“Geothermal Escapism” started out as a paintball episode in every way except paintball. But “The Floor is Lava” was close enough to paintball anyway, as it also proved to have the capacity to destroy the entire campus, with thanks also once again to a disproportionately enticing prize. The possibility that something like this could happen on Community was never in doubt. Of course Abed would want to give Troy an appropriately massive, campus-wide send-off. And no surprise that it would call back to their past great adventures. But for the first half of this episode, I was a little wary. It wasn’t just that Lava was so similar to paintball (the post-apocalyptic angle was new, but really just a subgenre of the action genre so fully covered in “Modern Warfare”), it was that the character stakes didn’t seem that high. “Modern Warfare” took place in light of Jeff and Britta’s sexual tension boiling over, and the Season 2 2-part finale was precipitated by the possibility of Pierce being kicked out of the group. It feels like at this point in the show’s run, these people are too comfortable with each other to have conflicts on those scales.
This is why I kept my eye on Britta, who insisted on everyone having a chance to grieve. This really seemed unnecessary; nobody wanted Troy to go, sure, but not everyone needs to go through the same grieving process when a friend leaves. Jeff, Shirley, and Annie at least all seemed perfectly capable of seeing Troy off without too much fuss. But there was somebody missing from that opening study room scene. Abed’s absence served both a narrative and a thematic purpose, and this was ultimately all brought together by the end.
It wasn’t just that the creators of Community wanted to re-capture the glory of the paintball episodes. Abed was the one who orchestrated The Floor is Lava. He was the one who really wanted to go back to those good times. Britta may have applied her grief psychology too broadly at first, but she was right to have that mindset. If genre-savvy Abed – who knows to be wary of sequels – was so focused on making something like a sequel (a spinoff, perhaps), then something had to have been be up. When the game comes down to Troy, Britta, and Abed, everything is brought into perspective. Abed knows intellectually that Troy won’t be here forever, but his unique emotional state affects his perception so strongly that he can’t help but see the floor as lava. This episode had to be so similar to what had come before so that the change of the status quo that came at the end could be felt so strongly.
So I had no trouble feeling the ending of this episode, but it took me some mental aerobics that I more or less just explained to really get on the first half’s wavelength. Ultimately, I do think it succeeded from start to finish. It helped that the action was so well-directed. You really got a sense of how painful some of those falls were. Annie’s drop especially looked like it hurt. There was also no shortage of laughs, with highlights including Duncan’s complaint that everyone besides the British cheats, Garrett’s storytelling about Shirley Island, “the reverse Danny Thomas” (whatever the hell that is), Gillian Jacobs’ delivery of “I understand. I lived in New York”, and “Cirque Du so long, you high-stepping acro-bastards,” which was perhaps as funny as it was only because Leonard said it.
For Troy’s last episode, “Geothermal Escapism” didn’t focus as much as one might have expected on Mr. Barnes. But as I talked about in my review of “Cooperative Polygraphy,” Troy has clearly matured enough to take on this next stage of his life. It wasn’t necessary to show him preparing, as it was clear that it was time for him to move on. And so this episode focused more on those saying goodbye, particularly Abed, and here was just the latest example of how much of a classic all-time TV character he is. It has never been confirmed one way or the other that Abed has Asperger syndrome, or something similar, and I think that has been for the best. He understands his limitations, and he consistently attempts to work around him, so it is fascinating to see him actually debilitated by his condition. It is a fitting cap to one of the great friendships in TV history to see Abed be able to be so honest with Troy in that moment.
As Troy is about to set sail, he gets the perfect goodbye from each of his friends. His moment with Britta interestingly – and poignantly – calls back to their relationship from last season. Annie eloquently expresses her amazement that someone she could barely talk to at first is now the easiest person for her to open up to. Shirley is rightly denoted as the badass of the group. Jeff, who in previous seasons looked to have been threatened by Troy’s heroic rise, is now genuinely impressed by how his protégée of sorts is now more awesome than he is. And Troy and Abed – Clone Troy and Clone Abed, that is – don’t shake hands. They hug.
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