(This is the eighteenth part in an ongoing series, in which I am writing brief reviews of each and every episode of Dan Harmon's beloved cult- comedy "Community." Originally conceived as a response to NBC's cancellation of the series before it was revived for its final season on Yahoo.)
One of the more important Pierce-centric episodes in the first season of "Community", "Basic Genealogy" is unfortunately a tad flat in comparison to the excellent earlier installments of the season. While it does indeed still excel at times thanks to the trademark humor and wit that makes "Community" such an infectious watch, it just feels as though the elements at play don't properly work together, leading to an inconsistent and troubled tone. The result... a middling and sadly mediocre episode in the otherwise excellent series.
It's family day at Greendale Community College, and Pierce (Checy Chase) hopes to impress his visiting step-daughter Amber (guest star Katharine McPhee) by roping Jeff (Joel McHale) into a scheme to try and build himself as more important and impacting a presence than he really is. However, things take an amusing turn when Jeff finds himself highly attracted to Amber, causing some tension. At the same time, Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) runs afoul Abed's (Danny Pudi) father (Iqbal Theba) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) finds herself in a quandary after accidentally offending Troy's (Donald Glover) abusive grandmother. (Fran Bennett)
While the episode boasts a handful of highly amusing and wacky comedy set-pieces that inject a much-needed sense of humor, I can't help but feel that everything occurring is a tad too disconnected. It features more a jumbled mish-mash of amusing vignettes than a well thought- out and compelling storyline, causing a bit of a rift as an audience member. Its repeated attempts at manufacturing drama also often fall flat because it so randomly jumps back and forth between ongoing subplots, you never get more than a moment or two with any specific character at a time.
It really is a shame, as this is an invaluable opportunity for Pierce to be showcased and to grow as a character- something that I found doesn't happen too often, as he is generally saddled as little more than a comedic foil in many episodes. Chase is a brilliant and talented performer, and his perfect comedic timing is something of a revelation, so it's just so disappointing than when he finally gets an episode to be the more-or-less main focus, it's such an uninspired effort. Thankfully, this is remedied in future episodes, where he is given more room to stretch his legs both comically and dramatically... it's just a shame we have to wait a bit longer for that to happen.
"Basic Genealogy" is one of the lesser efforts in season one. It squanders potential consistently, and is really only worth watching for the occasional joke or far-out physical comedy gag. I give it a middle of the road 6 out of 10.
One of the more important Pierce-centric episodes in the first season of "Community", "Basic Genealogy" is unfortunately a tad flat in comparison to the excellent earlier installments of the season. While it does indeed still excel at times thanks to the trademark humor and wit that makes "Community" such an infectious watch, it just feels as though the elements at play don't properly work together, leading to an inconsistent and troubled tone. The result... a middling and sadly mediocre episode in the otherwise excellent series.
It's family day at Greendale Community College, and Pierce (Checy Chase) hopes to impress his visiting step-daughter Amber (guest star Katharine McPhee) by roping Jeff (Joel McHale) into a scheme to try and build himself as more important and impacting a presence than he really is. However, things take an amusing turn when Jeff finds himself highly attracted to Amber, causing some tension. At the same time, Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) runs afoul Abed's (Danny Pudi) father (Iqbal Theba) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) finds herself in a quandary after accidentally offending Troy's (Donald Glover) abusive grandmother. (Fran Bennett)
While the episode boasts a handful of highly amusing and wacky comedy set-pieces that inject a much-needed sense of humor, I can't help but feel that everything occurring is a tad too disconnected. It features more a jumbled mish-mash of amusing vignettes than a well thought- out and compelling storyline, causing a bit of a rift as an audience member. Its repeated attempts at manufacturing drama also often fall flat because it so randomly jumps back and forth between ongoing subplots, you never get more than a moment or two with any specific character at a time.
It really is a shame, as this is an invaluable opportunity for Pierce to be showcased and to grow as a character- something that I found doesn't happen too often, as he is generally saddled as little more than a comedic foil in many episodes. Chase is a brilliant and talented performer, and his perfect comedic timing is something of a revelation, so it's just so disappointing than when he finally gets an episode to be the more-or-less main focus, it's such an uninspired effort. Thankfully, this is remedied in future episodes, where he is given more room to stretch his legs both comically and dramatically... it's just a shame we have to wait a bit longer for that to happen.
"Basic Genealogy" is one of the lesser efforts in season one. It squanders potential consistently, and is really only worth watching for the occasional joke or far-out physical comedy gag. I give it a middle of the road 6 out of 10.
