“And Jesus Wept, FOR THERE WERE NO MORE WORLDS TO CONQUER!”
Part 2 of Community’s season six debut made a swift transition. We open in the study room with Britta introducing her cats to Annie and Abed. It seems the unthinkable is happening. Annie and Abed have decided to let Britta move into their apartment. Britta has brought her cats to school to introduce them to her new roommates on neutral ground, but it seems one of them is being stubborn and hiding underneath a study room couch. Chang comes along, insisting cats love him. Now, for anyone watching either the show or Chang’s development as a character, there’s absolutely no reason why this should go well and it doesn’t. Chang nonchalantly talks as Britta’s cat attacks and bites him causing a large wound on his right hand.
“This was a pretty big mistake.” Chang leaves, with Ken Jeong seemingly filled his oddball quota for the day.
Frankie, now an accepted member of the study group mentions that she wasn’t aware of Britta’s plans to move in with Abed and Annie. Abed bluntly responds that Britta has fallen on hard times but when Britta calls him out on his comments, he over compensates.
“Britta is a rich genius with superpowers, she’s going to live on our sofa FOR NO REASON.” Enter Dean Pelton sporting a virtual reality headset from the 1990s to the frustration of both Jeff and Frankie who know this is going to be more trouble than it’s worth.
“We mock what we don’t understand. We also mock what’s silly.” Abed and Britta attempt a broken version of Troy and Abed’s handshake but both feel a little uncomfortable afterward. While Shirley is a recent departure, Troy’s absence is beginning to take a toll. Abed still isn’t quite right without his best friend and Troy and Britta did date briefly, so the resurrection of the handshake Abed and Troy used repeatedly is both awkward and a little sad.
Community has largely ignored Pierce’s absence, but Troy’s absence is still a bit obvious. Chang comes back to the study room with his hand still untreated and looking slightly puffier due to infection.
“Got bit by a cat,” he mutters to no one in particular but when Annie responds that they saw what happened, he simply states that it’s weird they’re all in the nurse’s office before wandering off again. In case you’ve missed out, Chang is nuts and we’ll never quite know just how nuts, but Ken Jeong plays crazy well. It fits him like a glove and these running Chang gags are usually a fun interruption to the main story.
After the opening credits roll, we see the Dean test drive his no virtual reality head set. Jim Rash has really stepped up as a main character and become a joy to watch. His genuine amazement at the simple things in the virtual reality world, such as setting the time zone to “mountain time” alongside the physical comedy of him walking in place and looking absolutely ridiculous doing it, are a nice touch but the shock and disgust on the faces of Frankie and Jeff are what really seal the deal here.
After changing the time, he responds in astonishment, “AND JESUS WEPT, FOR THERE WERE NO MORE WORLD’S TO CONQUER.” If you’re thinking “that doesn’t sound quite like the right quote,” you’re not alone, but it’s delivered with such conviction that it works in spite of how ridiculous it is.
Meanwhile back at the apartment, Abed and Annie welcome a distraught Britta whose financial struggles have gotten the best of her, but she’s overjoyed when she realizes they bought her a pullout sofa. There’s one slight problem. Britta notices that the tag on the unwrapped sofa has her last name, “Perry,” written on it.
Abed and Annie offer a half-baked explanation before obviously trying to distract her with an impromptu “roommate movie night.” Abed and Annie have become a duo unto themselves ever since Troy left and this time is no exception as they both go above and beyond to explain to Britta the Portugese “Gremlin’s” movie they’ll be watching together.
Back at the Dean’s office, we see that the Dean has been running through the virtual world, taking 20 minutes just to set the time. They send him to settings “located in the monastery, not the volcano.” “JESUS WEPT” “STOP SAYING JESUS WEPT.”
The Dean searches settings for the serial number but laughs maniacally when he finds it as he’s aware that Jeff and Francesca are trying to get him to return the headset. He confidently screams “delete!” as he fires an Ironman like laser at the serial number file in his virtual world, but his beam of light only selects the file.
After drowning the file in a nearby virtual pool, the Dean roars triumphantly once more, “JESUS WEPT.” At this point, it’s getting a little old. Francesca enlists Jeff to help her find a way to return the $5,000 virtual reality set, but Jeff claims it’s above his paygrade. She asks him threateningly how they’ll replace $5,000, implying his salary is not untouchable.
Back at Annie and Abed’s (and Britta’s) apartment, Britta’s suspicion gets the best of her as she calls the number of the furniture store and learns her parents (who Britta is estranged from) bought the sofa. When Britta overreacts to the news that her friends have gone behind her back to talk to her parents, Abed calls her dramatic.
“That’s what people say when they take your soul AND THEY RIP IT OUT OF YOUR CHEST, AND THEY SHOVE IT IN YOUR MOUTH!” proving Abed’s point as she storms out of the apartment. Chang shows up, his hand even more infected before. “I got bit by a cat.” Abed and Annie scream in unison.
“I’ll create more worlds, and the worlds will have worlds!” “You keep white Morpheus inside the Matrix.” By the way, those worlds are actually just file folders and white Morpheus is taking his role a little too seriously. As Britta confronts Jeff about Abed and Annie going behind her back to talk to her parents, Jeff is relieved to know they no longer have to avoid the subject of Britta’s parents, and like Annie and Abed, he thinks they’re nice people and doesn’t understand what Britta rebelled against.
Britta leaves, stating that she has no friends, feeling genuinely betrayed. Chang shows up again, hand inflated like a balloon now with infection, but Jeff yells at him to go to the nurse before he can say anything.
“I’m trying” he responds, as he continues his inexplicably difficult journey to the nurse’s office.
As Jeff enters an RV, he meets the creator of the virtual reality system. Elroy Patashnik played by Keith David. Keith David was also the guest narrator of season three's “Pillows and Blankets.” The two banter about virtual reality, and it eventually culminates in Jeff being forced to leave without a refund.
“Get out of my Winnebago!” “You’re not allowed to say that like it’s punishment." Classic Jeff Winger. “THAT IS NOT A THING” moment. “I know what it’s like to lie for a living Elroy” he shouts before heading back to campus.
Britta pulls up at her parent’s house where she hands them a check (postdated a year so she can earn the money to pay off the debt she has to them). Britta’s parents are exceptionally sweet to her, both encouraging and loving, but Britta is intent on rebelling. Britta recalls slights against her, such as when she was drug tested when she was 11 for laughing too much. Britta’s parents ramble for a bit before Britta notices two additional place settings at the table. She calls for Annie and Abed to reveal themselves before she attacks them with a pillow and leaves. Her parents once again try to give her money, but Britta demands they stop infantilizing her before she steals a tricycle from a toddler and leaves.
Back at the Dean’s office, the Dean and Jeff argue over his use of the headset when Elroy shows up and tries to convince him that his product is “lame.”
“This guy runs your school? To use a phrase I coined in the 90’s, I’m going in.” "You coined that." “Oh yeah.” Jeff isn’t a big believer.
When Frankie finds Britta sleeping in her car, she’s horrified but the two begin to discuss their relationships with their parents. Frankie has her first quotable moment as a character on Community.
“One of the most unfair lessons we’re forced to learn is that our parents are human beings, we want to think of them as gods or demons because that would make us heroes but who I am kidding, we all suck.” Just when it seemed like she was getting profound – that’s it, that’s the extent of her advice and philosophy which is kind of humorous in an offbeat way given Paget Brewster’s delivery.
Back at Greendale, Jeff and Elroy pull the Dean out of the virtual reality world and help him readjust to life where he’s no longer a “god.”
Back with Britta’s family, she sheds her rebellious youth persona and accepts her parents (as well as some fatalistic philosophy from Francesca). The happy reunion is interrupted by Chang. “Got bit by a cat, Deb.” Britta’s father decides to get some antibiotics.
As Elroy refund the Dean for his product, the Dean offers him $500 as a reward for his time as a “god.” Elroy takes the check but admits he doesn’t know what to do with his life.
“We offer a wide variety of classes,” the Dean suggests. Jeff realizes that this has been the Dean’s game all along and he realizes it worked on him too. “I’ll never get out of here will I?” he mutters half to himself and half to the Dean. “I haven’t met many that do,” the Dean replies to a mortified Dean.
In the style of Zach Braff’s character from “Scrubs,” the Dean ends the episode with a voiceover montage about change. At the end of season five's episode “Repilot” (an episode where Abed said their new stint at Greendale could be like season nine of Scrubs), Zach Braff guest-voiced a recap while Abed explained how the voiceovers work.
It’s come full circle in season six, and it’s meta. It’s always meta and a bit of a headache, but it’s worth noting. This wasn’t classic “Community,” but it was an enjoyable episode largely due to Gillian Jacobs and Ken Jeong carrying the episode with good performances from both. We learned more about Britta Perry and even saw her grow a little. We also learned that while there is method to the Dean’s madness and that Chang, as always, is crazy.
The ending credits are a promo for the Portuguese Gremlin movie Abed and Annie were watching. It translates as “Knee High Mischief.” Still no Chevy Chase in season six and no Yvette Nicole Brown. Jesus wept.
