Community 4.12: Heroic Origins

Ironic, I guess, that an episode set mostly in the past just didn’t have time on its side.

In “Heroic Origins,” writers Steve Basilone, Maggie Bandur and Annie Mebane, fittingly, use Abed to introduce a tried-and-true sci-fi concept: the idea that the Group was destined to come together. But unlike your average sci-fi shows, Community doesn’t have 40+ minutes to explore that kind of retroactive world building (this episode, sans commercials, clocks in at 21:09 when you count the credits.)

The end result is that the visual hook driving the episode — what everybody looked and sounded like before making their way to Greendale — has precious few seconds to play out. Another 20 minutes would have helped give more definition to Britta’s struggles in anarchy or Annie’s angst. The cast does what it can, of course, but ultimately it’s Joel McHale and Yvette Nicole Brown who get the benefit of the plot here, as Abed’s machinations reveal that Jeff and Shirley’s history goes back even further than their foosball encounters. The ensuing conversation gives both of them the best chance to underscore how their characters have progressed since we met them, and not just hair-wise.

While the episode’s main plot barely registers, the B-plot almost manages to undermine seemingly the whole point of the season, as Chang gives up his crusade for revenge (scheduled for the anniversary of his dynasty’s demise, even) once Abed asks him to join the gang for frozen yogurt. It’s not a cheat, in and of itself, for Chang to drop the Kevin charade and admit, “That’s all I ever wanted,” but it doesn’t register as a good surprise, either. If betting on him as a Big Bad was risky enough, putting Dean Spreck front and center now seems iffy, as well, gigantic spider-construct or not.

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