208 replies to this topic

[Josh Hurst]

Jason, I have come to prefer Season 2 to Season 1, myself-- both for its formal audacity and for the way it builds its character relationships, as you say. My only complaint with the season was its treatment of Pierce, actually, who at the end of the second season I was hoping would just get kicked out of the show, though his presence in season 3 has, thus far, been fine.

[Thom Wade]

Starting the season off with a big song and dance number about how they will be a more traditional sitcom is dialing it down?

[Jason Panella]

Josh Hurst, on 30 September 2011 - 08:28 AM, said:

Jason, I have come to prefer Season 2 to Season 1, myself-- both for its formal audacity and for the way it builds its character relationships, as you say. My only complaint with the season was its treatment of Pierce, actually, who at the end of the second season I was hoping would just get kicked out of the show, though his presence in season 3 has, thus far, been fine.

I've seen tons of people remark on how he's the weak link. And, well, he is...but I still like him. I've heard that Chase doesn't gel with the rest of the cast off camera, and you can see that. But I still feel like his character is vital to the group, if not as vital as the rest of the cast. His B plot in "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples" was fantastic, and the sorta sad, tender ending really made it.

Anywho, favorite lines this season: Chang saying he managed to reroute the power, and Abed answering "to what?" as Chang backs away; and Troy saying "Yeah, I don't know why I thought that would work" as the zombie students rip his cardboard power loader armor away.

[Josh Hurst]

Jason Panella, on 30 September 2011 - 08:42 AM, said:

Josh Hurst, on 30 September 2011 - 08:28 AM, said:

Jason, I have come to prefer Season 2 to Season 1, myself-- both for its formal audacity and for the way it builds its character relationships, as you say. My only complaint with the season was its treatment of Pierce, actually, who at the end of the second season I was hoping would just get kicked out of the show, though his presence in season 3 has, thus far, been fine.

I've seen tons of people remark on how he's the weak link. And, well, he is...but I still like him. I've heard that Chase doesn't gel with the rest of the cast off camera, and you can see that. But I still feel like his character is vital to the group, if not as vital as the rest of the cast. His B plot in "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples" was fantastic, and the sorta sad, tender ending really made it.

I don't have any issue with Chase's performance, or with the character not being sufficiently funny... I just felt like they made him into such a villain that it didn't make sense that the group would still want to be his friend. It rang false in terms of the internal logic of this show, at least to me. But they seemed to acknowledge the problem toward the season's end, and have toned down the Evil Pierce thing a lot this season, at least thus far.

[Ryan H.]

Josh Hurst, on 30 September 2011 - 09:01 AM, said:

But they seemed to acknowledge the problem toward the season's end, and have toned down the Evil Pierce thing a lot this season, at least thus far.

A smart move.

[opus]

Josh Hurst, on 30 September 2011 - 07:44 AM, said:

Alan Sepinwall wasn't crazy about last night's episode, and it prompted him to do some musing on whether the show can regain its balance between the wild spoof episodes and the "normal" ones.

The thing is, though, last night's Community is just the kind of episode I love best... one where the pop culture references are tucked into a more character-driven piece.

Agree. I thought the episode had a lot going for it, such as

- The Annie/Jeff moment on the couch
- Annie's breakdown
- The "Earth 2" solution
- The jabs at the United Nations
- The entire Britta/Chang subplot (seriously, it was just brilliant)
- Bill from Freaks and Geeks

[Gavin Breeden]

Josh Hurst, on 30 September 2011 - 09:01 AM, said:

I don't have any issue with Chase's performance, or with the character not being sufficiently funny... I just felt like they made him into such a villain that it didn't make sense that the group would still want to be his friend. It rang false in terms of the internal logic of this show, at least to me. But they seemed to acknowledge the problem toward the season's end, and have toned down the Evil Pierce thing a lot this season, at least thus far.

Also, they further addressed the Evil Pierce thing in the premiere of season 3 when Jeff started being evil and Pierce-like as a result of being cut off from the table.

I'm glad Chevy Chase is there. He is a spice that, when used in small amounts, improves the overall flavor of the entire show, in my culinary opinion.

I'm really enjoying season 3 so far. And I'm wondering if the show will end after 4. I kind of hope so. I love the sense of humor of the show but could imagine it getting really old after 5-6 years. Also, I can tell you that any explanation that they might try to come up with in order to extend the "community college experience" for these characters past 4 years is not gonna be good.

Edited by Gavin Breeden, 03 October 2011 - 04:16 PM.

[Tyler]

Oh by the way: Donald Glover (Troy) raps under the name Childish Gambino. According to All Songs Considered, he got the name from the Wu-Tang Name Generator.

[Ryan H.]

Gavin Breeden, on 03 October 2011 - 04:14 PM, said:

I'm really enjoying season 3 so far. And I'm wondering if the show will end after 4. I kind of hope so. I love the sense of humor of the show but could imagine it getting really old after 5-6 years. Also, I can tell you that any explanation that they might try to come up with in order to extend the "community college experience" for these characters past 4 years is not gonna be good.

I hope the show makes it to four seasons. It's by no means guaranteed.

[Josh Hurst]

"It's called the Todd Problem."

Uproarious episode. The Chang-noir storyline was hilarious-- but the Study Group stuff was even better. And Omar made much more of an impression than he did in the premiere.

[Ryan H.]

This season is handling Chang much better than Season 2 managed to do.

[Tyler]

Not sure how I feel about tonight's episode. The tragedy and darkness timeline was great (including the end tag), but the other ones didn't do much for me.

[Josh Hurst]

Really? I thought it was brilliant-- a bottle episode, conceptual episode, and character-driven episode all in one. The timeline you mention, Tyler, might actually be the hardest I've ever laughed at this show. More than anything, I'm amazed they did this on network TV!

[Ryan H.]

Tyler, on 13 October 2011 - 11:13 PM, said:

The tragedy and darkness timeline was great (including the end tag), but the other ones didn't do much for me.

Yeah, I have to agree.

[Gavin Breeden]

Josh Hurst, on 14 October 2011 - 05:22 AM, said:

Really? I thought it was brilliant-- a bottle episode, conceptual episode, and character-driven episode all in one. The timeline you mention, Tyler, might actually be the hardest I've ever laughed at this show. More than anything, I'm amazed they did this on network TV!

I have to agree. I loved this episode. I guffawed several times. And the "different timelines" idea is something only this show could really pull off. This kind of episode sort of sums up a lot of what I love about Community for some of the reasons Josh mentioned, built on a pop culture concept (nerdy sci-fi timelines, etc.), driven by characters, and lots of jokes.

I agree with you, Josh. I think Troy leaving to get the pizza ("I'm going go really fast so I don't miss anything") and his reaction when he returned made me laugh harder than I have in a while. (I also laughed every time Britta did her "Me So Hungry" walk.)

Showing what happened when Jeff was absent was kind of chilling. Last season we thought Pierce was bad for the group, but perhaps Jeff is worse for them.

And great tag at the end.

[Josh Hurst]

I would actually be perfectly happy for them to do an Evil Troy/Evil Abed episode at some point in the future. Would be a fun sequel to this one.

[Anders]

Josh Hurst, on 14 October 2011 - 04:12 PM, said:

I would actually be perfectly happy for them to do an Evil Troy/Evil Abed episode at some point in the future. Would be a fun sequel to this one.

Yes. I loved this too. But I had to explain to my wife the whole STAR TREK "Mirror Mirror" reference with the black goatees.

Sometimes she thinks she has plumbed the depths of my geekiness.

[Tyler]

Anders, on 14 October 2011 - 04:52 PM, said:

Yes. I loved this too. But I had to explain to my wife the whole STAR TREK "Mirror Mirror" reference with the black goatees.

Definitely didn't pick up on that. But I get it now.

[Josh Hurst]

Evidently, the "Remedial Chaos Theory" episode was supposed to air at a different place in the season, but got shuffled around a bit, which makes me feel better about last night's episode; having two "seven points of view that give us insight into how the Study Group members see themselves" in a row seemed like a minor miscalculation to me. Even so, I loved last night's episode. I especially loved the reveal of the psych test results, though I wasn't exactly surprised by it.

Is it just me, or is Britta really funny this season?

[Tyler]

Josh Hurst, on 28 October 2011 - 06:46 AM, said:

Evidently, the "Remedial Chaos Theory" episode was supposed to air at a different place in the season, but got shuffled around a bit, which makes me feel better about last night's episode; having two "seven points of view that give us insight into how the Study Group members see themselves" in a row seemed like a minor miscalculation to me. Even so, I loved last night's episode. I especially loved the reveal of the psych test results, though I wasn't exactly surprised by it.

Is it just me, or is Britta really funny this season?

I wondered about the episode order too.