They Sell Moist Towelettes Almost Everywhere

Thursday night’s Community—the last time I will ever write that sentence—was a three-episode marathon of a season finale. I’m not sure that’s ever been done in the history of TV, and NBC seemed to be confused by it, too—the first episode, “Digital Estate Planning,” aired before a 30 Rock episode, followed by the second two, “The First Chang Dynasty” and “Introduction to Finality.” Here are my thoughts on “Digital Estate Planning,” with the other two to follow tomorrow.

By now, everyone’s heard of the “video game episode”—yes, Community went pixilated. The background is that Pierce asked his father for money to invest in video games way back in 1979. Papa Hawthorne, believing video games to be a passing fad, refuses (“Moist towelettes are sold in nearly every superstore, while arcade after arcade closes down”). Unbeknownst to Pierce, his father develops a massive multiplayer game, with the winner receiving Pierce’s inheritance. Pierce is supposed to bring his seven closest friends, so he shows up with the group (LeVar Burton was a ‘maybe’). Also playing is Gilbert, Papa Hawthorne’s former manservant. Well, the technical term is “assistant,” but given the way Gilbert was treated, he might as well have been a manservant. In a completely expected twist, Gilbert and Pierce are half-brothers—Gilbert’s mother is Pierce’s nanny’s hot cousin.

This episode is simultaneously the most energy the show has devoted to racism, while being a sort-of redemption for its most racist character. In the game, the group spawns in the study room, where they’re attacked by hippies who sex them to death. After getting past them, the first real setting in the game is an archetypal medieval village outside of Hawkthorne Castle, where Pierce’s father rules (cleverly, the Castle is north of the village, implying Papa Hawthorne is even whiter than this town). It’s pretty Zelda-esque and innocently video gamey. Then we learn that the objective of the game is to rescue the white crystal from the black cavern. After leaving the town, they go through a level called “The Valley of Laziness” (made of tacos and topped with a sombrero), “Gay Island” (shaped like a penis), Free Ride Ferry (a wheelchair), and finally to Black Cave, where you ride fried chicken over lava and fight jive turkeys.

By including all of these hateful, uncompassionate stereotypes, we get a more full idea of who Pierce’s father was. Yes, we know he’s a rich, bigoted white supremacist already. But the game takes it to a new extreme. This man wasn’t a casual bigot—xenophobic hate consumed every facet of his life. He couldn’t exist without these Others to keep down.

Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs’ biographer, talks about how Jobs was a “Product Guy.” He didn’t care about money so much as he cared about making products that would change the world (riches and power and influence were a by-product). He lured Apple CEO John Sculley away from PepsiCo by saying, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?” Papa Hawthorne was never like that. He wanted the world to stay the exact same as it had been in some imagined past, and he wanted as much power as possible. Building a moist towelette empire isn’t a joke anymore—it’s a character trait.

This environment led to Pierce’s blind fear and hatred. We learn in this episode that Pierce isn’t just racist, he’s mean-spirited. When Hilda’s (Abed’s pixilated love interest) family’s hut burns down (thanks to Annie and Shirley), Pierce says “What’s with St. Pauli Girl?” in response to her tears. For Pierce, everyone needs to be put down, because that’s all he ever heard from his father. Things were so bad, his inheritance isn’t even guaranteed.

The resolution at the end is phenomenal. After winning the game, Gilbert refuses his inheritance because it would mean having to sign a legally binding agreement stating he doesn’t know who his father is. The group forfeits and Pierce tells him to “get in there and kill our dad.” Racist Pierce and jealous Gilbert do the most un-Shakespearian thing possible, embracing one another as brothers and going out for yard-long margaritas (“yard margs”). So yes, on Thursday, Community killed racism. Or did they? Stay tuned!

One last word: This could be the last of Community’s highly ambitious, mess-with-medium projects. With news coming that creator, show runner, and frequent target of praise/snark Dan Harmon would not be returning for season four, it seemed like a send-off for Harmon. It was one more impossibility to cement Harmon’s status as the ambitious show runner to date, just before he lost his baby to a network hell-bent on not catering to its audience. As Kanye West says, “act like you’ll ever be around motherfuckers like this again”—Community will return next season. But episodes like “Digital Estate Planning” probably won’t happen as frequently.