“Even if “G.I. Jeff” ends up being more of a light diversion than an important episode, it still effortlessly manages to be such a funny joy that its shortcomings are easy to overlook.” – Warren Zhang

Community has a good track record with its animated jaunts – “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” is still my favorite episode of the show’s run – but this season’s forays into parody madness have landed with diminishing returns. Can “G.I. Jeff” reverse this trend? Will knowledge really be half the battle?

The episode opens with most of the study group, er…Save Greendale Committee shooting up some Cobras with Joe and the gang. So far, so G.I. Joe until Jeff actually straight up kills Destro. He and the rest of the study group are thrown in the cartoon prison where they meet Fourth Wall (Abed doing the Johnny Depp-as-Tonto thing).

When Fourth Wall mentions Greendale, Jeff has his first hallucination of the night. We get a not particularly subtle round of hospital-y beeping and cartoon illusion breaking voice overs. And we also see flashes of some increasingly absurd live-action G.I. Joe children’s toy adverts. Huh.

The difference between “G.I. Jeff” and so many of Community’s other genre pastiches is that this time we’re inhabiting the mind of Jeff, not Abed. It’s a small change, but one that’s well calculated, as it’s been a while since the last Jeff-centric episode this season.

Though Community has long since evolved into an ensemble, season 5 opened by refocusing (or bearing down, if you will) on Jeff’s character and how he’s devolved since we last saw him. The episodes that followed quickly lost sight of that narrative, choosing to focus on either Troy’s departure or other various shenanigans.

“G.I. Jeff” puts the spotlight back on Jeff, but it doesn’t quite fit with the rest of his character arc this season. A ways into the episode, it’s revealed that Jeff has been hiding his real birthday from the group for years now and took some ill-advised Asian medication with some scotch for his fortieth birthday.

He’s in some sort of a coma in the hospital, hallucinating a bizarre, fourth wall breaking version of G.I. Joe with Community characters scattered throughout.

It makes sense that Jeff would be in the dumps now that he’s been a full-time Greendale teacher with no end in sight, but this sudden revelation feels a little arbitrary taken in context. “G.I. Jeff” also doesn’t do the serious portion of the plot any favors with how little screen-time it gets.

The reveal happens deep into the episode, and early attempts made by the others to try and figure out how Jeff got here are brushed off. Compared to, say, “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas,” “G.I. Jeff” isn’t all that concerned with Jeff’s midlife crisis.

Instead, “G.I. Jeff” is all about spoofing G.I. Joe all the time to hilarious results. Watching the rapid decline of G.I. Joe decorum and civilization when Jeff (gasp) actually shoots people is an absolute delight.

That Joe and Cobra eventually join forces as G.I. Jobra to jack up Jeff is perfect. That Joe and Cobra Commander really just want to know what boobies look like and how scotch tastes is even more perfect.

Even if “G.I. Jeff” ends up being more of a light diversion than an important episode, it still effortlessly manages to be such a funny joy that its shortcomings are easy to overlook.

“G.I. Jeff” never lets up on the G.I. Joe mocking, from the meta use of repeated animation loops to the gleeful absurdity of the sloppy storytelling. Fortunately, for all of the jokes at G.I. Joe’s expense, “G.I. Jeff” feels like it was made out of love, and all the good-ribbing is more good-natured than harshly critical.

The visual achievement of the episode also deserve much credit. “G.I. Jeff” looks exactly like what a widescreen version of G.I. Joe would look like, complete with dust scratches, grainy filters and wildly inconsistent character models.

The level of verisimilitude is impressive, especially consider how all of it’s in HD to boot. Classic, crappy animated G.I. Joe has never looked better.

Tidbits:

  • The fine print at the end of those adverts were the gift that keeps on giving. “Comes with Reversible Ethics.” “Milk sold separately.”
  • “So is there a Mr. Tight Ship?” Thanks Dan Harmon.
  • Full disclosure: I haven’t watched much G.I. Joe, so I apologize if I got any of the names wrong.
  • Yep, they fit in “and knowing is half the battle.” Even I know that’s a G.I. Joe thing.