Community: Basic Lupine Urology

What Happened, Yo!:

-A couple janitors discover that someone has smashed the Yam the study group had been growing for Biology. Annie becomes outraged when Professor Kane ensures that the group will get a passing grade, and decides to track down the culprit in hopes of getting the A she feels they deserve. Shirley sends Troy and Abed to gather suspects. Pierce tells them that Todd (From Competitive Ecology) probably did it, but Todd insists the door was locked when he came by the Bio room. Fat Neil informs them that Magnitude had checked out a key to the Bio room that night, and Magnitude informs them that the key was stolen from him. The trail leads them to Starburns, who Troy and Abed suspect but can't touch because they aren't cops. They break into his locker and find that he's been stealing supplies from the Bio Lab. Starburns tells them he was stealing stuff for the meth lab he's building in his trunk and that he had left the door open, and seen someone running out after having smashed the yam. After getting a pinky swear that they won't turn him in for his meth lab, Starburns names Todd as the culprit.

-Troy and Abed apprehend Todd and Annie and Jeff take their case to Professor Kane. However, Todd's uncle and Colonel from his time in the army shows up and insists that Todd not say anything. He says that Starburns is a shady witness, especially since they won't say why he was there that night and tries to force them to reveal why, but professor Kane chooses to honour the Pinky Swear and let Jeff and Annie present their case to the class. But the Colonel scares off Starburns, causing them to have no witness. Annie uses tricks and fake crying to get Todd to admit that he had accidentally dropped the yam, while he was looking at it, because of how hot the jar was. Annie gloats, but Jeff pulls her and Prof. Kane aside and requests that both the group and Todd get a C, saying that Annie lost her way in the pursuit of the truth and that they've gone too far. Prof. Kane agrees to the terms, but Jeff in closing, realizes that everyone has been struggling with this project because someone had been killing the roots at night by pouring hot water into the jars. He starts smashing Yams until he comes to one that doesn't smash, belonging to Vicki. Neil reveals that he was trying to throw off the grading curve so Vicki wouldn't fail and so they could have sex in his parents cabin during the summer. Prof. Kane is shocked by all this.

-Later in the Deans office, Jeff, Annie, the Dean, and Kane reflect on the case when a phone call comes in. Starburns has been rear-ended, causing the meth lab in his trunk to explode, and killing him.

I Liked This: Full disclosure: I have only seen a handful of episodes of Law & Order. I'm not even sure I've ever seen the original series. So I only had a surface-level knowledge of the show going into this episode. In spite of this however, I still found Basic Lupine Urology to be one of the funniest episodes of Community this season. Yeah, there wasn't really a big character story for any of our heroes (Something the best theme episodes usually have under the surface), but I was laughing so hard and so often, I didn't really care. From the intro narration (one of the aspects of L&O I am familliar with) to the tag of Dean Pelton singing Troy and Abed to sleep in the study room, there were big laughs all abound with Basic Lupine Urology. Every character was used well (Though Britta and Pierce were a bit underused, but the scenes they were in were great.) and the ultimate solution that Fat Neil was sabotaging everyone's experiments for the sake of Vicki was kind of sweet, and also very funny, especially with Professor. Kane's shocked reaction. And the ending with the shocking death of Starburns (That I figured out way back when the trailer for the rest of the season came out) ensures that in the grand scheme of things, this episode will wind up being very significant for the rest of the season.

But...: Sometimes I wondered if I would appreciate the episode even more if I was more of a fan of Law & Order. Just sometimes though.

The Bottom Line: Basic Lupine Urology was a brilliantly funny episode of Community, with lots of jokes, even if you weren't the biggest Law & Order fan. R.I.P Starburns. You will be missed.

Grade: 95% (Almost Perfect)

Memorable Moments

-Opening Narration: "Greendale Community College is represented by two separate, yet equally important groups of people: the goofballs that run around stirring up trouble, and the eggheads that make a big deal out of it. These are their stories."

-Chang: "Move along. Nothing to see here." Jeff: "First time those words have actually been true."

-Annie: "A passing grade? Like a C? Why don't I just get pregnant at a bus station!"

-Troy: "Looks like it's going to be a long night. How'd we manage to pull the short straw?" Abed: "It's not a short straw... it's a hot potato." Troy: "Yeah well, looks pretty cold. To me." Abed: "Cold? Or dead?" Troy: "Survey says-" Abed: "We can't both do the zinger." Troy: "Sorry."

-Abed: "Why were you late?" Pierce: "I.. fell asleep in a sunbeam." Abed: "A likely story." Troy: "Actually it is. I used to live with him. It's kind of adorable."

-Abed: "What happened Todd? Cut yourself on an extra sharp Oscar Wilde play?" Todd: "Oh, this? It's a burn. Home Ec class. Muffin." Troy: "What kind of muffin?" Todd: "Blueberry." Troy: "Why not raisin?" Todd: "That wasn't the assignment." Troy: "You can dance all day Todd, but sooner or later the music's going to change."

-Starburns: "Dead yam. Big deal. Order some ketchup." Troy: "That doesn't make sense! You don't order ketchup, it's a condiment!"

-Jeff: "Keep the change Garrett. You know what, keep the hot dog."

-Abed: "You're telling me that after all this, our suspect's going to slip away on the technicality that we're not police."

-Troy: "Clean-up on aisle busted."

-Troy and Abed: "Why do they always- (They look at each other) Why do they always-". Troy: "Your line." Abed: "Why do they always run?"

-Troy: "Well, well, look at this Abed: he weaves baskets AND lies."

-Troy: "Todd Jacobson, you have the right to do whatever you want. Nothing you say or do can be used against you by anyone, but we would really like it if you would come with us, please and thank you."

-Col. Archwood: "Objection. She's clearly ramping up to something." Jeff: "Objection. That's not a real objection." Prof. Kane: "Objection! I hate the both of you. You may proceed Ms. Edison, but do so with caution. Need I remind you that this is not a courtroom."

-Annie: "Is that why you hit your wife- withdrawn! Is that why you drink and pop pills- withdrawn! Are you a virgin- Withdrawn."

-Neil: "I did it! Vicky's yam never sprouted and I didn't want her to fail, so I threw off the grading curve so she wouldn't have to go to summer school and we could finally have sex in my parents cabin! God forgive me, I did it for love!"

-Prof. Kane: "Holy crap! We are definitely dissecting pine cones next year!"

-Annie: "After all the politics and procedure, in the end, the case really was about biology." Prof. Kane: "Told you it was an important subject."

-Prof. Kane: "Starburns got rear-ended and the meth lab in his trunk exploded: he's dead."

-Dean: "Troy and Abed off to dreamland, and catching the train to sleepytown. When they wake up, the dean will be here: staring at you. Sweet deans."

Community: Competitive Ecology

One of my favorite moments from the last season of Community is when Shirley has to give birth in the Anthropology classroom. As the gang gathers together, we see a few of the supporting characters like Starburns, Vicki, and Fat Neil who say something to the effect of "We almost had a class that wasn't about them". It's funny and it also gives insight into how the study group is seen by the rest of the school. Because if there was a group of people in real life like the study group or other groups of friends from ensemble comedies, we'd probably view them as a self-centered, obnoxious clique. Tonight's episode was about how the study group really only wants to be with each other, but at the same time, they're constantly at conflict with each other and how this "weird love" drives an outsider, who is probably the nicest guy in the world to an emotional breaking point. It's really funny.

We see more of the Biology professor, Marshall Kane this week as he assigns the class their first project: a Terrarium ("It's kind of like a diorama", he says, elicting loud groans from everyone who took Anthropology last year. "You guys have weird reactions to stuff", he marvels.). He then assigns everyone to pair up with the person directly across from them as their lab partner for the entire semester. Unfortunately, this means our favorite study group is getting paired with 7 complete strangers. They quickly get out of this and get permission to pair up within themselves. So they break up with their old partners in a great sequence (The funniest of these reasons is Abed saying he may have a developmental disorder, shortly followed by Jeff saying the same thing, complete with Abed impression.) But since there's only 7 of them, Pierce is stuck with his original partner, a good natured fellow named Todd. But everyone quickly tires of their current partner (Annie finds Jeff too disinterested, Troy and Abed have been spending too much time together now that they live together, Shirley has too many pictures of her son and Britta is Britta.) and wants to change, so they all gather under the excuse that it wasn't fair to stick Pierce with Todd (who doesn't take offense to their various insults towards having to work with him.)

This sequence in the study room is great, because it allows all the various characters to bounce off each other, while Todd's patience is increasingly worn down. No matter what they try, they can't agree on partners. When they all list their preferred pairings from 1 to 8, Abed pairs them up, and everyone gets distracted again when they realize he paired up popular people with unpopular people. And Jeff freaks when he finds out Todd is the popular one in their pairing (Todd is 4. Jeff is 5.). So they argue some more and attempt to find out who picked who until Britta sets the paper on fire and drops it into the container with Todd's turtle, the only thing anyone had gotten in terms of completing the project. This is Todd's breaking point and he rants to the study group about how he thought they were friends and how their love is weird and destructive, before going home to hold his wife and baby. The group pretty much ignores what he said, and Jeff prepares to leave too when he realizes that class is in 15 minutes.

So ultimately Professor Kane labels the study group the "mean clique", and decides that they will all work together with one set of supplies and get one grade. They also fail the Terrarium project. This should be an interesting development for the course of the season, with their academic fates now tied more closely than ever before. If anything, Biology looks to be a much tougher course to pass than Anthropology was and that's a good thing. And now the group that only wanted to be together gets what they wanted. And they all bond again, by making fun of Todd again, who is right in front of them and can hear everything they say. Soo cruel but soo funny.

Meanwhile Chang continues his life as a security guard, deciding he wants to make detective. When he's informed there is no such thing as security guard detective, he begins narrating his day, like a noir detective film and through a series of unrelated incidents, becomes convinced that he has uncovered a massive conspiracy involving the Arizona Match Company. This is a fine and funny story, as it continues to show Chang is a good comedic fit in a non-teaching position of power. The best part of this story is the pay-off, as Chang accidentally sets fire to the closet he's been secretly living in as part of his agreement with the Dean and assumes it was part of the conspiracy. His boss thinks there is a squatter on campus, which breaks a lot of health codes, but rather than call the cops, the Dean claims there must be a conspiracy in order to cover his tracks. Unable to take the Dean enabling Chang, who he believes to be seriously mentally ill, the head security guard quits, leading to the Dean promoting Chang to head of security. As the Dean wonders if he's done the right thing for the school in his internal monolgue, Chang's has been replaced with insane laughter. Uh oh. All in all, another great week for season 3.

Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)

Memorable Moments

-Greendale now has pay water fountains with two-drink minimums reflected in tuition.

-Troy's excuse for breaking up with lab partner: "I really need to catch up on Breaking Bad". Yes, you do Troy.

-Troy really wants to be partners with Britta. Hmmm.

-Jeff: "Now before anyone goes putting Todd last, remember he comes with a turtle".

-Based on Abed's calculations, the rankings looked like this: 1. Annie. 2. Abed 3. Troy 4. Todd 5. Jeff 6. Britta 7. Pierce 8. Shirley

-Annie to Jeff: "Who are you always texting? Everyone you know is in this room".

-Magnitude made his season 3 debut this week. Pop Pop!