Here at Pop Culture Spin we refuse to accept that Halloween is only one day. We’re going to be celebrating Halloween all month, by highlighting one of our favorite Halloween episodes every day. Today’s we’re looking at the Community episode “Epidemiology.”
Basic Info
Directed by: Anthony Hemingway
Written by: Karey Dornetto
Episode Number: Season 2, Episode 6
Where to Watch It: Hulu
Why It’s Great
In this high-concept episode, the food at Greendale’s Halloween party starts turning everyone into zombies. The characters attempt to escape the zombie outbreak until the only man left standing is Troy.
Despite how silly this episode is, the emotional story is genuinely great. Troy is starting to resist his friendship with Abed after realizing he’s turning into a nerd. But, after Abed sacrifices himself to save the others, Troy decides to embrace the nerdy spirit that made Abed a heroic zombie fighter.
Also, the entire episode is set to Abba’s greatest hits, which is the kind of weird, wonderful extra touch that made Community season two so special.
Why It’s Full of Halloween Spirit
Halloween episodes are a great reason to push the limits of the rules of a TV show’s universe. This episode fully embraces that. Everything somewhat makes sense in universe– it’s just food poisoning that resembles zombie-ism — but, functionally it’s like seeing the characters in an alternate sci-fi universe.
There are a couple of genuinely scary moments, notably when Jeff accidentally smashes a window, causing Annie to be grabbed by a whole mess of zombies.
Costume Count
Jeff is David Beckham
Pierce is Captain Kirk
Britta is a t-rex
Annie is Little Red Riding Hood
Shirley is Glenda the Good Witch
Abed is an alien from Alien
Troy is Ellen Ripley, then a sexy Dracula
Dean Pelton is Lady Gaga
Chang is Peggy Fleming
Rich is a banana
Star Burns is a pirate
Leonard is a pumpkin
