Community's Dark Turn

Based on the strength of recent twitter campaigns it is easy to see that some fans are in an uproar over the lack of Shirley in the recent episodes of NBC's Community. In recent weeks she's had only a few lines interspersed throughout the episodes and she hasn't had her own B plot in a month. This week, she showed up for a few pointed glares at the beginning of the episode and a few "aww that's nice"es at the end, but was not in the episode otherwise.

It's hard to feel outraged though, because as much as I like Yvette Nicole Brown, Shirley is by far the least interesting character on the show. It's hard to find her uniquely important to the group dynamic when her reactions to everything are identical to Annie's. Don't believe me? Watch their side of the table during any group discussion. They're always in the same shot because they sit on the same side of the table, and they're always reacting in a very similar manner. Point being, I see why the writers are struggling to find a place for her in the stories, and I will excuse them for her recent absence, and hope that they find a way to make her relevant again.

What I do find terribly worrisome though is the writing team's insistence on making Pierce completely irredeemable. This week's episode ended with our favorite old racist lying in a drug induced coma on a park bench in the middle of the night surrounded by half empty pill bottles after abandoning the rest of the study group while Jeff's voice-over voice-mail warns him to get it together before it's (ominous word choice) too late.

You're a little too late, Jeff. Pierce, as a character, may be too far gone to recover. 

First we had Annie's anti-drug play where Pierce, in a quest for attention, almost singlehandedly increased the national average for at risk teenagers. At the end, he had no remorse and didn't even acknowledge his mistake in any way. "Even though I did nothing wrong, I'm still going to give you money."

Then there was the D&D campaign where Pierce, again almost single-handedly, bullied Fat Neal (I appreciate the hypocrisy of using the nickname) into suicide. The fact that, in the end, it was his bullying that saved Neal's life isn't even redeeming because, as the narrator/janitor tells us, Pierce learned nothing. 

Now we have Pierce actively choosing his exclusion from the group, choosing his own drug addiction over his friends. 

What worries me is that the Community writers have a habit of acknowledging and accepting consequences of their story lines. Don't believe me? Pierce was in a wheel chair with dual leg casts for weeks after a prat fall. Weeks. 

There's a saying that once you've hit the bottom, the only way to go is up. Well the problem I see is that Pierce has hit the rock bottom and even begun digging with no sign that he's even trying to pull back on the throttle. With writers as committed to consequences as this team, I'm wondering how Pierce can remain in the group for much longer.

Did Chevy Chase refuse to sign a Season 3 contract or something?

UPDATE: Pierce's recent storyline is what I considered to be the "Dark Turn," not the episode at large. Overall, I greatly enjoyed Community's second stab at a V-Day episode. In fact, I even am enjoying watching Pierce's fall. I'm just worried about how he's going to come out of the dive.