‘Community’ Breakdown: ‘Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons’

SPOILERS AHEAD, so study up cautiously, Community buffs…

Season Five, Episode Ten: “Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons”

Written by: Matt Roller; Directed by: Joe Russo

As the title suggests, this week’s Community is revisiting the world of Dungeons & Dragons. The gang last played it in episode 2.14 when they saved Neil from wanting to kill himself. Now, they’re using the confines of that magical world to unite a feuding father and son — Buzz and his son, special guest star of the week David Cross.

Quick Breakdown

Buzz is furious that he wasn’t invited to his grandson’s birthday party. While he’s on good terms with his gay son (who just got married and whom Buzz “gets”), he barely sees his other son and his family during the holidays. They don’t get along because all he wants to do is play Dungeons & Dragons, and Buzz just does not get it. Annie gets excited about playing D&D again to help Buzz reconnect with his son. Everyone agrees — including the Dean, who happens to be in the room during all of this.

David Cross plays Buzz’s son Hank, who has graciously joined everyone at Annie and Abed’s apartment to play Dungeons & Dragons (although he’s wary of his father’s sudden interest in the game). Abed sets the stage by presenting the challenge of destroying the Necromancer in the Black Tower (Stephen King, anyone?). Hank is instantly surly, annoyed at being told what to do and being given his own character — which happens to be the son of Buzz’s character.

The gang (poorly) assures him that this wasn’t an intentional setup to get them to bond with each other and begrudgingly swaps out all their characters with each other to appease his brattiness. Hank is now Tristram Steelhard (notice that his first name resembles that of the frequent Community director), whom he says has a dumb name. Buzz is Tiny Nuggins, a thief. Britta is Fibrosis the Ranger. Shirley is Crouton, the half Orc/half Druid. Annie is Hector the Well-Endowed, again. Chang is a Troll named Dingleberry. And Jeff is now Sir Riggs Diehard, father of the Dean’s Joseph Gordon Diehard. (Is this name a reference to the film Looper, which starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, star of Diehard?) As you can imagine, the Dean is very pleased to have such an important connection to Jeff. (There’s a bit about a family sword here, but I’ll explain it later when it comes into play.)

Annie suggests they all head across the bridge, towards the Tower, and everyone agrees. Except party-pooper Hank, who wants to head in an opposite direction. Buzz berates him for being obnoxious. Annie’s Hector goes to Tristram and picks him up, carrying him to the bridge with the others. Tristram casts a fire spell and burns Hector, while also setting the bridge on fire. The bridge collapses, and everyone falls into the icy Skull River.

Buzz is now furious at Hank, who calls him out for being mad about the birthday party snub. He tells Buzz that Sebastian is not his “grandson” but his merely his, Hank’s, “son.” Jeff intervenes to bring some peace, using his own experience with his father as life advice. Yet Hank can’t stand being in the same room as his father. Dungeon Master Abed splits the group in half, with Shirley, Jeff, Annie, and Buzz washing up on one side of the river and the others washing up on the opposite side. They sequester into separate rooms and race to kill the Necromancer. If Buzz wins, he gets to go to Sebastian’s birthday party; if Hank wins, Buzz is not allowed at family holidays.

Buzz is dead-set on beating his son and forces the group to head into the jungle to find the Necromancer, despite Annie’s suggestion that they rest and regain strength. Buzz still doesn’t get the game, and thinks because he’s an army vet he’s just as strong in the game. “I’ll imaginary sleep when I’m imaginary dead.” He foolhardily attacks a horde of hobgoblins, but his midget character fails to land a blow. Shirley uses her Druid powers to ensnare some, but the others shoot her in the heart with arrows. Hector manages to scare off the others, but Shirley is dead. She gives Buzz some grief over her death and then walks out of the apartment (I guess there’s no room for her to be a power-hungry manipulator in this episode). Abed lectures Buzz to take the game seriously, since his son does, if he wants to win.

In the other room, Hank has become a much kinder person (I guess because he can’t see his father). He casts a healing spell on Fribrosis, which Britta appreciates, although she still does not want to help him defeat his father and banish him from family events. Hank tells her that it’s Buzz’s fault since he was never at any of Hank’s birthday parties. Sky Spiders descend on them. Hank speaks with the monsters and befriends them, and they get to ride the creatures closer to the Tower.

Nuggins and his crew track the Hobgoblins’ to their guard shack. As a team, they sneakily invade and kill the Hobgoblins. When Buzz learns that they can speak, he takes two of them alive and interrogates them. He pits them against each other (both played by Abed) and eventually gets one to lead them to the Tower.

Hank sings to his team in a D&D language. The spiders drop them off and point them in direction of the Tower. The Dean is staring out the window, composing a letter to his father. He tells him that every night he will rub his half of the family sword in the hopes that when he, Sir Riggs, rubs his half of their sword it will shine a beacon of light to reunite them. He continues to give these letters to Abed, but when he rolls the dice, the message is not sent. (There is a trashcan filled with rolled up scrolls.) Finally, the dice favor Joseph Gordon, and the message is sent.

Sir Riggs reads the note sent by raven and rubs his sword’s hilt, both sides now know each other’s locations and they are equidistant from the Tower. What started as a race may turn into war as they battle to kill the Necromancer. When both parties arrive at the Tower, Joseph Gordon tries to hug his father, but Sir Riggs draws his sword, distrusting him. Joseph Gordon hugs himself to his father as he gets impaled on the sword and dies. They all quickly fight each other and everyone is killed off except Nuggins and Tristram.

Nuggins and Tristram try to kill each other, but they don’t have any weapons or power left. The Necromancer has fled while they were battling. Buzz and Hank argue over how to proceed in the game. “They can’t stand to be in the same room but they also can’t stand to be apart.” Jeff observes. They all leave, so that father and son can bond over arguing.

Rating

A+

Despite David Cross’ presence, this is another bottle episode, with everyone in the same set and no extra frills. So, of course, the episode is enthralling. Plus, it’s a callback to an earlier episode that was equally great. The biggest problem I had with this episode is that there wasn’t more of it.

Now for some random thoughts and my favorite moments of the night…

Abed, not too thrilled at the D&D suggestion: “Was everyone’s takeaway from last time that we can use D&D to reprogram brains?”

Jeff justifying it: “We prevented [a suicide]. Fa-bulous Neil felt like a nobody. And thanks to us, he’s still out there, doing this and that in the background.” (Neil can be seen in the background of the shot, doing this or that.)

Annie: “It’s not a competition. The only winner is ‘fun.’”

Annie, after Shirley leaves: “I take a moment of silence to mourn my fallen comrade, Crouton…before rifling through her belongings.”

The Dean, in his letter to Jeff about the swords: “Each night I will think of you and rub.”

In the tag, Abed is playing D&D with Annie’s stuffed animals, who would all rather have a tea party than battle. Abed gets frustrated and kills them all.

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