Jmunney's Blog

If you watch an episode of Community like “Paranormal Parentage” and end up disappointed, then it is because you have high – perhaps impossibly high – standards when it comes to Community.  That is understandable, considering how many all-time classic episodes Community has produced.  And seeing as this is the Halloween (#Valloween) episode, it is doubly understandable, considering the show’s track record with Halloween episodes.  But if you’re overly worried about this episode not measuring up to “Epidemiology” or even “Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps,” you’re liable to have missed what “Paranormal Parentage” had to offer.  After Pierce locks himself in the panic room of his mansion (or so he says), the rest of the Greendale Seven are commissioned to spring him out – and possibly confront the ghost of his father.  What follows is an homage of haunted house movies.  The title suggests that Paranormal Activity may be the main inspiration, but this is actually the Scooby-Doo episode: a bunch of happenings that seem paranormal thanks to clever editing and misleading perspectives ultimately turn out to have a perfectly logical, though fiendishly complicated, explanation.  That fitting conclusion allows for a couple of well-earned emotional beats: Pierce’s brother Gilbert (a very welcome Giancarlo Esposito) returns, and the two embrace after deciding to be roommates, and Pierce’s daddy issues lead into those of Jeff, who it is revealed has tracked down his father (and been wearing his boxing gloves).  Joel McHale plays these dramatic beats better than perhaps any of his others in the series.  The strengths and weaknesses of this episode are flipped compared to those of last week’s premiere: the emotional beats land cleanly, while the humor isn’t as raucous.  That isn’t to say there weren’t any moments that made me laugh.  There were in fact enough to make this episode satisfying, particularly Annie nervously calling out to a missing Abed that if he is doing that thing “like that part in that movie” to stop it because she doesn’t watch scary movies and “therefore can’t appreciate the reference.”  Britta’s overeager therapizing is also a delight, especially the “Ziggy Freud” malapropism and Jeff’s command that she “stop answering phones.”  Also, like Abed, I too remember dates by movie releases. B+