Ongoing Community Discussion Thread

[JirinPanthosa]

I really hate the way they retooled Brita this season.

Obsessively political Brita was good-annoying.
Obsessive incompetent therapist Brita is bad-annoying.

All the characters are really starting to feel like toned down versions of themselves.

 

[tighr]

I really hate the way they retooled Brita this season.

Britta was an incompetent therapist last season, too.

 

[bigdaddy]

Yeah, I think we are grasping at straws to complain about the new leadership.

 

[Guy Gardener]

HA!

Britta is a tool!

Britta is such a tool.

 

[tighr]

HA!

Britta is a tool!

Britta is such a tool.

She's the AT&T of people.

She's the opposite of Batman.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Yeah, I think we are grasping at straws to complain about the new leadership.

'The show isn't funny' is a very valid reason not to like a comedy show.

Yeah Britta is a tool, but she used to be a recognizable, entertaining tool.

 

[bigdaddy]

Yeah, I think we are grasping at straws to complain about the new leadership.

'The show isn't funny' is a very valid reason not to like a comedy show.

Yeah Britta is a tool, but she used to be a recognizable, entertaining tool.

That's not what you said a few hours ago, that's something completely different.

You said Brita was annoying, it's Brita. She is actually the one that feels more like past seasons.

The show isn't as funny, it feels the same minus the funny. But Brita is still annoying, she has always been.

But the new season does feel like they Brita-ed up a lot of the fun.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Yeah, I think we are grasping at straws to complain about the new leadership.

'The show isn't funny' is a very valid reason not to like a comedy show.

Yeah Britta is a tool, but she used to be a recognizable, entertaining tool.

That's not what you said a few hours ago, that's something completely different.

You said Brita was annoying, it's Brita. She is actually the one that feels more like past seasons.

The show isn't as funny, it feels the same minus the funny. But Brita is still annoying, she has always been.

But the new season does feel like they Brita-ed up a lot of the fun.

But Brita isn't the SAME annoying Brita. This one babels. She never babbled. It's weird.

And I wonder how many of the episodes create some reason for minimal contact between Pierce and the rest of the cast?

 

[FFunctionalData]

Jeff: Ham
Britta: Pig

don't know why I found that funny but i did.

 

[gblews]

I definitely liked this episode more than last week's. I thought Britta was pretty much the same as last season too. And she did play the incompetent therapist in a few of the episodes last season. One of my favorite parts of the show in the past have been the verbal sparring between Jeff and Britta. We got a little of that last night and I thought it wasn't bad, but was still not up to some of their best dust ups in the past. In any case, Britta is looking mighty fine this season.

They definitely appear to be isolating Peirce from the rest of the characters.

Troy is a virgin? I didn't know that.

I kinda wish I wasn't even aware of the change in the showrunner. It is little like being spoiled. I wonder if Dan Harmon has seen the first two eisodes? I would LOVE to hear his reviews.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I haven't noticed much change in Britta this season compared to last season. We all knew going into this season that there would be change. Some of it would be more noticeable than others. I remember some discussion from last season where people felt the season was off and not the same as prior seasons even with Harmon. I personally don't feel that drastic a difference, and not after just two episodes, perhaps I'll change my mind as the season progresses.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Really enjoyed this episode...especially the cameo appearances at the end!

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I missed "Paranormal Parentage" last week (and the stupid library computers can't handle more than 10 seconds without buffering when I go to nbc.com ).

However, I loved "Conventions of Space & Time." It felt just like old times. I'm suddenly a lot less worried about the show overall. Hopefully "History 101" was the sole misstep this season.

The only thing I'm really not liking this season is the Britta/Troy relationship. Their awkward, almost-flirting in "Competitive Wine Tasting" & "Origins of Vampire Mythology" was OK. But overall, I don't see the chemistry there. I just think she's too smart for him and he's too dumb for her. (Unfortunately, the writers seem to be making her progressively dumber ever since Season 3.) I love them separately but not together.

That said, one of my favorite bits from this week's episode was at the end when Troy asked if it was OK if he left her and went looking for Abed. I loved the look on Britta's face when she said, "I told you, I don't care about Inspector Spacetime." (I see that sympathetically-interested-but-needs-to-gently-remind-that-she's-not-an-actual-fan look from my mother all the time. I know it well and Gillian Jacobs absolutely nailed that scene!)

Also, loved the Tricia Helfer cameo. I loved the parts where I could recognize the almost-Doctor Who references.

One thing I've been noticing about the show a lot ever since Season 3 was that Jeff has been a lot less prominent than he was in Seasons 1 & 2. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I love Joel McHale's performance. On the other hand, I love that the writers are less and less afraid to make him just as neurotic as the rest of the cast. His vanity is hilarious. ("Weight sensors?!?")

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Jeff and Britta were supposed to be the IT couple on the show. I think they had sufficient chemistry to pull it off, but the writers were having too much fun with ensemble adventures it was left alone after they slept together.

Mark

 

[LeadHead]

Well, it's not just the change to the ensemble adventures format that did that. I think that when they happened upon the chemistry between Jeff and Annie in the debate episode and over the past couple of seasons have tried to make the decision of which way to take that. Also, I think they wanted to let the character of Annie get somewhat older so that if they ever do pursue it full on, there'll be much less of a creepiness to it given the age difference.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

While I kind of see the Jeff/Annie chemistry on a superficial level, I really love the way the jaded cynicism of Jeff & Britta just bounces off each other. This was especially clear during their drunken wedding toasts in "Urban Matrimony & the Sandwich Arts."

As for Jeff's less prominent role on the show, I suspect one of the big factors in that was the way that Abed's popularity totally took off. I doubt anyone saw that coming.

 

[gblews]

Yeah, good episode. Definitely had a Harmonesque feel to it without a "trying too hard to be" vibe. I don't mind Troy/Britta as long as we don't lose those great Jeff/Britta arguments.

This episode does bode well or the rest of the season.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I think part of why "History 101" didn't work was because it was a bit too general. It introduced some concepts that I suppose the writers thought might be "Harmon-esque" but had no real idea what to do with.

"Conventions of Space & Time" felt far more natural. It seemed to be made with the same specific love of pop culture that Harmon & co. always brought to the show.

 

[bigdaddy]

I understand they are trying to prove the show can g on outside of school, but we are three episodes into their senior year, and probably the last year of the show, and I would actually like some more school time.

 

[Pingfah]

Matt Lucas was really good in this episode, I suppose he is pretty much unknown in the US, but I have been a longtime fan of his.