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Community Season 2 Episode 23

A Fistful of Paintballs

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AIRED: May 05, 2011

7.1

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Episode Summary

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Once again a paintball tournament is held in the halls and classrooms of Greendale Community College. Taking a western turn, the study group makes unlikely allegiances whilst trying to survive the backstabbing of disloyal companions and the mysterious stranger who is hunting them down.

Fan Episode Reviews (9)

Jumped the Shark

0.0

By Synetech, Dec 12, 2012

I recently saw the "Paintball" episodes again and it occurred to me that this was the point at which the show "jumped the shark". From this point (i.e., in season three) there were several times when they made episodes that were somewhat random and disjoint and moved further and further away from what made the show great at the start.
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Love the paintball episodes!!! And this one had Josh Holloway as The Black Rider, so even better!!

10

By keramarie, Jun 15, 2012

One thing that I love about this show is that an episode can transform into anything (and we know this especially because this is a western-style episode and the part two turns into a Star Wars theme). There was so much about this episode that I loved! The costumes, for one were awesome! Annie in particular, for example.

I have said this before, that I hate what they do with Pierce's character in season two. They make him the bad guy all the time. They have the rest of the group exclude him constantly, and after a while I just got sick of it. But he makes quite a name for himself for the better part of this episode. His motives weren't pure of course. It was all in an attempt to bring down his fellow study groupers (mostly Jeff).

Josh Holloway as the Black Rider was a nice touch. I love the cameos in Community anyway, so this was a bonus.

But, they trashed the school again, that is the best part!moreless
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Annie comes of age

8.0

By smhasnb, Jan 09, 2012

Last year I tweeted Community as the most impressive and creative comedy of the year. While the debut season was more focused on comedy writing, 2nd season was all about creativity. Community took an ironic and sarcastic stance on pretty much every ounce of popular culture. Almost every episode in season 2 had a theme to it. From the bottle episode to pulp fiction parody, Halloween, xmas, valentine's day, it was all there. But the stand out episode, (after getting rave ratings in season 1) was the return of the paintball battle. Only this time, twice as much fun. Season 2 saw a two episode special paintball battle to close season 2. I have to admit after season 1, I thought using the same theme (trick) would be a bit of a drag, but, it was quite nicely done. Star of the western themed first part of the 2-ep finale was none other than Annie. She has been the goody two shoes of the show thus far, but this episode saw a welcome change. Annie came of age, and quite nicely ( ;) ). The episode also had a few guest appearances of note; well mainly Josh Holloway of 'Lost' fame. All in all it was a solid 25ish minutes of entertainment (50 for both episodes). Scene below shows Annie in a way we had never seen her. For more reviews please see my blog 'T.V et al' at

http://syedhamzaali.tumblr.com

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Community brings back the paintball.

8.8

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Jun 02, 2011

The paintball episode in the first season may have been one of the first times that the show went completely towards a specific theme. It's been awhile, but we're finally getting back to the Paintball episode, and as the first part of a two part episode, it was actually very entertaining. The show touched on a lot of western themes and actually added in some of their own stuff. We also get some minor character development.

I suppose the episode wasn't the best the show has done, not even the best of this season, but it was undoubtedly the funnest one yet. Watching Annie become a powerful woman, taking the lead, watching Jeff deal with his insecurity against the "Black Rider" (played mysteriously by Josh Holloway a.k.a Sawyer from Lost), watching Pierce deal with the fact that the group may be kicking him out.. and Chang just being Chang. I'd say it's an all around great episode of Community.

If there's one thing that I'd like to see more of, it's character development. We had some good momentum here with Pierce, and the idea that he may not be back next season in the study group, is an intriguing plot point. If the show can mix the genre experimentation with the great character work it's done this season, we may have a great season finale on our hand.moreless
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A Fist Full of Paintballs...

9.0

By AjMc91, Jun 02, 2011

It took all year but paintball finally returned to Greendale this week as Community's A Fist Full of Paintballs hit the airwaves. To say I was excited for the beginning of the two-part season finale would be a dramatic understatement given how phenomenal season one's "Modern Warfare" was, and much to my complete and utter lack of surprise, it absolutely killed. Possibly not the best episode of the season as it has some fierce competition, but an absolutely outstanding twenty minutes of television nonetheless.

Throwing us in at the deep end, the episode opens with an introduction to the badass western paintball warrior version of Annie "The Ace of Hearts" Edison, saving Fat Neil before being forced to strike him down as well. You could kind of tell by this point into the episode that it was aspiring to do so much more than they did last year and they really didn't let up in their efforts. The credits alone deserve a solid mention as the cowboy theme continued throughout them as well before we finally come to understand just why everyone is dressed like it's 1865 and are hunting each other down once again. In a flashback scene we see that at the end of year picnic - sponsored by Pistol Patty's Cowboy Creamery - the Dean announces that a light hearted game of paintball assassin will cap off the year, but to stop the madness of the previous year, the prize has been downgraded from priority registration to a mere $100,000. The choice of using non-linear story telling was an interesting one, but once it all pays off, it was actually a pretty great way of bringing it all together. Five hours later, Abed "The Jack of Clubs" Nadir brings a ridiculous amount of cowboy charm as he convinces Annie to meet with Jeff "The King of Spades" Winger about forming an uneasy alliance to head into the newly erected Fort Hawthorne, and steal Pierce's fabled stockpile of ammo. It would be a lie if I said that Abed wasn't already my favorite character in the show, but moments like this one really remind me why. Danny Pudi's ability to convincingly playing anything from a charismatic cowboy to Batman is simply ridiculous, especially for a man that no one would ever consider to give an award to.

Before they can head off on their mission the group encounters a heavily armed and thoroughly handsome cowboy known only to others as The Black Rider (played by Lost's Josh Holloway). Declaring his intention to win the paint filled bout, The Rider then forces our heroes into running as they are out-gunned. Coming across Britta "The Queen of Spades" Perry, Shirley "The Ace of Clubs" Bennett and Troy "The King of Clubs" Barnes - all working for Pierce's group - Jeff, Abed and Annie are taken for an audience with the old man. At Fort Hawthorne - a safe haven/saloon established in the cafeteria - the study group reforms a bigger alliance under Pierce's rule with the intention of going to find the weaponry used in last years fight so that they can finish the game once and for all, splitting the prize between them. On their way, Annie saves Chang from the cheerleading squad - one of the many groups he has joined and betrayed - before hunting him down as well. Another confrontation with The Black Rider reveals that Pierce loaded Jeff's weapon with blanks and the group decides that his betrayal is one step too far. After arming themselves to the teeth with last year's guns, they head off to take out Pierce.

The only real character driven moments of the episode come when the group confronts Pierce and he reveals that he is hurt by getting left out all of the time - citing a card game he walked in on three days earlier. Annie, feeling guilty, reveals that the group wasn't playing cards but was in fact voting on whether or not Pierce would remain a member of the group; requiring a unanimous vote, Pierce was saved by a solitary red card - Annie's Ace of Hearts. As the group squares off in a duel, The Black Rider shows up one final time before getting taken out by Pierce when he fakes a heart attack. As Pierce flees the scene, The Black Rider reveals that he doesn't attend Greendale, but works for the ice cream company and was put into the game to ensure no student took the prize. With his reported failure, we see the ice cream company move to plan B, "Operation Total Invasion", as a group of Storm Trooper looking paintball soldiers take to the college to finish off the survivors. The idea that the group would vote out Pierce came as kind of a shock to me; despite his racism and general demeanor his character has always been a sort of focal point for the group. Although they may not like him, everyone has had some sort of meaningful interaction with Chevy Chase's persona over the season and though he will obviously be around in season three, the change in the group dynamic caused by this revelation will be interesting to see.

When all is said and done there is no other way to put it than to say that this is niche television. If you're a nerdy 18-35 year old male, you're genetically set to love it. If you're a woman that likes attractive men, you're genetically set to love it. Other than that, you're basically going to be wondering what the hell is going on on your screen. Community has so consistently done well at jumping outside of the box that anyone with half a brain has to respect it, but A Fist Full of Paintballs is nothing more than pure silliness and colossal amounts of fun. If for some reason you don't like that, that's your choice, but I have to ask...What is wrong with you?? The set up for next week's finale seems solid - the remaining students will band together to fight the ice cream warriors - I guess we'll just have to wait and see how they decide to wrap it all up.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Ken Jeong	Chang
Joel McHale	Jeff Winger
Gillian Jacobs	Britta Perry
Danny Pudi	Abed Nadir
Yvette Nicole Brown	Shirley Bennett
Alison Brie	Annie Edison

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Josh Holloway	Black Rider	Guest Star
Charley Koontz	Fat Neil	Recurring Role
Dominik Musiol	Pavel	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Alison Brie as Annie, Joel McHale as Jef...

© 2011 NBCUniversal, Inc.
Josh Holloway as "Black Rider" and Yvett...

© 2011 NBCUniversal, Inc.
Josh Holloway as "Black Rider" on Commun...

© 2011 NBCUniversal, Inc.
Alison Brie as Annie on Community from t...

© 2011 NBCUniversal, Inc.

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- Jeff's costume is the same one he wore in "Introduction to Statistics"
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QUOTES (0)
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NOTES (1)
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- Original International Air Dates:
  Canada: May 5, 2011 on Citytv
  Sweden: December 3, 2011 on TV6
  Czech Republic: February 8, 2013 on SMICHOV
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ALLUSIONS (6)
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- The paintball soldiers at the end of the episode references Die Hard 2.
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- The Mexican Standoff at the end of the episode references Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
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- Abed's outfit references Clint Eastwood's character "The Man With No Name" from A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
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- "A Fistful of Paintballs" is an allusion to the Clint Eastwood western "A Fistful of Dollars".
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- The extra credit ending is taken from the beginning of Battlestar Galactica where they show clips from the episode.
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- Blazing Saddles
  Troy's outfit is a copy of the one worn by Clevon Little in Mel Brook's "Blazing Saddles".
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