The Lilleby Community: Origins of Vampire Mythology

Last night when Erik Lilleby made his weekly attempt to review NBC's "Community," something very strange happened.

Editor’s Note: Last night, NBC aired perhaps the best episode of Community’s nearly three-season run. As per usual, Puddles of Myself had our resident Community expert, Erik Lilleby, ready to watch and review the episode at the Puddles of Myself Leslie Nielson Memorial Television Emporium Sponsored by Pantene Pro-V. What happened after the episode aired was a disturbing, yet somewhat satisfying exhibition of incommunicable passion. Erik Lilleby sent out the following “dispatches” of opinion in the minutes immediately following the end of last night’s episode of Community. We have provided notes/analysis to what he could have possibly meant as he was sending out these messages in an attempt to relay his love and appreciation of the show, as well as his normal, deep-rooted humanitarian comments.

E-MAIL MESSAGE #1:

“The far-flung, yet close to home, ideas that create an episode of Community are timeless yet centered on Now.  Pow-pow.”

We can infer from this message that Erik Lilleby’s soul was stirred to speak right as the final credits and tag of Community finished airing. He attempts an almost poetic cadence at the beginning of his e-mail, and does manage to relay a poignant message that captures the sentiment of last night’s episode. The “Pow-pow” at the end, could be the rhythm of poetry slowly fading from his brain; the touch of the artist there and then gone in a flash of inspiration. And all we are left with is a small, digital age sound effect.

E-MAIL MESSAGE #2:

“I. . .”

A five-minute interval passed before this message arrived in the Puddles of Myself Mailbox (sponsored by 20^th Century Fox’s The Three Stooges. “Just say Moe.”). We see Erik Lilleby’s ultimate struggle to communicate his feelings. He is reaching back in his soul to speak something to the world, some far-off thought or feeling, but he cannot even type or speak. He is left, like Mr. Bloom on the shore at Sandymount Strand, writing words in the sand that the sea slowly washes away. “I AM A”

E-MAIL MESSAGE #3:

"You're the only one who understands me." Jeff to Shirley

"Her pain unifies us....I was one of the gang. I had it in my hands." Pierce

"...Ouch." -Dean Pelton

This was the third and final e-mail message that Erik Lilleby sent last night. You can see that he seemed to compose himself and send out three of his favorite quotes from the episode. Perhaps he had scribbled them down in a notebook in some attempt to document what he was watching, or perhaps, like music, that some faraway melody remembered, these quotes stuck in his brain to be easily plucked and relayed at will.

THE TWITTER BARRAGE:

Nearly an hour passed after those e-mail messages were sent to the Puddles of Myself Inbox. We wondered what the radio silence meant. However, finally it became evident that Mr. Lilleby had turned his attentions to Twitter. We checked the Puddles of Myself Twitter Feed and found the following Tweets from @ErikLittleBee sent in rapid succession.

You can see the slow descent into a mania based on love, deep-rooted empathy, passion and ultimately vanity.

First, he points out the power of characters and of a well-told story to cause a “swelling of feelings” within us.

Then, we move on to an attempt at humor as well as a means of placing the episode within the canon of Community episodes. “Better episode EVER!!!” Yes, indeed.

Next, we get a Tweet born out of passion or misplaced lust for an actress/character’s hair. No judgment is being placed because, yes, her hair and teeth did look great. The only thing we wonder is: why no mention of Annie’s cleavage?

Finally, we get a comment about Jeff Winger’s effect on women and then Erik taking a moment to celebrate his own laughter at the joke/moment in the episode. We can picture a man, tears slightly forming at the corners of his eyes, his mouth open in slightly in slow joy and then a halting “Hah!” Truly a scene.

THE TAKE AWAY:

After the Twitter Barrage, Erik Lilleby went into radio silence. This morning, when asked about last night’s episode of Community, Erik responded:

“Sorry, man. I blacked out. I don’t remember any of it. I guess just run with the shit I sent you. Must have been good.”

The lesson to take away from all of this is, as always, enjoy the things you love to their fullest—even if sometimes they make you black out.