Community: Apparently, We Like Dan Harmon Anyway

[Sci-2]

When Troy asks if he's better than Jeff at sex, what does Britta say?

Watched it twice and didn't get catch it.

[Fat Mac]

I will make a complaint. Well, its not a complaint, just something I'm cautionary about.

With the ACB episode and this, that's two concept episodes in a season with only 5 episodes so far. I think if Dan really wants to capture the magic they had in Seasons 1 and 2, he will have the next couple episodes be regular episodes with goofy antics at Greendale (taking classes, focusing on interactions with the students and staff) rather than more concept episodes. I mean, I can see why he did it for Troy's last episode, but especially with Troy gone, the goings-on between the characters that are left (especially Abed and Britta) will be important.

Also, more Dean Pelton please!

When Troy asks if he's better than Jeff at sex, what does Britta say?

Watched it twice and didn't get catch it.

I think she said "I've never had worse" or something like that, referring to Jeff.

It kind of calls back to the D&D episode.

Jeff throws a knife at one of the goblins. Abed says its a critical hit.

Jeff: "See? What am I not good at?"

Britta: "Sex"

Then he immediately shoots her a dirty look. Looks like she wasn't just joking :lol:

[David Selig]

When Troy asks if he's better than Jeff at sex, what does Britta say?

Watched it twice and didn't get catch it.

"I've yet to have anyone worse"

[Winterfell is Burning]

Troy and Abed in a bubble!

Goddamn it, I'll miss Troy. I hope he returns eventually.

[TheEvilKing]

With the ACB episode and this, that's two concept episodes in a season with only 5 episodes so far. I think if Dan really wants to capture the magic they had in Seasons 1 and 2, he will have the next couple episodes be regular episodes with goofy antics at Greendale (taking classes, focusing on interactions with the students and staff) rather than more concept episodes. I mean, I can see why he did it for Troy's last episode, but especially with Troy gone, the goings-on between the characters that are left (especially Abed and Britta) will be important.

This is an interesting point, and one I think Community fans are generally confused about.

One thing that's often attributed to Community's seasonal decline is the reliance on high-concept and/or meta episodes over "normal" episodes.

While I agree with the general point - the lack of any really good "normal" episodes since season 1 has hurt the show and pigeonholed it as too meta and too inaccessible - it's not that they don't attempt normal episodes. They do, all the time. It's just that they're not good at them any more, and haven't been since the lovely 10/10 episode toward the end of season 1 where Annie starts dating Vaughan and Britta and Jeff try to split them up. The success of the first paintball episode seemed to skew what Harmon and the rest of them though was good about the show, and that's why the highest ranked post s1 episodes - D&D, the first paintball sequel, the timelines ep, the law & order ep, the bottle episode - they're all gimmicks and/or meta. The attempts at a normal episode have largely fallen flat - apart from that one where Jeff has a party at his apartment and Britta pretends to be a lesbian.

A lesbian.

So don't blame the show's failures on the concept episodes. Blame it on the inability to do normal ones.

[Fat Mac]

So don't blame the show's failures on the concept episodes. Blame it on the inability to do normal ones.

I guess it all boils down to opinions. One of my favorite episodes (like top 5) is Origins of Vampire Mythology, which is a "normal" episode, and was in the middle of Season 3. I also thought Competitive Ecology (in early Season 3) was great. But I will agree that the normal episodes are generally weaker than they were in season 1, which were all normal episodes with two exceptions (Contemporary American Poultry and Modern Warfare)

[Sci-2]

Uh, I think you're forgetting Mixology?

I think Community is just a lot of things to a lot of people. I mean people here burst out laughing at stuff that marginally amuses me and vice-versa.

As to normal vs concept - I think without the concept episodes Community would be regarded as a decent comedy. What makes the show great is the ability to maintain an emotional connection while do lots of high concept stuff.

I think a bigger problem than concept vs normal was the pigeon-holing of characters...which wasn't even consistent in the cases of Troy and Abed along with faux-growth from Pierce. Though without Pierce returning to his asshole self we might not have such a good D&D episode.

Abed was probably the worse, descending into the arm-cutter Darkest Timeline shit at the end of S3...though, again, the ability to shift over to that darkness without losing the comedic and heartfelt aspects still makes me appreciate what Harmon managed.

eta:

I think she said "I've never had worse" or something like that, referring to Jeff.

It kind of calls back to the D&D episode.

Thanks, that's what I thought but it wasn't exactly clear.

=-=-=

'Community' photos: Nathan Fillion, Jonathan Banks and more in 'Analysis of Cork-Based Networking'

[OnionAhaiReborn]

'Community' photos: Nathan Fillion, Jonathan Banks and more in 'Analysis of Cork-Based Networking'

This link reminds me- did everyone catch that Chang's same sex celebrity crush is Nathan Fillion?

1) I loled

2) How's this going to work with Fillion on the show? Will he be appearing as himself, or are we just going to ignore the fact that Nathan Fillion the actor clearly exists in this world (Firefly has been referenced and now Chang has referred to him by name), and no one will take note of the fact that whatever character he's playing looks just like the referenced Nathan Fillion?

3) Is it way too picky and absurd that I care about 2)?

[Datepalm]

3) Is it way too picky and absurd that I care about 2)?

Not at all.

Also, I have to assume the mention of Fillion by name isn't exactly coincidental.

[awesome possum]

I dunno, I think Harmon knows that the audience for Community is pretty much set and its better to cater to what you have than to try to aim for viewers who have already shown they're not interested. I think if everyone listed their top five series episodes each list would be littered with concept episodes (if not entirely made up of them) so I personally don't see it as a big deal that we've already had so many in this season. Plus, this is another short season and the possibility is always there that it may be the last, so might as well go all out while there's a show to go all out with.

[Aemon Stark]

I loved this episode. Troy's farewell had me nearly teary and I LOVED the appearance of Levar at the end.

Otherwise I think there have been lots of great "non-concept" episodes after season 1, especially "Aerodynamics of Gender", "Competitive Wine Tasting", "Biology 101", "Geography of Global Conflict", "Competitive Ecology", "Advanced Gay", "Studies in Modern Movement", "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism", and it goes on.

I love this show. #sixseasonsandamovie

[red snow]

Not at all.

Also, I have to assume the mention of Fillion by name isn't exactly coincidental.

I didn't know Fillion was appearing but given that info I'm almost certain that Chang's line is set up for his appearance.

I love the concept episodes and felt this was at least different from the paintball ones. Like others have said the ending was pretty nice for a send-off as well.

I loved the "Self publishing doesn't publish itself" line.

[Jaime L]

Fun Episode. Very Mad Max. Only suffers from being really derivative of a Fistful of Paintbulls. It seems like a stupid thing to complain about but this is Community - it's all about the references and how you pull them off. Also wish Shirley's Island wasn't such an exact copy of Camp Hawthorne.

I'm still amazed how seamlessly Mike Ehrmentraut integrated himself with the cast of Community. Britta was really freaking adorable all episode. Probably laughed hardest at her duel with Jeff and their irritating banter with one another. I thought the Abed seeing real lava thing was stupid, but whatever. Really thought they hit the right tone with each of the goodbyes but my problem is this:

I watch Community to see things I've never seen before in sitcoms. Ambitious things. The kind of things we saw throughout Season 2 culminating in the near perfect Fistful of Paintballs. But this episode purposely retreaded familiar ground without too many new things to say about it. It was my biggest complaint with Season 4 - everything felt like a half hearted homage. Throwing out candy to appease the hardcore fans without trying to do something novel and interesting with it. Rock bottom was that Thanksgiving Day episode at Shirley's house where they group locks itself in the garage and Abed talks explicitly about this being our Shawshank Redemption episode. God I shudder even at the memory of that.

Because the thrill of Community (and humor in general) is the subverting of expectations. The best punchlines are sucker punches. You don't see 'em coming. What has made Harmon so great is not just paying homage but figuring out to still surprise and thrill us even once we see what he's doing here. The best example of this was probably the My Dinner with Andre/Pulp Fiction episode. Season 4 woulda just hit most of the familiar beats of Pulp Fiction and called it a day but that's not what inspires such passionate fandom. Even last episode defied expectations in terms of how fresh the writers can still make a group-falling-apart bottle episode feel. You can go back to the well just so long as the writing is great and for this episode it was just okay.

And for me it wasn't just that this one was cribbing heavily off of Fistful of Paintballs, it was the familiarity of seeing Troy say goodbye again like we did when he went off to AC repair school (only to return a few episodes later). I mean First Chang Dynasty was a great episode too. May as well copy the best. But I've come to expect the bravura move from Harmon and making the goodbyes a carbon copy of that episode felt a little derivative like the creative well ran a bit dry (though the sentiments expressed in this one were really sweet). I don't want to harp on this too much (or any more than I have) because I actually did enjoy it. Just a bit too much deja vu to be as viscerally thrilled as I am with the best episodes of Community.

[Sci-2]

I think it's a bit unfair to say they repeated the goodbye scene from S3, given that they didn't plan on Glover leaving the show.

Beyond that, I can see how the similarity to the past paintball episodes could be a problem though I think some of that was intentional. To me the one thing that is really a copypasta is having an area of safety in the kitchen. But lots of action-adventure movies have the safe-spot that gets taken out.

I guess I saw this episode as purposefully retreading some of the group's favorite adventures so I expected some echoing of the past.

[Fat Mac]

So, how do you guys think these episodes are stacking up next to the older ones (mainly S1-S3)? I've seen people say that these 5 have been the best five continuous episodes this show has ever had. Opinions are opinions, but I attribute that to the hype of Dan Harmon being back. Maybe when we're looking back at the end of the season, these episodes wont seem as good as I see many people across the interwebs saying they are.

All in all, these past five have been good (my favorite being Cooperative Polygraphy), but I think the best continuous episode span was in mid season 2, and included Aerodynamics of Gender, Cooperative Calligraphy, Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design, Mixology Certification, Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas and Asian Population Studies. For me, that was the best 6 strait episodes this show's ever had, and I don't think it's likely to top that again.

[OnionAhaiReborn]

I think they compare well to S1-3. I don't know about the best run in the series' history, it's overly taxing to my memory to try to say which span was my favorite. I think the most recent three are probably all-time classics, the ACB and polygraph episodes definitely and the lava one maybe a little more tenuously, but still definitely great. The first two of the season were good but nothing truly outstanding for the show's overall history. My instinct is that there are almost certainly other stretches of the show that I think are better than these last five, but with two of the last five being as good as anything Community has ever done.

[Lord Flashheart]

Long story short. Dan Harmon is a God!

[AndyBaelish]

I wasn't too terribly impressed with the first two episodes of the season (not saying they were bad), but the last three episodes have been gold.

So yes, like the previous post said, Dan Harmon is a god.

[red snow]

I think I loved the second half of season one onwards because the jokes and characters had a constant build-up of momentum. Given season 4. that momentum has been lost and Harmon is having to get up to speed again. In that sense it's going to be hard to get back to that "golden era" for me - unless the quality remains and we get 6 seasons and a move :)

[Jaime L]

I think it's a bit unfair to say they repeated the goodbye scene from S3, given that they didn't plan on Glover leaving the show.

Beyond that, I can see how the similarity to the past paintball episodes could be a problem though I think some of that was intentional. To me the one thing that is really a copypasta is having an area of safety in the kitchen. But lots of action-adventure movies have the safe-spot that gets taken out.

I guess I saw this episode as purposefully retreading some of the group's favorite adventures so I expected some echoing of the past.

You're right that it probably isn't fair to note the similarity of Troy's two sets of goodbyes. I think it was mainly the culmination of an entire episode that felt very deja vu to me. I think it's true that it was largely by design so that we could have one last Abed and Troy adventure but I think as a result it was a less novel feeling episode than every other one from this season thus far.

So, how do you guys think these episodes are stacking up next to the older ones (mainly S1-S3)? I've seen people say that these 5 have been the best five continuous episodes this show has ever had. Opinions are opinions, but I attribute that to the hype of Dan Harmon being back. Maybe when we're looking back at the end of the season, these episodes wont seem as good as I see many people across the interwebs saying they are.

All in all, these past five have been good (my favorite being Cooperative Polygraphy), but I think the best continuous episode span was in mid season 2, and included Aerodynamics of Gender, Cooperative Calligraphy, Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design, Mixology Certification, Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas and Asian Population Studies. For me, that was the best 6 strait episodes this show's ever had, and I don't think it's likely to top that again.

These have been 5 good episodes, not the best though. Think you're right on with the ones you picked,but I'd start with Epidemiology (through Aerodymanics of Gender, Calligraphy, Conspiracy Theories and Mixology). Epidemiology broke the rules the show has tried to abide by but it's really freaking funny. Was never a fan of Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas (very creative but among the least funny episodes) nor Asian Population Studies.

2nd place for me would be just about the end of Season 1 starting with Beginner Pottery, The Science of Illusion (the only dud of the 5), Contemporary American Poultry, The Art of Discourse ("you're the schmitty!"), Modern Warfare.

Honorable mention: End of Season 3 - Basic Lupine Urology, Course Listing Unavailable, Cirriciculum Unavailable (The John Hodgeman as a therapist episode has really grown on me), Digital Estate Planning and First Chang Dynasty.