Community- A Retrospective









It is hard to look back at a show like Community, it had such a troubled and bizarrely complicated past accompanied with such a meta and self-aware tone that I can’t help but feel overwhelmed when I think about this wonderful show. Created by now world-famous ‘Rick and Morty’ creator Dan Harmon and starring a line-up of would-be gigantic stars as well as directed and written by a collection of the most successful people in the industry, ‘Community’ revolves around a study group in a Community college and well it is very rarely about anything that simple episode to episode. I’m going to do something a bit different for this retrospective, reviewing each season individually because that’s what I distinguish this show as, there are so many stellar episodes that I would love to spend hours unpacking them all but for now let's explore what made Community great.





Season One

There is this weird pleasure to revisiting Season One of Community, like watching old baby videos of people you know taking their first steps, Season One is pure joy and potential. Like most shows, it takes a few episodes to find its feet, characters start off as quite bland and predictable, where you are convinced you know the type of joke they would be involved with. It is like every character is a guest star in the pilot until Community starts to play with its formula, with the perception of its own show, within three episodes it incredibly jumps the shark and becomes outstanding with ‘Introduction to Film’ where Harmon blends the line between creating art and the art that is created through the character of Abed (Danny Pudi). Like most typical sitcoms, the motivation of the characters is through how their relationships develop and progress, but this is accompanied by this outstanding level of episodic uniqueness. We get a Justin Lin Halloween episode in ‘Introduction to Statistics’ or a Mafia movie motivated by Chicken in ‘Contemporary American Poultry’ that make every episode have this feeling of unpredictability. The feel of a lot of the episodes is oxymoronically cohesive, Season One has this classic sitcom feel of trying to find its feet which allows it to experiment and using Harmon’s writing every episode feels like what it finds is justifiably Community. I know this is weird and disorientating but Season One is really hard to put a finger on, a lot of the more straight-edge episodes are quite hit and miss and I don’t love the romantic triangle of the finale, but ‘Modern Warfare’ is without a doubt one of the most daring an inventive episodes of a sitcom still finding its place that I can’t help but look back in bliss.





Season Two













It’s so hard to break down Community, I look back at this show and most episodes have a moment or a scene that I quote endlessly and every character sticks in my brain as unique and fascinating. Season Two has this unwavering ambition and motivation to it, Harmon lets loose, gets excited and starts throwing anything and everything at the wall and the surprising thing is that most of it works. He thankfully abandons the romantic entanglement issues from the previous season and there are about five episodes in this season I wouldn’t call classics. Episode 4 sees the fantastic Sci-fi parody of ‘Basic Rocket Science’ being grounded yet presented as an homage, or the literal zombie episode ‘Epidemiology’ which is sharp witty and genuinely tense. He isn’t scared to explore his casts dynamic with ‘Cooperative Calligraphy’ and ‘Paradigms of Human Memory’ that are high concept parodies of the bottle episode and clip show that are as chaotic and hilarious as most of Community. Maybe I’m biased but my favourite episode of the season is ‘Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas’ due to its commitment to a new style and genuine emotional motivation for the plot that opened the door for ambitious emotional storytelling in Community, which we have to thank for several outstanding episodes to come. Harmon commits to one-upping himself with the paintball two parter as the finale which every part as seriously whimsical as it is hilariously self-aware. Season Two is the equivalent of watching a show blossom into greatness, pure creative excitements and commitment from all the crew and cast really pays off.





Season Three









This is my favourite season of the show, featuring some of the most critically acclaimed set of episodes in the show as well as a running plot that is so genuinely compelling and pays off, Harmon treats his story circle episodically as well as season wide which is amazing. If it’s the outstanding high concept ‘Remedial Chaos Theory’ exploring the complexity between this groups co-dependency, what conflicts and relationships lie underneath and the introduction of the darkest timeline. Or perhaps ‘Documentary Filming Redux’ which is showcasing a descent into madness through a mockumentary and a commercial filming or the Christmas episode ‘Regional Holiday Music’ which is ‘Glee’ meets ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ every episode is just stellar and unique with full commitment and entertainment in every idea. We of course get the best episode of the show ‘Pillows and Blankets’ which is a war mockumentary about the falling out of Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed (Danny Pudi) which is hilarious yet personal and genuinely emotional. It isn’t as emotional or challenging as ‘Virtual System Analysis’, although not quite as perfect, a brilliant exploration into Abed’s character and his relationship with Annie (Alison Brie) and Harmon’s mature look at those who are different. The incredible crime drama ‘Basic Lupine Urology’ which utilises as many tropes of the genre as possible motivates the season into its epic saga of a final stretch, with Chang (Ken Jeong) as the antagonist in a surprising linear turn for Community’s narrative. It is a phenomenal season, it stands out as creatively refreshing, challenging and downright hilarious.





Season Four

And then everything went wrong. After several conflicts between Dan Harmon and Chevy Chase, Harmon was fired off the show and a new head writing team took over to reanimate Community’s corpse. Season Four is such a mess, it betrays what the show is trying to communicate, when a show has a reputation for playing with meta ideas and self-awareness, recreating that often falls thin. Rather than playing with homages and parody in a contextual perspective from inside the world of these characters, every episode feels like ‘what if Community but…’ which is a safe and cheap trick to disguise lack of creativity. The first episode ‘History 101’ sees a collection of messy ideas and jokes tripping over each other that is exhaustingly unauthentic, nothing is ever committed to or taken to its full potential, instead the audience is treated with the amount of respect of presuming telling you a meta idea is enough. The writers didn’t understand Community, they saw it as a ‘genre-hopping meta and self-aware sitcom’ but in many ways forgot the last part, this is a show about characters that we love and this character writing pales in comparison. Abed is reduced to just saying meta punchlines, Troy nothing more than his counterpart, Britta (Gillian Jacobs) is just there for either physiology or protesting jokes, Annie is about as flat as you can get and Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) is the stereotype that the show makes fun of for being a stereotype. Pierce (Chevy Chase) is hardly in this season at all, its clear Chase didn’t show up and the horror stories of set experiences are evident in the show itself, he leaves at the end with such disregard for his character it’s just sad. It is very much a sad and lifeless version of a show I loved, and it really misses the mark and the show never recovered.





Season Five









And then everything went right again, sort of. Community Season Five is such a wonderfully constructed and well put together season that really delivers its full potential with the hardships the production was going through. Chase had left and Glover was planning on leaving later this season, Harmon had to write around a reason for these characters getting back together, losing Pierce and Troy and maintaining Community’s identity. Admittedly the first episode ‘Repilot’ is a bit messy but then it finds its amazing feet, Jonathan Banks becomes a season regular as a different hilarious character who plays off this cast fantastically, he is truly one of my favourite parts in the season. Iconic moments like the Noir thriller ‘Basic Intergluteal Numismatics’ about the Ass Crack Bandit and ‘Cooperative Polygraph’ where Walton Goggin’s delivers Pierce’s will in one of the best jokes in the whole show in those closing moments. But it is Season Five’s golden hour ‘Geothermal Escapism’ that is a perfect send off for one of the best characters in the show, Troy, it is an epic post-apocalyptic action film with an emotional motivation through Glover’s departure that even the toughest of people will cry at, I love the bittersweet beauty of this episode. The second half of the season isn’t as strong, but still features episodes like ‘App Development and Condiments’ and ‘G.I.Jeff’ which are creatively challenging and so compelling yet so high concept. I don’t love the finale plot, it re-treads a lot of Season Three’s finale, but it does feature some off the walls insane comedy such as every scene the School Board is in. It’s a really solid season and it’s a shame that the viewership dropped so much but I really think it deserves the recognition.





Season Six









I know what you are thinking, Community did have a sixth season, just nobody watched it because it was on a dead streaming site and not advertised at all. Despite this Season Six is a breath of fresh air, it feels authentic and stripped back, a bit quieter and a bit more self-aware about not jumping the shark, Season Six is ridiculously underrated. Like Five, a lot of the cast has left and it simply can’t reach the levels of the original three seasons because of it nevertheless the newcomers are fantastic, Paget Brewster as Frankie is a compelling unique character as she has a completely different relationship with the group. Keith David as Elroy is perfect, every delivery and line this character is given makes me laugh I adore his addition and just wish he had more involvement. This season even features guest appearances from Matt Berry and Jason Mantzoukas in two of the stand out episodes and characters. Harmon strips back revealing the concept of each episode, it’s the antithesis of Season’s Four ‘what if Community but…’ idea, instead building a plot that makes sense and authentically seeing where that progresses due to these characters and world being so ridiculous. This results in episodes like ‘Intro to Recycled Cinema’ a Star Wars pastiche that is a goldmine in comedic editing, or ‘Modern Espionage’ a tribute to both spy thrillers and Community’s history of paintball episodes. Harmon also got to take more risks with this season, exploring The Dean’s complex sexuality and genuine political issues whilst also having a short epilogue to every episode usually with one-off characters that destroys the fourth wall and are some of my favourite moments in the season. But it is the finale, ‘Emotional Consequences to Broadcast Television’ that makes this season something special, Harmon wanted to bring back Community for this episode, to rightfully send it on its way. The episode revolves around the Group sat discussing what season seven is going to be, it’s meta and melancholy, with the focus on the character of Jeff (Joel Mchale) coming to terms with finality and moving on, it will never fail to make me cry and then cry with laughter at that epilogue.





…and a movie





I can only hope this retrospective is premature, that that famed ‘#AndAMovie’ will one day come true but in the reality of it the cast has become so insanely famous nowadays it would be almost impossible to recreate it. The show has a fascinating legacy, without it names like Donald Glover, The Russo Brothers and Dan Harmon might not be the Hollywood gold they are, we might not have had the crazy popularity behind ‘Rick and Morty’ and its ultimately bittersweet. I always perceive Community as lightning in a bottle, every component came together and worked for three perfect seasons, when those elements were stripped away the show struggled to keep what it is and that is a shame, it almost makes me wary about the possibility of this movie, I want more Community no doubt, but maybe we should be happy with what we’ve got, its not perfect but it is Community.





Thanks for reading.