It’s Baaaaack!!!!
No… really, it’s back! Not just returning for a fifth season, but ACTUALLY back. Back making episodes that are truly “Community” in its essence. Now I will apologize for bringing such a late review, I unfortunately wasn’t able to watch this episode when it aired… so I had to get it off itunes! If you don’t already see, I absolutely adore this show. It’s perhaps one of my favorite programs ever, and for good reason. This is a SMART comedy, a breed of comedy which is dying, every lingering breath becoming weaker and weaker.
So after season 3, when Dan Harmon, the creator of this show, was fired, the fans were skeptical. Unfortunately, their worries became a reality when the fourth season was somewhat disappointing in its quality. However, NBC and Sony, soon rehired the creator, and made him in charge once more. From this, Dan Harmon chose his warriors (writers) carefully, and started planning for what is supposedly the best season of community to date!
Let me just say, these episodes were indeed the best starting episodes this show has ever gotten so far. This show has only one weakness, and that’s starting a season, with the first two or three episodes being noticeably weaker in quality than the upcoming episodes, this is mostly due to the fact that the show has so much ground to cover… so without further ado, let’s talk about this juggernaut of comedy!
Yep… this is TRULY community in its essence. And even without the presence of one of their main cast, Chevy Chase, it still had incredibly strong episodes to boot. Filled to the brim with jokes that take a few seconds or even minutes to process, with humor that is refreshingly smart and witty, as well as slapstick and downright hilarious. This is, community!
The first episode, hilariously enough called the “repilot” pretty much sets the ground for the rest of the season. The lonely, and slightly destroyed Jeff Winger’s redemption, and journey back to Greendale. This episode was the weaker of the two that aired, since it was trying to cover miles of ground in a quick twenty two episode season.
What’s interesting about the repilot, is that it had a noticeably darker vibe to it, the entire filter was grey and dull. Showing the school in a more sad and dreary light. With the departure of yet ANOTHER cast member, Troy Barnes, played by the wonderfully hilarious Danny Glover, the writers of the show take wonderful little jabs in a very meta way. The entire episode was a mini-spoof of the repilot of scrubs that happened with its ninth season… thankfully this repilot did not fail miserably.
We also got introduced to the new “Pierce” played by the absolutely wonderful Jonathan Banks, known for his prominent role in the universally praised and acclaimed series ‘Breaking Bad’, where he played Mike. I think the question that is most asked is whether or not he fits into his role, I mean, I was also worried… would he be a good fit for Greendale? Playing such a serious character in breaking bad? One question, warrant a one word answer. YES!
He is absolutely splendid in his role, he portrays a slightly psychotic, SERIOUS, teacher that takes another look at the “old guy” stereotype. As Pierce used to be the “old racist” stereotype, Jonathan, or Professor Hickey, is more of the serious, blunt, and threatening “old guy”, and oh boy is it refreshing and hilarious!
And where the Repilot failed, the next episode, “Introduction to Teaching” succeeding with flying colors. I mean, the idea of having a “Nicholas Cage” class… is just… wow. I can’t even describe how much I liked this story, not only for having wonderful continuity between Abed, and seeing his actor, Danny Pudi, portray and absolute nutjob like Nicholas Cage, was tear-exudingly funny.
Although this was the harder to believe storyline of the episode, the B-plot revolved around Jeff getting used to teaching. Which is where Jonathan Banks’, Professor Buzz Hickey was introduced. With a few hilarious and clever jabs at Leonard, who’s apparently the school… bully?Hippy? Old guy-bully-hippy? The scenes were just jam-packed with comedy.
I was pleasantly surprised to see Anne, a character which was digressed badly in season 4 (when it was run by the other show runners), back in shape. Not physically (The actress, Alison Brie, is downright gorgeous), but character wise. She no longer acts like a fifteen year old schoolgirl, and instead is mature, and best of all, FUNNY!
If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been backing all of my statements up with “It’s funny!” Instead of “It’s trying to be funny!” This is because this season is no longer relying on the “Look how this show used to be!” Theme season four stalled in. This is, I’ll say once more, community.
Each part of it is crisp, hilarious, and put together with such love and talent it dwarfs most other comedy shows and blows them completely out of the water. I absolutely love this show, and oh boy was it fun seeing it back in tip-top shape!
Grades:
Repilot: B+
Introduction to Teaching: A-
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