Death By The Blues posted:

Re-watching some season 4 episodes, and its worse then I remember. This puppet is plain awful.

MrAristocrates posted:

That makes no sense to me because the Inspector Spacetime stuff really never went much further than "Look, Blorgons!" It was a pretty shallow parody, all things considered. I don't understand why they'd need to check for infringement.

Aphrodite posted:

That plot ended, the group just never found out he was faking it. But they also never believed it in the first place.

JayMax posted:

So that's the story circle in its initial position. Wonder if the arrow's going to move as the season advances.

Guy A. Person posted:

But Jeff and Pierce were the only ones to graduate at the end of season 4, so everyone else should have had at least another semester. Not that Harmon would pass up an opportunity to bash on season 4, but at the same time it explains the time jump and also might make for some funny flashbacks to the "gas leak year" if it was the semester/year that Jeff and Pierce were graduated but everyone else was there.

Jim Silly-Balls posted:

Its like God spilled a person

Mustached5thGrader posted:

"I know the color scheme was pure Fincher and the letters were obvious and direct references to the Zodiac's letters and that it had an ambiguous ending as to whom the rear end crack bandit was, but I'm going to insist this was a riff on literally anything but Zodiac because I am a dumdum and I like to eat my own poop and drink my own pee"

Unmerciful posted:

Loved the episode but I wish they had the guts to pick a direction with the Jeff/Annie thing rather than just hanging a lampshade on it and letting it continue to drag on. I mean Jesus we've been watching them make googly eyes at each other for 4 years now...

Chairman Mao posted:

He's got a podcast though, he should just start putting out unofficial commentaries there and getting people to sync it themselves. It's not like the idea's never been done before.

MrAristocrates posted:

No Butt Stuff posted:

That was great. I hope he come back next year, but if not it was a great send off.

Also, was that the first confirmation that they're in Colorado?

swickles posted:

I agree, the bottle episodes are the best, especially the first bottle episode with Abed complaining about it. I even think the Puppet episode last season stands out as one of the best of the season and in terms of tone and writing would have fit in fine with season 2 or 3.

Fog Tripper posted:

I have yet to watch an episode that "I really didn't like". There have been episodes that I feel were weaker than other more awesome ones, but how can someone come away from a community episode leaning toward the negative?

I don't get it.


Pretty much loving all of this season so far.

A MIRACLE posted:

This was by far my favorite episode so far, I was pretty much giggling the whole time at the stupid Abed sign language jokes, and the Bear Down / Fat Dog gags, especially when Chang and Shirley played the race card. The fat dog dance Chang definitely didn't make up was hilarious. And the whole dirty politics thread Annie followed with Hickey. And the John Oliver bit at the end. Was Joel McHale even in this episode?

LividLiquid posted:

Using homosexual as an insult is really stupid.

EnsGDT posted:

God dammit I love Spencer. He is terrifying.

Also, it definitely looks like a picture of the writing staff, which is my guess.

twistedmentat posted:

The P&R Thread is even worse right now.

Phylodox posted:

Aw, Parks & Recreation sucks now?!? What happened?!? That show used to be awesome!

thexerox123 posted:

...are you saying that's out of character for Andy? You know he's always been that dumb, right?

Typical posted:

Illinois Smith posted:

Sounds like he was playing with Dan Harmon's girlfriend.

i take off my backpack and tie a rope to it and i shoot TWO arrows at my own feet and GUYS WE SHOULD PUT ON A SHOW

Jim Silly-Balls posted:

Ugh, can we unplug the internet?

http://imgur.com/5d8nLMW

Unmerciful posted:

My opinion on this season (unnecessarily long and possibly incomprehensible):

I think that Community is operating at a different level from about every other comedy on TV this season. I just don't see any other comedy - network or cable - that is constantly willing to challenge itself to deliver (Harmon wrote D&D2 as a specific gently caress you to the network) (edit: except Archer, obv.). I guess I understand why the show is often perceived as hollow and insincere, as though it's just a vehicle for every smarmy Harmon impulse, but for me it is so much more satisfying than the numbing familiarity of every other late-season sitcom. While pretty much every show eventually declines in quality, Harmon is too self-aware to go quietly and has the ego to believe that he can evolve the form. I think that kind of ambition is worth celebrating even if it's occasionally self-congratulatory and petty and flawed. I know that not every episode worked completely (I'm out of the specific G.I. Joe demographic by a couple years) but I give points for effort and for trying... something.

I think that for some reason people now hold this show to an almost impossible standard - I remember the incredible popularity it had while airing season 3 and now everyone is very restrained. It's like the real life story of production over the past couple seasons has overwhelmed what's on the screen and sapped everyone's attention and patience. But if I compare the current season to how remarkably lazy and self-indulgent even a show like Parks and Recreation has become this season (where every characters' personality is dialed up to 11, occupations and most plot lines are completely meaningless, glacial plot development, etc.) I only appreciate Community more.

Arrested Development is the only other comedy I've seen that is willing to throw this much poo poo at the wall, to try as hard as the writers and actors do. Think about how many tones 'Basic Story' shifts through, the varied oblique references to The Truman Show and EDtv, and the layered plot (bottom: recognition by the characters of how they are caught in a loop; middle: Abed realizes that it is all a show; top: meta history of Greendale as Community's fractured production history, rehabilitation and current predicament of imminent cancellation/syndication). I can only imagine that while P&R and Modern Family writers are at home with their kids at 9pm, Community's writers are prepping for another all-nighter around a whiteboard. Yet pretty much every review says there is not much to this episode beyond set-up for next week. Every show deigns to do a concept episode now and then (HIMYM & Scrubs did their share, Trophy Wife just did Scandal) but Community, which treats convention like a plague, is just counting down the minutes until they can go all in on the next one.

The show is pretty much impenetrable to new viewers at this point (Harmon has basically written off the very concept of new viewers) but carries on a constant conversation and parrying act with the fans and the critics. What's going on with Annie and Jeff? Let's have the Dean put a finger on it directly. What was Pierce's legacy on the show? On P&R this would have been pure schmaltz and sentiment; on Community it is 7 canisters of frozen sperm and a boat trip around the world. How long can Jeff and Britta keep going through the motions while everything and nothing changes? Throw them into a marriage they both know is depressingly predictable. Every episode was a thematic callback to a prior season episode with a tweak (Bandit/Conspiracy Theories, Polygraphy/Calligraphy, Duncan & Britta/Mixology Certification, etc.) and advanced character growth through even absurd story lines. Personally, for me D&D2 is the most re-watchable episode of the show (probably because it moderates the uncomfortable stakes of D&D1 and doesn't raise questions as to why the group voluntarily continues to hang out with a man who almost bullied someone into suicide out of spite).

I guess I'm fully indoctrinated into the 'Cult of Harmon' at this point but I truly believe he put together one of the most cohesive and impressively-written seasons of TV that I've seen - for me it's night and day from how cynically season 4 tried to recreate the beats of the first 3 seasons. Instead he used season 5 as potentially a last opportunity to prove how ambitious and experimental a network show could be in his hands - it was imperfect but I think he succeeded. There are a few transcendent comedies on TV right now (Veep, Archer, Review, Rick and Morty) and a lot of pretty good ones but Community is the only one that promises to hit a home run for the kid in the hospital and then gets to the plate and starts swinging.

I've put too much thought into this and maybe I'm alone but I thought I would put it out there.