@amberrav I completely agree w/ your point of view. Much of the setting in this show, as well as others, is pretense to make jokes that are, in nature, nothing more than racist and/or misogynistic. A great example of this was something I finally sat down to watch recently: How I Met Your Mother. That was some of the most hatefully misogynistic crap that I’ve ever had the displeasure of watching. It really made me wonder how awful the showrunners and writers really were. The same applied w/ Community. As revered as Dan Harmon was, was I thoroughly unsurprised when he confirmed that he’d engaged in sexual harassment in the workplace. When we have someone like that running a show, episodes like The Art of Discourse are what we get.
Review by amberravBlockedParent2021-03-17T15:23:33Z
This is probably one of the worst episodes of the show. Pierce is an awful character, and while the show labels him a racist and homophobe they are also using him as an excuse to make racist and homophobic jokes. This episode starts with Shirley (who is very much problematic as well) standing up for herself against Pierce's racism and sexual harassment, and would have been a good way for the show to say "Hey! It's not cool for people to make offensive jokes!" and either write Pierce's character out of the show or reform his character, but the show does neither. Instead they for some incomprehensible reason make Shirley and Pierce friends without him having apologised for his behaviour. (He uses a bullshit excuse that basically boils down to "sexual harassment is a compliment because you're a strong woman and I like you.") Therefore sending the message that you should respect your oppressors instead of standing up to them, because "peace" is better than change, and because you need to be the better person.
The side plot of Jeff and Britta acting like teenagers in some sort of weird competition with actual teenagers is just a waste of screen time and not funny at all. The only purpose that plot has is to establish that they are insecure, but this could've been done a lot better.