Episode 'Community' Season 2, Episode 19 - 'Critical Film Studies' Recap

What's wrong with Abed? Maybe the better question to ask is what's right with Abed? When Jeff agrees to have dinner with Abed for his birthday, he finds that the usually antisocial and somewhat juvenile pop culture nerd is smiling, hugging, and looking for a "real conversation."

Jeff, meanwhile, has planned a super-cool "Pulp Fiction" surprise party for Abed, including costumes and a certified replica of Marcellus Wallace's briefcase. But Abed doesn't seem to care anymore. He even passes on the "Bad Mother F***er" wallet that Jeff got for him. WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

Once you get used to Danny Pudi acting more like a regular person and less like the usual Abed, this episode is really pretty incredible: we get to see a whole new side of Abed and Pudi gets to show off his acting range after being stuck in a very specifi character for one and a half seasons.

Abed regales Jeff with a subtly hilarious monologue about how "Cougartown" changed his life. The sheer number of times that the title "Cougartown" is repeated is funny enough. This sparks the "real conversation" that Abed wanted for his birthday, complete with embarassing and emotionally honest stories from Jeff.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang is hanging out at the diner (in full "Pulp Fiction" costumes. Awesome), waiting for Jeff and Abed to get there. Troy is obsessed with the briefcase, which once again acts as a sort-of MacGuffin: the real story here is that Troy is jealous of Jeff and Abed's friendship. Pierce dressed as "The Gimp" is the best part of this story, though.

So it looks like we have two things going on here: we have plenty of "Pulp Fiction" references going on (some of them pretty dead-on), but the real spoof (Abed prefers "homage") of the episode is on "My Dinner with Andre." When the big reveal happens, Jeff is about as upset as we've seen him. And rightfully so: he told Abed all about the "little Indian girl" story.

At the end of the day, we're back to normal, and Abed's love for "Pulp Fiction" out-does his love for "My Dinner With Andre." The real genius of this episode, though, are the levels of self-awareness that are even deeper than usual: Abed has a whole monologue about being on "Cougartown" in which he discusses the idea of being aware that he's in a show. This is postmodern TV writing at its finest.

Troy & Abed Tag: Troy and Abed eat a meal at the fancy restaurant, and the bill puts Troy in tears. Dine and dash time!