept
this so he traps Abed into a phone booth until Troy comes to the
rescue. It's the plot that works the best and it hits most of the
right buttons. It simply has two flaws that stop it from completely
working. The first is a matter of stakes. It's never believable that
Abed was going to move to England with a character we just met. The
stakes were too high to work. The second flaw is that it pushes their
bromance button a little bit too hard to the point where it felt like
Troy was obsessed with Abed rather than concerned he was losing his
best friend. These are two flaws that are minor but significant
enough to detract from the overall experience. If the stakes had
been more realistic so the viewer felt like their relationship was
actually in danger then the other flaw would have been fixed.
Likewise if the reaction from Troy had been restrained a little then
the high stakes wouldn't have called so much attention to itself.
It
is a lot better than whatever was going on with Jeff and Annie. The
two were supposed to be going skiing until the slopes were closed.
Jeff decides to hang out at the hotel bar while Annie goes to her
hotel room. While there, she learns that the hotel staff believe that
she is Mrs. Winger. She decides to fly with it and create a fantasy
where she's married to Jeff. I'm sorry, but what? Annie might have
had her fantasies before but this was just going too far. While it
did lead to a couple of good laughs, it was just too sad to really
enjoy. There's a huge difference between having damaged characters
and having their faults overpower the show. I'm not sure if there was
a way to salvage this plot unless there was some actual justification
for Annie's actions. Having her do it just because does a great
disservice to Annie's character. It basically turns her into a
character that is obsessed with a character who doesn't seem to
return the feelings. Alison Brie manages to salvage this plot from
complete wreckage but it should have definably used more time in the
development room so that it didn't regress the character too much.
The
final adventure has to do with Pierce and Shirley. Pierce isn't happy
that he didn't get invited to the Inspector Spacetime convention
until he learns that Shirley wasn't asked to go either. He decides to
take her to the convention. The two go but they're quickly recruited
by a task group that asks them their opinion on an American version
of Inspector Spacetime. Shirley tries her best to ensure that the
aspects that made the original great are kept but she's foiled by
Pierce. Pierce's motivation in this episode isn't completely
established. Did he ruin Inspector Spacetime on purpose or did he
legitimately think he was shaping to develop a better show? He
constantly acts as the villain in this show but his motives weren't
clear. The episode closes with the group gathering to watch the
American version of Inspector Spacetime. All you need to know about
how it turns out is that Abed sees only a couple minutes of it before
uttering that he hates Pierce. This whole process might very well be
a meta commentary on why Community fans like the show (Shirley) and
the people who are trying to change it so it can appeal to a broader
audience (Pierce). In the end, the people trying to change it win
because they're the ones who have the power. As a plot, it largely
fails to be funny.
Conventions
of Time and Space is an unremarkable
episode of Community. The best part about it is the Troy and Abed
relationship and it's what makes this episode worth watching. At the
same time, Annie's story simply went too far into depressing
territory while the Pierce story lacked the motives to make him a
proper villain. There were laughs in this episode but they weren't
that common-overall a major disappointing episode of Community.
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