Advanced Safety Features

"Advanced Safety Features" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series Community, and the 104th episode of the series overall. It was released on Yahoo! Screen in the United States on April 21, 2015. The episode also features product placement by Honda throughout the episode.

Plot

While the group holds a planning meeting, Chang claims he knows PowerPoint. The dean falls for Honda's guerrilla marketing campaign after Britta's ex-boyfriend Rick, aka Subway (from season 3's "Digital Exploration of Interior Design") returns to town. Meanwhile, the group plays the game The Ears Have It! in order to get closer with Elroy. Greendale hosts an alumni dance and hires the band Natalie is Freezing to perform the song "Pillar of Garbage", while Elroy reveals he once dated the band's lead singer Julie (Lisa Loeb).

Cultural references

Britta disagrees with Rick over the quality of the film Avatar. Later Britta and Rick discuss the film Chariots of Fire, with Rick quoting a line in the film, "When I run, I feel His pleasure."

Production

In February 2015, it was reported that Travis Schuldt would return to the series as Subway/Rick, and that Billy Zane would also make a guest appearance as a character who wanted to recruit Britta for her unique abilities.^[1] During the episode various scenes were shot outdoors on the CBS Studio City backlot.^[2]

Critical reception

Alan Sepinwall of HitFix points to the moment in this episode when, "Frankie tried to console the Dean even as she was calling him stupid," as "a nice moment" for Paget Brewster's character.^[3] Joshua Alston from The A.V. Club found that the episode, "captures Community’s themes so perfectly, it’s comforting even when it isn’t bringing the laughs," and found, "Frankie turning the Dean into her lapdog to help take down Rick for his shady salesmanship," one of the funniest parts of the story. He also reminds us that, "there are limits to how deftly a show can overtly integrate advertising," reminding us that the overt product integration is ridiculously funny.^[4] Eric Goldman of IGN mentions, "Chang’s PowerPoint presentation got funnier and funnier as it went on," and points to Jeff's realization that someone doesn't like him, as another facet of the episode's story-line that made this episode especially good.^[5] In Yahoo's Robert Chan weekly Postmortem with Community's Dan Harmon, Robert says, "nobody’s cooler than Keith David." For the first time the character of Elroy becomes integral to the episode's story-line. While at the same time Harmon cautions the relevance of other established series regulars, like Alison Brie's character of Annie, which in this episode seems to have faded into the background.^[6]

References

External links

• "Advanced Safety Features" at Yahoo! Screen.com
• "Advanced Safety Features" at the Internet Movie Database