THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE TIMELINE…

by Kroze Kresky, Media Editor

Community has been going strong now for the past 3 years on NBC. Dan Harmon and his crew of COMPLETE GENIUSES have managed to take the generic and sterile formulaic sitcom structure and turn it on its head. Each episode of this show based around a community college study group and all the wacky and crazy antics they get into never ceases to back down. Magnifcent bastard Jeff Winger (played by the only one who could pull off such a role with so much likable snarkiness, Joel McHale) once again leads the Greendale Study Group comprised of the uptight Britta (Gillian Jacobs), shy yet confident Annie (Alison Brie), ever so confident Troy (Donald Glover), failed business man Pierce (Chevy Chase), soulful and motherly Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), and finally the much loved off beat and socially awkward Abed (Danny Pudi).  For the past two years the group has been through its fair share of ups and downs but this season Dan Harmon was determined to make this the darkest season of Community. Friendships would be tested, hearts would be broken, and Greendale would be swallowed whole in a war that threatens to corrupt the school FOREVER. The biggest new additions to the series this season come from the adding of John Goodman to the reoccuring cast list as Vice Dean Laybourne, head of the air conditioning repair school who threatens to control Dean Pelton as the real brains behind Greendale.

Episode highlights:

“Remedial Chaos Theory”

Known as the best episode of the entire season (and possibly the series), this episode explores the concept of alternate realities and how similar events that all start out the same could drastically change by the end. In an attempt to celebrate Troy and Abed’s new apartment together, the study group gets together and orders a pizza. But due to an attempt Jeff makes to avoid himself having to go downstairs to pick up the pizza from the delivery guy, a ordinary 6-sided die is cast and splits the episode into seven uniquely quirky versions of events that play out depending on who is stuck having to go get the pizza. This episode does a tremendous job at showcasing all of the complex relationships between every single character and sets into motion a storyline that spans the rest of the season due to the “Darkest Timeline” which threatens to tear them all apart.

“Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts”

When Shirley’s baby’s daddy (Malcom-Jamal Warner) shows up and proposes to her, she can’t help but say yes and throw everything else to the wayside… including going into buisness with Pierce. While the episode is mainly focused on Shirley’s wedding, the rest of the crew’s responses to it take center-stage over Shirley herself.  Jeff is asked to give the wedding toast and realizes that he can’t think of anything to say, while Britta (in her general non-conformist fashion) immedately takes a stand against the concept of weddings – leading both of them on a course to the altar together. Troy and Abed are told that they need to act normal during this wedding, with no weirdness at all. So, after spending an entire night in the Dreamatorium to drain the weirdness out, the two emerge normalized… Leading me to believe that ‘normal’ Abed is ten times more frightning and scary than the Abed we are used to. After being willing to invest in Shirley’s sandwhich shop idea, Pierce is the one in the group that gets hit hardest by the wedding antics, believing that he is finally doing something worthwhile with his life and money. Shirley is ready to throw his offer away after being unimpressed by Pierce’s pitch, alongside the fact that she is too focused on the marrage. When Pierce reveals to Shirley that he has been fired and begs to her that he needs a ‘win’ in his life, she agrees to stick with him and make the pitch to Dean Pelton. This episode was very character-driven to return with, giving everyone a little bit of screentime despite the event being focused on Shirley, and it gave us several great lines. Annie telling Jeff off, calling the beginning of his wedding toast the “Jim Belushi of openings. It accomplishes nothing, but everyone keeps using it and no one knows why.” was pure gold!

“Digital Exploration of Interior Design”

For the first ever mid season two part episode, the plot of this episode focuses on the increasingly fracturing relationship between best friends Troy and Abed. At first they set out to build a totally awesome and kickass Pillow Fort together, in an effort to top their previous blanket fort from last season. When Dean Pelton comes around and mentions that this has the possibility to make for a world Record, Troy wants to go for it but wants to go back to using blankets for more distance and faster setup time. Abed on the other hand shrugs off the World Record idea, perfectly content to stick with his pillows. Seeing this as the perfect way to break Troy and Abed apart and get Troy working for him, Vice Dean Laybourne (once again played by comedy legend John Goodman) tries to turn the two friends against each other… referencing their favorite show Inspector Spacetime to do so! Everything comes to a head when Dean Pelton orders Abed’s pillow fort to come down in order to make way for Troy’s blanket fort so the school can win the world record. A pillow fight ensures and knocks down part of Abed’s pillows… With each side having an army, it looks like all out war is once again about to consume all of Greendale as the episode ends with Abed saying “To Be Continued…” DUN DUN DUNNN!!

“Pillows and Blankets”

This episode immedately picks up right where Digital Exploration of Interior Design left off as the Pillow vs Blanket war envelops the entire school. But because Community doesn’t like to do things the normal way, the entire episode was styled completely after dramatic war documentaries complete with tons of voice over and various still shots of scenes throughout the episode chronicling the ongoing battle and the results. Its the little things this episode does like the one on one interviews with various background characters who tell their tale to specially roughly hand cam shot footage of events that transpired that really make you feel you are watching an actual war documentary. Also continuing one of Community’s ongoing running gags, they managed to bring on Keith David as the narrator for the episode and specifically call him out over being on the shortlived NBC superhero drama show The Cape which Abed was obsessed with in previous seasons that make this episode all the sweeter.

“Digital Estate Planning”

When Pierce and the rest of the study group are invited to play a video game at the request of Pierce’s deceased father Cornelius Hawthorne, it turns out that it is just a trap for Pierce to lose all of his inheritance. A digitized version of Pierce’s father reveals that the first person to make it all the way to the end of the game will gain the inheritance. The group bands together in order to help Pierce win the game… and his money, only to find out that his father’s assistant Gilbert (played by Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito) is also playing at the chance to rob the inheritance. The best part about this episode lies in the fact of it being almost fully animated to look like an old school SNES game that will make any gamer watching this episode squeal with delight. Packed with nods to the games of yesteryear (including the title of the game itself “Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne”) it is insanely hard not to smile while watching Troy’s character always jumping about the screen (and lets face it, we’ve ALL dealt with those asshole co-op players who do that instead of normally running) and the shots of the glitch Pokemon Missingno appearing in the backround. Sadly this is the episode which caused the in fighting between Dan Harmon and Chevy Chase to a head because Chase did not think the episode was funny at all and refused to shoot the final scene of the episode.

Special Features:

– Deleted Scenes

– Gag Reels

– Commentaries on EVERY EPISODE

– “A Glee-ful Community Christmas” featurette: An inside look on how much work it took to make an entire musical episode for Community’s send up of Glee.

– “This is War: Pillows vs. Blankets” Mockumentary Featurette: A documentary on making the mockumentary episode of Community. Only a show such as this would go so meta with one of their special features!

The special features on Community – The Complete Third Season set remind me greatly of the old Scrubs season DVD sets with going out of their way to make each special feature just as entertaining as watching an episode of the show. The commentary tracks on every single episode are endlessly hilarious and fun to listen to while watching the episodes again as the cast and Dan Harmon just love to ramble on about all the fun events and things that happened during the shooting of the entire season. As well as making a documentary about making a mockumentary will blow anyone who watches it mind to see just how much effort they went through to make it feel like an actual documentary. This is possibly one of the most fun DVD sets of a TV show you could own.

Overall:

Community – The Complete Third Season once again proves why this show is one of the most entertaining sitcoms on television that doesn’t try to dumb itself down for the masses or fall victim to the same tropes every other sitcom out there does. The entire cast thrives off the kookiness the show brings in and they make it seem believable. Danny Pudi once again steals the show as Abed continues to remain the soul of the show in this reviewer’s opinion. The only real downside is how fast the season is wrapped up and how the Darkest Timeline is quickly dealt with in the final episodes… it felt as though they rushed through wrapping all plot threads up since they weren’t sure if they were gonna be getting another seasonor not. This season also marks Dan Harmon’s last season as showrunner due to the previously mentioned disagreements between him and Chevy Chase. Will the show manage to continue on being so quirky without Dan Harmon’s guidance and geeky sense of humor? We will find out soon, but even if not we will always have Community – The Complete Third Season to look back on and keep enjoying with this set.
ComicsOnline.com gives Community – The Complete Third Season 5 evil versions of our favorite study group characters out of 5! (Evil Troy and Evil Abed 4eva! <3)

Grab your books and head to ComicsOnline.com for more Community coverage and for everything geek pop culture!