'Community' Recap: "Laws of Robotics & Party Rights"

Jeff joined Greendale as a teacher about a season and a half ago, and yet for a while this has basically just been an excuse to keep him in the show. We have barely ever seen him teach, and the show hasn’t really explored what it means to him that he’s now kind of committing his life to the school rather than just counting the days until graduation. “Laws of Robotics and Party Rights” directly confronts this, and it’s the season’s best episode so far.

Once again going with the theme of Greendale getting absurdly into technology, in this episode the school lets prisoners attend classes via iPads in exchange for a $300,000 incentive from the state. Jeff initially tells the Dean they have to do this if only just for the money, but he quickly regrets that decision when one of the prisoners, Willy, turns out to be a huge bully (and actually tries to murder Jeff as best he can from an iPad).

Yet in some ways, at least at first, Willy does have a valid complaint. We get a glimpse into Jeff’s law class, which is a complete joke. He himself describes it as such and calls it an easy A, saying you might learn a thing or two (literally a thing or two). He spends about a minute of class vaguely talking about law before putting on an episode of Planet Earth. Willy is a pretty bad, dishonest guy, but isn’t Jeff too? He completely faked his way into a career, and now is faking his way through being a teacher.

Like Jeff, Willy is someone who is likable despite being so dishonest and corrupt. Everyone is immediately drawn to him, and it’s hard for them to value Jeff’s word over his considering how little Jeff’s word usually means. When Jeff asks the Dean, “why would I lie,” the Dean responds quite reasonably with “isn’t that your specialty?” Jeff lies his way through everything, which is why it’s so frustrating here for him to be bested by another charming liar.

But the difference between Jeff and Willy, aside from one of them being a literal murderer, is that Jeff actually really cares about this school and about the Dean. That’s something he doesn’t want to admit as he leans back in his chair and makes sarcastic quips, but while Jeff first came to Greendale as the kid in the back of the class throwing spitballs, he’s actually come to really appreciate the place. Willy is manipulating the Dean, and just like earlier, Britta asks Jeff, “isn’t that what you usually do?” Jeff explains he would never hurt the Dean, and later says some things he’s been getting away with not saying: he likes his job, and he considers the Dean a friend.

This is a really great moment for the series. Even with Jeff coming back to Greendale, he was kind of crawling back to them in defeat after a failed career, and so he’s always given off the impression that he just wants to escape this place. But here he finally voices what we’ve been suspecting for a while now: Jeff, as much as he makes fun of it, really likes Greendale and likes being here. And as much as he makes fun of the Dean, he considers him a friend. Greendale may not be the best or most prestigious place to work, but Jeff has gone from treating the school like a prison to treating it like his home. That’s some tremendous progress.

Meanwhile, our B-storyline this week is a little lighter, but still a lot of fun for Abed, Annie and Britta. Britta has moved in with Annie and Abed, but as we know, Britta and Annie really couldn’t be more different. Annie is super uptight and strict, which creates a problem when Britta wants to have a party with more than eight people. So to get around Annie’s rules, she pretends she and Abed are shooting a movie about a party, which of course Abed genuinely gets really into.

A lot of Abed’s role in the show, especially in early seasons, has been to either compare or contrast what was happening on screen with what happens in movies or TV. Here, the episode focuses on the difference between parties in movies and parties in real life. Abed wants to create a party like in a movie, with people “partying like there’s no tomorrow,” but it’s impossible, because real parties are way more boring than that. As Britta explains, “parties are just booze, low lights and loud music so people can feel more, see less and not have to listen to each other and themselves.” Britta learns that maybe some of Annie’s rules exist for a reason, and Abed learns yet another way real life is not as cool as TV.

Other highlights:

-In the cold open, everyone turns to Elroy to approve of the Dean’s use of the word “black,” and he really doesn't want that to become his role in the group. “I’m nobody’s fourth ghostbuster.”
-Also in the cold open we get the return of Britta’s constant “I lived in New York” comment.
-Abed whips out a pretty hilarious Seinfeld impression several times in this episode. “She sleeps on the couch! She’s a coucher!”
-Abed also does a pretty spot on impression of the black guy in every sci-fi movie, which Eloy allows.
-Apparently Greendale has a no bullying policy that relates specifically to the Dean. So nobody bully him.
-Best moment of the episode has got to be Abed blowing an air horn in Annie’s face a few years ago specifically to create a “pop back gag,” complete with a fake out Troy cameo.
-”Did you just try to murder me? Are you trying to murder me?”
-Incredible exchange between Jeff and Britta about what the phrase “hoisted by your own petard” means. This is exactly the type of thing that would be cut for time if the show was still on NBC, and a great example of how the longer running time is helping the show.
-The actor who plays the security guy in the parking lot ends up being unexpectedly hilarious. “You destroyed his device and his heart, Sir.”
-Even though Chang is homeless, he still poops in a house. “Whose house?” “Nice try.”
-Elroy lists off a bunch of thing he needs for his plan to help Jeff to which Chang responds, “Dude, we’re trying to help Jeff here. You’re acting kind of spoiled right now.” This has honestly maybe been Chang’s best season ever.
-This episode continues the gag of fake spin-offs, this time an Annie and Britta spinoff called “Female Friends!” I’d watch it.

image by Daniel S Levine

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on your website.

Learn more about debugging in WordPress.