Another solid episode that is clever, funny throughout and has some great one-liners. The Shirley-Britta plot is kinda meh but the insane mascot and (yet another) hilarious exit joke lift this up to "good" status.
3 Reviews
That dude looks like Moby
anarchistica17 August 2022
The most underrated community episode and one of my favorites
JesusMilkk10 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I'm honestly shocked to see this episode ranked so low among the rest of the series. I don't think there's a single Community episode that makes me laugh as much as this one does.
The Shirley-Britta plot is great. It's simple, funny, and I had a nice belly laugh when Britta went to hug Shirley instead of Annie after comforting Annie in the bathroom. It's nothing special, but it's fun and entertaining and I can't ask for much more
Dean Pelton and Pierce trying to create the human person mascot is one of my favorite plots in the whole show. Seeing them somehow CONSTANTLY make the mascot more and more uncanny and ridiculous just made me laugh harder and harder each time, and the final reveal of what the mascot looks like, some guy dressed in a white skin-tight full-body suit with massive facial deformities, is probably the hardest I laughed in the series. Classic Community stuff.
And the main plot of the episode with Jeff trying to get Troy to play football is also fantastic, providing us with several iconic series moments (the "it's in your blood" speech from Jeff, Troy's hilarious thinly-veiled conservative propaganda disguised as stadium chants, etc).
I really think this is Community at its best. All the jokes land, all the characters play an important role in the episode (except Abed, my favorite character who is unfortunately absent until the ending gag), and all of the plots held my attention. I'm not sure what I see in this episode that others don't, but it remains one of my favorites and, to me at least, it's probably the funniest episode of the show.
The Shirley-Britta plot is great. It's simple, funny, and I had a nice belly laugh when Britta went to hug Shirley instead of Annie after comforting Annie in the bathroom. It's nothing special, but it's fun and entertaining and I can't ask for much more
Dean Pelton and Pierce trying to create the human person mascot is one of my favorite plots in the whole show. Seeing them somehow CONSTANTLY make the mascot more and more uncanny and ridiculous just made me laugh harder and harder each time, and the final reveal of what the mascot looks like, some guy dressed in a white skin-tight full-body suit with massive facial deformities, is probably the hardest I laughed in the series. Classic Community stuff.
And the main plot of the episode with Jeff trying to get Troy to play football is also fantastic, providing us with several iconic series moments (the "it's in your blood" speech from Jeff, Troy's hilarious thinly-veiled conservative propaganda disguised as stadium chants, etc).
I really think this is Community at its best. All the jokes land, all the characters play an important role in the episode (except Abed, my favorite character who is unfortunately absent until the ending gag), and all of the plots held my attention. I'm not sure what I see in this episode that others don't, but it remains one of my favorites and, to me at least, it's probably the funniest episode of the show.
In honor of "Community"- a review of every episode. (S1;E06- "Football, Feminism and You")
TedStixonAKAMaximumMadness21 June 2014
(This is the sixth part in an ongoing series, in which I am writing brief reviews of each and every episode of Dan Harmon's beloved cult- comedy "Community.")
"Football, Feminism and You" is one of those episodes. I acknowledge that it's a perfectly solid, well-made example of the series. I acknowledge that the performances are good and the jokes land. I acknowledge that I should really enjoy it. But something about it just rubs me the wrong way. And I can't quite put my finger on it.
While Troy (Donald Glover) contemplates joining Greendale's football team (presumably to re-live his days as a High-School football star), Annie (Alison Brie) and Jeff (Joel McHale) begin to butt-heads over the matter. Annie feels that it wouldn't be good for Troy, while Jeff attempts to convince him otherwise... although Jeff's motivation may be more selfish. At the same time, Britta (Gillian Jacobs) attempts to get closer to Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) by joining her during bathroom- breaks to chat. However, their personalities clash, leaving Britta feeling like an outsider. All the while, Pierce (Chevy Chase) tries to help the Dean (Jim Rash) come up with a new mascot for Greendale... leading to some truly bizarre (and even disturbing) results.
As I said above, this is technically a good episode. And there are aspects I enjoyed. But the main storyline just didn't do anything for me. I personally found the two "B-story lines" (concerning Shirley/Britta and Piece/Dean Pelton) much stronger, and generally far more humorous that the A-storyline centering on Troy. And it has nothing to do with the performance of Glover. In fact, he does quite well in this episode. But I just couldn't get a sense of anything to attach myself to emotionally or humorously with his storyline here. And thus, whenever I see this episode, I often find my mind wandering during his scenes, waiting for the other story lines to pop up again.
Thankfully, Glover is able to really shine during other episodes (Glover is, after all, a darned fine actor and a brilliant comedic presence), thus making up for this episode in my opinion.
As it is, this is one of the weaker Season One episodes for me. It's still worth seeing, but it's definitely not an episode I would consider to be "essential." It gets an average 6 out of 10 from me.
"Football, Feminism and You" is one of those episodes. I acknowledge that it's a perfectly solid, well-made example of the series. I acknowledge that the performances are good and the jokes land. I acknowledge that I should really enjoy it. But something about it just rubs me the wrong way. And I can't quite put my finger on it.
While Troy (Donald Glover) contemplates joining Greendale's football team (presumably to re-live his days as a High-School football star), Annie (Alison Brie) and Jeff (Joel McHale) begin to butt-heads over the matter. Annie feels that it wouldn't be good for Troy, while Jeff attempts to convince him otherwise... although Jeff's motivation may be more selfish. At the same time, Britta (Gillian Jacobs) attempts to get closer to Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) by joining her during bathroom- breaks to chat. However, their personalities clash, leaving Britta feeling like an outsider. All the while, Pierce (Chevy Chase) tries to help the Dean (Jim Rash) come up with a new mascot for Greendale... leading to some truly bizarre (and even disturbing) results.
As I said above, this is technically a good episode. And there are aspects I enjoyed. But the main storyline just didn't do anything for me. I personally found the two "B-story lines" (concerning Shirley/Britta and Piece/Dean Pelton) much stronger, and generally far more humorous that the A-storyline centering on Troy. And it has nothing to do with the performance of Glover. In fact, he does quite well in this episode. But I just couldn't get a sense of anything to attach myself to emotionally or humorously with his storyline here. And thus, whenever I see this episode, I often find my mind wandering during his scenes, waiting for the other story lines to pop up again.
Thankfully, Glover is able to really shine during other episodes (Glover is, after all, a darned fine actor and a brilliant comedic presence), thus making up for this episode in my opinion.
As it is, this is one of the weaker Season One episodes for me. It's still worth seeing, but it's definitely not an episode I would consider to be "essential." It gets an average 6 out of 10 from me.
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