Summary
- "Comparative Religion": The study group tackles different beliefs in a heartwarming Christmas episode, learning to be accepting of one another.
- "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas": Abed's friends him through his mental health journey in a visually stunning adventure.
- "Regional Holiday Music": The group is hypnotized to a glee club, but they come together to stop a sinister plan in this upbeat and entertaining episode.
Community is an incredible series that frequently experimented with its format and created special holiday episodes, even featuring four Christmas holiday specials. From the talented co-creator of Rick and Morty, the show features a wonderfully talented cast. Joel McHale, Donald Glover, Danny Pudi, Gillian Jacobs, Alison Brie, Yvette Nicole Brown, Ken Jeong, Jim Rash, and Chevy Chase made up the regular cast before Chevy Chase was ousted from later seasons. Others in the core cast, such as Glover and Brown, were busy with other commitments in later seasons.
The show follows a dysfunctional group of students and faculty at Greendale Community College who forge an unlikely friendship through a study group. The group often clashes as they pursue competing interests, explore romantic relationships, and are faced with moral dilemmas, but frequently, they experience growth together. The special holiday episodes frequently parodied other shows and techniques, as is typical for Community, but each one had a heartwarming message to celebrate the season.
4 "Comparative Religion"
Community Season 1, Episode 12
Community season 1, episode 12, "Comparative Religion," is a poignant look at the differing beliefs and faiths held by the study group. As Christmas approaches, Shirley (Brown) wants to spread Christmas cheer among her friends and focus on the Christian beliefs surrounding the holiday depicting the birth of Christ. However, her well-intentioned holiday cheer can frequently come across as her preaching and trying to push her friends into celebrating and expressing faith the way she does.
The challenge arises as Community's Shirley finds out that each member of the study group possesses a wildly different belief to hers. Jeff (McHale) is an agnostic, Annie (Brie) is Jewish, Britta (Jacobs) is an atheist, Troy (Glover) is a Jehovah's Witness, and Abed (Pudi) is Muslim. Pierce (Chase) also practices a religious belief, but it becomes evident that his faith is an overt cult in which he has become engrossed. The episode explores the conflict between the group as well as a conflict between Jeff and the school bully.
While most of Jeff's friends him in preparing for the fight and do what they can to help, Shirley tells Jeff that he won't be welcome to her Christmas party if he fights. Ultimately, the group finds a way to reconcile and come together, and Shirley learns to be more accepting of her friends and their differing beliefs. A heartwarming holiday special with plenty of laughs and a pivotal moment as the study group learns to be more open and accepting of one another.
3 "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"
Community Season 2, Episode 11
One of the single best Christmas episodes of any show, Community season 2, episode 11, "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" tells a deeply moving, emotional story centered on Abed. When Abed wakes up and begins seeing the world around him as an animated stop-motion adventure, his friends are deeply concerned about his mental health. Britta and Jeff decide to intervene, and they take Abed to speak with Dr. Ian Duncan (John Oliver) in the hopes of understanding what is happening. Britta then tricks Abed into a therapy session with the entire group and Duncan, but Abed quickly takes control of the narrative and brings them into his stop-motion adventure.
Throughout the episode, Abed and his friends dig deeper into his mind, uncovering his historical relationship with Christmas and what is causing him to have such a strong disassociation from reality. As his friends make an effort to Abed, they continue to travel on the journey with him, but when Jeff and Shirley reject the imaginative exploration, they are ejected from the adventure. Duncan also uncovers his own trauma relating to Christmas and is expelled from the adventure, as well as Britta, whom Abed instructs to stop coming along because of her trickery.
The reasons behind Abed's mental break become clear as the episode wraps up, and his friends all return to him in a deeply touching conclusion. The episode explores the deep emotions that can be tied to the holiday season and the importance of establishing new traditions and relationships as time goes on. Additionally, the visuals are wonderful, with the beautiful animation making this episode stand out from the rest of the series.
2 "Regional Holiday Music"
Community Season 3, Episode 10
Another wonderful entry in the Community holiday specials comes with season 3, episode 10 "Regional Holiday Music." As a parody and spoof of the popular series, Glee, this episode focuses on the group becoming stand-ins for the Greendale Community College glee club when they are indisposed. The glee club instructor, Mr. Rad (Taran Killam) is intent on recruiting the study group to stand in and perform in the Christmas Pageant. However, the group isn't keen to a club they dislike, and they rebuff Mr. Rad. Abed, however, is struggling to enjoy the holiday as he had hoped to spend it with his friends, and the rest of the group made other plans.
Mr. Rad feeds off of Abed's desire to spend time with his friends and celebrate the Christmas season, and he manages to hypnotize Abed through song to the club and convince his other friends. The rest of the episode focuses on the group recruiting each other through song, and it is wonderfully entertaining and upbeat throughout. Until Mr. Rad finally has the entire group enrolled in the glee club and let's slip his plans to take them to regionals and other competitions next year. Abed snaps out of the trance, due to only having agreed to help with the Christmas Pageant, and he hatches a plan to thwart Mr. Rad.
This episode also has a heartwarming conclusion as the friends come together and celebrate the season with Abed. In a dark and hilarious twist, Mr. Rad is also revealed to have been behind a major accident that killed his glee club students so that he could replace them with the study group. The contrast between the light and dark is addressed by Abed in a way that informs both his group and the audience and the episode comes to a natural and deeply satisfying conclusion.
1 "Intro To Knots"
Season 4, Episode 10
Community season 4, episode 10 "Intro to Knots" is the first Christmas special that wasn't released in December. Due to the show's moving networks, the release schedule was altered, and this episode ultimately aired in April 2013. This was also the last season to feature a dedicated Christmas special, despite two more seasons being released in the following years, likely due to the schedule change. "Intro to Knots" depicts a Christmas party set up by the group's de facto leader, Jeff Winger, which already makes the group suspicious.
Jeff typically tries to portray an attitude of ambivalence around holidays and is unlikely to make the effort to host a party himself. When the group's history professor shows up, all becomes clear as the group seeks to get their most recent grade improved. The episode features Malcolm McDowell as the history professor and also features Ken Jeong prominently as Chang, which all add to the quality of the episode. Things quickly devolve into a hostage situation and the group argues with one another about their grade, making for another entertaining Christmas special.
