9)
Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas via Community
Do
you have Hulu?
Ok,
if you do, go onto your account, search “COMMUNITY” and pull up season two,
episode 11 and watch this now!
I’ll
wait.
…
OK,
you good?
Good!
This episode is all about Greendale Community College's premiere Spanish Study Group gang-- Jeff,
Britta, Annie, Shirley, Pierce, Troy, and of course, Abed—helping one of their
own: Abed! You see, while the episode is in stop-motion animation: LIKE ALL
GOOD CHRISTMAS SPECIALS SHOULD BE, ;) only Abed sees this, and he believes this is because the gang
must find the meaning of Christmas, and (in Christmas traditional way) he sings
about it!
As I said, only Abed sees the stop motion animation; everyone
else sees reality. So Britta and Jeff take Abed to the school counselor/psychology
professor: Professor Duncan. After speaking with him, Duncan deems Abed as
certifiable, and as his “great find.” The episode centers around getting to
the root of Abed’s problem that is making him see animation.
Britta tricks Abed into
showing up in their favorite hang-out, the library study room (where most of the series dialogue takes
place), for what turns out to be an intervention for what appears to be Abed’s loss of sanity. Duncan
decides to try and play into Abed’s world and calls himself a Christmas Wizard.
Since we are watching from Abed’s point of view, we see his version of the
circumstances, and not only does Duncan turn into a Wizard, but when he asks
Abed to take everyone to Planet Abed, we see the study table shake and go
through space, passing Christmas themed planets.
When the gang lands in Winter Wonderland on planet Abed (btw, the atmosphere is 70% cinnamon and smells delicious), Duncan tries to get Abed to go through ”The Cave of Frozen Memories” and Abed agrees, but will go about it his own way. In a Wonka Chocolate Factory sort of way where those with no Christmas spirit get ejected from the journey.
For instance Shirley gets persnickety over the fact that Abed sees here as a baby doll and Jeff is just too sarcastic and smug, and they both get ejected almost immediately. Annnnd, as they leave, a song is sung about how they had no Christmas spirit (like Oompa Loompas).
When the gang lands in Winter Wonderland on planet Abed (btw, the atmosphere is 70% cinnamon and smells delicious), Duncan tries to get Abed to go through ”The Cave of Frozen Memories” and Abed agrees, but will go about it his own way. In a Wonka Chocolate Factory sort of way where those with no Christmas spirit get ejected from the journey.
For instance Shirley gets persnickety over the fact that Abed sees here as a baby doll and Jeff is just too sarcastic and smug, and they both get ejected almost immediately. Annnnd, as they leave, a song is sung about how they had no Christmas spirit (like Oompa Loompas).
 |
| (Shirley leaves via a Christmas Pteradactyl...via) |
 |
| (Jeff gets devoured by humbugs...from a Community photobucket) |
In the Cave of Frozen Memories, Abed actually turns the tables on Duncan who has his
own breakdown and he has to leave. Abed shares that the cave is not necessary,
but, that Britta must leave the group since she lied to Abed about the
intervention.
And so, Abed, Annie, Troy and Pierce are taken to what I can
only think is the Polar Express, or some other Christmas train, and head to the
North Pole. While on the train Abed shares why everything is in stop motion animation. As it turns out, one of his favorite Christmas
traditions is sitting down and watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with his
mom on December 9…**gasp** the same day as Abed’s current break down. Before we get to go any further with that morsel, Duncan
re-emerges and is ticked that Abed bested him by making him have feels about his own
past. Annie and Troy--being true friends to Abed--stay on the train fight off Duncan so that Abed and Pierce can journey on to
the North Pole.
 |
| (Warp Speed o the North Pole) |
After arriving, and opening a present with the tag “Meaning
of Christmas” on it we see that is merely the First Season of Lost on DVD that is in
fact metaphor for “lack of payoff.” Duncan pops up and says that the metaphor is
perfect, and, reveals that the reason Abed’s been off his rocker is due to the
fact that his mom won’t be able to meet Abed for their annual tradition because she has a new baby, with her current husband, and, is starting a tradition with them. Abed is distraught, but, Duncan wants him to “do the right thing” and commit to being a subject in a scientific
journal to help Duncan gain fame for the this particular case.
But that’s when the gang pops in to share with Professor
Duncan what Christmas is for:
After they save the day, Abed shares that Christmas’ biggest meaning is
that it’s what it means to you. For Abed it meant the time with his mom, but
now, it’s the time with his friends at Greendale.
Abed is my favorite character, and it maybe it has to do
with that at work, I am Abed. Abed has a LOT of pop-culture, TV, and movie
knowledge that he uses as reference—whether anyone else knows what he’s
referencing or not. And while I haven’t
had a stop motioned breakdown yet I think that if I didn’t get to have
my traditional traditions, I’d be in danger of the same thing. I think this
episode pays a great homage to those stop-motioned features.
I also like Abed's philosophy about Christmas--like all other things--is what you make of it. You have to put effort into it, to make it enjoyable, and to avoid driving yourself nuts. You can't over hype it, but you can't not invest in it, and expect it to go the way you want.
And with that I leave you with some Troy and Abed in the
morning stop motion
Cool.
Cool, cool, cool.
Cool, cool, cool.
Psst! Check out days 8-10 here: