by Thom Yee

Community images courtesy of NBCUniversal Television Distribution

5×04:  “Cooperative Polygraphy”

For those of us who have stuck by Community over these long and, sometimes, arduous five years, we should all feel grateful that, even though we weren’t always laughing, even though we weren’t always in on the joke, even though we weren’t always happy, we’ve really… really learned a lot from watching it.  Like what bottle episodes are.

Even more than last week’s episode, “Cooperative Polygraphy” is an incredibly insular episode of a show that’s proven itself to be almost invulnerable to the prospect of gaining new viewers.  It’s an episode that commits the cardinal sin of tell, don’t show, but it does it in such an introspective and understanding way that, if you’re deeply invested in these characters, it still draws hysterics.

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by Grace Crawford

Images courtesy of Bay & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox.

9×14: “Slapsgiving 3: Slappointment in Slapmarra”

I can’t remember how many times I’ve watched the gang sit around at McLaren’s while Barney tells some totally-made-up-but-he-still-says-it’s-a-true story. It’s got to be at least a thousand. He tries to pass off some supposedly legendary exploit as fact, and none of the rest of the gang is buying it, and no one backs him up. So we just assume it’s not true. And that’s happened at least a million times. What do you mean, a thousand? I’m pretty sure I said “a million.”

So it’s nice to see Barney getting a taste of his own medicine when Marshall tells the story of how he mastered the Slap of a Thousand Exploding Suns (SoaTES), spending a year in China to learn speed, strength, and accuracy from a trio of masters who look suspiciously like Robin, Lily, and Ted, if they were Asian stereotypes. And it’s hilarious seeing the group backing him up with things like, “Yes, Marshall spent a year in Shanghai,” and “Yes, I’ve heard of that magical forest; I backpacked there in college.”

But apart from that, this episode is seriously lacking in anything even remotely resembling humour.

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by Thom Yee

Community images courtesy of NBCUniversal Television Distribution

5×03:  “Basic Intergluteal Numismatics”

It is with perpetual background character Garrett’s declaration, “Ass… Crack… Bandit!” (and the accompanying screams), right at the beginning of this week’s episode that it instantly becomes clear why this is Dan Harmon’s show and only Dan Harmon’s show.   “Basic Intergluteal Numismatics” is a concept episode that elects to take on the muted colour palette, dramatic camera angles and serial pacing of a night-time investigative procedural (think Law & Order mixed with the fatalistic overtones of David Fincher’s Zodiac) as our heroes chase down the menace of that aforementioned bandit.  While it’s a tonal change that works well for the episode’s plot, it’s also a choice that perfectly illustrates the depth of Harmon’s understanding of this world.

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Why I’m watching… Community

by Thom Yee

Community images courtesy of NBCUniversal Television Distribution

What a long, strange trip it’s been on our way to five seasons (in what, by now, will pretty much have to be at least six seasons and a movie).  Community is my second favourite show of all time, and, despite my reservations about its more recent outings, I’m genuinely excited about the show’s potential going forward.  Sure, Chevy Chase’s Pierce is long gone and Donald Glover’s Troy is not long for this timeline, but Dan Harmon’s back, and that’s absolutely everything I need to believe that we’ll get a show at least worth watching again, if not outright worshipping (again).

This time around, Jeff’s back as a teacher, the gang’s back because Jeff’s back, the magic’s back because Dan Harmon’s back, the show will re-find its footing after a lost season barely passed, and we’ll finally return to the fetishistic post-meta modernity we all love to watch get shoved up its own ass.

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by Grace Crawford

Images courtesy of Bay & Thomas Productions and 20th Century Fox.

9×13: “Bass Player Wanted”

If you read my last review, you know that I wasn’t particularly happy with the way the rehearsal dinner went. It was fine, yes, but there was nothing really good about it. So I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy this episode as much as I did—until the Mother showed up. I was pretty much hooked from that moment on.

It was Marshall versus the Machine once again, and he trudged down a country road while carrying his son and a suitcase. Then a van pulled up behind him, and who should be driving but my new best friend? She mentions that she’s the bass player in the band that’s playing the Farhampton wedding that weekend, but that she used to be the lead singer and is now about to be kicked out. Oh, and the van isn’t hers—it belongs to “the devil.”

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