Community-Intro-to-Knots

Those first two minutes were something else, huh?  Community has always had a more cinematic feel than most shows on TV, not just in terms of all the films it has made homages to, but also in terms of the way it is shot and the detail of the set design.  So, as the camera darted back and forth from Jeff’s living room to his door, it was surprising that it had taken this long for the show to have a long unbroken shot like that one.  The only bad thing about it was that it did not last any longer than two minutes.  There was another one soon after that also lasted about two minutes, but then that technique just stopped for the rest of the episode.  Sure, that was disappointing, but that was only in comparison to how awesome it was while it was happening.  Besides, they were doing different things the rest of the episode that would not have necessarily worked with a long unbroken shot.  But it would have been nice if it could have lasted the whole first act, or at least until the opening credits.  That is how all of “Intro to Knots” ultimately went down: a lot of promise that was met a little, making the whole episode disappointing, but only insofar as it could have been even more awesome.

With the entirety of the episode taking place in Jeff’s apartment in real time, the entire study group (minus Pierce, unfortunately, but plus Chang, oddly, though somewhat fortunately) is in close proximity, a formula for everything to beautifully bump into each other.  Combine that with the Hitchcockian plot – which references in particular the real-time murder mystery Rope – in which Professor Cornwallis is tied to a chair so that the study group will have him at their mercy to force him to bump up their group paper to a more favorable grade, and this is quite a simmering cauldron of angst.  It has been disappointing that Cornwallis has been more heard than seen this season, but Malcolm McDowell made the most out of finally getting significant screen time, offering up the best ass-kissing removal tell-off I have seen in a while.  (Even though, oddly enough, there was still some showing when there could have been telling, such as when Annie tells Jeff that Cornwallis just told her to get her “fit bum” into the kitchen to refill his drink, instead of actually pointing the camera on him being the cad that he has been established by everyone else as.)  Cornwallis promises an A to whoever unties him, but an F to everyone else, and then proceeds to pick at the scabs of the group dynamic, and he also manages to act as a voice of a typical Community fan within the show, speaking to several of the common criticisms of Season 4.  He sniffs out trouble in the Tritta romance and posits that there is a triangle with them and Jeff, and he demands to know why everyone puts up with “that idiot,” i.e., Chang.  He even manages to bring to light a previously latent tension – the Annie-Shirley valedictorian rivalry – that should affect the group dynamic in an entertaining fashion in the future.

Cornwallis is ultimately unable to get anyone to break, because despite their problems, they really are united and their friendship is so strong and all that good stuff.  The Winger speech hits on forgiveness and loyalty, and it isn’t his best, but it does the trick.  So Cornwallis acquiesces because his daughter never visits him, and being at the gang’s Christmas party actually kept him away from working on his suicide note.  And this revelation kind of lands with a thud.  Perhaps it is logical enough to explain his behavior, and it fits with the Greendale ethos of the entire series of accepting lonely people.  But since Cornwallis is not that significant a character, it is hard for a secret of his to bring much heft to the proceedings.  And then this episode just ends.  That lacking ending doesn’t take away from the tension of the rest of the episode, but it sure doesn’t live up to it, either.

Of course, the Jeff-Annie business of this episode must also be touched upon, thanks in no small part to Ms. Edison so assuredly swooping in and putting her stamp all over Mr. Winger’s place.  She is also aggressive by showing up with gifts after they had all agreed against that (although everyone else brought gifts as well – I imagine Jeff insisted on no gifts and then they together decided to ignore him).  It all seems like another example of Annie wanting to play house with Jeff (which apparently bothers some people), and while there is certainly part of that to it, her main point of the night seems to be teaching Jeff that “the obligation [of gift-giving] is the gift.”  While her phrasing may sound bizarre, she actually raises an interesting point: the bonds formed by being indebted to others and others being indebted to you can be quite rewarding.  Then there is the tag, which seems designed to enrage just about every segment of the Community fandom: shippers, anti-shippers, and those who think the Darkest Timeline should be left well enough alone.  I basically agree with the sentiment that the Darkest Timeline has no place outside of “Remedial Chaos Theory,” but if its placement in the tag is, as I suspect, an indicator that it won’t affect what is really going on, then I will be happy to see the occasional riff on the evil versions of these characters.  And while I would actually like to see Jeff and Annie together in the Prime Timeline, I am not sure I want the official version to be as carelessly passionate as on display here.  But that does not mean it wasn’t a hell of a lot of fun to see that kiss, and that hair, and to hear Jeff say that he actually wishes Annie were younger. B+