Community: Regional Holiday Music

What Happened, Yo!:

-It's Christmas and Abed was hoping to spend some time with the study group, but everyone has different plans.
-The Glee Club comes around doing songs to promote their upcoming Christmas Pageant. Everyone's upset by this, except Jeff who has tipped off the music industry that the club is doing unlicensed covers without permission, leading to a cease and desist order. This causes the club to have a mental breakdown.
-Cory Raddison (who like's being called Mr. Rad) wants the study group to fill in like they did when the first club all died in a bus crash, but they decline.
-Abed, who just wants to end the semester on a light note goes to see Mr. Rad and winds up getting talked into recruiting the study group to do the pageant.
-One by one, the various members of the study group fall to songs targeted to get them (Abed gets Troy to do a rap about infiltrating Christmas, Abed and Troy appeal to Pierce's baby boomer side, Pierce gets orphans who don't know what Christmas is about to get Shirley, Annie seduces Jeff, and we don't see Annie and Britta get turned.)
-During the turning process, Abed talks to Mr. Rad about the pageant and notices that he won't consider Britta for the role of Christmas Queen and wants her to play a tree.
-On the night of the pageant, the study group is all ready to perform the pageant and get ready for Regionals. Abed learns that Mr. Rad plans to keep the study group in the Glee Club after the pageant for a never-ending series of competitions.
-As the pageant begins, Abed tells Britta that Mr. Rad wants her to play his role and that the lyrics to the song will be in her heart.
-Britta goes out and is just awful, but when Mr. Rad freaks out and calls her the worst, everyone thinks that's too far. The Dean permits Britta to finish her song, but Mr. Rad has a meltdown, where he accidentally confesses to killing the previous glee club by cutting the brakes to the bus.
-Abed sadly admits that Jeff is right and trying to make things brighter only makes things darker.
-Christmas morning, Abed goes to watch the terrible Inspector Spacetime holiday special from the 80's when he gets a knock on the door.
-The study group has decided he was right and they should be together this Christmas, so they all settle in to watch the special together.
-And with that, Community goes on to a indefinite hiatus.

I Liked This: I was always going to love this episode. It combines 5 of my favorite things: Community, Glee, jokes about Glee, TV shows that do musical episodes with original music, and Christmas music. Plus, it's the last Community for a while so I'm not going to be looking for flaws. But even if I was looking, I don't think I would've found anything. Regional Holiday Music was full of heart and humour. I found all of the songs to be hilarious, and the climax with Britta being the worst and the Glee teacher being homicidal was a good way to resolve the story (before the real resolution at Abed's.). And of course, the show got in plenty of clever jokes about Glee, from recreating the choir room complete with mute Piano teacher, to pointing out that calling someone a bully for not liking Glee is reverse bullying. Plus the Regionals runner was never not funny. Community had a lot to live up to after last year's Christmas episode and boy did it deliver.

But...: It's so good, I'm even more furious at NBC!

The Bottom Line: Excellent Episode. Excellent Show. Come back soon, Community!

Grade: Holy BLANK! (Perfect)

Memorable Moments

-If I had to pick a favorite song, it would be Troy and Abed's rap. But Annie's ridiculous Santa Baby-esque sexpot song, where she gets dumber and dumber is a close second.
-Jeff: "Merry Christmas everyone. The Glee club just became the History club".
-Abed: "Glee! I'll understand every scene, because we'll sing what we mean instead of making a face!"
-Mr. Rad:"Families are closer when families are winning!" Abed: "Everything's cooler when camera's are spinning!"
-Jeff: "Oh please, not liking Glee club doesn't make us bullies and implying that is reverse bully-ism!"

-Annie: “Boopy boopy boop doop sex”
-Jeff: "Look, eventually you hit a diminishing returns on the sexiness!"
-Choir of Orphans Wondering Who Was Born On Christmas: We asked our public school to give the answer
But they could only teach us not to pray. The Constitution says the state can't tell us. Was anyone important born today?
-Mr. Rad: "When we win Regionals, then it's straight on to Sectionals, and then a week later is Semi's, then Semi Regionals, then Regional Semi's, then National Lower Zone Semi's!"
-Britta: "Me so Christmas, Me so Merry!"
-Dean: "Why don't we let Britta sing her awkward song?"
-Mr. Rad: "...And you can let me do that, or there can be another BUS CRASH!!!" Crowd: Gasps and mumurs. Mr. Rad: "Well... figuratively. I'm not saying 'I killed the last Glee club'. Ha, I'm saying you not listening to me is like metaphorically cutting the brake lines on your own... Look! Kings of Leon!"
-The Choir of the Bells thing at the end was also great.