Community: Season 1, Episode 12 "Comparative Religion" Review

 "I'm so sick of the Dean jamming his PC-ness down my throat."
-Shirley Bennett



"Comparative Religion" picks up Greendale Community College approaching the end of the semester with Winter Break on the horizon.  Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) decides to throw a Christmas party for the study group after their Spanish final.  To get everyone into the Christmas Spirit, she makes the group bracelets that say "WWBJD" (What Would Baby Jesus Do?). 

Abed (Danny Pudi) gets into a confrontation with another student, Mike (Anthony Michael Hall), over cookies and Jeff (Joel McHale) steps in to break it up.  Before it can escalate further, the Dean (Jim Rash) arrives at the cafeteria and Mike leaves, but warns that this isn't over.

Shirley, a devout Christian, discovers that the rest of her group doesn't have the same beliefs.  Annie (Alison Brie) is Jewish, Abed is Muslim, Troy (Donald Glover) is a Jehovah's Witness, Britta (Gillian Jacobs) is an Atheist, Jeff is agnostic, and Pierce (Chevy Chase) believes he is a Born-Again Buddhist, but may actually be in a cult.  Shirley opens the party to all faiths, but makes a few comments that are less than respectful of the rest of the group's beliefs.

During the Spanish final, Mike barges into the classroom to harass Jeff.  A bored Señor Chang (Ken Jeong) allows the confrontation to play out for his entertainment.  Jeff ends up challenging Mike to a fight.  His discussion with the group later leads to the revelation that Jeff has never been in a fight.  Troy and Pierce help train him.

When Shirley learns about the fight, she bursts into the training session to stop Jeff from fighting.  He refuses and Shirley bans him from the Christmas Party if he goes through with the fight.  At the party, she lets the others know that Jeff isn't allowed to attend and if anyone else goes to the fight, they will be banned as well.  Britta tells her that if she wants the study group to be her family, then she has to treat them and their decisions with respect, even if she doesn't agree with them.  The rest of the group leaves to support Jeff.

Jeff ends up trying to make peace with Mike and the study group, including Shirley, arrive to see Jeff's attempt met with a sucker punch.  Shirley tells Jeff to kicks Mike's ass.  Mike sends his posse after the study group and it turns into a massive fray.

Later, the group celebrates their victory at their inclusive Christmas party.  Chang drops by to let them know they all passed Spanish 101 and Jeff makes a toast to the next semester.

The episode ends with Abed dressing Troy up in Christmas decorations and singing "O Christmas Troy."  Jeff sees them and ends up joining in the fun.


What Works:

One element of this episode that I think is pretty brilliant is the casting of Anthony Michael Hall as the school bully.  Hall first became famous thanks to his performances as the geek character in movies like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science.  Having an actor who is famous for playing a nerd be the meathead bully is awesome and they even have a line of dialogue from Pierce addressing that.

We also get some hilarious development and reactions from Shirley.  I love her reaction to learning that no one else in the study group, besides Troy, is a Christian, and Troy's group doesn't celebrate Christmas.  "The Lord is testing me," is an all-timer and it's a GIF I like to use a lot.  Yvette Nicole Brown gets to show off a ride range of acting here and nails all of it.

Chang only plays a small role in the episode, but him allowing a bully to harass Jeff in the middle of an exam is classic Chang.  "I'll allow it" is another GIF that my friend group and I use all the time.

I love all of Pierce and Troy's methods of training Jeff.  "Sup!", the Forest Whitaker eye, and Pierce's distractions are all hilarious.

Finally, the showdown between the study group and Mike's gang is excellent and nothing short of epic.  This is an episode my family likes to watch on Christmas and the brawl always puts me in the Christmas Spirit.  It's just so dang fun.


What Sucks:

I got nothing for you.


Funniest Moment:

For me, the funniest moment of the episode is when Shirley says, "The Lord is testing me" after learning the different religious beliefs of the study group.


Heavenly Human Being:

The Heavenly Human Being Award goes to the MVP of the episode.  For "Comparative Religion," I'm giving this Award to Jeff Winger for stepping up to defend Abed, trying to respect Shirley by attempting to make peace with Mike, holding his own in the fight, and passing the Spanish final even with all the madness happening around him.  This is his 2nd time winning this Award, which ties him for 2nd with Britta and Annie.


Verdict:

"Comparative Religion" is a Christmas classic as far as I'm concerned.  Anthony Michael Hall is an inspired choice for the role of Mike, Yvette Nicole Brown gives an excellent performance, everyone else is very funny, and the fight surpasses all of the expectations I had.  It's not my favorite Christmas episode of Community, but it's very close, and it has certainly got it going on.

 10/10: Amazing 


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