Community 4.10: Intro To Knots
Britta (Gillian Jacobs, center) is judging the proceedings as Troy (Donald Glover, left) and Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown, right) look on in “Intro to Knots.”
If you’re going to have a trifle of a story, it’s a smart move to have Malcolm McDowell handle most of whatever lifting there is to be done.
The return of McDowell as crotchety Professor Cornwallis lives up to its design as the centerpiece to “Intro to Knots,” the much-delayed holiday party episode that owes less to Die Hard (to Abed’s initial chagrin) than to The Ref (which, surprisingly, he doesn’t pick up on), as he seizes on the group’s various insecurities to get away from them after Annie and Jeff, for reasons all their own, force the Group and Kevin/Chang to take him hostage.
Not a bad idea, but writer’s Andy Bobrow’s story blows by way too fast for much to register, let alone laughs. McDowell does make the most of the situation, though, as Cornwallis uncovers that Shirley has secretly become a rival to Annie for Class Valedictorian honors and also plays on Troy’s (and Britta’s?) lingering fear that the torch between her and Jeff isn’t truly extinguished.
The problem with that is, the situation doesn’t explode so much as it deflates. While part of that is thanks to the Group — Jeff rightly points out that one of them is screwing the pooch at any given time, so they’re used to playing CYA for each other — Bobrow still staple-guns a “Lonely at Christmas” out onto Cornwallis’ character, which causes the episode to fizzle to a stop.
While this has the upside of giving the last minute or two of the episode — which shows us Chang revealing more of his plan and, more promisingly, the return of the gang from the Darkest Timeline — that in itself is a backhanded compliment. When you go through 20+ minutes only to get excited about literally only the final few seconds, that reminds a viewer of the inefficiency that’s haunted most of this season. Forget the Darkest Timeline; at this point we’re hoping to get back to a solid one.
