I did like the episode. It's not one of my favorites, but it's streets ahead of most of Season 4. Seeing Duncan pass up on Britta was a great decision. I don't know, Season 2's "Mixology's Certification" was similar. Sure we had Pierce in the wheel chair trying to get into the bar, but that typified the humor of the episode, where its more awkward than laugh-out-loud funny.
I enjoyed this episode too. And I'm glad the writers are going out of their way to restore Britta's intelligence somewhat after she was dumbed down a lot in Seeason 4. I was kind of disappointed that Annie and Shirley had nothing to do, but then I found it funny that they actually commented on that fact. Also I was disappointed that it was the second episode in a row where Jeff took a backseat to the other characters, but at least his function in this episode was more important then the previous one. One last thing, I lost it when they focused into the old time picture and we were at first meant to think Chang was a ghost until it showed us the caption. I also thought the stinger was funny too, I mean how many of us have mistakenly assumed we were being invited out to eat when someone asks us about a restaurant.
I really liked the Abed / Breaking Bad's Mike interaction in tonight's episode. I barely noticed a difference with Season Four. It was fine.
Wow. I love this episode, I've tossed around script ideas for this concept, I'm glad the Community writers got the same idea. This is so a comic exaggeration of where our culture is headed.
Even for a show like Community, this is just over the top and insane to me. I only laughed once, at the "I'm a security guard, I use weapons as weapons".
I thought tonight's episode was fantastic. I loved the little nods to "Logan's Run" and the "Planet Of The Apes" series. Starburns in the "Zardoz" outfit was both horrifying and hilarious.
I'll admit it was a little bit on the side of over the top, but not enough to prevent it from being a great episode. It's true that some other weird episodes justify their weirdness by keeping a spiritual connection to reality. I think the futuristic decor was a mistake, because without that futuristic decor it would have never lost that connection. But, I'm not sure if they could have had the same satirical edge if they didn't go over the top. Because that's exactly the implications of a culture where everybody's first impression of somebody is the simplified democratic opinion of them. What the episode could have used is a few small reminders of reality. Like, the paintball episode had that line from Shirley "I'm going home Britta! No, I mean, I'm really going home. Help me up?" A few subtle reminders of reality could have made the episode seem less over the top.
That would have helped but it was also towards the end of the episode and outside the college building there was barb wire and it was just too much for me.
It wasn't any worse than the zombie episode in that regard. And if you're a regular watcher of the show and you're still having issues with the show going over the deep end on a semi-regular basis, you have only yourself to blame. Cause it sure as hell isn't some new phenomenon.
But the other episodes just felt more grounded and less out there. Plus the other episodes I might have just liked more. At least at the end of the paint ball episodes I still felt like it took place in a college in somewhat a real world. The end of the zombie episode, everyone went home and didn't know the government almost killed tem. The end of this episode has barbwire, and these fancy old school sci-fi clothing that came out of no where. Just was too much and not funny enough. Maybe I'll enjoy it more in rewatches.
I'm with you on this one (is that a first? I dunno...). Once they showed up in the futuristic clothing and the episode lost all ties to reality I pretty much tuned out. Which is a first for me with Community.
Did we watch a different episode? Because the end of this one had everything going back to normal. The Dean even announced on the intercom that everyone should probably just forget the last few days because of how embarrassing it was. Starburns even explains that his costume was rented... As for the barbed wire, what's so weird there (for this show)? The painball episodes had the entire campus turned into a post-apocalyptic environment...
But they actually took the time to mention that cleaning up the first paint ball episode lead to near bankruptcy of the school.
I too feel the show went a little off the rails with this episode. I did love the Dean hanging a lantern on it at the end though!
Good episode. I'm glad they brought it back to something grounded this week. Also good to see Abed's girlfriend story get developed, and also see something more of Annie's history. We haven't heard much about her family and now we're seeing just how bad her relationship with them is and how much hurt there is. The last scene might be the best thing I've seen on television all year. The one criticism I have of the episode is I think both the A and B plots should have been dedicated full episode A plots.