Applied Anthropology And Culinary Arts
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"Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts" is the twenty-second episode of the second season of ''Community''. It originally aired on April 28, 2011, on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
. In the episode, Shirley unexpectedly goes into
labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
during the group's Anthropology final. A campus
food riot A food riot is a riot in protest of a shortage and/or unequal distribution of food. Historical causes have included rises in food prices, harvest failures, inept food storage, transport problems, food speculation, hoarding, poisoning of food, ...
prevents them from getting her to the hospital in time, and they have to help deliver her baby in the classroom. The episode was written by
Karey Dornetto Karey Dornetto is an American screenwriter who has written for television series such as Arrested Development (TV series), ''Arrested Development'', Community (TV series), ''Community'', Portlandia (TV series), ''Portlandia'' and ''South Park''. ...
and directed by
Jay Chandrasekhar Jayanth Jambulingam Chandrasekhar (born April 9, 1968) is an American comedian, film director, screenwriter, actor and editor. He is best known for his work with the sketch comedy group Broken Lizard and for directing and starring in the Broken ...
. It received positive critical reviews.


Plot

The study group and their classmates are having their Anthropology final exam, which is a farce. Dean Pelton (
Jim Rash James Rash (born July 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He played Dean Craig Pelton on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best ...
) unexpectedly shows up with a reporter for ''Dean Magazine'' who's doing a piece on the dean and is invited to observe the final. Dr. Ian Duncan (
John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British and American comedian who hosts ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' on HBO. He started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom and came to wider attention for his work ...
) makes an excuse and escapes. Shirley's (
Yvette Nicole Brown Yvette Nicole Brown (born August 12, 1971) is an American actress. She starred as Shirley Bennett on the NBC sitcom ''Community'', as Dani in the 2015 reboot of '' The Odd Couple'' on CBS, and as Dina Rose on the ABC sitcom '' The Mayor''. Br ...
) water breaks, saving the class from admitting that their Anthropology class has been fake. The dean decides to get his car to drive Shirley to the hospital. However, a riot breaks out at the food festival in the parking lot and leaves her stuck on campus. Abed (
Danny Pudi Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor and director. His roles include Abed Nadir on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supp ...
) is capable of delivering a baby, but Shirley refuses to let Abed see her "nethers." Instead, Abed guides Britta (
Gillian Jacobs Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress. She is known for playing Britta Perry in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), Mickey Dobbs in the Netflix romantic comedy series '' Love'' (2016–2018), and Mar ...
), who had been advocating natural birth to Shirley, through the delivery process. Throughout the episode, Chang (
Ken Jeong Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong ( ; ; born July 13, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' ...
) pesters Shirley about how "Chang babies" are born, since he is hoping the baby is his. During her contractions, Chang calms her down with stories about his relatives' – the Chang babies – births. Shirley's husband, Andre (
Malcolm-Jamal Warner Malcolm-Jamal Warner (born August 18, 1970) is an American actor. He rose to prominence for his role as Theodore Huxtable on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992), which earned him a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a ...
) arrives to help her through the final stage of delivery. Shirley gives birth to a boy, which is clearly Andre's. Grateful for Chang's help during the birth, Shirley names the baby "Ben" after him. At the end of the episode, it is shown that ''Dean Magazine'' shut down after only two issues.


Production

"Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts" was written by
Karey Dornetto Karey Dornetto is an American screenwriter who has written for television series such as Arrested Development (TV series), ''Arrested Development'', Community (TV series), ''Community'', Portlandia (TV series), ''Portlandia'' and ''South Park''. ...
, her fifth writing credit of the series. It was directed by
Jay Chandrasekhar Jayanth Jambulingam Chandrasekhar (born April 9, 1968) is an American comedian, film director, screenwriter, actor and editor. He is best known for his work with the sketch comedy group Broken Lizard and for directing and starring in the Broken ...
, his third directing credit of the series.
KUAM KUAM may refer to: * KUAM-TV, a television station (channel 8) licensed to Agana, Guam * KUAM-LP KUAM-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Hagåtña (Agana), Guam, serving the U.S. territory as an affiliate of NBC and CBS. Owned by Pac ...
aired the episode on Sunday, May 1, 2011 due to The Royal Wedding, which aired the next morning on most NBC stations, preempting the episode.


Cultural references

Abed and Troy compared Pierce's offer to "buy" their handshake to a similar deal in ''
Indecent Proposal ''Indecent Proposal'' is a 1993 American erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Amy Holden Jones. It is based on the 1988 novel by Jack Engelhard, in which a couple's marriage is disrupted by a stranger's offer of a milli ...
''. Dean Pelton compared his self-proclaimed father figure role to the horror film ''Children of the Corn''.


Reception


Ratings

In its original broadcast on April 28, 2011, "Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts" was viewed by an estimated 3.35 million people, with a
Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the #Nielsen TV ...
of 1.4 in the 18–49 demographic.


Reviews

The episode received positive reviews from critics. Jeffrey Kirkpatrick gave it a 4.2/5 rating, and praised
Ken Jeong Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong ( ; ; born July 13, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' ...
and
Gillian Jacobs Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress. She is known for playing Britta Perry in the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), Mickey Dobbs in the Netflix romantic comedy series '' Love'' (2016–2018), and Mar ...
' performance as the best in the series, "by a mile." Cory Barker of TV Surveillance said the episode wasn't "overly complicated", but had "a number of really solid, straightforward emotional beats, something we haven’t seen from the series for most of this season." Kelsea Stahler of Hollywood.com said "Even when we get an episode that's more about love and friendship with Community, we usually find a few great lines along the way. Even so, it wasn't a bad episode. What we found last night, was an episode of ''Community'' that was full of heart, a few chuckles and one really fake-looking newborn." Steve Heisler of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' gave the episode a B+ score, saying he enjoyed the series "
etting Etting (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Ettinge'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France. The village belongs to the Pays de Bitche. See also * Communes of the Moselle department ...
out of its own way and let Shirley deliver her baby."


Notes


References


External links


"Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts"
at
NBC.com The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
* {{Community (TV series) 2011 American television episodes Community season 2 episodes Television episodes directed by Jay Chandrasekhar Television episodes written by Karey Dornetto Works about childbirth Television episodes about human pregnancy