[8.3/10] Such a fun episode. One of the great things about Community is just how well-observed all the spoofs are, and how well they manage to map whatever piece of pop cultural flotsam they’re toying with these week onto this show’s sensibilities. “Epidemiology” is a superb episode, because it manages to make this a legitimately great zombie story in its own right (replete with a nice visual reference to Day of the Dead), while also bolting on a nice Troy/Abed and a lot of character-specific jokes.
For one thing, there’s a lot of great visual work in this one. The lighting is dark and appropriately spooky for the setting, while leaving enough light to see all the characters and the zombies clearly. The races and escapes from the undead are great and tense while still being light enough to work. And the way the show plays with the tropes like people being trapped in the room while someone’s hiding that they’ve been bit, or Abed encouraging Troy to break barriers by making it to the end show a self-awareness and specificity of the parody that elevates it.
Plus, there’s great character moments galore. I died laughing at Jeff’s antics, between him being more worried about his suit than dying, and him texting regardless of whether or not he was zombified. The Chang/Shirley thing never really made sense to me, but I like the two of them bonding over people not getting their costumes, And of course, the way the episode turns a zombie outbreak into a brief but potent exploration of Troy’s desire to be cool juxtaposed with his desire to be Abed’s friend despite his nerdiness is great.
And hey, they even mix in some solid zombie explanations here, with experimental military taco meat (which makes sense given the Dean’s penny pinching), an air-conditioning based solution, and the military coming in to dose everyone afterward with a cover story. (As always, Jim Rash is tremendous as the Dean -- his delivery just cracks me up every time.)
Overall, a fantastic zombie parody, a nice Troy/Abed episode, and a lot of great Halloween comedy. Plus George Takei! What more could you want?
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-10-21T17:36:51Z
[8.3/10] Such a fun episode. One of the great things about Community is just how well-observed all the spoofs are, and how well they manage to map whatever piece of pop cultural flotsam they’re toying with these week onto this show’s sensibilities. “Epidemiology” is a superb episode, because it manages to make this a legitimately great zombie story in its own right (replete with a nice visual reference to Day of the Dead), while also bolting on a nice Troy/Abed and a lot of character-specific jokes.
For one thing, there’s a lot of great visual work in this one. The lighting is dark and appropriately spooky for the setting, while leaving enough light to see all the characters and the zombies clearly. The races and escapes from the undead are great and tense while still being light enough to work. And the way the show plays with the tropes like people being trapped in the room while someone’s hiding that they’ve been bit, or Abed encouraging Troy to break barriers by making it to the end show a self-awareness and specificity of the parody that elevates it.
Plus, there’s great character moments galore. I died laughing at Jeff’s antics, between him being more worried about his suit than dying, and him texting regardless of whether or not he was zombified. The Chang/Shirley thing never really made sense to me, but I like the two of them bonding over people not getting their costumes, And of course, the way the episode turns a zombie outbreak into a brief but potent exploration of Troy’s desire to be cool juxtaposed with his desire to be Abed’s friend despite his nerdiness is great.
And hey, they even mix in some solid zombie explanations here, with experimental military taco meat (which makes sense given the Dean’s penny pinching), an air-conditioning based solution, and the military coming in to dose everyone afterward with a cover story. (As always, Jim Rash is tremendous as the Dean -- his delivery just cracks me up every time.)
Overall, a fantastic zombie parody, a nice Troy/Abed episode, and a lot of great Halloween comedy. Plus George Takei! What more could you want?