Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality
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| "Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality" | |
|---|---|
| Community episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 7 |
| Directed by | Tristram Shapeero |
| Written by | Dan Guterman |
| Production code | 507 |
| Original air date | February 27, 2014 |
| Guest appearances | |
"Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of Community, and the 91st episode overall in the series. It originally aired on February 27, 2014 on NBC; and is written by Dan Guterman and directed by Tristram Shapeero. It is also the first episode of the season to air after a hiatus due to the 2014 Winter Olympics; the last episode to air was "Analysis of Cork-Based Networking", which aired on January 30, 2014.
The episode was met with generally positive reviews, with many commenting on the emotional depth presented between the characters. However, despite positive reviews, the episode was watched by 2.56 million viewers and attained an 18-49 rating of 1.0.[1]
Ian (John Oliver) asks for advice from Jeff (Joel McHale) on seducing Britta (Gillian Jacobs). On Jeff's recommendation, Ian tells Britta that he is going to a function for a political cause Britta cares about, and she decides to go with him. While there, she reconnects with old anarchist friends and realizes how they've changed. While watching Britta reconnect with her friends, Jeff soon becomes aroused by her, admitting to Ian that Britta's popularity turns him on. Ian sees this as a challenge and tells Jeff that if Britta's friends blow her off, he will be her shoulder to cry on. This soon happens when Britta's friends mock her for maintaining radical tendencies while they have become bourgeois. While Ian drives Britta home, they discuss the strange and fleeting nature of friendships, and he admits that Jeff is his only real friend, not an extremely close one at that. Ian ultimately decides not to take advantage of Britta's emotional vulnerability; instead he drives her home and goes out drinking with Jeff, which ends up strengthening their friendship.
Meanwhile, Abed (Danny Pudi) carelessly damages Professor Hickey's (Jonathan Banks) drawings with foam shot from his Kick-Puncher costume. Hickey decides to punish him by handcuffing him to his filing cabinet so that he will miss that night's premiere of the newest Kick-Puncher movie. Hickey shows his older cartoons to Abed, who pretends to like them so that he will let him go. When Hickey refuses to do so, Abed angrily admits that he thinks the cartoons are insipid and pointless and that Hickey envies his creativity. Later Abed returns and shows Hickey an unintentionally funny script he has written, suggesting they could collaborate to improve each other's writing.
Chang (Ken Jeong)—while at the function with Jeff, Britta, Ian, Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), and Annie (Alison Brie)—walks through an unmarked door and performs an impromptu one-man show for an unknown audience. Afterward, a janitor tells him that 24 people were killed in the same room he just performed in, making Chang believe that his "audience" consisted of ghosts. The audience then says that the janitor is the real ghost; the suspense becomes too much for Chang, who screams and runs. The next day, he tells the study group about what happened, and they say that they did not remember Chang being at the function, which leads Chang to think that he is a ghost. Britta then encourages Ben to calm down, and he does. Suspenseful music builds up as the camera zooms in on an old-fashioned-looking black-and-white group photo featuring Chang—a reference to the climactic scene of The Shining. The caption of the photo is revealed, reading: "Old Timey Photo Club, 2014".
In the credits scene, dean Pelton (Jim Rash) is asked for a restaurant recommendation by Ian, who the dean manipulates not to go to his preferred restaurant by awkwardly avoiding the question and playing along with an emotional breakdown about Ian's neglectful father.