A genius at work

Pierce has never exactly been a likable character on Community, but over the past several episodes he’d gotten downright hateful. For me, the turning point in his character came in the Dungeons & Dragons episode. He went from being a lonely obnoxious dude you felt bad for to being a total jackass. I didn’t want him in the group anymore, and I didn’t understand why the Greendale gang would either.

Last night’s episode, “Competitive Wine Tasting”, brought Pierce back to the kind of character I think he should be. Obnoxious in every way, but tolerable. That’s where Pierce is at his funniest, and I think everyone needs to feel a little bit bad for Pierce in order to justify keeping him around.

This week saw Pierce and Jeff sign up for a class in Italian wine tasting and compete for the affections of a pretty Asian girl. She quickly shot Jeff down, but then immediately became engaged to Pierce. Obviously, Jeff was jealous suspicious. Did she need a green card? Nope, she had duel citizenship. Did she need money? Nope, she had her own family fortune. As Jeff eventually uncovered, she was part of a family that owned the second largest moist towelette company in China – second to Hawthorne Wipes.

The storyline was just ridiculous to make me laugh, and Pierce was perfect as the kind of guy who’s willing to be taken advantage of if it means keeping the company of a beautiful woman. The twist at the end, where Jeff got them to go on a real date because they are surprisingly alike, also had me chuckling.

That said, I probably preferred the subplots this week. Britta and Troy signed up for The Actor Inside elective, and when Troy saw Britta stretching in her black unitard he immediately had a crush. To try and impress Britta and the rest of the class, Troy made up a story about how his uncle touched him to show his inner pain. Troy has quickly become one of my favorite characters on Community and I thought he sold the hell out of his scenes here. I love how Britta immediately fell for him when she thought he was emotionally damaged, and the kiss was definitely a surprise.

I had to love Abed’s storyline since it was about Abed and television. He signed up for a class that took an in-depth look at Who’s the Boss? I would like to get a Masters in Pop Culture from a university that offers an entire course on HBO. Abed is one of my new TV soul mates. Stephen Tobolowskywas absolutely hilarious as the devoted professor whose critical academic analysis of the show was brought down by Abed’s proof that Angela was, in fact, the boss.

The one thing that really bothered me about the episode was that we never heard what electives Annie and Shirley chose. That better come up in another episode, because they’re two of my favorite characters! And now, a few quotes that stood out in the episode:

• “Not interested. Please take weird haircut, stupid grin and go sniff another dog’s ass.” – Wu Mei
• “I’ll give you the same advice my father gave me the night I lost my virginity: just pick one, they all cost the same.” – Pierce
• “Which do you think is better: Trevor St. McGoodbody or David?” – Troy
• “I’d like to offer my sincere congratulations. It’s hard enough to find people you can stand in this life, let alone someone willing to stomach your imminent dementia and present incontinence.” – Jeff
• “Don’t preach to me about romance, Annie. I had a three-way in a hot air balloon.” – Jeff
• A Veronica Mars reference! 
• “I’m auditioning for Professor Garrity’s all-black production of “Fiddler on the Roof”. It’s called “Fiddlah, Please!” – Troy
• “How about Thai? They’re like Chinese Mexicans.” – Wu Mei

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