Plot
The episode begins with Cobra forces led by Destro ( Isaac Singleton Jr.) attacking the Taj Mahal. They are intercepted byCultural references
The episode was animated in the style of the popular 1980s television cartoon, '' G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero''. Jeff, as "Wingman," adopted the look of G.I. Joe's Duke, though with inverted colors for his costume; Annie, as "Tight Ship," was an analogue toProduction
Series creator and co-showrunner Dan Harmon initially announced that there would be an animated episode during the cast and crew's visit to the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2013. Series writer and co-showrunner Chris McKenna said the idea for the concept of the episode came about in a simple way: "I think Harmon said, 'Let's do a ''G.I. Joe'' episode!'" McKenna said that the show wanted to pay tribute to the 1980s animated series: " 'G.I. Joe''was something from our childhood that was very important to us and we had fond memories of it, and we thought it would be a cool way to do another animated episode. Like all Community episodes, it takes on a certain style. This one has a very specific story reason for it. I don’t want to give too much away, but our characters find themselves on a '' Wizard of Oz''-type journey through the world of ''G.I. Joe.'' … There’s a mystery that Jeff in particular has to get to the bottom of." McKenna added that the ''Community'' team had been working overtime to craft "a loving homage to the G.I. Joe series." Though production for the live-action episodes had been completed in December 2013, the cast recorded their voices in late March 2014. McKenna said the delay was due to the fact that they broke and re-broke the story several times in order to utilize all the regulars and guest stars in the ''Community'' universe, as well as to find a proper justification for using the animated medium to tell their story. McKenna said that Rob Schrab (''Scud: The Disposable Assassin'') was the "perfect person" to direct the episode and "he's absolutely a maniac trying to get it together." McKenna explained that this episode is not simply a sketch, but that the characters take on this style to carry out a story that takes place in the real world, which Harmon stated was a story was about "age and dying." The episode was animated by Harmon's animation studio, Starburns Industries, which had previously animated the claymation episode, ""The weird thing was how cooperative they were. Not that we maligned their product in any way, but their product is a syndicated, children's cartoon with a different rating than ours, so it's like part of the point of the episode is that there's a different sensibility within this world. So I thought they'd have more problems than they did with the idea of Jeff Winger's G.I. Joe character accidentally killing people. But they were cool with that! More power to them, because they were very, very gracious with their product. That's really cool too, because you're accustomed in TV that if someone pulls out a Snickers bar, it always says 'Snookers.' So the weird thing is that when you see actual branding like that, it hits your brain like it's kind of revolutionary. Which is dumb, because why should that be? But you see the G.I. Joe logo and we have G.I. Joe characters talking to our characters…"
Reception
Ratings
Upon airing, the episode was watched by 2.50 million American viewers, receiving a 0.9/3 in the 18-49 rating/share. The show placed fourth out of fifth in its time slot, behind '' The Big Bang Theory'', '' Hell's Kitchen'', and '' Once Upon a Time in Wonderland''; and fifteenth out of seventeen for the night.Critical reception
Critics gave the episode generally positive reviews, with many remarking on the authentic feel of the 1980s cartoon ''G.I. Joe.'' The episode drew criticism, however, due to unfamiliarity of many in the audience with the cartoon to which the episode paid homage. Brian Collins of ''Badass Digest'' praised the episode's use of the animated medium to tell an essential story in the ''Community'' mythology. He said this episode proved "once again that in ''Community'', there's (almost) no such thing as a throwaway episode." Collins enjoyed how the episode immediately distinguished itself from the 1980s cartoon by questioning the lack of deaths when firing multiple weapons while fighting a terrorist organization like Cobra. He commended the episode for being frank with the viewer from the beginning with the idea that the episode took place in Jeff's mind, unlike the fourth season's finale. Collins noted how this episode compared to the second season's stop-motion episode where Abed had a mental breakdown. The ultimate reveal, however, in this episode that Jeff is in a coma (due to alcohol poisoning mixed with suspect anti-aging pills) made the episode much darker, Collins said. Collins also praised the episode for delivering a grounded piece of canon about Jeff turning 40 years old despite making him a “bit too old” for the 23/24-year-old Annie: “It's a daring move, and the fact that he's been ‘lying’ about his age doesn't quite land since he's never revealed it in an episode, but it's one of the many things that helps keep the show grounded in more of a reality than we're used to on a sitcom.” The reveal is especially poignant, Collins wrote, because Jeff was now the one with the crisis, where previous episodes saw dramatic stories such as Troy leaving (Abed's crisis), Pierce dying (the Group's crisis), and Britta seeing her activist friends move on. Collins ended by saying “it’s a goddamn hilarious episode. Rob Schrab (the director of the episode) plays Cobra Commander, and had me laughing out loud nearly every time he spoke - particularly during Destro's eulogy, which he botches because he's never had to give one before now.” Joe Matar from '' Den of Geek'' rated the episode “2 out of 5 stars,” though qualifying his rating by confessing he “can’t even remember watching a single ''G.I. Joe'' pisodeand I certainly didn’t own any of the action figures.” This mirrored the rating given by Dave Bunting ('' Vulture''), who also qualified his rating by saying he “never watched that mid-’80s animated series, and the line of action figures that inspired the cartoon also didn't mean much to me.” Similar to Bunting's reason for the lack of connection with the episode, Matar explained that though this episode is a loving homage to the old G.I. Joe action figures, he couldn't “imagine this episode holding that much appeal for you. It certainly didn’t for me.” Matar criticized the episode's heavy dependence upon “nostalgia and recognition of a bygone era of budget animation and cheesy toy commercials,” adding that “either your familiarity with this old junk will be triggered from frame one and you’ll be grinning the whole episode or you’ll sit there, stony-faced, at times bewildered, like yours truly.” Despite his harsh criticism, Matar explained that he understood the irony that the characters were “upset when someone actually dies.” Matar resented this “in-joke” as much of the story hinged upon this concept. Unlike Collins, Matar did not appreciate Jeff imagining the entire episode like in the fourth-season finale:“Something continually upsetting to me is the way Season 5 at its worst reminds me of Season 4, a period in ''Community’s'' life that I don’t even consider to be the same show. But remember the abysmal Season 4 finale where Jeff kind of had a psychotic break and imagined the Darkest Timeline was real and then it turned out it was all a dream? Well, this one makes a lot more sense and it doesn’t cheaply hide the ‘dream’ aspect so as to use it as a twist at the end, but still, it feels lazier than I expect Community to be.”Emily VanDerWerff's ('' The A.V. Club'') unfamiliarity with the 1980s cartoon did not negatively affect her rating, however, as she gave the episode an “A-.” VanDerWerff said that though she was too young to have knowledge of the cartoon, she enjoyed this spiritual sequel to season two's stop-motion episode, "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas". She said that she enjoyed the episode turning into a “weird, '' Inception''-inspired attempt to break out of Jeff’s subconscious.” She also enjoyed the episode “kept getting more and more ridiculous as Jeff struggled to wrangle everything together into a coherent narrative funny.” Like Collins, VanDerWerff enjoyed that the stakes were established early on and that it was revealed that the episode took place in Jeff's head – similar to Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas taking place in Abed's head. She praised the episode for being able to handle darker topics, explaining that Jeff wasn't actively trying to commit suicide, but taking pills thinking it will bring him youth:
“The episode also doesn’t shy away from how that act of self-destruction might as well be subconscious suicide anyway. Jeff’s horribly depressed about being 40 and having only made it as far as a community college instructor. Even if he’s surrounded with friends, he’s not in the place he thought he would be when he was a little boy and imagined greater things for himself. Adulthood might carry with it pleasures that childhood doesn’t—from naked breasts and Scotch all the way up to deeper emotional connections with other human beings—but childhood carries with it the pleasure of not really knowing how much sorrow and despair the world can hold. That’s why nostalgia for the things we loved as children is such a powerful opiate: It takes us back to a place where we knew we were loved, as Don Draper would have it. I’m not saying this episode doubles as a subtle critique of all of those ''VanDerWerff also praised director Rob Schrab's ability to “beautifullyBuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...'' articles about how great it was to be a kid in the ‘90s, but I’m not ''not'' saying that either. We all get older and have to put away childish things. Getting lost in them can be a danger in and of itself.”
“I think works a little too hard to put a cap on everything that doesn’t leave the audience contemplating their own mortality…But I still thought the episode built nicely to a place of genuine existential despair and then sort of… shoved it right back down so we could have the standard group hug…It’s not a huge flaw—''Community'' has been walking right up to the edge of the howling void and then walking right back with a hug since 2009—but it’s one that nonetheless kept me from completely embracing everything that was going on in the end.”
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