TV in Review: Community, “Digital Estate Planning”

The last three episodes of Community were pushed out of the chute so fast, it’s hard for me to figure out the proper viewing order. Sure, I could just go with the order in which NBC aired them, but I went with “The Last Chang Dynasty” first, just to close that plot line. Next up, “Digital Estate Planning,” in which Pierce’s father’s will mandates that Pierce and friends play a video game.

PIERCE: That diabolical old fossil face. I asked him for money to invest in video games back in 1979.
GILBERT: Cornelius spent over thirty years developing a video game for you. It was his dying wish that you and seven of your closest friends would play it.

PIERCE: Levar Burton was a maybe.

The first contestant in the game to reach the throne of Pierce’s father gets Pierce’s inheritance. Game on.

Only it’s not, because the friends refuse to compete.

Only it is, because the lawyer Gilbert is racing them to the prize.

I used to play those early video games back in the day, stuff like Ultima IV, so it was nostalgic to watch them go through the moves. Not funny, necessarily, but nonetheless fun.

I also appreciate that Community applies, you know, imagination to their plot lines. (Although I have to ask, how did Pierce’s dad know about the study room?). Abed likes it so much that he might choose to stay.

ABED: Holy crap, where have you been my whole life?

Unfortunately, I didn’t find it an episode with many laughs, and Community doesn’t handle race with tremendous nuance. That is, the racism of Pierce, Pierce’s father, and Pierce’s father’s video game is supposed to be chuckled at and excused because we all know that they’re idiots, and it’s also supposed to be okay because in the end (spoiler!) the black guy gets the inheritance. If Community is going to try and mock racism, that’s great, but I’d love for them to do it with the same understanding that they bring to issues of geekdom.

I guess the good thing about video games and sitcom episodes is that, if you don’t do well on one, you can always try again. Now gimme a quarter, so I can go ahead and play “Introduction to Finality.”

THE FINAL THREE
TV in Review: “Digital Estate Planning” (Season 3, Episode 20)
TV in Review: “The First Chang Dynasty” (Season 3, Episode 21)
TV in Review: “Introduction to Finality” (Season 3, Episode 22)