Spoilers for tonight's "Community" coming up just as soon as I rip the antenna off your car... That's more like it.
"Introduction to Statistics" was the strongest episode the show's done in several weeks. It made good use of the whole ensemble, giving every character a chance to shine without anyone's schtick feeling overdone (there was just the right amount of Abed doing his Christian Bale impression, for instance), and the humor was a nice mix of character-driven conflict (Pierce's fear of being old, Jeff trying to get the teacher to bend her No Students rule), broad comedy (Annie loudly weeping to get Jeff to come to the party, Pierce's bad trip), random pop culture references (Pierce as the Beastmaster, Troy dressed up as Eddie Murphy from "Delirious," Batman saving the day as Pierce's desk fort collapsed) and sharp dialogue (Starburns complaining, "My heart stopped beating fast and I can't pee!"). Plus, Chevy Chase got to revive one of my favorite gags from "Spies Like Us" in the way Pierce dealt with his mother on the phone.
On top of getting the balance right, this episode also improved on some specific things that weren't working too well lately. Senor Chang had become really, really broad, and here he occasionally seemed like an actual person, and one who can be used outside of Spanish class scenes. And while the Jeff/Britta thing still lurks on the perimeter of the action, here it was turned into a joke, as Shirley kept wrongly assuming that Britta was furious that Jeff was going after the teacher. Also, getting to flirt with an actress/character with whom he shared actual chemistry seemed to bring Joel McHale back to life. There was a stretch of episodes there where it felt like the show was working in spite of its main character, but here he was just as integral to why the episode was funny as everyone else.
Also, I'm glad to see the streak of Abed/Troy closing scenes continue. There are other character pairings on this show that are really funny, but Danny Pudi and Donald Glover work so well together that it seems right they get these weird little showcases at the end of each episode.
What did everybody else think?
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