Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations 

While Jeff and Britta spend Thanksgiving with Jeff's newly-discovered father and brother, the rest of the Study Group tries to escape from Shirley's dysfunctional family Thanksgiving celebration.

Director:

Tristram Shapeero

Writers:

Dan Harmon (created by), Stephen Basilone (as Steve Basilone)

Stars:

Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Joel McHale	...	Jeff Winger
Gillian Jacobs	...	Britta Perry
Danny Pudi	...	Abed Nadir
Yvette Nicole Brown	...	Shirley Bennett
Alison Brie	...	Annie Edison
Donald Glover	...	Troy Barnes
Jim Rash	...	Dean Pelton
Ken Jeong	...	Ben Chang (credit only)
Chevy Chase	...	Pierce Hawthorne
James Brolin	...	William Winger
Adam Devine	...	Willy (as Adam DeVine)
William Charles Mitchell	...	Mr. Bennett (as William C. Mitchell)
Angela Sargeant	...	Mrs. Bennett
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kimberley Datnow	...	Student

Storyline

While Jeff and Britta spend Thanksgiving with Jeff's newly-discovered father and brother, the rest of the Study Group tries to escape from Shirley's dysfunctional family Thanksgiving celebration.

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Plot Keywords:

john wayne impersonation | thanksgiving episode | thanksgiving | faking a heart attack | scar | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 March 2013 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Krasnoff / Foster Entertainment, Universal Television, Sony Pictures Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

The song that Britta plays on her boom box is the theme song to the Fox show "Brooklyn Nine Nine"

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Goofs

When Jeff tells his father how he turns out, he says that in ninth grade he made himself a scar with scissors which he shows. Before this episode he never had this scar.

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Quotes

Jeff Winger: I'm sorry. You should take some credit for who I've become.
William Winger: Okay.
Jeff Winger: So let me tell you how I turned out, just so you're crystal clear on your impact. I am not well-adjusted. And more often than not, I am barely keeping it together. I'm constantly texting, and there's no one at the other end. I'm just a grown man who can't even look his own friends in the eye for too long because I'm too afraid that they'll see that I am broken. So you get credit for that.
William Winger: Oh, come on, now...
Jeff Winger: One time when, I was ...

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Connections

References Madea's Family Reunion (2002)

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Soundtracks

Holla At Me

User Reviews

Perhaps the season's strongest outing so far but not without its issues

When a comedy show starts to put a bigger focus on the more serious emotional aspects of the characters, it often comes at the price of comedic entertainment. I would love to say Community avoids this completely but then I'd just be lying to myself. Nonetheless, it does manage to create a satisfying experience.

It's been clear what this episode's purpose was gonna be since we knew the title. Jeff's reunion with his father, while interesting and engaging in its own right, makes for a plot line that just doesn't produce the laughs one would expect from Community. While Willy Jr. and Britta's excitement about practicing Therapy are fun, the conversations between Jeff and his father are a perfect showcase of why combining comedy and drama is hard to do in a 20-minute show. The other story line involves the rest of the group "trapped" at Shirley's Thanksgiving dinner. This is also where the best thing about the episode comes into play - Abed's voice over. His consistent and self-ironic narration is delightful. The only problem here is that the other characters hardly get to show their strengths and so Abed ends up being responsible for easily half of the laughs.

All in all, while a satisfying, entertaining and relevant episode, "Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations" is held back a bit by the same thing as the prior season 4 outings - it just feels like it could and should be better.