Spoilers Below

 

After several short dialogues with a trained professional (“sessions,” they tell me), I was given the okay to resume taking on additional puppet stories, for the time being at least. Although I must confess, last night I had that dream again; the one reminiscent of that old Twilight Zone where the guy wakes up confused and alone in a strange hospital. Only in my dream the doctors aren’t horrific pig creatures, but muppets (with the exception of Miss Piggy, who is both a pig and a muppet.)

You may not be able to relate, but let me tell you, the fear is real, even if the situation is only a fantasy. Waking up in a different bed than your own, strings and yarn attached to your body, in a vein in your arm like an IV, leading to the plastic bag slowly filling you with cotton stuffing…

[EDITORS NOTE: At this point, Mr. Green halted his writing and began inexplicably shrieking at the top of his lungs while sitting at his desk in the BubbleBlabber offices. Repeated attempts were made to get him to return to the piece, but he responded with a combative attitude and began rampaging around the office, tearing down ceiling panels, apparently, according to him: “looking for the strings.” Power was temporarily lost in the office after numerous electrical wires were forcefully dislodged. The remainder of this assignment had to be transcribed by an intern from the side of Mr. Green’s hospital bed. On the writer’s strict orders, extra care was given to ensure all of the doctors and nurses were, in fact, humans.)

OK, ready? Don’t put that in.

Since I’m apparently the resident Community expert at this here establishment, it’s natural that I was assigned to cover last night’s episode, entitled “Intro to Felt Surrogacy.” It might also have something to do with the fact that it’s a puppet-themed episode. Let’s get this over with.

The episode begins with the usual cast in human form, staring awkwardly at each other. Dean Pelton enters, as always, and demands to know the meaning behind this uncomfortable silence. He suggests puppet therapy (isn’t it odd that it wasn’t Britta who made this suggestion, being the “psychologist” of the group?) to get to bottom of it. Of course the Dean has ready-made puppets of each study group members, and of course Jeff’s is shirtless and bulging with muscles.

At this point the episode shifts from the main cast holding hand puppet-versions of themselves, to actual muppet-like puppets that look strikingly like each person. The Dean (who is still a human) introduces the a tour of potential students (also human) to the group, referring to them as “a ruggedly-handsome leading man, a mom, an activist, a perfect student, a lifelong learner, a sidekick…and Abed.” If you’ve seen the show before, you can guess who is who.

Then the episode takes a horrible turn: they start singing. Look, I enjoy the occasional song in The Simpsons or Family Guy; Sweeney Todd was pretty entertaining as well. And I know I should’ve expected puppets to sing a bit. But it takes a hilarious genius to keep songs going non-stop and still be funny – case-and-point: anything the South Park guys do.

Luckily there are only a few songs in this half-hour show, and the good stuff they’re feeding me at this hospital to keep me “sedated” got me through them. Those, and a few other miscellaneous substances that a friend of mine dropped off. Don’t worry, dear, he’s a doctor of some sort. Anyway, where was I? What? No, YOU tell me. Are you writing this down? Well stop it. Okay, well then just add a note to take this part out. We’ll cut it later.

The retelling of the story begins with the gang deciding to go on a hot air balloon ride in order to change things up. After getting separated from their guide, they wander though the wilderness and stumble upon a mountain man, played by George Costanza Jason Alexander. After he gives them some wild berries, the scene begins to get all trippy and hallucinatory – or so I’m told. To be honest, the whole episode looked all trippy and hallucinatory to me, with the exception of the actual berry-trip scene, which appeared perfectly normal.

At long last, it is revealed that each group member revealed a horrible secret about themselves while intoxicated, and that is the cause of their awkwardness. Fortunately, no one remembers anyone else’s secret. However, they all only realize this after Shirley already told hers, and they must each divulge their own secrets to make things right. I’ve told you enough already, so I won’t spill the beans – or berries – on the secrets.

Overall the episode was funny, with Troy getting a few of the better lines (Troy on The Blue Man Group: “Why don’t they talk?! They have so much in common!”) The use of puppets was creative and well-executed, and that includes both versions of puppets. With the exception of the singing, which didn’t contain constantly funny lyrics, it was a decent episode in the end. Given that this is probably the weakest season of Community so far, it was nice to see the creators try something unique – even if it did stem from a conversation earlier in the episodes where the characters pointed out that they are getting to be stale and predictable.

Is that good? Can I go now? I told you, I’m fine. What?! This is an outrage! Get me Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, immediately!

(7/10)

(Hours later – still in his bed and under even heavier sedation – the author wanted to remind everyone to twat @Gonzo_Green on the MyFace.)