Community: Season 2, Episode 22 "Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts" Review

 "Well, don't tell any doctors I said this, but at this point the bus pretty much drives itself."

-Abed Nadir

"Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts" picks up during Final Exam Day in Anthropology, where Professor Duncan (John Oliver) and the class are simply getting drunk instead of actually doing a final exam.  Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) unexpectedly enters the classroom with a reporter, Paul Jacobson (Chris Dugger), who is writing an article on the Dean for Dean Magazine.  They plan to sit in on Professor Duncan's final exam, who claims he left the exam papers in his office and flees the classroom.

Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) begins to feel contractions, but insists it's just indigestion.  Britta (Gillian Jacobs) tries to give her unwanted suggestions on natural childbirth.  Jeff (Joel McHale) tries to get Britta to back off, which turns into an argument that is interrupted by Shirley's water breaking.  The Dean leaves to get his car so he can take Shirley to the hospital while Britta gives Andre (Malcolm Jamal Warner) a call to inform him of the situation.

While all of this is happening, Pierce (Chevy Chase) sees Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed (Danny Pudi) do their handshake and wants to be a part of it.  They try to ignore him, but he offers them a thousand dollars to let him in on it.  They explain that when something awesome happens or is said, they just naturally do the handshake.  Pierce says, "Betty Grable," and expects them to do the handshake, even though neither Troy or Abed know who Betty Grable is.  They do the handshake with Pierce anyway, which tarnishes the magic and when Troy and Abed try to do the handshake again later, they're out of sync with one another.  They try to get Jeff to help, but he dismisses them because of the situation with Shirley.

The Dean returns, looking much worse for the wear, and explains that Greendale's World Food Festival has turned into a "race kerfuffle" and the Dean's car has been flipped over, as have several ambulances.  With no way to get Shirley to the hospital, Abed steps up and reveals he delivered a baby earlier in the year.  Abed helps calm Shirley down and gets her to accept she's going to have the baby at Greendale.  However, she is uncomfortable with Abed going down below to check on the baby due to his gender.  Britta volunteers but is so disturbed by what she sees that she ends up puking.

With Shirley panicking, Chang (Ken Jeong) steps up to help calm her down by telling her stories of all the unconventional locations that Changs have been born.  Jeff gives Britta a pep talk and she goes back to deliver the baby with support from the study group, Chang, and the Dean.  Andre arrives just in time for the baby to be born and they discover that Andre is the biological father, not Chang.  Shirley is very grateful to Chang for helping her through the delivery and they name the baby Ben Bennett in his honor.

The experience brings the magic back to Troy and Abed's handshake, while Paul Jacobson tells the Dean that he will be receiving the cover story of the next issue of the magazine and it will be a positive article.  Unfortunately, Dean Magazine is shut down after only two issues.

The episode ends with Troy and Abed deciding to pull the fire alarm to get out of a test they know they will fail.  They pull the alarm and run, but nothing happens.  They discover the alarm isn't actually connected to anything.  The Dean runs into them and they blackmail him into canceling school for the day.

What Works:

I love a good bottle episode because it forces the writers to come up with dynamic situations, writing, and character beats.  This episode absolutely delivers on that.  We get a lot of insanity that just keeps ramping up and it makes for a very entertaining episode.  

The pacing is also excellent.  This episode flies by and I'm always so surprised when it's over.  I always think to myself, "there's no way it's already been 21 minutes," but it has.  The bottle episode format ready helps this episode to speed on through.  We don't have to establish new scenes or storylines.  We get the ball rolling and stay with it to the end.    

The Troy/Abed/Pierce storyline is so silly and I love it.  I've never seen Indecent Proposal, but I think I got the gist.  The reactions from both Troy and Abed after they sell out their handshake are incredible, especially Donald Glover's "No."  Plus it cements Pierce's villain status even more as we go into the paintball finale.

It's nice that Chang actually gets to contribute to the group.  It's a rare occurrence that will become even rarer in season 3, but he managed to calm Shirley down in his odd, Chang way.  It's a nice bow to put on the baby storyline.  And naming the baby Ben Bennett is hilarious, especially when Andre and Shirley say it out loud.

Everything involving the Dean is wonderful.  We get the worst idea for a magazine ever, the race kerfuffle, and when he tries to calm Shirley down by scream-laughing in her face.  That had to have been improvised, right?  There's no way that was in the script.  Who would even think of that?  Regardless, it's amazing. 

Britta has a wonderful arc during this episode.  She gives a lot of unsolicited advice before having to put her money where her mouth is and discovers she might be in over her head.  Still, she steps up and helps deliver the baby in the end.  It's good to see Britta have a win, especially when she really has to earn it.

What Sucked:

A couple of Chang's lines don't really land for me, but it's honestly minor stuff.

Funniest Moment:

For me, the funniest moment of the episode is when Britta has to go down to Shirley's "nethers" to check on the baby and stares into the void.  Her reaction is incredible.

Heavenly Human Being:

The Heavenly Human Being Award goes to the MVP of the episode.  For "Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts," this Award goes to Abed Nadir for stepping up and taking charge of the delivery.  He helped calm Shirley down and talked Britta through the delivery process.  He also managed to make $500 bucks off Pierce, regained the magic of the handshake, and got the Dean to cancel school for the day to avoid failing a test.  This is his 13th time winning this Award, which extends his lead.

Verdict:

This episode does a great job of wrapping up Anthropology class for our characters.  The bottled natured of the story gives us some good writing, excellent pacing, and some hysterical character moments.  Not every joke lands, but everyone gets a chance to shine.  This episode has definitely got it going on.

 9/10: Great