I like the way they play around with sappiness. I hate it when shows or movies are sappy; it just makes me mad. But the little sappiness between Abed and Troy is funny, and most of the time it’s more a parody than it is real — I hope. Not that I wouldn’t mind having them take it out completely.
I really liked the desperation Jeff felt in trying to find a date to match Pierce’s. I like that he’s still got a lot of personal problems to work out. But his very direct pursuit for lovely (?) secretary Sabrina was pretty hilarious. After finding out she liked horses and hip-hop and hated beards, he cooked up a nice pick-up sequence:
Jeff: Is it me, or are horses the most beautiful creatures? They’re so majestic.
Sabrina: Totally!
Jeff: Why, just this morning, when I was shaving and listening to the new Jay-Z, I was thinking about how I wanted to squeeze in a quick gallop this weekend…
Sabrina: Do you own a horse?
Jeff: [pauses]…can you ever really _own_ a horse?
I loved the fact that the call girl (is there such a thing as a “call old-lady?”) told him he could do better. It really hit home the point that Jeff is chronically underachieving. I like doses of reality that are realistic like this one.
But of course, the ending of the episode was the best part. After finding out all the condoms at the STD awareness fair had multiple holes in them, Abed ran to the office with this important announcement: “Attention Greendale students! Don’t use the condoms! If you’re going to have sex tonight, _don’t_ use condoms!”
Overall, this was a good-not-great episode. I certainly liked it, but I’m a little disappointed that the past four or so episodes of the season have been hit or miss. It’s very different from the absolutely stellar first six or so episodes of the season. I’m a pretty big fan of the show in general, so I’m not gonna take my viewership elsewhere, but I can’t say the same for other viewers. I hope for the sake of the show that they can match the comedic genius of the Seize-The-Day episode, or the episode with Abed’s film about his family. There are some truly fantastic episodes of this season. Unfortunately, we viewers have to stick around a while to get to them, and that’s not a price a lot of viewers are willing to pay.