Great but could have been amazing. 8/10 solid episode.
9 Reviews
Same opinion as the last episode
chinbagdeluxe2 October 2021
Introspective but something feels missing
matthewmlang20 December 2020
A few yuks here anand there but I don't think that was the point of the episode. I think it was meant to be something for the characters to think about their lives a bit if only through a seasoned audience members' eyes. And yet, something is missing. The characters seem like they are tired of each other. Which is fine if that is the point ofthe episode or season arc. Until I see it fleshed out they just kinda seem mean to each other. I miss troy and the others
Is better over time
safenoe27 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I remember when I first watched Basic RV Repair and Palmistry I didn't quite get it, but watching it a second time a few years later, it's an episode to be appreciated and one that builds upon the previous seasons. I can only imagine the making of this episode and whether the cast were able to string together the narrative through their scenes. But maybe I'm reading too much into it.
Anyway, Indian-American Jay Chandrasekhar directs this episode, and I think it is one to watch a second time to kind of appreciate the growth of community over six seasons. Thankfully a movie will come out thanks to the famous hashtag.
Anyway, Indian-American Jay Chandrasekhar directs this episode, and I think it is one to watch a second time to kind of appreciate the growth of community over six seasons. Thankfully a movie will come out thanks to the famous hashtag.
Pretty Fun!
aaaaaron-frannnnnnnn8 March 2021
Not sure why this episode is so low. We get mad at Dan Harmon for doing the same "bits": finding out secrets, meta commercial advertising, Jeff winger being a jerk - but then we get an episode like this. We complain cause it's "too weird". True this episode is not the greatest comedy episode of all time - but what exactly makes it bad?
If you want consistently boring, like being told when to laugh, watching bottle episodes one after another - go watch Fiends or Big Bang Theory.
If you want consistently boring, like being told when to laugh, watching bottle episodes one after another - go watch Fiends or Big Bang Theory.
Extra thick straps!
backslapjones25 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I'm glad Dan Harmon got to speak his mind in Community about the "three weeks earlier" gimmick in tv shows. He already touched on it in Rick and Morty when Morty says he thinks stories should start when they begin and not when they get interesting. Elroy was funny but didn't really interact much with the rest of the group, which may have just been a reference to him joining the cast in the final season. He and Frankie were pretty solid additions to the cast and helped the sixth season achieve nearly the same level of awesome as seasons 1-3 and season 5. I love every scene where Abed tries to flashback three weeks earlier, and the things he says/does in the flashbacks get more hilarious as the episode goes on. The space elder versions of Frankie, Abed, and Britta were pretty hilarious as well. Plus it ended with one of the most depressingly funny credit scenes of any episode, so that was definitely refreshing for anyone who loves the darker side of this show as much as I do. An underrated episode from the most underrated season of one of the most underrated comedy shows of all time.
Keep a Loose Grip
sharky_5513 May 2015
Warning: Spoilers
You know how sometimes you repeat a word over and over again until it sounds like total nonsense? A similar thing occurs in this episode. Showshowshowshowshowshowshow. After about two thirds of a relatively grounded and Greendale set season we hit a string of concept episodes with the latest trying a little too hard. It's a symptom of Abed's outside life all but disappearing; we know nothing about his aspirations, his day to day events, or his relationships. In fact it's a problem that has plagued pretty much every character from the main cast this season apart from maybe Britta. What a turnaround that it has been. The thing is, Abed's meta gimmick is the majority of his dialogue and when it seems forced then it falls flat.
It's an intriguing concept that the plot doesn't really need; we know that the Dean has goofed and bought something ridiculous again. We know that Elroy forgot to fill up on gas and that they are stranded in the middle of nowhere. Abed's antics remind me a bit of his actions in season 5's Basic Story, where he freaks out over Greendale finally being fixed. When you decide that Abed's worst fear is not being able to add some flashbacks to a TV episode it makes his character look all the worse because the subject is so trivial. Sure, he retreats to his world in order to find some peace. But make it actually matter. Maybe it's because his best friend in the world is leaving him. Or maybe he wants to pursue film making and his dad just wants him to make falafel. Abed always has his own way of dealing with things and it's more natural if there's actually a legitimate reason, not "flashbacks are meta and clever". When you start making him say things like "I remember when this show was about a Community college" and "We finally made paintball cool again" it sounds like the writers nodding and clapping themselves on the back rather than Abed making a comment. Just because you can be self aware, doesn't mean you have to.
This episode is an excuse to get out of Greendale which we haven't done for a long time. It looks like they even shot on location which is a nice plus. This is definitely Elroy's best episode by far. He's not Pierce or Buzz Hickey but he opens up on himself a lot more than he has in previous episodes. Apart from his introduction the washed up inventor has only really chimed in and out during the season and more often than not only been given a handful of lines to establish himself. Yes he maintains a tough and grumpy exterior like most old man characters on TV do and he's sometimes sarcastic or cynical. But I really love his meltdown as he discovers the charging of the phones. He claims he is smarter than the rest of the study group and it's a great build-up to the previous setting up of Jeff being so overly enthusiastic about being phone battery ready. Even better is his rationing of the blankets and his admission of wrongdoing. Feels like a real group bonding moment.
Of course you have to get your conflict from somewhere and it comes from the unlikely Dean Craig Pelton. He's such a craigular Joe and overall nice guy that this is only the second time he has really lost himself to anger. The first was during the shooting of the Greendale commercial which quickly ran over time and budget. That was at least justified by a very explicit meltdown due to his love and passion for the school. It's hard to give serious story lines to characters like the Dean or Chang because they are so over the top and ridiculous for the sake of comedy. They can be whatever the punchline needs them to be or do; a security guard or a compulsive buyer. So when every suddenly gets super hostile and the Dean's actions aren't the source of comedy but the actual complication it can get a little messy. The fact that it doesn't even happen until more than half way into the episode makes it feel a little rushed and abrupt. When Abed a little while later performs a Jeff Winger speech over soft sentimental music and uses a metaphor in order to bring back everyone together it's hard to know what to feel. Ludwig Göransson's If I Die Before You makes it a little easier. Season 4 used parts of his original soundtrack during endings and it sounded off, different and cold. Here it fits nicely.
And how hilarious is the end tag? It's possibly the funniest one they've done this season even if it does get a little dark.
It's an intriguing concept that the plot doesn't really need; we know that the Dean has goofed and bought something ridiculous again. We know that Elroy forgot to fill up on gas and that they are stranded in the middle of nowhere. Abed's antics remind me a bit of his actions in season 5's Basic Story, where he freaks out over Greendale finally being fixed. When you decide that Abed's worst fear is not being able to add some flashbacks to a TV episode it makes his character look all the worse because the subject is so trivial. Sure, he retreats to his world in order to find some peace. But make it actually matter. Maybe it's because his best friend in the world is leaving him. Or maybe he wants to pursue film making and his dad just wants him to make falafel. Abed always has his own way of dealing with things and it's more natural if there's actually a legitimate reason, not "flashbacks are meta and clever". When you start making him say things like "I remember when this show was about a Community college" and "We finally made paintball cool again" it sounds like the writers nodding and clapping themselves on the back rather than Abed making a comment. Just because you can be self aware, doesn't mean you have to.
This episode is an excuse to get out of Greendale which we haven't done for a long time. It looks like they even shot on location which is a nice plus. This is definitely Elroy's best episode by far. He's not Pierce or Buzz Hickey but he opens up on himself a lot more than he has in previous episodes. Apart from his introduction the washed up inventor has only really chimed in and out during the season and more often than not only been given a handful of lines to establish himself. Yes he maintains a tough and grumpy exterior like most old man characters on TV do and he's sometimes sarcastic or cynical. But I really love his meltdown as he discovers the charging of the phones. He claims he is smarter than the rest of the study group and it's a great build-up to the previous setting up of Jeff being so overly enthusiastic about being phone battery ready. Even better is his rationing of the blankets and his admission of wrongdoing. Feels like a real group bonding moment.
Of course you have to get your conflict from somewhere and it comes from the unlikely Dean Craig Pelton. He's such a craigular Joe and overall nice guy that this is only the second time he has really lost himself to anger. The first was during the shooting of the Greendale commercial which quickly ran over time and budget. That was at least justified by a very explicit meltdown due to his love and passion for the school. It's hard to give serious story lines to characters like the Dean or Chang because they are so over the top and ridiculous for the sake of comedy. They can be whatever the punchline needs them to be or do; a security guard or a compulsive buyer. So when every suddenly gets super hostile and the Dean's actions aren't the source of comedy but the actual complication it can get a little messy. The fact that it doesn't even happen until more than half way into the episode makes it feel a little rushed and abrupt. When Abed a little while later performs a Jeff Winger speech over soft sentimental music and uses a metaphor in order to bring back everyone together it's hard to know what to feel. Ludwig Göransson's If I Die Before You makes it a little easier. Season 4 used parts of his original soundtrack during endings and it sounded off, different and cold. Here it fits nicely.
And how hilarious is the end tag? It's possibly the funniest one they've done this season even if it does get a little dark.
The plot is: There is no plot #Meta
daisyisabaker8 February 2021
You may as well have called this episode "How to wait for a plot to happen"
Abed says outloud what all the audiences are thinking... But it's not funny. Watching somebody wait for something to happen is boring. Literaly just a group of people waiting for something.
Abed says outloud what all the audiences are thinking... But it's not funny. Watching somebody wait for something to happen is boring. Literaly just a group of people waiting for something.
The outro sequence was good
darkrazor1 September 2021
Absolutely uninspiring and unentertaining
jpapanone1 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Early Season 1 Community episodes were not the Community I would come to love.
It was finding it's footing etc.
There were good episodes...and still trying to actually find it's identity....
so I tend to not judge the early 1st seasons too harshly.
That's the way tv gets made. Put it out there...
and let the show and actors to some degree take the show and characters were they can or should go.
These episodes feel like early season 1 episodes...
where a show is not really where it needs to be yet...but give it time to come around. Not all do...but some need that time.
If these episodes had come out in season 1, they would have been much more acceptable. I'd tell people...which I do now...Start with a few episodes in...or jump straight to the law and order episode...or remedial chaos theory...those are the show at its peak Communityness.
For these episodes to come in Community's senior season...and them to be this...unwatchable...is really disappointing.
I had never heard the term bottle episode before community...and this feels like a bottle episode...though it's not. in the rv, out the rv..big hand prop (though that can't have cost that much???). And this is usually Community's sweet spot. Britta...terrible this episode. Paget...terrible this episode. Really do not like how they did not allow enough time for her to naturally become part of the group but rather just shoved her down our throats immediately. Same thing with Keith David.
Wait...So Matt Besser and Mitchell Hurwitz aren't the same guy?! KOOGLER!!! Wait...NOT KOOGLER?!
I had never heard the term bottle episode before community...and this feels like a bottle episode...though it's not. in the rv, out the rv..big hand prop (though that can't have cost that much???). And this is usually Community's sweet spot. Britta...terrible this episode. Paget...terrible this episode. Really do not like how they did not allow enough time for her to naturally become part of the group but rather just shoved her down our throats immediately. Same thing with Keith David.
Wait...So Matt Besser and Mitchell Hurwitz aren't the same guy?! KOOGLER!!! Wait...NOT KOOGLER?!
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