Community/Recap/S3 E10 Regional Holiday Music



"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 being in Glee club

As the study group tells each other their plans for Christmas (none of which involve each other), they (and the rest of the cafeteria) are interrupted by the new Glee Club (the old one having died in a bus crash) singing their usual mashups. However, this time the Glee Club is interrupted by Chang, who serves them with a cease-and-desist letter for singing copyrighted songs on behalf of ASCAP (who found out after receiving an anonymous notification from Jeff), causing them to immediately panic and suffer a collective nervous breakdown.

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 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 singing at her. Within a day, the entire study group decides to do the Christmas pageant.

Backstage on the day of the Pageant, Mr. Rad tells Abed (playing the King) that the group won't be filling in for Glee Club for just Christmas: Glee Club is forever. To stop Glee from taking over their lives, Abed switches roles with Britta, who promptly ruins the show (because she's the worst) and causes. Abed concludes that forcing things to be bright just made the darkness underneath even darker.

Back at his apartment, Abed watches the Inspector Spacetime Christmas Special alone, until he hears the rest of the study group singing Christmas carols outside his door. He lets them in and they all sit down to watch together.

The Community episode "Regional Holiday Music" provides examples of:
"Abed: Maybe forcing everything to be bright just makes the darkness underneath even darker."
 * Accidental Public Confession: Mr. Rad admitting that is a classic type 1.
 * Actor Allusion: Troy raps like Childish Gambino, Donald Glover's rap stage name.
 * Annie's number is likely a reference to this.
 * Also, Annie mentions that they "never let her rap." Alison Brie has, in the outtakes, shown her rapping skills...and they are quite unorthodox.
 * Gillian Jacobs has also made several self-deprecating comments about her lack of singing ability compared to some of the other members of the cast, which is reflected in Britta's less-than-stellar performance in the Christmas pageant.
 * Affectionate Parody: Is sometimes this of Glee, when it's not more of a Take That.
 * Baby Talk: Annie's attempt at being a Brainless Beauty descends into Adult Child, then Baby Talk, then just gibberish.
 * Better Than a Bare Bulb: Community has a high track record of this already, but this episode takes it Up to Eleven.
 * Big No: From Britta when she is assimilated.
 * Brainless Beauty: Annie's entire routine is a deconstruction of this mentality; she dresses in a short-skirted costume and begins her song with an affected cutesy-dumb attitude remarkably unlike her usual intelligent, straight-A personality. This then devolves into increasingly childish behavior, until she's 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 Brittany's character in particular. She started out as vaguely ditzy, progressed to amusingly airheaded, and quickly crossed the line into being 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.
 * Call Back: Frequent reference is made to a short scene in "Paradigms of Human Memory", which showed the first time the group filled in for Glee Club. At the Christmas Pageant, Mr. Rad reveals that
 * This Christmas wasn't the first where Abed's desire for a happy, idyllic Christmas has caused problems for the study group.
 * Like the previous Christmas special, this one also ends with the study group sitting together happily watching a Christmas Special on TV.
 * Britta awkwardly dances and sings "Me so_____!, Me so _____!"
 * This isn't the first time Jeff tried to use the copyright-infringement-anonymous-call weapon to shut down something he hated. And it only brought about more madness last time, too.
 * Abed's graphic during the "Christmas Infiltration" rap includes images from ten other episodes, including both paintball episodes, both previous Christmas episodes, and all three Halloween episodes: in chronological order, "Pilot", "Introduction to Statistics", "Comparative Religion", "Modern Warfare", "Basic Rocket Science", "Epidemiology", "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas", "A Fistful of Paintballs", "Remedial Chaos Theory", and "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps". Keep in mind that this graphic is on the screen for about ten seconds and the screenshots are tiny.
 * 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.
 * When summing up what a dark semester it's been, Jeff alludes to inadvertently killing Pierce's dad (which Pierce shrugs off) and attacking the other members of the group with a fire-axe.
 * Christmas Episode
 * Crap Saccharine World:

"Abed and Troy: "And when the Commies gave the polio to Doris Day/ Santa helped the Beatles chase McCarthy away!""
 * Critical Research Failure: Invoked with "Santa smoked a lot of acid."
 * The entirety of "Baby Boomer Santa" is a summary of the history of the second half of the twentieth century as sung by two people who appear to have a rather shaky grasp of said history.

"Jeff: Look, eventually you hit a point of diminishing returns on the sexiness.
 * Department of Redundancy Department:
 * One of Abed's rap lyrics is "if years were seasons, this December would be the December of our December".
 * "Glee literally means, 'glee!'"
 * Disproportionate Retribution: The Inspector Spacetime Christmas Special is apparently so bad the producer had his knighthood revoked.
 * Eat the Camera: During Jeff's single, long note to Britta.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: Especially cameras.
 * Face Revealing Turn: How Jeff reveals to Britta that he has been assimilated, before assimilating her as well.
 * 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.
 * Fan Service: Annie in a revealing Santa dress while singing probably one of the most suggestive songs ever made and Britta in full skintight spandex? Oh sweet Jesus. Even in comparison to earlier episodes, oh sweet Jesus.
 * Parodied / deconstructed to an extent with Annie, however, since her increasing Taking Levels In Dumbass and babyish performance ends up squicking Jeff out a bit despite the Fan Service on offer.

Annie: What's a deminiminmeghh?"

"Mr. Rad: Your best won't be good enough. And ten times your best? It will be so bad, I will yell at you! "
 * Britta is also in tights during the performance.
 * Fetish Fuel / Fetish Retardant: See above.
 * Fridge Horror: If one were so inclined, it's entirely possible to hear the ever-increasing-in-volume Glee-style sung musical cues (especially the eerie number at the end of the episode) as being . "We'll see you after regionals..." indeed.
 * Friendship Moment: Everyone comes over to spend the holiday with Abed at the end of the episode.
 * 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.
 * Towards the end of "Jehovah's Secret Witness", Annie can clearly be seen poking her head through the curtains and watching Troy and Abed rap.
 * 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.
 * Shirley, who is seduced into Glee Club by a choir of adorable orphans singing about how their public school education has left them with no idea whose birth the Christmas season celebrates and no place to pray.
 * Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die: Mr. Rad is not a very good motivational speaker:

"You smart, me dumb/Help pwetty have fun!"
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf: Britta but only during the Christmas Pageant. It's averted at the end of the episode when the group collectively sings a carol to Abed in his apartment. She's an average singer but not terrible.
 * It can't help that during the pageant she's singing "the song of her heart", which doesn't necessarily have a set tune or even notes, because it's basically just whatever spills out of her mouth.
 * Holding Hands: Final shot of the study group has Annie and Abed doing this. Whether it is platonic or romantic is left to the viewer to decide.
 * Hulk Speak: By the end of her song, Annie's Baby Talk devolves into this.

"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."
 * 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."
 * A quote rather reminiscent of "Greendale's our toilet, and nobody craps in it but us!"
 * Hypocritical Humor: Shirley considers Troy's family's refusal to observe the Christmas holiday in accordance with their beliefs as Jehovah's Witnesses as "severe"... then reveals that her holiday plans and 'gifts' apparently involve giving Annie (apparently among "the more persuadable of her Jewish friends") a surprise visit from her pastor to try and convert her.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun:

"Look: Kings of Leon!"
 * Intercourse with You: Boopy-doopy-doop-boop, SEX!
 * Invisible Backup Band: Lampshaded and played straight as part of the Glee parody. Abed asks how Mr. Rad's piano is still playing after he starts dancing, and Pierce nervously asks if anyone else can see the bearded stranger sitting behind the piano in the study room (and yes, he's the spitting image of the Living Prop pianist in Glee).
 * Jerkass: While the original Glee club is experiencing it's breakdown, Chang can be visibly seen laughing at them.
 * Leitmotif: Glee-style musical cues can be heard at significant moments throughout the show, and start to become a lot more prominent and overpowering, going on to replace the typical musical score, as the Glee attitude gradually takes over the show and characters.
 * Look Behind You!: Mr. Rad's contingency plan.

"Annie: I'll be at the movies with my bubbie.
 * Minor Injury Overreaction: Minor psychological injury, at least; the relatively minor setback of being told to cease-and-desist publicly singing songs they have no legal right to sing causes the Glee Club at the beginning to experience a collective psychotic breakdown.
 * Monkey Morality Pose: The ladies in the study group during "Baby Boomer Santa".
 * Motive Rant: Mr. Rad goes into one when the audience applauds Britta's singing.
 * The Music Meister: Mr. Rad
 * Musical Episode: Community style.
 * Musical Pastiche: Features a Glee-esque scat-based soundtrack.
 * One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Annie is talking about going to the movies with her grandmother. Troy thinks she's talking about... something else.

Troy: You're not taking both of them?

Annie: [Confused] Well... one of them's dead.

Troy: [Even more confused] ... What."

"Glee Club Member: My soul is dead! [Stabs himself in the hand with a fork]"
 * Phrase Catcher: Mr. Rad says to Britta, "You are the worst!"
 * Playing a Tree: Britta is cast a Christmas tree in the pageant.
 * Remember the New Guy?: Mr. Rad is given an introduction by the Dean, despite the study group having previously worked, off screen, with him.
 * Running Gag: Pierce asking what regionals are.
 * Serious Business: The Glee Club. Upon receiving a cease-and-desist order, the second Glee Club suffers a collective mental breakdown so severe that the study group's initial jubilation turns into anxiety at being caught. The study group gradually becomes obsessed with the Glee Club as each member is brainwashed, thanks to Mr. Rad's extreme devotion. Lampshaded by Britta, who points out that the small-scale nature of things makes the fact that her friends are practically being brainwashed into joining the Glee Club somehow even more terrifying.

"Pierce: What the hell are regionals?!
 * Also 'regionals' -- once you're in the Glee Club, you cannot shut up about regionals.
 * Sexy Santa Dress: Annie wears one to seduce Jeff into joining Glee Club.
 * Shaped Like Itself: Upon being told that the Glee Club had been "this close" to regionals before the letter:

Dean: They were this close, Pierce!"

"Jeff: My favourite holiday tradition is trimming the Hellraiser."
 * Ship Tease: At the end of the episode Abed and Annie are holding hands, while Troy and Britta are also sitting together.
 * And before that, Annie attempting to seduce Jeff.
 * 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.
 * Also, the band cameo is not dissimilar to the time the Beatles made a cameo in the show of a certain other time traveling spacebox alien man, as well as the appearance of Jefferson Starship in the Star Wars Holiday Special itself.
 * In a  nested shoutout, the episode ends with the group watching the ISHS while a children's choir sings "We'll see you all after regionals". It's not hard to imagine that a few episodes of Inspector Spacetime could've ended with a similar children's choir singing "Tick tock goes the clock/ He tried to misdirect her/ tick tock goes the clock/ 'Til Brooke kills the Inspector" Referencing Glee and Doctor Who at the same time is no mean feat.
 * Twin Peaks is given a quick mention.
 * "Look, Kings Of Leon!"
 * Doubles as a Take That (one of the many) to Glee and Ryan Murphy's feud
 * Another Shout-Out is Jeff's single sustained note in the hallway, a reference to the high-pitched screams of podpeople in Invasion of the Body Snatchers and a near-perfect recreation of the Downer Ending of the 1978 version, with Jeff in the Donald Sutherland role.
 * Veronica Mars:
 * "Baby Boomer Santa" homages / parodies songs like "We Didn't Start The Fire" and "American Pie".
 * On the festive appearance of the Human Being, which has been given a coating of icicles to celebrate the festive season (which of course just makes it look more terrifying):

"Troy: That sounds terrible. I wanna watch it twice."
 * The opening number of the pageant features ParaParaParadise dance moves.
 * So Bad It's Good: The Inspector Spacetime Christmas Special has this appeal to Troy and Abed in-universe:

"Brain hurty understandy Christmas,
 * Spontaneous Choreography: Occurs when Abed and Mr. Rad sing "Glee," for later songs participants may have had time to practice.
 * Stepford Smiler: Mr. Rad is clearly hiding a lot of unpleasantness underneath his overly cheerful exterior. The members of the study group also become this as they get sucked into the Glee club.
 * Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: "Teach Me How to Understand Christmas" has an ABCCB rhyming scheme. Then comes the last verse:

Mistletoe for eaty taste good?

You smarty, me dumb!

Help pwetty, have fun!

Boopy doopy doop, boop, sex."


 * Take That: The whole episode functions as one to Glee.
 * Bonus points for also throwing in The Star Wars Holiday Special and airing less than a week after the announcement that Glee's Christmas episode would pay homage to the same special.
 * That Makes Me Feel Angry: One of the reasons Abed gives for doing glee club is that they'll have to sing their feelings instead of making a face.
 * Took a Level In Dumbass: Annie for the duration of her song. She goes from normal, to sexy, to cute in a childish way to... Boopy-doopy-doop-boop. Jeff even notes that there's "a point of diminishing returns" on the sexiness as a result.
 * "What's a deminiminmeghh?﻿"
 * Traitor Shot: Mr. Rad giving a Psychotic Smirk and rubbing his hands together. Yyyup, he's evil.
 * True Meaning of Christmas: Parodied; Mr. Rad and Abed appear to believe that staging the Christmas pageant and the True Meaning of Christmas are inseparable.
 * Played straighter at the end, when the study group come together to celebrate Christmas together as True Companions by watching the terrible Inspector Spacetime Christmas Special.
 * Villain Exit Stage Left: 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.
 * For a given value of 'villain' (the study group seems to feel this way), the Glee Club is driven to a collective psychotic breakdown upon being served with a cease-and-desist order for the copyrighted songs they've been singing.
 * 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?: You don't get to call Britta the worst.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: What are regionals?
 * Also, um...
 * A Wizard Did It: How does a piano 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.
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: Abed initially believes he's in a light-hearted and magical Christmas story where he has to save his friends from drifting apart and forgetting the True Meaning of Christmas through the power of song and that Mr. Rad is a magical guide who will help him do this. It turns out, the story is a lot darker than he thinks, his efforts to force his friends to be magical and cheery is played out almost as a Mind Control Assimilation Plot where their identities are being stripped away and replaced with hollow cheeriness, and his friends -- far from turning into Christmas-hating grinches having forgotten the True Meaning of Christmas, and who have never expressed even the slightest desire not to spend Christmas together (just that they already have alternative plans with others arranged) -- are actually quite right in that trying to force things to be bright just ends up making them darker, and that Christmas is about more than just happy singing.
 * Yiddish as a Second Language: Annie, who is Jewish, refers to her grandmother as her "bubbe". Troy, assuming that she is referring to female anatomy, is shocked to learn that her other "bubbe" is dead.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Annie's Sexy Santa Dress comes with this.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Annie's Sexy Santa Dress comes with this.