Law And Order/Crime Procedurals
Season 3 Episode “Basic Lupine Urology”
Structured like Dick Wolf’s long-running Law & Order, the Community episode takes a simple crime, the desecration of a science project, and builds an investigation around whodunnit, following up with the prosecution of said who that dunnit.
Every potential witness is in the middle of moving around, doing menial day jobs as they are interviewed, potential suspects are chased around before red herrings are announced, there’s a segment dealing with computer technology that just mocks the living daylights out of computer analysts and the twist at the end provides solid plot movement for the show.
Taking every character and putting them in roles in another show for 22 minutes isn’t a new technique, but this episode pastiches the 20-season show and its spin-offs perfectly, as well as all the other hundreds of procedural crime shows that dominate the TV schedules.
A perfectly honed spoof that examines every scene in an episode of those shows and finds a way to play with it in the world of Greendale Community College. Playful and very funny, one of the best examples of what Community has done for 5 seasons and counting.
The Complete Fifth Season of Community is available from today, along with the boxset for Series 1-5.
