Community “Virtual Systems Analysis”

At first, I was going to say “Virtual Systems Analysis” is a weak outing for Community, but I read an interesting summary of the episode that shed some light where I didn’t catch it before.  My main problem with the episode was I didn’t have much fun in it, yes, that is a lot of points off for a sit-com, but beyond that is where the genius of the episode lies.  We get a chance to see into the inner-workings of the most withdrawn person in Community’s study group.  We get to tap into what makes Abed tick, and we see the frailty behind the emotionless “robot” of his character.

Annie breaks Abed’s mind when she is allowed into his Dreamatorium.  She gives him pure empathy by moving around the components of his engine room and forcing him to consider other peoples’ feelings before he makes decisions.  She then has to go through the layers of Abed’s mind guarded by his projections of the group.  When she finally gets to Abed, the true Abed hidden behind his games, she finds a lonely man chained up in a locker where he protects himself from loneliness.  The conversation they have is the first true glimpse at Abed as a human.  Usually he is working to recreate movie moments or imagine his friends as characters in a television show, which I believe is his way of keeping himself safe.  His love for movies comes from the comfort that none of the characters in the movies or TV shows he watches will ever leave him.  He can always go back into those worlds and see his friends.  In reality though, his friends could leave him at any time, so he feels a loss of control that he doesn’t experience with his safe imagined world.

That very touching and insightful view into a reclusive character makes this episode worthwhile.  Was it very fun on the surface, I didn’t think so, which caused me to dislike it at first, but I’ve come around. I might watch it again soon to view it with my new knowledge and appreciation.