‘Origins of Vampire Mythology’ is one of those Community episodes that requires two viewings: one for all the laughs and fun energy of the cast, and a second to really dissect what the writers of the show are doing with the characters in subtle ways. Tonight’s episode wasn’t perfect, but the clever intertwining of different characters into the main plot to reveal some of the season’s overall themes was really well done, and concluded in a very, very powerful last couple moments.
At the heart of ‘Vampire Mythology’ is Britta dealing with the return of an old ex-boyfriend to the Greendale campus, a carnie named Blade in town for a college carnival. In earlier seasons, Community would be satisfied with letting her Britta her own situation, and find a way for the rest of the study group to help clean up the hilarious pieces. But this season is really about growth, and these people coming to love each other, and that’s where the show begins to integrate the different characters int he storyline. We already know about Britta’s weakness with certain types of men, and thankfully, the show wasn’t going to be satisfied just mailing this episode in.
First of all, there’s Annie. Her friendship with Britta has slowly been becoming more than just two intelligent, sharp-witted woman whose personalities clash (like when they tried to raise money for the oil spill). And so when she needs someone to keep her from herself, she turns to Annie (the show justifies it with a throwaway joke about her addiction to pills making her a good adviser, but its more indicative of their growth as friends). Then again, maybe she did it because she though Annie would be the easiest to manipulate, another well-known fact about Annie. Either way, she ends up trying to trick Annie into letting her contact Blade, though Annie combats it smartly (again, showing us how well these characters know each other at this point).
The cell phone trick she pulls allows the writers to subtly bring Troy into the fold of the plot, by making a point of showing us his growing annoyance as Annie’s texting farce with Britta continues. Lest we forget,Community’s been slowly building up a Troy and Britta relationship (as early as season 1’s ‘Interpretative Dance’) and this quietly comes to a head in this episode. When he’s finally had enough of hearing about Britta’s willingness to give up anything to be with Blade, he does the only thing that will both allow him to vent and stop Britta’s attraction; he sends her a ‘nice’ text from Annie’s phone as Blade, knowing that Britta only likes guys who are terrible to her. We’ll get back to that text in a minute, because it’s important.
Thirdly, we have Jeff, who can’t understand why this carnie drives Britta so wild, and has to learn the ‘secret’. What he ends up learning is really important to his character arc this season: learning to love the people around him, and more importantly, himself. The same reasons Britta is attracted to guys like Blade is the same reason Jeff can’t open himself up to other people, and the same reason all of these characters ended up together way back in the pilot: they all came to Greendale hating various things about themselves, and its only having this group of people around them who truly love them, are they learning not to hate themselves anymore. It’s something we hear all the time in life, but watching its a universal truth, something Community always does a great job with, and what makes such a comically surreal world feel so humanized.
But back to Troy’s text. The last minute of the show really sets up a lot of where the show is going with these four people. Without the use of dialogue (an awesome touch), Annie reveals to Britta that the nice text she thought was from Blade really came from Troy. Seeing Britta’s smile there, and the smile exchanged between Annie and Jeff, were touching moments to finish out the episode. We all know the show is going there, but the writers of Community are smartly making these characters really earn it. Annie is starting to see the signs that Jeff is starting to care about people other than herself, and that smile between them says it all about where their relationship is at this point.
While I loved everything done with Annie, Britta, Jeff, and Troy, the other three got shafted a bit. Abed didn’t do much except make Blade jokes, and the caricature of Pierce Hawthorne continued with a poorly implemented Chang/Pierce pairing. I was hoping Chang would recruit Pierce as a general of the Changlorious Bastards, a little plot line obviously being saved for the end of the season, which I fully believe is going to be Chang’s Last Stand (the rumor is someone will die, and who better than the one cast member hardly around this season?) There was a Vice Dean sighting, but his presence felt like a mere reminder of what the stakes are for Troy coming up in later episodes.
This show is building towards a lot of payoffs at the end of the season, be it with Jeff and Annie, or Troy’s future at Greendale, both educationally and with Britta, or Chang’s child army. Sometimes, things like the Dean’s lame attempt to recruit him to Air Conditioning Repair feel like shoe horned story telling, but the fantastic writing of the rest of the episode overshadowed these shortcomings. Overall, a terrific episode, even though it might take a second viewing before it can really be appreciated.
Grade: B+
Other thoughts:
– thought the show did well to keep Blade and Britta from each other. We don’t need to see them interact: in reality, it wasn’t even integral to the plot. Their relationship doesn’t really matter; its the circumstances and aftermath that’s important.
– What happened to Shirley at the end? She all but disappeared after the carnival.
– the Dean is into trains now. And candy cane PJ’s.
– always remember to ‘honor the gateway’.
– always love when Annie tries to talk in a man’s voice.
– “uh…. Andre much?” and “… like a mother-flipping carnie-banging werewolf.” Britta at her finest.
– I’d go to a super-specific stand-up routine of Abed, Troy, and Annie’s apartment, wouldn’t you?
what did you think of ‘Origins of Vampire Mythology?’ are you enjoying the slower pace of the seasonal arcs, or just craving for some more concept episodes? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and stop back next week for a recap of ‘Virtual Systems Analysis’!
Wow, just a B+? I thought this was the strongest episode since the return from the hiatus, with only “Remedial Chaos Theory” beating it out for strongest of the season. It has everything we love about Community…tons of laughs, fast, witty dialogue, and the characters relationships with one another coming to the forefront. I loved it, but seeing this, I’m curious what other fans though. There are a couple pretty solid Community fans that I work with here, and on Fridays we get together on lunch to re-watch the episode. I really want to know how they fell about the episode, and the apparent continuous growth of Jeff as a person. Great review though, and thanks!
I almost went with an A-, but I felt the show stumbled at a couple moments (most noticeably, anything to do with Pierce, a growing problem all season), although it had a great ending a number of good jokes. Emotionally one of the best of the season, but there were some flaws in the script, like Abed’s throwaway dialogue and the Winger speech, which was poignant, but felt a little shoe-horned into the final scene.
In part, the B+ is probably subliminal in some way – it’s hard not to hold this show to higher standards than any other comedy on TV!