SPOILERS AHEAD, so study up cautiously, Community buffs…
Season Five, Episode Five: “Geothermal Escapism”
Written by: Tim Saccardo; Directed by: Joe Russo
It’s a Mad Max world out there as Abed institutes a school-wide lava game competition in “celebration” of Troy leaving. Just like the traditional paintball episodes, this game gets out of hand, fast. But Britta has her own mission, and it doesn’t involve the $50,000 prize.
Quick Breakdown
Annie gives Troy a universal translator as a going away present. Troy is excited, but Britta wants everyone to shed some tears over Troy leaving for a year. The Dean comes on with an announcement that Abed wants to play a school-wide game of Hot Lava as a going away present. (Hot Lava is that children’s game where you can’t touch the floor or you die.) As incentive for everyone to play, Troy is giving his mint-condition comic of Space Clone, valued at $50,000, to the winner. Chaos ensues as we begin Community: Lava World.
Britta runs into a manic Professor Duncan (apparently still at Greendale despite Ass Crack Bandit accusations) and wants his help in getting Abed to recognize his avoidance issues. Duncan chases her across chairs, trying to get her to fall into the lava. He’s knocked down by a chair piece when Jeff and Annie heroically show up. They are taking the game very seriously, to Britta’s consternation; but she agrees to join their alliance except she’s “not learning the new names for anything.”
Traveling through the hallway, they run into the Locker Boys run by Chang. They threaten to take their chairs, but Troy and Abed, Floor Striders, arrive to intimidate them. However, they are all out-intimidated when Hickey shows up on a beast of a floor machine to steamroll them all. He takes out the Locker Boys and then heads to the others.
Jeff and Annie get away, but Britta is with Troy and Abed. She tries to get Abed to accept his feelings about Troy leaving, but they abandon her instead. When Hickey comes to knock her over, he stops, shocked that they left her to die. He lets her join his machine.
Troy and Abed arrive at Shirley Island, a massive fort of chairs and tables in the cafeteria. Here all your dreams come true, “if you dream of standing on a table and pissing in a jar.” According to legend (in Abed’s head), there is a special orb hidden on the Island. Everyone is living peacefully inside the fort, until Hickey arrives with Chair Walkers (people with chairs duct taped to their feet). Britta shows up with a wild-haired makeover that would make Helena Bonham Carter proud and leads the attack on Shirley Island.
Jeff and Annie take down the Chair Walkers, but Annie falls onto the floor herself. Jeff and Britta duel with plungers, and Britta outmatches him while they argue over knock-knock jokes. Abed urges Shirley to give him the orb, but the Island is the orb. Troy and Abed emerge in a giant inflatable orb chanting “Troy and Abed in a bubble.” They attack Hickey’s machine, but he lands a jab in them with a knife.
Hickey and Britta chase the deflating bubble down the hall. Troy and Abed end up rolling downstairs into a storage room. They cling to filing shelves, but Troy wants to end the game because he’s ready to move on. Abed admits that the lines between reality and his imagination have blurred too much for him to survive.
Britta and Hickey make it downstairs with Britta screaming, “Are you guys ready for closure?” Hickey knocks over the shelves like dominos while Britta knocks Hickey onto the floor. Abed barely survives, hanging onto a rod, and he says some dramatic words before dropping into the lava and dying.
To save Abed, who died without closure, Britta encourages them to make a clone of him using cardboard boxes as a regeneration sequencer. Abed is cloned and rises onto their platform. Abed admits he’s finally ready to let Troy go, but Troy says he’s not fully ready to leave himself. Abed says Troy can just send his clone in his place. Troy smiles as he falls into the lava. Miraculously, Britta, who took the game the least seriously, wins.
As Troy leaves, he gives his farewells to the gang. He says really nice things to everyone as he hugs them. “You made a furniture fortress, you’re the badass from our study group,” he tells Shirley. As he climbs into the boat, he learns that Levar Burton has been assigned to join him on the voyage to make sure he meets Pierce’s requirements. He’s very excited to be traveling with a Star Trek actor and has many questions for him.
Rating
A-
As far as farewells go, this one has some tear-inducing moments, but it’s a satisfying end to one more of the beloved original cast members. At this point, it feels like this season is one big edition of And Then There Were None, but there shouldn’t be any more actors leaving us after this. The apocalyptic Lava World was a great spin on the big school game, and this will definitely be a classic Community episode.
Now for some random thoughts and my favorite moments of the night…
There are always so many great quotations, but they are difficult to post without all the proper context. Here are a few anyway.
Britta on Troy leaving: “Let’s not forget it’s OK to be sad, too.” Jeff’s response: “Britta, do you get kickbacks from Big Buzzkill?”
Annie upon seeing a stack of unoccupied chairs: “Mama Mahogany, feast your eyes on that stack of sticks.”
Buzz before almost killing Britta: “I’m just in it for the money. My son’s getting gay married. The flowers alone, you have no idea.” Britta: “I get it. I lived in New York.”
Magnitude screams as Shirley Island comes crashing down: “I’m actually British!”
Jeff tells Troy that he’s never left Colorado before. Is it weird I never realized Greendale was in Colorado?
