After a few episodes of the study group at Greendale Community being at each other’s throats, “Advanced Gay” brings some harmony back to the group. And, while I enjoyed some of the gimmick episodes recently, Advanced Gay also moved back toward a more traditional story line, which was also nice to see, as well.
The episode centers around Pierce, whose Hawthorne wipes have become a sensation among the gay community. A Youtube video has gone viral, and has given the wipe mogul a 7 percent bump in overall sales. Pierce, obviously not the most tolerant of people, nevertheless decides to capitalize on his new-found market, and throws a huge “gay bash.”
It seems like a great idea until his father, Cornelius (Larry Cedar), shows up. We all figure out why Pierce is so racist. It’s almost as if his father is racist against people who aren’t racist enough. Jeff demands that Pierce stand up to his father in the same way that Jeff couldn’t stand up to his. Britta, the psychologist in training, describes this hilariously as the “edible” complex.
In the B story, Troy is forced to choose between plumbing and air conditioner repair. Unbeknown to the rest of us, there is an elite fraternity in the air conditioner repair business, spearheaded by Vice Dean Laybourne (John Goodman).
Here are some random thoughts from the episode:
* There are some pretty rich lines that come out of the B story line including Troy and Abed imitating each other, with Harrison Ford thrown in there for good measure. “Don’t get cocky, kid.”
* Troy’s recruitment by the air conditioning fraternity was a little creepy, and of course hilarious, to the point that we have a black Hitler appearance. How do they come up with this stuff? I like the Vice Dean’s character and I’m glad that we’ll see more of John Goodman as the season goes on.
* Britta’s interest in psychology is getting more entertaining. The best line of the episode came when the priest at Cornelius’ wake told Britta that she was “the worst.” Between this and people turning her name into a verb, I’m starting to feel bad for her, no matter how annoying she is. Great ivory wig on Cornelius, by the way.
* We see Dean Pelton at the Gay Bash dressed up as Tron? We’ve gotten used to the Dean wearing his fair share of skimpy outfits. Weird to see him so covered. We also got a quick glimpse of Chang. He really didn’t fit into this episode, though. I thought when we saw the air conditioning on, that Chang was still living in the ducts.