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S06.E11: Modern Espionage


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“Occasionally our campus erupts into a flawless postmodern homage to action-adventure mythology mischaracterized by the ignorant as parody.”

 

Off to a great start with Vicki's one woman show.

 

Loved the code names being Batman actor's including "Voice of Deidrich Bader" for the Dean(he played Batman in the Brave and the Bold cartoon).

 

The elevator scene with the Dean taking out all those guys was great.

 

Annie and Abed looked hot as a Mr. and Mrs. Smith combo.

 

Wished Frankie got into the action instead of being the buzzkill.

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This was hilarious. Although I wouldn't have said that a return to paintball was a good idea, the approach and handling was very well done. This felt like a return to old form, yet evolved to a new perspective. Best episode of the season.

 

Loved the code names being Batman actor's including "Voice of Deidrich Bader" for the Dean(he played Batman in the Brave and the Bold cartoon).

Oh is that what they were doing? Very cool, I didn't get that.

 

By the way, unless I'm mistaken we didn't actually see who the "Silver Ballz" shooter was. Lapari was shooting green. That leaves it open for a followup. 

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Oh my god I didn't get the Captain America thing until you posted! Also great that Winter Soldier was directed by the Russo Brothers, who directed the two part paintball episodes in season 2!

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"Did you do stand-up comedy? Is that how you got into custodial arts?" That had me good. Everything about the Dean was great in this episode. Of course he freaks out and flails about in a way that he inadvertently is a ninja assassin.

 

IMO, this was the best episode of the season, funny-wise.

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At the Communicon panel this past fall, Dan Harmon answered a question about opening title sequences, saying in part that when they have the time to keep a single full-length sequence every time, then there's consistency -- and then it's really special when they change things up, as in a David Fincher episode... or in this case, a spy movie episode.  Anyways, I was super on board as soon as the title sequence started.  Or even before that, when Todd displayed some ninja skills (that flip!) and Starburns (Starburns is back!) faked him out with the ol' hat trick.  And then all the repeat guest stars!  Vicki! Garrett! The Koog!*

 

* Seriously, Mitch Hurwitz is a genius, but he is a legitimately super-funny guy in front of the camera too and in an alternate universe I bet he could have done very well for himself as a comic actor.

 

The action sequences were great as action sequences, and the final museum sequence was hilarious as well.

 

Fantastic tag again. Like last episodes, it danced back and forth between funny and sad.

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I loved Annie and Abed's Mr. and Mrs. Smith fighting, as well as the Dean doing his Kermit the Frog as a ninja in the elevator.

 

I, too, was afraid that nothing good would come of more paintball, but this episode ended up being funnier than I thought it would be.

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I think my favourite part was the Dean taking everyone out in the lift with Annie and Abed during the ball as second.

 

I thought it was a better episode, at the beginning I said "this better be as good as the other paintball episodes!" and I think it was, except there wasn't any reveal as to who Silver Balls was.

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(edited)

I watched it multiple times and jotted in down:

 

Belfry = Send to All

Keaton = Jeff

Bale = Abed

West = Annie

Kilmer = Elroy

Clooney = Britta

and Dean as the voice of Diedrich Bader

Edited by DrScottie
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I thought for a second Frankie would be Silver Balls. So who was it if it wasn't her?

Reddit seems to have determined the answer:

 

It was Lapari. The voice at the beginning sounds like his. The gun and skin tone at the beginning match his.  A silver paintball hits Abed during the gala, but then Lapari is out of ammo which is why he switched to another color later.  It matches the clues about custodians being behind it. Oh, plus the actor (Kumail Nanjiani) weighed in to say it was him.

 

Of course that's not canon, so if Harmon wanted to revisit (which I don't expect) it could be almost anyone.

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To add weight to the spoiler:

 

Lapari, using the handle Silver Ballz, sent Koogler a picture of him in his uniform (the blue jumpsuit) and Elroy decrypted (or unencrypted as Britta said) the messages and downloaded his photo over the really slow internet speed. 

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I watched it multiple times and jotted in down:

 

Belfry = Send to All

Keaton = Jeff

Bale = Abed

West = Annie

Kilmer = Elroy

Clooney = Britta

and Dean as the voice of Diedrich Bader

Of course Jeff is Keaton, if it were me I'd have switched Jeff and Abed.. I feel like Abed is more the off beat Keaton Batman rather than Bale's crybaby Batman.

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Best.episode.yet. LOVED IT!

 

The Dean as Captain American thing was amazing. I watched that scene like three times. And the opening scene was amazing. Plus, we went meta again, but in a good way, not a lame way. 

 

I would watch Garret and Vicki and their show. 

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Of course Jeff is Keaton, if it were me I'd have switched Jeff and Abed.. I feel like Abed is more the off beat Keaton Batman rather than Bale's crybaby Batman.

Sure, but to be fair, back in season one and three (?), Abed's Batman was based on Bale's, wasn't it?

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This is the first S6 episode I've seen, and I was happily surprised by how much I liked it---especially because I'm in that tiny minority of Community fans who doesn't love the paintball episodes in general :) Annie and Abed are always such a great pairing for me. 

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I throw my I love Annie card again and comes as a winner... that dress, just like Mrs. Smith.

 

I played paintball and those suckers do hurt, imagine with street clothes?

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(edited)

This is the first episode this season where I've really urged fans to watch again.

 

First of all, it's funny. Not "Funniest Episode Ever." But funny enough to hold up against other seasons. Absolutely.

 

Second, it's full of nods to the older seasons. Even Starburns is back.

 

Third, it's well paced. It is not, for example, a hilarious ten minute sketch about olives and future Yakuza diluted with twenty minutes of lazy phoned-in dog jokes.

 

Fourth, you don't even need to watch the earlier S6 eps to follow this one. They work for the Dean. That's obvious from context. Frankie has more of an executive role than the rest of the table. Again, obvious in context. Elroy is a better computer guy than Abed. Again, inherently clear. 

 

This season's recent episodes have tended to be better than its earlier ones. Who knows? Maybe when it ends and I do a big rewatch, the foreshadowing will be so brilliant that I'll love all of them. But that's what it will take. I don't think anybody has rated this season highly the first time around. So fans might as well just restart with an episode they can enjoy!

Edited by CletusMusashi
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On 5/21/2015 at 0:17 PM, arc said:

Sure, but to be fair, back in season one and three (?), Abed's Batman was based on Bale's, wasn't it?

Jeff is 40 so the Batman from 1989 (ie Keaton) would totally be "his" Batman.

Really enjoyed this one. Loved that Chang still had the golden gun since Chang as Chow Yun Fat is my favourite part of Modern Warfare.

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On 2/10/2017 at 11:12 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

Chang as Chow Yun Fat

In all the time since Modern Warfare you are the only person to mention that. Even on the commentary they don't mention it. Justin Lin isn't on the commentary so Dan Harmon (who said he's not a John Woo fan) might have missed it.  But the doves, the suit, the sunglasses and THE MATCHSTICK!  Right out of Hard Boiled (aka the best action film Hong Kong ever produced).  Or pretty much any action film he made but Hard Boiled is my favorite so I'm going with that.

 

community.thumb.jpg.46e302a6bd769e8d191393f56587feec.jpg

Edited by HotRats2112
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On 20/02/2017 at 8:07 AM, HotRats2112 said:

In all the time since Modern Warfare you are the only person to mention that. Even on the commentary they don't mention it. Justin Lin isn't on the commentary so Dan Harmon (who said he's not a John Woo fan) might have missed it.  But the doves, the suit, the sunglasses and THE MATCHSTICK!  Right out of Hard Boiled (aka the best action film Hong Kong ever produced).  Or pretty much any action film he made but Hard Boiled is my favorite so I'm going with that.

Interesting. I figured it was sort of common knowledge. I am sure i mentioned on the TWoP Community thread back when the episode first aired. I tried to check but the archive seems to stop around February 2010.

The only reason i recognized it in the first place was back around 1998 me and my university friends would regularly rent movies on friday night, if we were to hungover or broke from going out on Thursday night. On frend was really into Hong Kong action movies, so we watched both Hard Boiled and The Killer, so i knew it was one of those movies.

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12 hours ago, Kel Varnsen said:

I figured it was sort of common knowledge.

As did I, but on that other board that just shut down not one person ever mentioned it.  And then in the commentaries (I am a commentaries junkie) they do call it a John Woo reference but because "everyone is shooting everywhere" not because Chang looks exactly like Chang Yun Fat.  

The first time I saw it when Chang walked in I spit my non-carbonated flavor-free diet seltzer all over my mother's basement wall.  It was amazing.  

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