I have had a varied history with Community. I was initially turned to it after the "Modern Warfare" episode last year, which I found to be a blast, but after a few more episodes, I still wasn't sold. I started watching this second season, and while there was plenty to laugh at, I wasn't quite blown away like with "Modern Warfare." Then "Epidemiology" blew everything out of the water.
With "Modern Warfare," playing name-the-movie-reference was fun and all, but I'm not the biggest action movie buff. I knew some of the more iconic references (like the Chow Yun Fat scene), but so many more slipped past me. With "Epidemiology," I can safely say I know plenty of horror movies, so I kept seeing zombie tropes left and right, with other movie bonuses to boot!
The costumes in this episode were pretty fun, and well put together. I enjoyed Shirley as Miss Piggy/Glinda the Good Witch and Chang as Peggy Fleming/Racist Prover, but the best goes to Troy, not for the 13-year-old's Comic-Con Alien Robot outfit, but for toilet-seat-cover sexy Dracula. Not a vampire. His sexy Dracula doesn't need to be a certain type of Dracula. Nerd. Kudos to everyone else, but it usually works out funniest the less time is spent on it. For the record, the Dean made a disturbingly passable Lady Gaga drag queen.
Okay, obviously, since this is a half hour sitcom, the zombies are unlike any other zombies that came before (they're curable, after all), but I liked that they had not only an origin, but we also got a breakdown of their symptoms in the study room. Best symptom? The slurred speech. And of course Pierce, the group's somewhat skeezy old man, is the first zombie.
Since this episode is a one-off parody, like "Modern Warfare," I will forgo the more in-depth analysis to try to pinpoint as many references as possible. I don't know the names of the movies were a lot of these cliches originated, so if you know the names of the particular movies, feel free to comment and correct me. I'll try to name as many of them as I can...
In no particular order:
-Zombie Trope - Chiquita M.D.'s misdiagnosis of rabies (they don't always say rabies, but you know what I mean. Only the nerds see them for what they are, Troy: "Zombies!!!")
-Zombie Trope (the new Dawn of the Dead? possibly the original one, too?) - Chang and Shirley banging. Someone always squeezes in a quickie! I'm sure this has happened before the Dawn remake, but that's the best I can think of.
-Shaun of the Dead - Annie and the broken window! I vividly remember the zombies bursting through the shades at the Winchester! At least Annie kept her innards intact.
-Any Horror Movie Ever Made - The damn cat! It's never the monster that jumps out! Never!
-Resident Evil - Maybe it's because I've watched that movie a million times, since I'm a Resident Evil game nerd, but Troy and Abed climbing the shelves in the supply closet is a lot like the survivors climbing the pipes in the sewers of the Hive. Pushing it? Maybe, but I'll take that first Resident Evil movie any day!
-Zombie Trope (this one is pretty much all zombie movies) - The turned friend/loved one. Troy, you know better than to try to talk to Abed! He's a zombie!
-Zombie Trope (again, any movie with a group of survivors) - the squabble in the study room over the best course of action. They always fight! And then the zombies always get their little punk asses!
-Zombie Trope (happened in Resident Evil, but it happens in all of them) - Jeff opens the door to the Zombies!!!!
-Zombie Trope (all of them, pretty much) - The army almost killed the only witness! They surpressed the incident with the "mass rufie" though, so it kind of counts.
-Zombie Trope (all of them) - The Dean and Chang, the two biggest pansies, lock out the other survivors. Like all other pansies in zombie movies.
-Zombie Trope Fail!!! - Troy, the black man, makes it to the end....
-Zombie Trope Win!!! -...but not really. He got bit before he ended it. There are never survivors. The Dean doesn't count, he was never in danger.
-The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror III: Dial Z for Zombie" - Troy calling out the costumes as he beats them down is like Homer making one-liners as he offs the famous people zombies. "Shows over, Shakespeare!"
-Dawn of the Dead remake (this could also appear in the original, I'm not sure) - It may be pushing it, but Troy thinking the cyborg costume would protect him reminds me of the bus they modify to save the guy across the street at the end of this movie.
-Zombie Trope - "I have to save them!" "You can't!" Happens between Troy and the Dean, and I think they have the same discussion in the study room too.
-Day of the Dead/Land of the Dead - Annie trying to read reminded me of Romero's zombies "learning".
-Finally, The Empire Strikes Back (not a zombie movie, I know, but the best moment of the episode) - "I love you." "I know." Troy and Abed should just sleep together already. They're the best gay couple on TV! For this exchange alone!
There are more, I'm sure of it.
Randomness, not necessarily Zombie references
-I was secretly hoping the Dean's personal memos would be more disturbing, but ABBA is the best zombie apocalypse soundtrack ever.
-Troy really thinking that recreating Aliens would work.
-Jeff is a cool zombie for sure.
-Britta as the turtle dragon was cute, but overshadowed by the others.
-I think Jeff put on a suit, picked up a random prop, and made a celebrity from that. I'd like to see him with an umbrella next year as Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain.
-"You better back that pumpkin ass up or I'm gonna make a pie!!"
-Miss Piggy is not black. I would have said Mo'Nique as a fairy godmother.
-"You just punched Lady Bee!"
-Britta, you are special for lasting as long as you did with a bite! Up yours, banana!
-I don't know who's dumber: the Dean for opening a container that clearly does not have any food-related words on it and serving it, or the Army for letting bioweapons out of their sight.
-"He's acting like that impression of him we do behind his back..."
-I like Jeff forgetting their plan and chasing the cat instead, but I loved him yelling at the banana about the suit jacket!
-"Do me proud, Troy, and be the first black man to make it to the end." I think he pretty much is, isn't he? Hooray for making history!
-Damn you, George Takei! I'm not a Kevin! How could you favor them that way?!
GRADE: A+
I know it's unrealistic to expect a show to put out episodes like this all the time, but this is one of the most fun half-hours I've had with a show in a long time. Their extended homages, like the Apollo 13 episode, are well and good, but this is a whole new level. Bravo, Community. I award you "Best Halloween Episode of 2010." Sorry, other shows...
MVP Donald Glover as Troy. He not only was the hero in the end, but he also had some personal development with his inner conflict on cool guy Troy vs. nerd Troy.
Runner-Up Joel McHale, for pulling of cool zombie Jeff. MAH!
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