The last time I guest hosted Best Episode Ever, it was because I strongly disagreed with Fred Topel’s choice for “Lost’s” greatest episode. But this time, I don’t disagree with Fred at all.
Way back in Best Episode Ever # 5, Fred declared that “Digital Estate Planning” (aka the Video Game episode) was the greatest installment of “Community.” He’s not wrong. “Digital Estate Planning” is the Best Episode Ever. It’s just not the only one.
This is not simply a tie. “Digital Estate Planning” and my choice for this week’s column are equally perfect and two of the rare occasions that I’ve given a “10” to anything. The Dan Harmon years of “Community” were so strong that I can think of several episodes that could arguably deserve this distinction as well.
But I’m going with “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas,” the “Community” Season 2 Christmas episode that was almost entirely comprised of stop motion animation. The cast only appears in live action once during the course of the episode. But it’s such a great moment that I’ll get to that at the end.
The cynics among you may think that this episode was chosen because of its gimmick. Admittedly, “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” is a homage to the Rankin/Bass animated Christmas specials that are still on TV every year. However, “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” was picked for the same reason that it is so much better than anything Rankin/Bass ever worked on.
It’s heart. That’s really what it’s all about. “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” had the benefit of 35 previous episodes to fall back on, but it has characters that resonate. I don’t often get emotionally moved by films or TV shows, but there are moments in “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” that crushed me. You’d have to be made of stone to make it through this episode and not feel anything for these characters.
Animation veteran Dino Stamatopoulos co-wrote this episode with “Community” creator Dan Harmon, with animation provided by the team at 23D Films, as overseen by James Fino, Joe Russo and director Duke Johnson. The premise is remarkably simple. Abed (Danny Pudi) has some kind of mental breakdown that causes him to see everything in stop motion animation. And he “commits to the format” of the classic Rankin/Bass specials by breaking out into a song that brilliantly co-ops the “Community” theme song.
The conceit here is that Abed acted out his Christmas fantasy in the real world, we just never see that side of the story. Since the entire episode takes place from Abed’s point of view, we see the world as he sees it. Greendale Community College lets a lot insanity fly by without comment, but Abed’s latest breakdown has the school concerned about his sanity.
Fearful that Abed will be expelled, Britta (Gillian Jacobs) convinces him to take part in a therapy session with “Christmas Wizard” Professor Ian Duncan (John Oliver). Duncan serves as the villain of this episode because he’s more interested in writing a paper about Abed’s bizarre disorder than in actually helping Abed heal himself.
The entire Greendale 7 study group joins Abed in his “Christmas-nosis” voyage to Planet Abed, where Britta becomes Britta-Bot, Jeff (Joel McHale) is Jeff in the Box, Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) transforms into Baby Doll Shirley, Annie (Alison Brie) is re-envisioned as Baller-Annie, Troy (Donald Glover) enlists as a “Troy Soldier” and Pierce (Chevy Chase) regains the use of his legs as Teddy Pierce.
Obviously, Abed’s chosen personas for his friends were determined by the writers of this episode. However, within the world of the show, Abed proves to be a very good judge of character and an astute observer. Slowly at first, Abed’s friends are ejected from his Christmas fantasy. Shirley is the first to go, followed by Jeff and Duncan, who self-ejects when Abed makes him examine his own Christmas traumas.
Abed’s dismissal of Britta is particularly biting and sad. The emotion that comes out of that scene is surprisingly genuine. Abed’s words cut through Britta like a knife and reduce her to tears. Yet everything that Abed said is true and I don’t think that Britta has ever taken that to heart in the two subsequent seasons.
Eventually, only Pierce is by Abed’s side when he discovers the meaning of Christmas: a copy of “Lost” Season 1 that Abed interprets as “a lack of payoff.” Despite Troy and Annie’s efforts, Duncan intrudes upon Abed’s fantasy world with the cause of his mental break. Abed’s mother canceled her yearly visit, which happened to be Abed’s most beloved Christmas tradition. And she didn’t even do it in person or over the phone. She left a note. I ask you now, is this not the most f***ed up thing for a mother to say to a son?
“Abed, I can’t make it this year. I have a new family now. You’ll meet them one day. You’re a man now. Take care of dad. Wash your dupa.”
The point is not that Abed’s mom broke her tradition, it’s that she deemed her new family to be more important than her old one. She makes no invitation for Abed to come visit her other than a vague promise that he’ll meet her new family “one day.” One day? ONE DAY?! You know, Christmas is traditionally that day. It’s certainly as good a day as any other. But this note reads like it was written by someone who didn’t love her son. She doesn’t even say that she loves him in his Christmas card!
It’s an amazing accomplishment when a story can generate that kind of empathy with the audience. But as fans of the show, we care about these people. I care about them. And this was the episode that made me realize that.
Forced to face the thoughtless cruelty of his mother, Abed freezes up. Fortunately, all of his study group friends return to his fantasy world and forcibly kick Duncan out with an exploding Christmas Pterodactyl. Seriously!
Abed comes to realize that Christmas means whatever he wants it to mean. And he recognizes that the study group has become his new family. They decide to spend the day together watching old Christmas specials just like Abed used to do with his mom. For one brief moment, you can see the cast in live action as their reflections appear on the TV screen. It was really very moving to see them all together like that.
Of course, I know it’s just a story that was designed to have that effect. These aren’t real people and they exist only within the world of the show. There is no Abed, no Jeff, no Britta, no Annie, no Troy, no Shirley and no Pierce. Once upon a time, they only existed in Dan Harmon’s imagination. Now they seem like fully realized people thanks to the performances of their respective actors and actresses as well as the strong writing from the Harmon era of the show.
For that reason, “Community” holds a special place in the collective hearts of its fans. Not every show is passionately embraced in the way that “Community” has been. Yet “Community” deserves the fans that it has and it also deserves a bigger audience to discover it when it returns next year. After a season away, Dan Harmon is coming back to the show. Hopefully he can bring the magic back with him.
Six Seasons and a Movie!
