Wedding bells as 'Community' returns

Our long national nightmare is over: "Community" returned to the airwaves on Thursday night, and it kicked off with a marriage proposal.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner returned as Shirley's ex, Andre, who made a surprise appearance in Greendale's cafeteria with Boyz II Men-singing dancers (including "So You Think You Can Dance" season 4 winner Joshua Allen!) in tow.

Andre declared that his love for Shirley stretched back to when there was a Soviet Union, and only one Damon Wayans. Greendale's wedding of the year was on.

In the meantime, Pierce changed his appearance completely to fit the role of an entrepreneur to make his late father happy. He offered to help Shirley with her idea of a sandwich stand in the cafeteria, and things went well for a while: Dean Pelton (a belated congrats for the Oscar to Jim Rash, by the way) was impressed that someone so professional and knowledgeable could come from Greendale.

But then, Shirley's idea was transformed into a Subway restaurant (there's some odd product placement).

Shirley's business plans brought up a few sore points from the past with Andre, but all worked out in the end, and the two are now finally wed, again. As Troy said, let's hope this is more of a Bale than a Kilmer situation.

Speaking of Troy, he and Abed successfully "de-weirded" themselves in time for the wedding. Their normal handshake, and plainly stated "Troy and Abed being normal" was hilarious.

Of course, it couldn't last, and one glimpse of "Annie's Boobs" (as in, the monkey, for those new viewers out there) soon put Abed and Troy back into "Inspector Spacetime" mode. (And by the way, I'm totally fine if "Inspector Spacetime" is referenced non-stop for the rest of the season.)

But the funniest scene of the episode was probably the one between a drunk Jeff and Britta sarcastically getting married just before Shirley and Andre. Jeff was staunchly anti-marriage, while Britta, who used to be, came around to the idea after discovering she is a natural at planning weddings. Unfortunately, one of the funnier lines – about how many kids Jeff and Britta might have – is unprintable on a family website.

That being said, Britta is really enjoying a resurgence this season, in general, and one has to wonder where things are going with Jeff. From one week to the next, we see chemistry with Annie, and then with Britta. Hmm.

I was so happy to see the show back, that I nearly missed the fact that it was a Chang-less episode. Let's "Chang" that next time, shall we?

Were you "Dean"-lighted to see "Community" back as well? Were you cracking up at Annie's Jim Belushi line? What are your predictions for the rest of the season? Share your view on video or comment below. And while you're waiting for next week's episode, check out their recent PaleyFest panel.