If it wasn't for Community, Modern Family would be my favorite new show. As it stands, Community kicks everything else in the teeth. The season ended last week and some people were disappointed, others speculative.
Love is in the... uh...
Let's go over the finale and the episode before it. I'm including the episode prior to the finale because Modern Warfare really blew things out of the water in terms of the show's humor and tight writing. A lot of fans were curious how they could outdo such a great episode.
I wouldn't say they came close. However, with season 2 on the way, there still had to be some kind of closure to the show that leads it into next fall. And I think for how intense Modern Warfare was, it was jarring to go back to the usual Greendale. Once you get that out of the way, English As A Second Language was classic stuff. Jeff deconstructing Annie and using Abed's love of movies to deter him from giving in to her charms is brilliant. Senor Chang's mental breakdown leading to a fight with Jeff on top of his smashed Lexus with a keytaur is not something I can say I saw coming. Despite Chang's lost teaching status he's still on the roster, and the study group has moved to taking Anthropology next year. It maintained the same bar of quality and referential humor, while paving an excuse to keep the group together.
A roll of quarters, why?
Speaking of keeping the group together, Pascal's Triangle Revisited was a very interesting episode. Troy learns that living with Abed would be a bad thing for their friendship (as noted by eating a gigantic cookie as the episode goes on). The dean's fetish for dalmatians comes full force, Jon Oliver returns as professor Duncan and tries to hit on everyone, and Britta competes in the Transfer Queen competition, as noted by the banners on all the contestants that say Tranny Queen. One of the contestants is listed as Danielle Harmon, get it? Tranny queen? Never mind. But speaking of Dan Harmon, his love for trolling his fans knows no bounds. A conflict happens and Jeff has to decide between Britta and professor Slater as they both love him.
Now, here Jeff makes a point, and I think there is something in the air that's plagued multiple season finale writers (HIMYM and 30 Rock made the same conclusions about finding yourself). Jeff is undecided because Britta is the kind of woman who fits the slob lifestyle he lives now, but Slater fits the sophisticated lifestyle he wants. In the end, he picks Annie. The Community slashfic groups on the internet probably spontaneously combusted. This is one of the ways Dan Harmon trolls his audience, and I love him for it.
So what does this mean looking ahead? The show often retcons itself by stating flat out something's done and over with, so I'm not worried. Duncan probably spiked the punch or something stupid will come along and everyone will back off and go back to normal. While some shows suffer from a reset button every episode, Community manages to keep it up by letting the base study group be the launching point for something ridiculous. The words "Last week, on Community" aren't words I'd expect to see on-air, and it's sort of comforting knowing every time you tune in you will be rewarded with something great.
Moving to the entire season, it's had a flawless run. There was a lot of dissension among the ranks over the episode Investigative Journalism due to everyone hating Jack Black, but to those people I say you're an idiot for not realizing that Jack Black's whole purpose was to be deliberately annoying, showing the group that they don't need a wacky fat guy who kicks. Sometimes I think the meta jokes might have flown by, but I've been saying it all season long: Community is a niche show. It fits a specific sect of nerds and people who have been cramming media and popular culture into their mouth like a buffet table at a feeder convention. If I had to guess, I'd say people who like MST3k probably make up this demographic a good bit.
But while it appeases a specific audience, it does it well. Some shows like Big Bang Theory feel like they wrote the word "nerd" on a piece of paper and started a bullet point list on how nerds act based on what people thought of them in 1985. We're all still socially awkward, but we have so much pop culture on our side that we are disappointed when someone doesn't get our references, and Community challenges us in that respect. There are so many layers in most of the jokes. The first one that comes to mind is Jeff and Troy dressing Pierce up as the Cookie Crisp wizard, leading to this line:
"It’s not a meteor, it’s a cookie wand! Me and Jeff made it because it made you look more like the Cookie Crisp wizard! Which is not even a reference I get, because the Cookie Crisp mascot wasn’t a wizard when I was kid! It was a burglar!"
Without getting too distracted, if you're reading this blog, you probably already watch or should watch this show. It may have not had perfect ratings, but it had a perfect season. It's inspired debate and discussion, most of which end up being solved with "you're thinking about this show too hard." Years from now there will be people assuming this show is an indulgent guilty pleasure, but a guilty pleasure means it's something you wouldn't normally watch. This is a show practically catered to you. Enjoy it.
Was I subtle enough in how much I hate BBT?
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