Community

[albucat]

About to write up my weekly review, and not looking forward to explaining why it's the worst episode the show's done yet. Glad I long ago decided to ignore comments, as I'm sure the show's diehards loved it.

[TomReagan]

I am sure. I hated it.

I am sad to say that I fully agree with Matt’s sentiment. Although I still have an interest in the show based on its track record and very appealing cast, it is waning at a furious pace. I cannot remember a single laugh out loud moment this season.

[Mr Sausage]

Well that was intolerable.

[Murdoch]

Y'all are crazy, that was great. Of course I liked the season premiere so what do I know

[Andre Jurieu]

I didn't hate it, though it certainly wasn't as good as some of the other episodes this season. The concept just felt incredibly forced.

[Mr Sausage]

The problem is that the writers felt the concept carried itself, so we get an episode about how the group takes a balloon ride, crashes in the woods, immediately meets a former Greendale student who lives in the woods, eats hallucinogenic berries, then reveals their worst secrets, but not really, but then really. I mean, the hell?

[knives]

Y'all are crazy, that was great. Of course I liked the season premiere so what do I know

As someone who has generally found this season to be good (at least season three quality) this episode was so awful as to put me off of the show for a little bit. They were just trying to do too many 'gimmicks' without having a story to back it up and terribly composed songs that are present just because. Also the way they ended things with Pierce is weirdly detached to the point of being completely foreign to the show's sensibilities.

[The Narrator Returns]

My real-time reaction to the tag.

"Awww, kitties. Look at them... oh no, no, no, no, no, no... ugh."

And like that, I dropped my opinion of the episode by two letter grades.

[Andre Jurieu]

Yeah, heading back to the other timeline felt like they were going back to the well once-too-often.

Otherwise, this one was pretty enjoyable. And so the roller-coaster ride of quality for this season continues.

[albucat]

Mostly pretty good. Not amazing, but a solid episode. So by this season's standards, maybe like the second best yet.

[Mr Sausage]

It wasn't a bad episode. It just wasn't all that funny.

Also, does anyone else keep forgetting that Troy and Britta are actually dating? For such a major change in the group's dynamics, it's meant absolutely nothing so far. I don't get the sense the writers know where they're taking these characters; they're just making up arcs week by week, seeing what works.

[knives]

The biggest problem of the season (which I think you have cited) is that the serial elements are being retained yet the new runners have no clue how to write to that.

[Mr Sausage]

Yay. Once again a random collection of people who happen to be friends have all secretly been influencing each others' lives the whole time. Even tho' the episode tried to be a bit self-aware about things, I still hate this conceit just as much as I hated it back in the Jeff/Shirley foosball episode.

It's at points like this that Community stops having any connection to real life and becomes removed and artificial, its emotions especially. I didn't care what these people were feeling because they stopped being real people, just cyphers in the plot mechanics. So I just lost the one thing that kept me watching the show: my affection for the characters.

Also, I liked Britta better when she was knowing and experienced (remember when she could banter with Jeff and hold her own?) and not a dumb, over-earnest blonde.

[Andre Jurieu]

Yeah, throughout this entire episode I kept wondering why it mattered that these people were destined to become friends. If anything, I found them more compelling when they seemed to be a random assortment of people who are attempting to bind themselves as a group despite the fact that they have no real connection or shared experiences.

[Murdoch]

That was my main problem as well, and it shows how the show isn't Harmon's anymore since one of the major themes of his episodes was that these were a random assortment of people who came together despite their differences. I did enjoy the Troy/Annie story (until Magnitude came in) since it wasn't out of step with what Harmon laid the framework for, but that ending was terrible.

Also, I liked Britta better when she was knowing and experienced (remember when she could banter with Jeff and hold her own?) and not a dumb, over-earnest blonde.

To be fair, this happened somewhere around the beginning of the third season. Probably the most egregious example was the episode where she protested against Chang.

[YnEoS]

Yay. Once again a random collection of people who happen to be friends have all secretly been influencing each others' lives the whole time. Even tho' the episode tried to be a bit self-aware about things, I still hate this conceit just as much as I hated it back in the Jeff/Shirley foosball episode.

I'm not caught up on season 4 yet. But I have to say I didn't completely hate the Jeff/Shirley foosball thing, just because there were so many throw away mentions in the show prior to that episode about them being about the same age.

[The Narrator Returns]

This sucked balls. I genuinely hope that the show is renewed, because it can't go out like this.

This is like the writers shouting in your ear, "YOU LIKED THIS BEFORE!!!! YOU MUST LIKE IT WHEN WE DO IT AGAIN!!!!!!!"

[Roger Ryan]

It wasn't great, but like the previous episode, it made me laugh a few times, which tended not to happen much this season. The show feels like it has exhausted itself and I doubt even the departed creatives could resuscitate it if given a chance.

[Murdoch]

I liked this season a great deal (the Freaky Friday episode was the best episode since Regional Holiday Music imo) but I've never been a fan of these high concept action movie-like episodes. I did like how the episode turned itself into a more character motivated plot at the end, even if it relied on a hackneyed twist to do so.

[Mr Sausage]

My problem with the Freaky Friday episode was that Britta and Troy's relationship meant so little to the series that there was no emotional pay-off to the break-up. The relationship left as quickly as it came; it felt like the characters were returning to the easy status quo rather than changing from their experiences.

That relationship had the potential for some good material, eg. Troy wold be forced to confront his own inexperience and childishness now that he's in a relationship with a real, experienced older woman with real, adult expectations. His subsequent attempts to become the type of person who can function in an adult relationship would've had an interesting impact on his friendship with Abed.

But none of that happened. Even Britta and Troy could hardly be bothered to remember their own relationship (they almost seemed surprised every time it was brought up by another group member).

[Murdoch]

For me, after four seasons I've had enough of the emotional growth stuff. It might have been interesting to see Troy and Britta better balance their relationship with the group, but I think the point was that they (mostly Troy) carelessly entered into this relationship and were afraid to end it because it might destroy their friendship. The ending was a little too neat, but I thought it was true to Troy that he'd try to hide behind hi-jinks to avoid the inevitable, and I'm glad the body switch stuff reflected this by not being real.

Still, I'm hoping this is the last season. There's nothing more awkward than trying to cram a character back into the story after his arc has for the most part ended.

[domino harvey]

RENEWED

[mfunk9786]

Zombie Community continues to stagger along. Tip: Aim for the head.

[Mr Sausage]

RENEWED

Not sure how I feel about this. The final episode is not a satisfactory series finale (not even sure it makes a satisfying season finale), so there's still more to be done--but, even tho' there were a good handful of quality Community episodes, this season was extremely uneven, with the last few episodes showing a dire sensibility taking over. I felt the characters got lost in all the nonsense and gimmicks. So while I'd like to follow them and see where they end up, I'm not sure how much I care about them any more.

[The Narrator Returns]

Well, I think the problem with this season was that it was far too eager to please, and wanted to give us everything we liked before. Maybe now that that's done with, we can get more episodes like Anatomy, and less like the puppets one or the finale.

And, best of all, the weirdoes (myself included) in the Community gang on the AV Club will live to see another day!