Thom Bitches About "Community": Paranormal Parentage

Left to right: Danny Pudi and Yvette Nicole Brown

Like most people, I was skeptical about what Community without Dan Harmon would look like. His inane fantasy of a community college was so meta and well structured that anyone who would come in would probably not do the show justice. However, it has happened, and Community is back with former Happy Endings show runners. Is it capable of finding its footing with new controllers, or is this the end? In Thom Bitches About Community, we will attempt to figure that out with sporadic thoughts on season four. Hey, maybe it's not all bad. Maybe it's better? Check back every week for further commentaries, and please feel free to add your own thoughts.

As I have stated before, this is going to be a very free form analysis of each week's episode. After what I felt was not a totally abysmal premiere episode, I am proud to report that I actually think that the show can legitimately go on without Dan Harmon. Yes, I still believe that it would be in a far more cynical world if Harmon was still around. However, what is essentially a live action cartoon has returned to feeling like that.

The beauty of all of this conflict is that pushing the series from a Fall to Spring season release results in the show feeling even more out of place. While it would have felt more timely in the Fall season, I still feel like moving a Halloween episode to land on Valentine's Day is kind of ingenious, if unintentional. This show is currently suffering from an identity crisis, and thus I am perfectly pleased with the surprise Halloween episode in the middle of February. It almost feels like a defiant, rule breaking aesthetic that the show took a challenge to.

Still, how does it compare to the annual Halloween episode? So far, nothing is quite on par with "Epidemiology." Nothing. It was the brilliant mix of outbreak and Aliens imagery that catapulted that episode into the stratosphere of Halloween classics. In fact, there is very little that I am probably going to argue about with this week's episode. It was actually very entertaining, and while I probably have something to say about the tone, it is still proof that this show will go on in good health.

My initial fear going into this season was that it was going for more pedestrian references. The whole thing with the Hunger Games was atrocious and uninspired. However, once this episode started, I felt this strange sense that maybe that was just coincidence. Maybe this show is just a little bit more hit and miss than the Harmon era. It is immediately recognizable when characters are dressed as Calvin and Hobbes, Princess Leia, and the Ring girl. While all essentially pop culture milestones, it would be hard to immediately notice that something about the show was different.

In fact, everything was a live wire. References shot left and right and Abed (Danny Pudi) seemed normal. Where last week he was easily preoccupied in a different, embarrassing universe, here he is back in some form of his element. Yes, the product of Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed running around together in a haunted house in their oddball way may be a bit Scooby Doo, but it doesn't feel like much of a stretch from what they normally do, which is take the real world and turn it into their fictional reality. The sliding door case that ends this episode is a brilliant little character moment and signs that the new show runners plan to inject the episodes with fun.

Maybe it isn't quite as complicated on fun as it used to be, but all of the beats are there. We are exploring Pierce's (Chevy Chase) house and we even discover more back story on Jeff (Joel McHale). The story is still progressing and making us care about the characters. However, they also feel like they talk at a normal rate. My big concern was that the dialogue would feel forced and fast, but it almost felt normal this time. 

It was also nice seeing the characters split up. At very least, it was a chance for the writers to introduce to us where they planned to take these characters. More so than last week, we get small moments of awkwardness when Troy comes across Pierce's S&M room and mistakes it for a slide. We even get a sense of a genuine haunted house. There are multiple small nods to horror movie tropes that may not be all that clever, but shows everyone in a new environment. Whether this is the continuing meta scenario in which the writers poke fun at being new, I don't know. With exception to Abed saying "I remember when this show took place at a community college," it works so much better. It almost serves as a chance to comment on the public, who are ready to turn on the show at any moment.

Left to right: Donald Glover and Joel McHale

Overall, I really enjoyed the episode. True, there are some small things that still don't feel right, but as a new take on Community, I am ready to embrace it. It feels like the references, while not nearly as obscure as the Harmon-levels could go to, still hold some root in where the characters came from and where they could be going. Who knows if Jeff's conversation with his father will actually make the show better. Maybe it will do the opposite. Maybe Troy and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) will be a great couple, though I find the Inspector Spacetime gag at the end a little weak.

Still, if there is any way to prove that this show is in good hands, just skip to the end of the episode. When Pierce reveals that he elaborately set it up, that is proof number one that the show is at least trying to be clever without feeling desperate. True, you must ask yourself why Pierce could ever be conceived as pulling off something that elaborate, but it works because it is unexpected. Even the reveal at the end in which Gilbert (Giancarlo Esposito) makes his return was a loving nod that this show is still cool. In fact, there was even a Levar Burton shout out that shows that maybe things will get a little bit deeper as things progress.

Maybe it is just because I love Esposito (if you haven't go watch Breaking Bad NOW), but the idea that he could possibly be Pierce's roommate in the future almost makes me excited for the future of the show. I want it to exist just so I can see more Esposito. Of course, there is a simple way to do that... someone cancel Revolution. Come on, I double dare ya. What is great about this episode is my belief that it finally gives you reason to care about the future of the show. True, it may not quite be all about community college, but the show feels like it is taking steps towards establishing long term narratives about relationships and life after school in ways that seem less ridiculous than their plots suggest. In short: the show is fine.

However, this could largely be because this is a non-school episode as Abed pointed out. I am worried that the Greendale premise will be botched when they return. I still feel like Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) is somewhat of a mess, but of course, nothing is new. He always has been a cross dressing weirdo. Is it possible that when they return, we'll just get another lame the Hunger Games parody? I hope not. In fact, I am betting that despite the show trying to maintain the formula that made the show great, they are slowly moving away from school. That would be the true genius if they can pull that off.

Of course, I kind of admire the show just because of Anne's (Alison Brie) mix up over what the Ring girl meant:

Alison Brie

Yes, I still feel like it is early to call this season a possible success, but I feel like we're in good hands, if just by what we saw here. In fact, I am theorizing that the show will move from community college to the community in general. Maybe characters will have episodes with deep analysis through pop culture themes, just like Jeff and Pierce with the haunted house. The new creators seem right to tear apart the show's characters. It may make them too personal and ruin the vibe, but I feel like it could lead the show into edgy territory, and that is what I'll enjoy finding out. That, and if Giancarlo Esposito ever returns.