Talk about Community here

[xRECKONERx]

[zoraster]

I thought this was one of the weaker episodes I terms of the overall arc, but with hilarious side gags. Dean as a train conductor, the end credits, "left unattended I will do him like a crossword" were all really funny. But the show itself was a big ball of "eh... Next episode please?"

The Chang pierce storyline could not have been weaker or more unfunny if it tried. The mean text thing was just baffling in its unironic cliche. Oh. Girls with low self esteem go after mean guys? Earth shattering. The fact that Jeff doesn't "know" this but Troy does is really out of character for both. Even one of my overall favorite story arcs failed to deliver — the Troy in AC repair school one. It had promise too! And yes it was kind of funny to have everyone question the deans presence and then let it drop, but it really didn't go anywhere. And maybe I just suffer from some fatigue but jeffs wrap up speech was underwhelming.

I did like Annie's boobs however. And I don't mean the monkey.

[xRECKONERx]

Whaaaa?

I thought this was one of the stronger episodes this season. Chang/Pierce were exactly where they should have been, and "I need help reacting to something" is the hardest I've laughed all season.

[BBmolla]

I liked this episode, but I will agree that the Jeff/Troy thing was a bit out of character for them.

I actually thought Chang/Pierce as best friends was brilliant personally.

[zoraster]

I don't mind the idea of them as friends. I just thought the execution was incredibly weak. And yes. I did laugh at "I need help reacting to something." there were bright spots certainly. But it was still one of my least favorite episodes along with (off the top of my head) the glee episode and the drug play episode

[Porochaz]

I've worked it out. You just don't like good things.

This is the first episode since it came back that I've really properly enjoyed apart from the wedding.

[xRECKONERx]

What Poro said.

They've drifted away from the core of the show, and episodes like last night and the wedding episode remind me why I love it. Those episodes have heart, laughs, and depth. I don't think the pillow fort episodes had much of that.

[DarthYoshi]

I thought this was one of the weaker episodes I terms of the overall arc, but with hilarious side gags. Dean as a train conductor, the end credits, "left unattended I will do him like a crossword" were all really funny. But the show itself was a big ball of "eh... Next episode please?"

This is exactly, 100%, how I also felt about the episode.

[noraaa]

The fact that Jeff doesn't "know" this but Troy does is really out of character for both.

But Jeff did know. He just didn't know how to translate it into a superpower for himself and became just as obsessed as she was.

[glowball]

Let's be real here it was middle of the road. It definitely wasn't weak, but it wasn't strong either. It had some laughs, but it kind of failed to deliver in some places. I enjoyed it, mostly just the "Annie subdue your guest" part, that and the Dean kept me laughing through the whole show. Also, not enough Shirley...

[Bub Bidderskins]

I agree with glowball. I think it seemed weaker than it was, though, because it came directly after the Ken Burns pillow fort episode which was fantastic.

[xRECKONERx]

I agree with glowball. I think it seemed weaker than it was, though, because it came directly after the Ken Burns pillow fort episode which was fantastic.

I absolutely hated the Ken Burns episode. It was them trying to do something stylistic and quirky rather than put any substance into the show.

[Pine]

Holy shit character development

This episode was not up to the ha-ha-funny bar set by the series to date, but it definitely showed some notable growth in several of the characters. Jeff's still obsessive and self-centered, but he's exploring the reason why he (and people like him) are that way. Troy stepped out of his child-like fantasy world (as opposed to Abed's oblivious fantasy world) to help Britta. Annie's past addiction is explored a bit more, and her relationship with Britta deepens over the events. And Britta. BRITTA. Britta actually achieves a moment of self-actualization, albeit with guidance.

"I need help reacting to something." Best line of the episode, though.

[zoraster]

I've worked it out. You just don't like good things.

This is the first episode since it came back that I've really properly enjoyed apart from the wedding.

What's your problem? Why can't we have different opinions on something without it being a personal attack?

Apparently we have different taste. I thought the wedding episode was easily the weakest since it came back, without even any real side laughs like last nights. You liked that one.

In any event, the problem is that I don't think those episodes really DO show the core of the show. It feels manufactured in a way the earlier versions of the same thing did not. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is such a great episode because it's touching, human and completely in keeping with the characters. Mixology works, despite being kind of a downer of an episode, because we have troy realizing that Jeff and Britta, two people who he looked up to as older siblings almost, don't really know everything.

Here, we don't have that. We have Jeff realizes what? That no sense of shame is the way to get women to desire him and he actually has one? Maybe. Except we've been down that path before. We know he cares about his friends now. It's been covered in a lot of episodes starting most strongly with the Halloween episode where he doesn't sleep with the professor.

Troy and Abed have no character development here, unlike the two episodes. Britta is the same exact insecure combative person she's been for awhile now. Pierce and Chang... well, if you loved that storyline as more than a source of a cheap chuckle, we don't have much common ground to work with. Annie is arguably the only person I see something meaningful happening in the episode.

I've loved the past couple of episodes, especially the Ken Burns one. This is just a weaker one. That's perfectly fine. And you're welcome to disagree with me on it. But keep the insults away, please.

[DarthYoshi]

I agree with glowball. I think it seemed weaker than it was, though, because it came directly after the Ken Burns pillow fort episode which was fantastic.

^good point. I will say that I remember feeling the same way about this season's Halloween episode in part because it came right after the chaos theory episode.

[Pine]

Here, we don't have that. We have Jeff realizes what? That no sense of shame is the way to get women to desire him and he actually has one? Maybe. Except we've been down that path before. We know he cares about his friends now. It's been covered in a lot of episodes starting most strongly with the Halloween episode where he doesn't sleep with the professor.

In this episode, Jeff finds his moral rock bottom. He's got a lot of issues, but there are some things that he's just

better

than. That's been Jeff's whole issue, hasn't it? He's smart, skilled, and worldly. But he's not a very

good

person. Here, we see him find something that's taboo and foreign even to him, which makes him recoil from it and do something nice - help Britta self-actualize.

Troy and Abed have no character development here, unlike the two episodes.

Can't have every character develop in every episode. We just spent two episodes on Troy and Abed. Still, Troy showed a bit more maturity and insight than we're accustomed to seeing from him.

Britta is the same exact insecure combative person she's been for awhile now.

The whole

point

of this episode's A-plot was to present Britta with another shallow dilemma and have her recover from it. Once the curtain was peeled back about Blade, she took a step back herself and

chose

to let that part of her go. And that's a giant step for Britta. Did you, like, not watch the last couple of minutes of the show?

Pierce and Chang... well, if you loved that storyline as more than a source of a cheap chuckle, we don't have much common ground to work with.

Pierce, Chang, Shirley, the Dean, and the Vice Dean were all treading water in this episode. They can't focus on every character every week.

Annie is arguably the only person I see something meaningful happening in the episode.

Annie has been a

dependent

character the entire series. She always needs someone to guide, support, or encourage her. This was a role reversal.

[CooLDoG]

Meh episode for me. Sorry... What did troy send her though? Also, what will the dean come up with next? This episode could be a set-up for something big.

[Pine]

The dean/vice-dean interaction was a tertiary plot thread this episode. Merely a reminder that the vice-dean is out there and still insistent on getting Troy. They're definitely setting up the air conditioner repair school as the end-of-season major conflict.

[Porochaz]

Woah there, sorry I havent read anything past the first line of your reply but it was meant as a joke! I didnt mean offence by it!

[Porochaz]

That said I watch the show as a smart comedy, between the wedding episode and now I have felt they have been trying to force a story and character development, taking characters and using them as caricatures of themselves. I found myself telling myself "that was a shit episode" after Contemporary Impressionists. Like if I were to score every episode of Community none of them would get less than 7 (off hand) but everything in that episode was so contrived, from Jeff's ego problems to Abeds money woes. It was like, how can we ignore everything that has happened previously to crowbar this story in, get a few cheap laughs and essentially be the Big Bang Theory replacement while its not on. They took the characters from Season 1 episode 1, mixed in a scenario out of a late season 2 episode and made such a thin storyline that it made absolutely no sense and passed it off as an episode.

I would have been generous and gave it a 2, why? For Yvette Nicole Browns Opera impression and because I actually got pulled in by Troys character progression in the closing minutes before realising that he had already been naturally growing up in previous episodes and didn't need some unconvincing lightbulb switch change to convince us of that.

I like Community because its a comedy with smart writing and it is varied enough with its humour that I will keep coming back to it, despite some of its more outlandish storylines, because despte being outlandish, the majority (I can think of one exception currently, that being Halloween - which I think is allowed a by) of stories have some sort of foot in reality, in that its extremely unlikely to happen but what if... quality. Jeff having some imaginary problem based off a drug and Abed owing money to a impressionist mob boss, it went too far.

Which carried through to the next two episodes. Which I enjoyed more but again felt a bit meh, like the pillow fort was great because it was a place of wonder, of excitement These two episodes were just a giant pillow fort, which was let down by a poor initial execution of a storyline and no imagination, which is what I want from an episode, it was just a war episode, which Community has done before, in a documentary format, which Community has done to death, in a pillow fort, where the original was so SO much better. Yes, the side storylines were alright in the first episode. But it was an extended let down.

I liked tonights episode because it felt like they went back to being the characters they were with new unused ground. Yes, Chevy Chases comments ring in my ear and some of the laughs were cheap but at least it felt like something had happened in the story and that it had moved away from this troy/abed thing, which should have been better than it was.

To be honest, I generally ignore Pierce and Chang in episodes (the exception being if Pierce has a big part) I have always stated that they detriment episodes they have had a major part in this series. I disagree with you though that Annie was the only one to have character development, Britta, has a massive amount of development allowing herself to sit back and let it go and allow herself to realise that she does have people who care about her a lot and actually continuing Troy's route to maturity in a somewhat more meaningful way. Some would argue Jeff also had some development here, but I would disagree with that.

I hope my expanded reasoning makes sense and is so you understand my p.o.v. and that I wasn't trying to be a dick

[glowball]

http://youtu.be/bT82eDSG1oQ

Donald Glover interview skip to 4:27 for stuff about Chevy. I found it kind of humorous, just sharing.

[Nexus]

http://tvline.com/2012/04/13/season-fin ... -community

Finale is going to be an hour long on May 24th.

[hiplop]

season 3 has been great thus far (:

[Amrun]

Troy and Abed have no character development here, unlike the two episodes. Britta is the same exact insecure combative person she's been for awhile now.

Well, I really have to disagree with this.

Abed didn't really develop this episode, no.

TROY and BRITTA absolutely did. Something really, really important happened to them this episode, and it was basically the endgame of the whole episode. If you missed it, then, uh ... I guess I won't spoil you.

[bv310]

Troy and Abed in the moooooooooooooorning