Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

Review: 'Community' - 'Advanced Documentary Filmmaking': Waiting for MacGuffin

Abed makes a film about Jeff's attempts to prove Chang is faking his 'Changnesia'

By Alan Sepinwall Thursday, Mar 14, 2013 9:01 PM

On "Community," Troy (Donald Glover) and Annie (Alison Brie) show Chang's picture around town.

Credit: NBC

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A quick review of tonight's "Community" coming up just as soon as I workshop a blackface Senor Wences bit...

I wasn't crazy about all of "Advanced Documentary Filmmaking," which like a lot of this season's parody episodes didn't seem fully committed to the bit. (We randomly got yet another cop show parody within our documentary parody, for some reason, even though we know very well how Troy Barnes acts both when he's on camera and when he's pretending to be a cop, and this wasn't quite either.) But there were some funny moments like Britta failing to record Shirley's emotional confession ("I was dead for three minutes!") or Jeff responding to Chang's "What are you having?" with a self-righteous "None of this!"

And I quite liked the scene where "Kevin" admits that Chang was kind of a terrible person and that anyone would want to forget being him. Not that Chang has been the show's most successful or consistent character to begin with, but the new creative team were handed an extra-smelly bag of dog pooh with what Chang did at the end of last season. I could respect the idea that the only sane way to deal with it would be to start over from scratch, keeping Ken Jeong but ditching the problematic character he'd been playing for three seasons. I'd have even been okay with the idea that Changnesia was a lie Chang had invented because he'd realized what a monster he'd become and felt this was the only way anyone would tolerate him...

... so of course we had to get a tag scene that completely undid everything that happened previously in the episode, revealing that not only was Chang faking, but for nefarious purposes, in conspiracy with some unseen partner. (My guess would be Dean Spreck, given that City College is the last place we saw Chang last season.) Blech. No interest in Chang continuing to play deranged supervillain. At all.

What did everybody else think? How do you feel this documentary compared to the previous two? Did you like the final reveal, or would you rather Kevin be real? And given the circumstances of Chevy Chase's departure — and his frequent complaints that Pierce was just written as an oblivious, bigoted clown — how did you feel about the material he got to play tonight?

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Related Searches: Community, Joel McHale, Moses Port, David Guarascio, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, Donald Glover, Danny Pudi, Chevy Chase, Ken Jeong, Jim Rash, Alan Sepinwall

Next 90 Comments

Mulderism

The show has truly become a comedy without laughs. Probably the worst episode of the season.

And as a documentary it is well below Abed's standards.
March 14, 2013 at 9:14PM EST Reply to Comment
- jake This exactly. Coming into the season, I thought the show would struggle as it could not maintain something similar to Harmon's voice. I am shocked that the biggest struggle is to produce laughs. It seems like in the effort to replicate Harmon's voice, they have sacrificed actual laughs.
  March 14, 2013 at 10:15PM EST
- Derek I agree. I laughed more at the Office episode last night. And that was not a good Office episode.
  March 15, 2013 at 9:57AM EST
- klg19 I liked neither the scene where Jeff accepted "Kevin" (too sappy) nor the scene where Chang revealed his true self (tiresome). I laughed at almost none of this. All the actors seem like they're playing caricatures of their characters--a little too much, a little too often.
  
  I hate what they've done to this show.
  March 15, 2013 at 10:08AM EST
- joel If Abed is going to stage a methodical reenactment of My Dinner with Andre, he isn't going to make a snide remark about sitting through Tree of Life. And that is only the beginning of the sin this was on the history of this show.
  
  This episode was a f%$king abortion of comedy. They should be ashamed for having filmed this and shown it, let alone writing and acting it.
  March 19, 2013 at 12:37AM EST
Streets Ahead

I actually thought this episode was slightly better than some of the others from the season, though you knew Chang was lying the whole time.

Britta Britta'ing the recording was pretty funny, as was Jeff going off the deep end trying to prove Chang's deception.

As for Chevy Chase, he is beyond useless on this show now. The writers obviously have no idea what to do with him. I hope Pierce leaves Greendale and is replaced by Leonard.
March 14, 2013 at 9:15PM EST Reply to Comment
- Joe "Britta Britta'ing the recording was pretty funny, as was Jeff going off the deep end trying to prove Chang's deception."
  
  I think you mean that her Brittaing the camera was funny the first time, in Pillows and Blankets... and Jeff going off the deep end to prove deception was funny the first time, in Beginner Pottery.
  March 14, 2013 at 9:36PM EST
- Razorback So I should never take recommendations from you. Check.
  March 14, 2013 at 9:49PM EST
- Jonas.Left JOE Your criticism is that Jeff and Britta acted in a manner consistent with previous episodes?
  
  RAZORBACK So you can't disagree without being condescending. Check.
  March 14, 2013 at 11:07PM EST
- Joe My criticism is that every episode has been a poorly done imitation of better ones. There's a difference between characters acting consistent, and writers saying "hey, people liked this, let's do it again."
  March 14, 2013 at 11:45PM EST
- Jj Have you ever been to his blog? Condescending is his default
  March 14, 2013 at 11:49PM EST
- Jonas.Left JOE I think the only similarity between the two Britta jokes cited is that they both involve cameras, and not even the same kind of cameras. For Jeff, it was somewhat similar to the pottery thing. It also reminded me of the episode where he flips out after Pierce gets his spot in Omar's botany class and his place in the study group. The difference here is that Jeff wasn't motivated solely by ego and jealousy. I was just happy to see it done well, especially after how ineptly they handled "New" Jeff earlier in the season. Repetiton aside, it felt like an accurate characterization.
  
  JJ I haven't been to his blog, but now that I know he has one I'm going to not go to it a lot.
  March 15, 2013 at 2:53AM EST
Dr. Gross

The Donald Glover and Alison Brie scenes were excellent. Other than that, solid but unspectacular episode. I'm withholding judgment on Chang.
March 14, 2013 at 9:20PM EST Reply to Comment
Jeff G

I thought this was better. It felt more Community like. I thought this time they actually did go all out with the theme of the episode. It was a little muddled, but at least it stayed with "theme" episode rather than mixing in traditional sitcom elements.

I also laughed, which I haven't been doing much of. I am annoyed that they undid everything with the tag though. I was waiting for it, despite hoping they were going to reset the character. I thought by the end there was a chance that's what they were doing, but, it seems like they're going the lame route.
March 14, 2013 at 9:21PM EST Reply to Comment
Will_eabie

I sadly sit beside the deathbed of Community, waiting for it's inevitable, hopefully painless demise.

Until that time I will watch every episode as a sign of appreciation for the actors and (remaining) writers who entertained me so for the first three seasons. But it is at best a well acted, fairly well filmed, fan-fiction homage.
March 14, 2013 at 9:21PM EST Reply to Comment
- MsPolyTheist I am with you, WILL_EABIE. This is the death knell. It was e worst episode of Community, hands down. Not enough humor, too much Chang, and characters acting out of character. Does anyone really believe Annie Edison would be gleeful over the idea that several more of her fellow students would have heart attacks?
  March 15, 2013 at 10:06AM EST
janet444

I liked this episode. I didn't totally believe that Jeff would have acted that way in front of the grant audience. He's supposed to be a good lawyer, and that was a really lame argument he set up. But overall, I thought it was funny. Better than the first few episodes. I thought last week's episode was also good - the Jeff/Britta part. The subplot didn't work for me.
March 14, 2013 at 9:44PM EST Reply to Comment
Call Me Carlos the Dwarf

Chevy Chase definitely underreacted to what he's been given this season.
March 14, 2013 at 9:46PM EST Reply to Comment
- Joyeful I have to agree here. Apart from the Halloween episode, he's basically been reduced to a series of racial insensitivities.
  March 15, 2013 at 8:25AM EST
- PotatoSolution It's funny that when Chevy left, everyone (including me) thought he was being his typical diva self.
  
  Now that we are seeing these episodes ... yeah, I totally understand why the guy walked. It's almost like the writers were daring him to bolt by giving him nothing but shit scenes to play.
  March 15, 2013 at 12:05PM EST
Razorback

Another bad fan-fic version of what these show runners perceive to be what was once great about this show.
March 14, 2013 at 9:48PM EST Reply to Comment
- Daniel Was this show ever great?
  
  It's ratings sucked ass, they hardly won any awards (Emmy's or Golden Globes, etc.... Like Frasier or Modern Familly or even Arrested Development), not all critics adored it (Mo Ryan and Ryan McGee have been Luke warm on most of it's run) and now we find out that for all Dan Harmons qualities, he turned out to be an alcoholic sociopath.....
  
  So again, was this show ever great?
  
  Answer = Nope
  March 14, 2013 at 11:56PM EST
- GRubi Emmys don't necessary imply quality. But more importantly, where do you get off calling Harmon and alcoholic sociopath? Harmon may be a bit of a dick, but you have no basis for this accusation.
  March 15, 2013 at 12:57AM EST
- Daniel Harmon has admitted In so many interviews that he drinks excessively and at times binge drinking. Chevy Chase called him out on it during the phone message fiasco. Also, Dan has admitted, especially, in the AV Club walkthrough of season 2 that he is prone to mood swings and abusing his power to belittle his staff and try to intimidate his employers. Dan has admitted that he goes through bouts of depression when he cannot get his own way and he public ally ( in front of reporters) has lost his temper and had meltdowns when dealing with his employers.
  
  So again, Dan Harmon is an alcoholic sociopath.
  
  Also, I did not only mention Emmy's. I mentioned Golden Globes, ratings and other critical consensus.
  March 15, 2013 at 1:30AM EST
- Jonas.Left DANIEL A sociopath is someone who has no conscience or empathy for his fellow man. That doesn't sound like the Dan Harmon I'm familiar with. As to your arguments against Community's quality... There are obviously many great shows that never became awards darlings. But you make a good point. If two named critics don't like something then that invalidates the collective critical evaluations of all their colleagues.
  March 15, 2013 at 3:06AM EST
- GRubi Yeah, I'd say that Daniel doesn't actually know what a sociopath is. It sounds like Harmon suffers from anxiety and anger issues. That plus depression does not equal sociopath. If it did, there would be a lot more sociopaths walking the streets.
  
  Also, the fact that Harmon is even admitting this shows that he knows he has problems and is making an effort to fix them.
  March 15, 2013 at 3:20AM EST
- janet444 Daniel - Yes, the show WAS great. It was exceptional. Smart, funny, great cast, great writing, and daring with what it did with the genre (probably too daring for some). Winning Emmys has no bearing on the quality of a show (or Jason Lee would have been nominated over Charlie Sheen back when Earl was on)
  
  As for any problems Harmon has or had, that also has no bearing on the quality of the show. It's too bad so few people appreciated it enough for the ratings to be as high as they deserved to be.
  March 15, 2013 at 8:19AM EST
- BigDerf Daniel - Check out that fat Emmy Cabinet they have at HBO for The Wire....
  March 15, 2013 at 10:18PM EST
rebecca

My husband is convinced the doctor in the opening scene was Steve Carrell in a wig and glasses. It did sound like him but the credits said otherwise ...
March 14, 2013 at 9:50PM EST Reply to Comment
- s No where close
  March 14, 2013 at 9:54PM EST
- Lee Harvey I thought that for a split second, but it wasn't.
  March 15, 2013 at 12:56AM EST
Bryan-a

Not good at all, they're trying just too damn hard to be harmonesque (the macguffin institute? Geesh.)

Chang writing things on his arms made me think how utterly brilliant a Momento ep could've been - ah well.
March 14, 2013 at 9:55PM EST Reply to Comment
FictionalAlarm

The show is slowly devolving into garbage. It's taking the campus, the characters, the actors, and the show I loved and ruining them one episode at a time. The writing, feel, and overall structure of the show just isn't as good. Before, even when I didn't love an episode, I could at least enjoy how well done it was. Now we get to see NBC's desire for broad comedy with a shot of Garrett dropping a camera. NBC really "Britta-ed" up the show by firing Harmon.
March 14, 2013 at 9:58PM EST Reply to Comment
- Lindsay FYI - NBC didn't fire Harmon. Sony Pictures TV didn't renew his contract.
  March 16, 2013 at 8:19AM EST
srpad

I loved the opening. It was spot on modern documentary styling but like Alan said it seemed they decided to mix in a normal episode with the parody. Still, it was funny.
March 14, 2013 at 10:37PM EST Reply to Comment
DB Cooper

This felt like it lasted 2 hours.

That is not a compliment.
March 14, 2013 at 10:37PM EST Reply to Comment
nath

Oh man, Alan, totally agree with hating the end twist. I really liked the episode up until that.
March 14, 2013 at 10:45PM EST Reply to Comment
- GRubi Yeah. I thought it was a decent episode up until the end. Before that I was thinking, they've finally found an acceptable way os dealing with Chang. But they had to go and ruin it all.
  March 15, 2013 at 12:59AM EST
Jonas.Left

I've been really down on the show, hating all but two episodes which were mediocre rather than awful. This one I actually enjoyed. It was derivative and lacked the precision and focus of great Community at its best, but most of it worked for me. The dialogue was better and the actors didn't struggle to make the jokes sound conversational. And I laughed. Oh sweet holy Changnesia, did I miss laughing at this show.

I've always liked Chang and just seeing Ken Jeong's demented grin makes me laugh. His word for word recap of Jeff's and Shirley's discussion was great. I loved the gag with the cell phone, a terrific send up of Breaking Bad and The Wire. I can't fault anyone for wanting his transformation to be genuine, but I personally prefer it this way. To me season three pretending that Pierce's difficulties with the group in season two never happened was problematic and a wasted opportunity to do something different with him.

I'm hopeful the show can do as well as they did tonight again.
March 14, 2013 at 10:52PM EST Reply to Comment
- Shelb This season seems to be the ultimate in different opinion. I loved most episodes so far, but this was by far my least favorite (and probably my least favorite of the series). I thought it was boring and I really didn't care about it at all. Within 5 minutes I was zoning off, and within 10 minutes I was considering stopping it to watch later.
  
  This is a perfect example of why the show will never be completely bad. Every episode has its fans. Thats what makes this show special. Even with Seinfeld, everyone hated the finale.
  March 15, 2013 at 2:52AM EST
- Jonas.Left SHELB You're murdering this show with your negativity!!! Just kidding. Yeah, this has been a divisive season. I wonder if perhaps you were bored because the mockumentary concept is something they did a few times before. As I wrote before it was a derivative story with elements from several previous episodes. I think my positive reaction is based in part on lowered expectations. After shows that got almost everything wrong, it was just such a relief to see one that got things mostly right.
  March 15, 2013 at 3:16AM EST
- Shelb Honestly, look at my previous reviews of this season: I love it until tonight. I HATED tonight. Community is my favourite show, I just thought tonight was terrible. Just was NOT a fan of anything at all.
  March 15, 2013 at 4:01AM EST
- janet444 Jonas, your comment describes how I felt about tonight's show, and the season.
  March 15, 2013 at 8:22AM EST
- Jonas.Left Thanks, JANET. I strive to be the voice of all right thinking Community fans. It's nice to be able to say something positive about the show, however qualified it may be. When I reread my comment about the Halloween episode it felt like I'd written it in tears.
  March 15, 2013 at 3:34PM EST
- Jonas.Left SHELB A couple weeks ago, MULDERISM posted that he loved the Seinfeld finale.
  March 15, 2013 at 8:13PM EST
- Connor So you CAN be positive and Shelb CAN be negative. Good to see people don't just stick their head in the sand and be unable to judge the show on it's actual merits instead of what they perceive it is supposed to be.
  
  I guess I'm just easy to please, I found this to be another good episode where I laughed occasionally and enjoyed it all the way to the end. Not anything spectacular (I REALLY loved last week's episode) but just another solid entry to the series.
  March 18, 2013 at 12:46PM EST
- Connor That said, I didn't enjoy the ending. I thought it was smart for them to totally rewrite the character of Chang but kind of let down to find he was still the same crazy, evil man he's always been.
  
  I guess I can handle it as long as he acts more like Kevin than he does Chang the majority of the season.
  March 18, 2013 at 12:48PM EST
- janet444 lol, Jonas. I know what you mean. Connor, I get what you're saying about the ending, but one thing I liked about it was the fact that they totally had me - and Jeff - fooled. And now it will be believable to us that Jeff totally believes Chang is Kevin.
  March 18, 2013 at 2:42PM EST
Mr. Peel

I hated this episode and the TREE OF LIFE joke which is probably the single worst moment of the entire series got me to hate the people who made this episode. I once loved this show but now? I'm done.
March 14, 2013 at 11:47PM EST Reply to Comment
- Jonas.Left Wow, are you related to Terrence Malick?
  March 15, 2013 at 3:19AM EST
- Col Bat Guano I thought the Tree of Life joke was the best one of the entire episode.
  March 15, 2013 at 1:14PM EST
- Yeah that was one of the only things that made me laugh in a bland, unfunny episode that mostly made me want to take the show off my DVR. And I enjoyed Tree of Life, but come on, it wasn't easy to watch!
  March 15, 2013 at 4:17PM EST
Guy

Did no one catch the memento joke? Fucking priceless, I enjoyed the episode
March 14, 2013 at 11:56PM EST Reply to Comment
- Joyeful LOL...I caught it! I'm also surprised no one's freaking out that the grant agency was called MACGUFFIN.
  March 15, 2013 at 8:24AM EST
- scoopie77 I caught both of those. I am awesome. :)
  March 15, 2013 at 8:48AM EST
- bryan-a y'all need to read the comments - I caught them both before all y'all. See above.
  March 15, 2013 at 9:27AM EST
- VisionOn Those two jokes worked because the entire premise of the episode was based around film-making. Something the showrunners actually have an interest in and knowledge of.
  
  That's when the show works. It's why the previous seasons worked.
  
  Unfortunately the team involved now don't have much genuine interest in the things that made the previous seasons work.
  
  Obscure science-fiction, video games, fictional tropes, literature, action movies, cult TV, etc. those are all things that Harmon and Co. actually enjoyed and they put it on the screen even with the knowledge that some viewers would not get the references.
  March 17, 2013 at 7:44PM EST
StevieG21

The only thing that would save the ending would be if that was Dan Harmon on the other end of the phone call.
March 15, 2013 at 12:57AM EST Reply to Comment
- Raf Yeah! Still, that was City College :(
  March 15, 2013 at 9:44AM EST
Innocent Bystander

It's amazing to see how different fans can point to the exact same joke as "worst ever" and "best ever" or the exact same story point as both "a return to form" and "a desperate failed attempt." Everything is subjective, of course, but everyone just seems so completely divided, even on very specific things.
March 15, 2013 at 1:16AM EST Reply to Comment
- Jim Hmmnnn, sounds like humans interacting.
  March 15, 2013 at 2:04PM EST
- Connor Well put. Being subjective about a TV show is only natural, the problem with this show is that, in most cases, people are unable to be objective when evaluating the show on it's own merits. I'm all for subjective criticism when it's directly attached to a season or episode, but subjective criticism because it's "not Dan Harmon enough" is pointless and just living in the past.
  March 18, 2013 at 12:51PM EST
rlx

Community is a wrap. 4 seasons and a movie (backed by kickstarter). i just watch it now cause alison brie makes my body smile.
March 15, 2013 at 1:16AM EST Reply to Comment
- Shelb NBC's ratings are so terrible now that a 5th season of Community is actually a strong possibility. They are 14 (?) away from a real syndication order of 100 and I think they will get it with the rest of the NBC comedy block such a mess, other than Parks. 5 Seasons and a movie?
  March 15, 2013 at 2:49AM EST
ed w

Fun episode. Tree of Life joke was great.
March 15, 2013 at 1:45AM EST Reply to Comment
Shelb

Ok, this episode was terrible. New show runners reaching too far. It might have to do with the fact it was an episode based around Chang, though.
March 15, 2013 at 2:45AM EST Reply to Comment
- Shelb Hell, there's still 4 minutes left and I honestly don't care.
  
  I've defended most of the episodes so far but this one is really not good at all. Chang f'n sucks.
  March 15, 2013 at 2:47AM EST
policeman

Zombie Community is like when Buffy's mom came back from the dead, all wrong. Even the Marv Newland Bambi vs Godzilla homage (Abed's documentary end credits) fell flat. Reverse-vicariously-empathizing Dan Harmon's sheudenfreude isn't enough any more. I'm out.
March 15, 2013 at 2:54AM EST Reply to Comment
- S'BALL I don't know about Buffy's mom, but Zombie Community reminds me of the appallingly bad Dune prequels. Frank Herbert's popular book series is Sci-Fi at it's best, but avoid the subpar prequels his son and a co-writer mined from Dune backstory.
  March 15, 2013 at 3:44PM EST
Brandon

Community is suffering from trying to please their fans by repeating the schtick that worked so well before. But it worked well because it was more than schtick, it was emotional, three dimensional, and always hilarious. It's obvious that this was only possible with Harmon at the helm. NBC did a disservice to the actors, writers, and fans by renewing the show but firing Harmon.

That being said, I thought tonight's episode was pretty funny. Lots of good jokes, and I found myself laughing out loud a lot. However, the balance is still missing. The documentary schtick worked at times but was inconsistent (the need to mention the ice cream history class immediately after the title and theme almost made me forget this was supposed to be a documentary). The previous two documentary episodes were so concrete in their themes and this one was hard to place. I absolutely loved Annie and Troy as Partner and Moolihan, but it didn't belong in this episode.
March 15, 2013 at 6:25AM EST Reply to Comment
Joyeful

Given the horrible, unadulterated MESS the new folks were left to deal with for Chang's character, I'm impressed with what they've done. Not only have they scaled down on his exposure (there was WAY too much Chang in season 3), they found a way to keep him on screen that actually seems purposeful. But part of me sort of wishes he actually had amnesia - I don't want to go back to crazy Chang!!!
March 15, 2013 at 8:23AM EST Reply to Comment
Partner

"we know very well how Troy Barnes acts both when he's on camera and when he's pretending to be a cop"

No we don't.
;)
March 15, 2013 at 8:30AM EST Reply to Comment
- gadgetguy03 Haha I loved it the first time but it got stale and I just got tired of Troy.
  March 15, 2013 at 9:17AM EST
scoopie77

Why are they harping on Jeff being a terrible person. First he was Hitler and now he was Chang? He was always a blowhard, but the show always treated him well. Man, I'm going to have to check out. That makes me really sad!
March 15, 2013 at 8:47AM EST Reply to Comment
AL

Let's settle this once and for all: Who fired Dan Harmon? NBC? or Sony? or both?
March 15, 2013 at 9:19AM EST Reply to Comment
- sepinwall Sony. They own the show. They produce the show. He was under contract to Sony, and Sony declined to negotiate a new contract for him when this one concluded after season 3.
  March 15, 2013 at 2:11PM EST
Michael

Write a comment...Didn't we know all along that "Chang was faking for nefarious purposes?" The season's first episode (I think) ended with Chang getting into a truck saysing something like "Bringe me to Greendale" in a very evil way.
March 15, 2013 at 10:26AM EST Reply to Comment
- Maxama No, I think he approached a postal worker, wet and naked (they referenced his wetness last night, via the trout lake) and was holding a note that says "Hello my name is Kevin, I suffer from Changnesia." .. At least, that's how I recall it.
  March 15, 2013 at 11:25AM EST
- MICHAEL My Bad - Someone told me that's what happened and it sounded familiar - but we were both thinking of a differnt show. Sorry
  March 16, 2013 at 8:38AM EST
- janet444 Maxama, wasn't that this season? I don't remember how Season 3 ended.
  March 18, 2013 at 2:45PM EST
s

There was a looseness about this episode that I enjoyed. The actors finally felt comfortable in their characters. And this episode made the characters seem like they had normal lives outside the study group and that they could survive without constantly having to be surrounded by the whole study group.
March 15, 2013 at 11:00AM EST Reply to Comment

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Comments

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Mulderism The show has truly become a comedy without laughs. Probably the worst episode of the season.And as a documentary it is well below Abed's standards.

jake This exactly. Coming into the season, I thought the show would struggle as it could not maintain something similar to Harmon's voice. I am shocked that the biggest struggle is to produce laughs. It seems like in the effort to replicate Harmon's voice, they have sacrificed actual laughs.

Derek I agree. I laughed more at the Office episode last night. And that was not a good Office episode.

Razorback So I should never take recommendations from you. Check.

Jonas.Left JOE Your criticism is that Jeff and Britta acted in a manner consistent with previous episodes?RAZORBACK So you can't disagree without being condescending. Check.

Joe My criticism is that every episode has been a poorly done imitation of better ones. There's a difference between characters acting consistent, and writers saying "hey, people liked this, let's do it again."

Jj Have you ever been to his blog? Condescending is his default

Dr. Gross The Donald Glover and Alison Brie scenes were excellent. Other than that, solid but unspectacular episode. I'm withholding judgment on Chang.

Call Me Carlos the Dwarf Chevy Chase definitely underreacted to what he's been given this season.

Joyeful I have to agree here. Apart from the Halloween episode, he's basically been reduced to a series of racial insensitivities.

Razorback Another bad fan-fic version of what these show runners perceive to be what was once great about this show.

GRubi Emmys don't necessary imply quality. But more importantly, where do you get off calling Harmon and alcoholic sociopath? Harmon may be a bit of a dick, but you have no basis for this accusation.

BigDerf Daniel - Check out that fat Emmy Cabinet they have at HBO for The Wire....

rebecca My husband is convinced the doctor in the opening scene was Steve Carrell in a wig and glasses. It did sound like him but the credits said otherwise ...

s No where close

Lee Harvey I thought that for a split second, but it wasn't.

Bryan-a Not good at all, they're trying just too damn hard to be harmonesque (the macguffin institute? Geesh.)Chang writing things on his arms made me think how utterly brilliant a Momento ep could've been - ah well.

Lindsay FYI - NBC didn't fire Harmon. Sony Pictures TV didn't renew his contract.

srpad I loved the opening. It was spot on modern documentary styling but like Alan said it seemed they decided to mix in a normal episode with the parody. Still, it was funny.

DB Cooper This felt like it lasted 2 hours.That is not a compliment.

nath Oh man, Alan, totally agree with hating the end twist. I really liked the episode up until that.

GRubi Yeah. I thought it was a decent episode up until the end. Before that I was thinking, they've finally found an acceptable way os dealing with Chang. But they had to go and ruin it all.

Shelb Honestly, look at my previous reviews of this season: I love it until tonight. I HATED tonight. Community is my favourite show, I just thought tonight was terrible. Just was NOT a fan of anything at all.

janet444 Jonas, your comment describes how I felt about tonight's show, and the season.

Jonas.Left Thanks, JANET. I strive to be the voice of all right thinking Community fans. It's nice to be able to say something positive about the show, however qualified it may be. When I reread my comment about the Halloween episode it felt like I'd written it in tears.

Jonas.Left SHELB A couple weeks ago, MULDERISM posted that he loved the Seinfeld finale.

janet444 lol, Jonas. I know what you mean. Connor, I get what you're saying about the ending, but one thing I liked about it was the fact that they totally had me - and Jeff - fooled. And now it will be believable to us that Jeff totally believes Chang is Kevin.

Mr. Peel I hated this episode and the TREE OF LIFE joke which is probably the single worst moment of the entire series got me to hate the people who made this episode. I once loved this show but now? I'm done.

Jonas.Left Wow, are you related to Terrence Malick?

Col Bat Guano I thought the Tree of Life joke was the best one of the entire episode.

Yeah that was one of the only things that made me laugh in a bland, unfunny episode that mostly made me want to take the show off my DVR. And I enjoyed Tree of Life, but come on, it wasn't easy to watch!

Guy Did no one catch the memento joke? Fucking priceless, I enjoyed the episode

Joyeful LOL...I caught it! I'm also surprised no one's freaking out that the grant agency was called MACGUFFIN.

scoopie77 I caught both of those. I am awesome. :)

bryan-a y'all need to read the comments - I caught them both before all y'all. See above.

StevieG21 The only thing that would save the ending would be if that was Dan Harmon on the other end of the phone call.

Raf Yeah! Still, that was City College :(

Jim Hmmnnn, sounds like humans interacting.

rlx Community is a wrap. 4 seasons and a movie (backed by kickstarter). i just watch it now cause alison brie makes my body smile.

Shelb NBC's ratings are so terrible now that a 5th season of Community is actually a strong possibility. They are 14 (?) away from a real syndication order of 100 and I think they will get it with the rest of the NBC comedy block such a mess, other than Parks. 5 Seasons and a movie?

ed w Fun episode. Tree of Life joke was great.

Shelb Ok, this episode was terrible. New show runners reaching too far. It might have to do with the fact it was an episode based around Chang, though.

Shelb Hell, there's still 4 minutes left and I honestly don't care.I've defended most of the episodes so far but this one is really not good at all. Chang f'n sucks.

policeman Zombie Community is like when Buffy's mom came back from the dead, all wrong. Even the Marv Newland Bambi vs Godzilla homage (Abed's documentary end credits) fell flat. Reverse-vicariously-empathizing Dan Harmon's sheudenfreude isn't enough any more. I'm out.

S'BALL I don't know about Buffy's mom, but Zombie Community reminds me of the appallingly bad Dune prequels. Frank Herbert's popular book series is Sci-Fi at it's best, but avoid the subpar prequels his son and a co-writer mined from Dune backstory.

Partner "we know very well how Troy Barnes acts both when he's on camera and when he's pretending to be a cop"No we don't.;)

gadgetguy03 Haha I loved it the first time but it got stale and I just got tired of Troy.

scoopie77 Why are they harping on Jeff being a terrible person. First he was Hitler and now he was Chang? He was always a blowhard, but the show always treated him well. Man, I'm going to have to check out. That makes me really sad!

AL Let's settle this once and for all: Who fired Dan Harmon? NBC? or Sony? or both?

sepinwall Sony. They own the show. They produce the show. He was under contract to Sony, and Sony declined to negotiate a new contract for him when this one concluded after season 3.

Michael Write a comment...Didn't we know all along that "Chang was faking for nefarious purposes?" The season's first episode (I think) ended with Chang getting into a truck saysing something like "Bringe me to Greendale" in a very evil way.

Maxama No, I think he approached a postal worker, wet and naked (they referenced his wetness last night, via the trout lake) and was holding a note that says "Hello my name is Kevin, I suffer from Changnesia." .. At least, that's how I recall it.

MICHAEL My Bad - Someone told me that's what happened and it sounded familiar - but we were both thinking of a differnt show. Sorry

janet444 Maxama, wasn't that this season? I don't remember how Season 3 ended.

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Community is updated

Mulderism

The show has truly become a comedy without laughs. Probably the worst episode of the season.

And as a documentary it is well below Abed's standards.

Jonas.Left JOE Your criticism is that Jeff and Britta acted in a manner consistent with previous episodes?

RAZORBACK So you can't disagree without being condescending. Check.

Dr. Gross

The Donald Glover and Alison Brie scenes were excellent. Other than that, solid but unspectacular episode. I'm withholding judgment on Chang.

Call Me Carlos the Dwarf

Chevy Chase definitely underreacted to what he's been given this season.

Razorback

Another bad fan-fic version of what these show runners perceive to be what was once great about this show.

rebecca

My husband is convinced the doctor in the opening scene was Steve Carrell in a wig and glasses. It did sound like him but the credits said otherwise ...

Bryan-a

Not good at all, they're trying just too damn hard to be harmonesque (the macguffin institute? Geesh.)

Chang writing things on his arms made me think how utterly brilliant a Momento ep could've been - ah well.

srpad

I loved the opening. It was spot on modern documentary styling but like Alan said it seemed they decided to mix in a normal episode with the parody. Still, it was funny.

DB Cooper

This felt like it lasted 2 hours.

That is not a compliment.

nath

Oh man, Alan, totally agree with hating the end twist. I really liked the episode up until that.

Mr. Peel

I hated this episode and the TREE OF LIFE joke which is probably the single worst moment of the entire series got me to hate the people who made this episode. I once loved this show but now? I'm done.

Guy

Did no one catch the memento joke? Fucking priceless, I enjoyed the episode

StevieG21

The only thing that would save the ending would be if that was Dan Harmon on the other end of the phone call.

rlx

Community is a wrap. 4 seasons and a movie (backed by kickstarter). i just watch it now cause alison brie makes my body smile.

ed w

Fun episode. Tree of Life joke was great.

Shelb

Ok, this episode was terrible. New show runners reaching too far. It might have to do with the fact it was an episode based around Chang, though.

Shelb Hell, there's still 4 minutes left and I honestly don't care.

I've defended most of the episodes so far but this one is really not good at all. Chang f'n sucks.

policeman

Zombie Community is like when Buffy's mom came back from the dead, all wrong. Even the Marv Newland Bambi vs Godzilla homage (Abed's documentary end credits) fell flat. Reverse-vicariously-empathizing Dan Harmon's sheudenfreude isn't enough any more. I'm out.

Partner

"we know very well how Troy Barnes acts both when he's on camera and when he's pretending to be a cop"

No we don't.
;)

scoopie77

Why are they harping on Jeff being a terrible person. First he was Hitler and now he was Chang? He was always a blowhard, but the show always treated him well. Man, I'm going to have to check out. That makes me really sad!

AL

Let's settle this once and for all: Who fired Dan Harmon? NBC? or Sony? or both?

Michael

Write a comment...Didn't we know all along that "Chang was faking for nefarious purposes?" The season's first episode (I think) ended with Chang getting into a truck saysing something like "Bringe me to Greendale" in a very evil way.

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