Post-apocalyptic caper a fitting farewell to Glover’s role on show
NBC’s cult comedy “Community,” an underrated show currently in the middle of a fifth-season renaissance, has been greatly aided over the past five years by Donald Glover and his character Troy Barnes.
Troy is a former high school quarterback who ended up at Greendale Community College after a keg flip gone wrong, and over the course of the show, he’s grown into arguably the funniest character, serving up the best one-liners and tapping into his geeky side with his best friend, Abed.
Now Donald Glover is leaving the show, and saying goodbye to such a great character is hard. Unable to deal, Abed hatches a scheme to put off dealing with Troy’s departure: a schoolwide game of “the floor is lava.”
“Community” being “Community,” the game almost immediately goes out of control, especially when Abed offers his mint-condition comic book, valued at $50,000, as a prize. The entire school devolves into a post-apocalyptic wasteland, with chair-walkers, a “Locker Boys” gang and an elaborate table fortress dubbed Shirley’s Island.
While it feels early in the season to go so big, “Geothermal Escapism” is a success, albeit a slightly qualified one. “Community” director Joe Russo, returning for the first time since season three, directs the episode with bloodthirsty aplomb. His keen eye ensures that the action scenes are as excitingly well rendered as they are ridiculous, and he brings the level of visual fidelity required to transform Greendale into another world.
If “Geothermal Escapism” has one problem, it’s that Troy feels somewhat marginalized.
Earnest psychologist Britta has a standout episode, serving as the voice of reason in an attempt to get Abed to come to terms with Troy’s departure even as she transforms into a fierce warrior, and Abed himself goes through a full-fledged mental breakdown. But for much of the episode, Troy isn’t the focus, which is a shame; this is the last time we’ll see him in quite while, and it’s possibly his last episode on the show.
That being said, his final farewells are perfect and heart-wrenching, allowing him to connect with each character one last time. Donald Glover brought a huge amount of heart and sweetness to the character, and in “Geothermal Escapism,” the show returns the favor, sending off Troy with love and melancholy. Mixing such genuine emotion with a Mad Max send-up may seem an odd move, but for “Community” and the Troy and Abed pair, it couldn’t happen any other way.