Poorly-conceived background players and a too-neat ending drag down an otherwise solid episode of Community.

“Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations” is the kind of episode that’s definitely encouraging, even though I despised it. Despise may be too strong a word, especially after “Conventions of Space and Time,” so let’s call it on par with “History 101” entertainment-wise.

This week, it’s Thanksgiving time at Greendale. Shirley invites the whole gang over to her house, but Jeff has already chosen to finally reach out to his father over Thanksgiving. Britta (obviously) tags along to provide support, while the rest of the study group gets to meet Shirley’s Tyler Perry-esqe family.

Thankfully, the broad caricatures are kept to a minimum as the study group quickly regroups away from Shirley’s awful family in her garage, where Abed decides that they need a prison break.

Back at the Wingers, Jeff finds out that his father has another son, the manic, depressed Willy Jr., who is, not surprisingly, somewhat of a hustler like a pre-Community Jeff. Willy Jr., for his part, is convinced that Jeff is here to replace him, causing Britta to focus most of her therapy efforts on him instead of Jeff.

At first, their reunion seems to be strangely peaceful. It all comes crashing down when Jeff’s dad suggests that abandoning Jeff at an early age was a bit of good parenting (see how Willy Jr. turned out?). Jeff drives away, out of disgust.

The study group, just before they were going to eat a rancid seven-layer dip to get out of Shirley’s party, comes to realize that Shirley’s also trapped with her inconsiderate family, and they decide to tough it out – solidarity, you know.

While driving back, Jeff ends up having a weird heart-to-heart with Willy Jr. (who stowed away), before deciding to turn back around and confront his father once and for all.

There’s a palpable sense of deflation towards the end; I almost caught myself saying “That’s it?” to my television. After so much buildup to this moment, the actual meeting, this showdown of ultimate destiny amounted to a halfhearted Winger-speech and an Abed voice-over?

But that, in and of itself, is the point. Jeff’s reckoning with his father would have been disappointing regardless of the outcome because of the agonizing buildup, so making the ending of “Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations” rather underwhelming is a bit of schematic brilliance.

I can’t fault the ideas behind this episode. The two thematically related storylines, the way the script highlights the superficial similarities and profound differences between Jeff and his dad and, heck, even The Shawshank Redemption references are great ideas. That represents a massive leap forward over the first three episodes of the season, which mostly coasted on residual fumes from season 3.

However, something is amiss in the episode’s execution. The prison-break B-story felt like it should have been funnier than it was. Joel McHale’s delivery of his last speech was oddly flat. The ending, redeemed slightly by Abed’s narration, was too neat.

Additionally, many of the weird, tiny nitpicks I’ve had with season 4 so far have started actively ruining my experience. Has Chevy Chase always read his lines in a weird, detached monotone, or is it just me? Why are so many of the edits and cuts so inorganic and jarring?

And why have the background actors been getting progressively worse? In season 2, Fat Neil, Vicki and Magnitude evolved into endearing and memorable characters. This season? We’ve got Shirley’s stilted in-laws and the impossibly awful Willy Jr.

It’s a shame that these flaws drag down an episode filled with such good ideas. At the end of the day, I’d still rather see smart, poorly executed episodes than well-executed crap, but I can’t help but wish that we had gotten something better now that they had gotten so close.

Tidbits:

– I bet that Thanksgiving conceit seems a lot less clever after that delay.

– “This is the Jonestown of dinners.”

– “Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations” is a step up, title-wise, from “Alternative History of German Invasion” but a far cry from, say, “Competitive Calligraphy.” The trick, I think, is to come up with a course listing that’s thematically related, but not actually a summary of the episode.

– I hope Community does Die Hard as well, Abed.

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