Community/Recap/S3/E10 Regional Holiday Music: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''It was almost like being on ecstasy, only instead of having pointless conversations and dancing like idiots--wait, it was '''exactly''' like being on ecstasy!''|'''Britta''', ''on [[Take That|being in Glee club]]''}}

 

 

Dean Pelton and Glee Club Director Mr. Radison (who prefers being called "Mr. Rad") try to get the study group to fill in for Glee Club at the Christmas Pageant, but the group (led by Jeff) declines. Concerned that the group is growing apart, Abed later goes to see Mr. Rad, who convinces him that joining Glee and doing the Pageant will stave off the [[Cerebus Syndrome|growing darkness]] and make everything brighter ('''"Glee"'''). Enthusiasm for Glee Club spreads like a virus, going first from Abed to Troy. Abed convinces him in rap that he can celebrate Christmas even though he's a Jehovah's Witness ('''"Jehovah's Secret Witness"''') and then Troy and Abed change the study room and get Pierce to join through his Baby Boomer vanity ('''"Baby Boomer Santa"'''). Pierce then gets Shirley via a group of cute children singing about not knowing the meaning of Christmas ('''"Happy Birthday, Jesus!"'''). Annie gets Jeff by singing a seductive song about not understanding Christmas ('''"Teach Me How to Understand Christmas"'''). Finally, only Britta is left until she finds Jeff and he starts [[Invasion of the Body Snatchers|singing at her]]. Within a day, the entire study group decides to do the Christmas pageant.

* [[Brainless Beauty]]: Annie's entire routine is a deconstruction of this mentality; she dresses in a [[Catholic School Girls Rule|short-skirted costume]] and begins her song with an affected [[Brainless Beauty|cutesy-dumb]] attitude remarkably unlike her usual intelligent, straight-A personality. This then devolves into increasingly childish behavior, until she's [[Up to Eleven|flopping on the ground spewing baby-talk.]] Even the insatiably horny Jeff is incredibly turned off by the number she intended to use to seduce him.

** Considering that the entire episode is an extended [[Take That]] to ''[[Glee]]'', the scene could arguably be interpreted as a criticism of [[The Ditz|Brittany's]] character in particular. She started out as vaguely ditzy, progressed to [[Cloudcuckoolander|amusingly airheaded]], and quickly crossed the line into being [[Adult Child|so childish]] that she could never possibly function in the real world. This doesn't preclude the series from portraying her in a very sexualized manner, which leads into mass [[Unfortunate Implications]].

*** Like the previous Christmas special, this one also ends with the study group sitting together happily watching a [[Christmas Special]] on TV.

*** Clockwise from the top the screenshots are shown chronologically, with each quarter of the circle marking one season. The empty quarter circle is for the anticipated fourth season.

* [[Christmas Episode]]

{{quote|'''Abed:''' Maybe forcing everything to be bright just makes the darkness underneath even darker.}}

* [[Critical Research Failure]]: [[Invoked Trope|Invoked]] with "Santa smoked a lot of acid."

* [[False Reassurance]]: Mr. Rad tries to turn his [[Motive Rant]] into a hypothetical scenario.

* [[Fan Disservice]]: Annie in a [[Sexy Santa Dress]]? Hot. A dumb Annie talking in [[Baby Talk]] while wearing a [[Sexy Santa Dress]]? Not so much.

** Parodied / deconstructed to an extent with Annie, however, since her increasing [[Took a Level In Dumbass|Taking Levels In Dumbass]] and babyish performance ends up [[Squick|squicking]] Jeff out a bit despite the [[Fan Service]] on offer.

{{quote|'''Jeff:''' Look, eventually you [[Fetish Retardant|hit a point of diminishing returns on the sexiness.]]<br />

* [[Funny Background Event]]: During the Christmas pageant, Pierce is clearly out-of-step with the other members of the group (and does some of the wrong moves as well).

** During the Glee club's breakdown, Chang can be seen laughing at them.

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: The lyrics to "Teach Me How to Understand Christmas" is all this. Then the last line (see [[Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion]] and [[Intercourse with You]]) takes that crap and WAVES IT IN THE RADAR'S FACE.

* [[Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul]]: The effect of Glee Club.

* [[Glurge Addict]]: Mr. Rad is one of these. {{spoiler|A particularly psychotic and murderous one, as it turns out.}}

* [[Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die]]: Mr. Rad is not a very good motivational speaker:

{{quote|'''Mr. Rad''': ''Your best won't be good enough. And ten times your best? It will be so bad, '''I will yell at you!''' ''}}

{{quote|''You smart, me dumb/Help pwetty have fun!''}}

* [[Hypocritical Heartwarming]]: While the study group is often quick to poke fun and mock Britta, Mr. Rad quickly learns that they will not tolerate anyone else calling her "the worst."

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]:

{{quote|'''Mr. Rad''': I thought I told you to call me 'Mr. Rad.' Or Cory. Just don't call me late to dinner. Unless you're serving Brussels sprouts.}}

* [[Shout-Out]]:

** The ''[[Inspector Spacetime]]'' Christmas special, which is two and a half hours long and was bad enough to get the creator's knighthood revoked, is an obvious send-up of [[The Star Wars Holiday Special]].

** ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' is given a quick mention.

** "[[Go Look At the Distraction|Look,]] Kings Of Leon!"

** Bonus points for literally escaping off the left side of a stage.

* [[Villainous Breakdown]]: When Britta gets on stage and ruins the show, Mr. Rad goes absolutely nuts and accidentally lets slip that he {{spoiler|killed the previous Glee Club}}.

* [[The Virus]]: Abed calls Glee Club recruitment this in the first song, and so it's played for the rest of the episode.

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?]]: [[Hypocritical Heartwarming|You don't get to call Britta the worst.]]

** Also, um...{{spoiler|why is nobody overly concerned that an admitted murderer just ran out of the cafeteria?}}

* [[A Wizard Did It]]: How does a piano [[Invisible Backup Band|keep playing with no musician]]? Glee of course.

* [[Whole-Plot Reference]]/[[X Meets Y]]: The plot is essentially ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]'' given the ''[[Glee]]'' treatment.