Community ‘Pillows and Blankets’: The Grody Q-Tips Of War

Was ‘Pillows and Blankets’ a truly great episode of Community, or merely a really good one? Reaction across the internet today seems to suggest the former. It’s a valid argument: last night, Community was hilarious, poignant, and really nailed its latest concept. But was its finish as strong as its beginning? I’ve watched the episode twice, and there are a few things about the conclusion of The Battle of Greendale that just don’t sit right with me.

But first off: last night’s Ken Burns documentary format was a riot – and something I think was necessary for the complicated war plot the show was trying to tell. There’s not a lot of ways – even on Community‘s budget – to film enough fight scenes to integrate the scope of the script, and keeping battles down to stills was, in narrative terms for a network comedy, quite daring, but worked really well. My personal favorite? Probably the picture of Magnitude laid out like a corpse in the pillow fort.

And smartly, the show still lets us listen to the characters we know and love talk us through important parts of the story, which goes a long way from the episode becoming a disconnected collage of images. The Cape’s Keith David (who narrated Ken Burn’s well-known documentary on baseball) did a great job narrating the tale, but it was the conversations between characters (in their own voices) that really helped keep the show’s ambitious visual style engaging.

Best among those was the text conversation between Jeff and Annie, which wasn’t the most integral thing to the plot, but had some hilarious jokes about emoticons and texting (“no response”). This was another reference to Ken Burns, whose Civil War documentary told pieces of its narrative through various letters found from the time period. It’s a device ‘Pillows and Blankets’ uses numerous times, incorporating emails and Facebook status throughout  – the latter which produces the episode’s funniest moment: “Leonard likes this post.”

However, towards the middle of the episode, the episode’s format was starting to drift away from the real problem at hand – the changes Abed and Troy are facing both in their educations and their friendships (although with no John Goodman this week, mostly just their friendship). And although the show did a great job bringing back the conflict underneath the silliness, I felt the episode’s closing moments were a bit of a mis-step.

I don’t think there’s particularly anything wrong with the way it closed – I don’t think it would be realistic for this argument to end with their relationship going back to the way it was. I didn’t need a huge, emotional scene where they hug and horns play, but for a fight that is based in real issues, could it really just end with something silly like imaginary friendship hats?

And while I’m totally fine with Jeff Winger ending things with a speech, it felt like the focus of the last two minutes didn’t fit with the previous 20, that were really about Troy and Abed. I understand the point of his little journal voice-over: it reinforces one of season three’s big concepts, specifically that change is slow, and not always transformative. Jeff does care about Troy, Abed, and the rest of the gang, but in the end, he still loves himself most of all.

But these few sour notes certainly didn’t ruin the episode – and although the jokes in the tag at the end were familiar, it was still a funny Troy & Abed gig we haven’t seen a whole lot of this season. But I do think the conclusion felt a bit shoe-horned in to sacrifice short term for the long term: David Harmon’s made it quite clear this season’s stories are seasonal arcs, and we’re obviously not done with this Troy & Abed story yet – once the Vice Dean’s figured some shit out, of course. He’s going through some stuff right now.

Grade: A-

Other thoughts:

– the names of the battles were terrific. My favorite (and a throwback to season 2): “The Study Room Kerfuffel.”

– Dan Harmon cameo as English Memorial. Peep it.

– The Changlorious Bastards.

– Did Britta talk to anyone but herself in this episode? It feels like every episode is giving one or two of the female characters the shaft, and this week, Britta – and Shirley, to a lesser degree, were left out.

– Leonard was the MVP of tonight’s episode. “Some of these guys haven’t fought with pillows in years”, the fact he fought with North Korea in the Korean War… his moments go on and on.

– why was Shirley nicknamed ‘Big Cheddar’?

– The jokes about Britta and her photographs of crushed cans in black and white was a close second for best joke of the episode.

– Even in the Ken Burns documentary, Abed gets to be meta, with some hilarious lines about the titles of Rambo movies. I agree, it should’ve been called Rambo 3: First Blood Part 2.

What did you think of last night’s episode? Did the conclusion leave you feeling satisfied, or did it feel a little out of harmony? Feel free to discuss in the comments section below!