Following a number of excellent episodes, the show tries to hold onto the magic. Does it work? Does it finally jump the shark? Find out below!
PLOT
The carnival is in town and Britta's ex, Blade, is inbound. She is weak for him.
Jeff loves his locker. Annie loves his bod.
Britta asks Annie to put her on lock-down to keep her from banging Blade.
Dean Pelton and Vice-Dean Laybourne discuss enrolling Troy in the air-conditioning repair program. Pelton doesn't know if he can make that happen. Laybourne impresses upon him that he must.
Britta is at Troy, Abed, and Annie's apartment on lock-down, behaving like a junky, trying to trick Annie into revealing the location of the phone using the potential of her mother dying as the logic. When Troy accidentally tells her where it is, the gang is forced to lock her junkie ass up. When things couldn't get much worse, Dean Pelton shows up with root beer and chips.
Jeff and Shirley go the carnival together to spy on Blade. Shirley is concerned Jeff is jealous and in love with Britta. Jeff admits jealousy but denies love. Also, Pierce and Chang develop a great friendship that lasts a few minutes.
Junkie Britta cons her phone back from Annie but Annie has switched Blade's number for her own and receives Junkie Britta's horny psycho texts. But when Annie makes the fatal mistake of responding with "Leave me alone" she elevates the insanity and has to fake being Blade.
No one can figure out why Dean Pelton is there. Eventually, Troy takes over as fake-Blade and texts something nice, immediately curing her of the addiction because she isn't attracted to losers.
Blade reveals his secret to Jeff. Brain damage. He lacks the ability to feel shame. Jeff then gives a speech to Britta and everything is back to normal, except for Pierce who is now addicted to Chang.
QUOTABLES
The group wants to know about Britta's carnival boyfriend.
Britta: Fine. I'm not ashamed of my past. And if it entertains you guys, that's great, because we're friends. (pause) His name is Blade and... (the group bursts out in laughter)
Jeff: She invoked friendship to undercut the laugh and we're still laughing, that's how funny it is!
Abed: His name is Blade. Is that legal? Shouldn't New Line Cinema be suing him?
Britta: He was called that before that stupid movie.
Troy: (correcting her) He was called that before the fantastic movie.
Abed: And it was a Marvel comic in 1973.
Britta: Well, nerd alert!
Pierce: Well, ex-boyfriend named Blade alert.
Pierce and Shirley high-five.
Shirley: Her love life makes Pierce seem with it.
Pierce: Her pain unifies us. She has the King Arthur of bad taste in men.
Jeff: So what, Britta? You're in love with a guy who's named after a kickboxing vampire movie?
Troy: (correcting him) A fantastic kickboxing vampire movie!
Britta: No, I don't believe in love because of this guy (getting emotional) named after a kickboxing vampire movie.
Annie: Ohh, Britta!
Shirley: Oh, sweetie.
Troy: (leaning over to Abed) You wanna watch BLADE tonight?
Abed: Yes.
Britta hurries over to Annie with some news.
Britta: I need your help. It is Blade's carnival that's coming. He's working the BB gun duck shooting gallery, I guess he finally got that promotion, and he will call me. And left unattended, I will end up doing him like a crossword and I will regret it! So I need you to take my phone, and don't give it back until Monday!
Annie: Of course! Okay!
Jeff: For real?
Britta: (shutting Jeff up with her hand in his face) And I need to stay with you this weekend. Not just stay with you, I need to be on lock-down. You are a pill-head, so think of Blade as adderall and handcuff me to the radiator like a mother flippin' carny banging werewolf!
When Annie has to fake being Blade, Britta's texts get more and more desperate.
Annie: (typing a text) I told you, not to call me at work! (reading Britta's text) 'I'm sorry. I forgot. Don't be mad at me'?! She's whipped by an imaginary douche!
RATING
If I had to rate this one, and Buddy Jesus says I do, then I'd give it:
87 out of 100
Britta centric, funny and full of quick stabs of memorable dialogue. Nowhere near the genius of some others but it works.
