Saturday, January 18, 2014

Cool. Cool cool cool. LIE!!!



"Troy Barnes, did you know that you posses the greatest gift life can give?
The heart of the hero. It's up to you not to waste it like I did."

-Pierce Anastasia Hawthorne-

"I think?"
-Troy Barnes-

This line is taken from the 4th episode of the 5th season of this show I'm really into right now and is referring to the character I feel most connected with in the show. Yes, the show I'm referring to is "Community" by Dan Harmon, and the character is none other than the adorably idiotic yet lovable Troy Barnes, played by Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino.


When I first found out that Donald Glover will be leaving the series after 5 episodes into the the 5th season, I was DEPRESSED. I thought that this is it, "Community" will be up in the shits now. I mean come on, first we lost Pierce, now Troy? Et tu, Brute? Wait. Am I using it right? (See what I did there?) Anyways, I really felt like there's no way I will be able come to terms with the fact that Donald Glover will be leaving the show for whatever reasons that he or whoever might have.

But as grieve-stricken as I was, I needed to know why. It just doesn't seem.... logical (for the show at least). I believe that Troy has become one of the reasons why people watch the show, he's become too huge in that show to be disposed of/ leave just like that. So is there something else? Did Donald got cocky and decided he doesn't need "Community" anymore? Dan Harmon decides that Donald's "Childish Gambino" persona is too big and that it might jeopardize the role that he is playing in the show? All these questions started filling my head and so i did what anyone would've done, I googled it.

BOOM! Apparently, I'm not the only one who's bothered by it, and it created quite a hype when Donald explained his withdrawal from the show through a series of instagram posts. See for yourselves.








These are all the 7 pictures depicting his rantings on hotel notepads. These were his reasons for leaving, and frankly, after reading the notes, I felt like I understand why he needs to leave. The dude's messed up! Well, not exactly messed up, but he's clearly struggling with some issues (once again, who isn't). And to be afraid Dan Harmon hates him? That's crazy, I've seen an interview where Dan Harmon told an interviewer that he finds Donald to be "intimidatingly talented". His words, not mine. But still, all these shows just how much the dude's struggling with. All his insecurities, his thoughts, his confusion... Man.. He laid himself out so bare, all these just felt so.. RAW.

That made me more interested in this person known as Donald Glover, not Troy Barnes, nor Childish Gambino, but Donald Glover. I mean, I knew he's talented, a writer-comedian-actor-rapper, but i wanted to know more, so I dug deeper. His interviews, his videos, and all that. Barely pass the surface (which means after the 1st page of google search), I found an video of an interview where he explained his instagram posts cause apparently it's rather ambiguos (yeah, no shit Sherlock). In the interview, he explained a few things which I'm not gonna repeat, the link will be posted below. But the gist of it is (spoiler alert), that he feels he needs to keep going, growing, and progressing in life, to not be afraid of the future. BOOOOOOM! It touched me, yea sure, some of you might think it's a very small thing to be getting such reaction from, but I felt that way, so suck it. And albeit being torn apart that Donald will be leaving the cast of "Community", I consoled myself with the thought that he's doing the right thing, and as a fan, I should be supportive, for the sake of closure, for my sake.

And so the show goes on, episode 2, 3, meh, it's alright, but not that special. Then it reached episode 4, the 2nd last episode for Troy Barnes.

-SPOILER ALERT-

The episode starts with the study group coming back from Pierce's funeral. The story goes on about how Pierce tried to mess around with the group and Chang (from beyond the grave) one last time. However, at the end, he bequeaths them with "gifts" (his preserved sperm) and some other stuff wich was pretty cool. Except for Abed (sorry man). And the last of the group to be bequeathed upon was Troy. And his first words to Troy (again, from beyond the grave) was the line at the top. Which to me, seems very real, not just for Troy, but for Donald as well, and then he continues on like this..

"To Troy, I leave the obligatory sperm. In addition, I am prepared to leave Troy Barnes my remaining shares in the Hawthorne wipes company, currently valued at 14.3 million dollars. On one condition. You must first sail my boat, the "CHILDISH TYCOON" by YOURSELF around the ENTIRE WORLD. When I was 23, my father asked me to do the same thing to earn my adulthood and his fortune. Of course, I cheated and floated off the coast of Belize for a year, doing coke with John Denver. I always regretted it. I'd like to give you a chance to do what I never did : BECOME YOUR OWN MAN."

It appears to me that Donald's friends over at "Community" knew about his struggles, and somehow managed to use this episode to add in a not-so-subliminal message to Donald to go ahead and to do his thing, to become his own man. It. Was. Beautiful. The whole vibe that started the moment Troy was being bequeathed upon was just beautiful. Maybe I'm just being overly emotional about this, but whatever, that few moments was amazing, my compliments to the crew back at "Community".

All in all, these are just my 2 cents on this whole issue. Yeah, it's long cause I actually really do give a damn about Donald leaving "Community". It's so fucked up, I mean my whole country (and apparently UK?) is hyped up about the whole "kangkung" or "water spinach" issue (google it) but I'm more concerned about Donald Glover than that. Owh, and there's that rather recent misuse-of-the-word-ALLAH issue as well. Maaann.. I've got issues. Har har. Anyways, I'm entitled to my own opinion, and you, yours. So... yea..

Till my next mindless ramblings. HAZZAH!



LINKS
----------
http://www.hypable.com/2013/10/15/donald-glover-explains-left-community-letter/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J-OhYz9HW4#t=241