Feel free to discuss among yourselves the first 20-or-so minutes of “Basic RV Repair and Palmistry,” about how Elroy’s RV, with a giant hand on the roof, runs out of gas in the Colorado mountains, trapping everyone for the cold night in some sad man’s home. There was some good stuff in there, especially Space Elder Britta and Abed and the Dean doing Kid ‘n Play’s dance from House Party (“EXTRA THICK STRAPS”), but the classic Community material didn’t come until the tag, when the hand became more than a comically large McGuffin.
The set-up: Matt Besser is wondering when Elroy will drop the hand off at his house, so he’ll have somewhere to put the big watch in his living room. That’s a funny enough scene as is, but then it gets dark. His rabbit-obsessed wife mentions their family, and it’s revealed that they have a “normal-sized son,” or at least had one. Besser gave their boy a giant kite one day, and he hasn’t been seen since. He’s probably dead, but an emotionally distraught Besser can’t bring himself to admit that; he’s “disappeared” and “waiting for a better daddy with a bigger hand.”
The wife leaves him when she finds out what the watch is for: “I thought it would look cool.” They’re living in the darkest timeline, and that’s the darkest ending. Maybe this will cheer them up.
