Is the Community that got canceled the one we fell in love with in the first place?
I had a dream.
Remember how badCommunitywas without its creator, Dan Harmon?
But then, the unbelievable happened.
Dan Harmon, it was announced,would be coming back.
He was going to fix everything!
Season 4 would be nothing but a gas-leak-fueled bad nightmare, tidied away never to be mentioned again.
And then I had a dream.
And it wasnt that great.
Sure, it wasnt that bad either, but it was… well, it wasnt that great.
And, yes, Im serious.
I had this dream.
My dreams are boring.
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The scary thing was my dream came true.Repilot was okay.
It wasnt fantastic, but maybe it never had a real chance to be.
Anyway, the second episode was a little better.
And then there was the Ass Crack Bandit episode, which was really good!
And the one about Pierces death, which was also good!
But then something happened.
Episodes started getting sloppier and less funny.
Concepts that sounded ambitious on paper somehow ended up flat and unengaging in execution.
Heres what I think went wrong.
The season premiere, as well as the season itself, was supposedly meant to ground the series.
Season 4 was therefore off-putting to both newcomers and diehard followers of the series.
The violent hiccup because of Season 4 forced him to retract this plan entirely.
The show now needed to be reintroduced and set back on course for viewers old and new alike.
However, clearly an understanding of how to actually accomplish that eluded Harmon and team.
Furthermore, there was insane crap like Chang living in cardboard boxes in the middle of the study room.
This would not be Season 1 again.
This would not just be a show about a community college.
Too many concept episodes.
In the past, Harmon had always claimed that homages would be driven by story.
Jeffwas essentially Jeffs Uncontrollable Christmas.
Still, that these premises can be pretty easily compared to past premises isnt the main issue.
Jeff spent most of its time just being a G.I.
ButCommunityused to manage it.
It used to pair these things.
Something that had once defined the show as ambitious had become its crutch and a replacement for meaningful characterization.
Where the hell were the characters?
This was a massive, colossal problem.
Not only was there little in the way of character development, there were hardly characters.
The deed to the school!?
He became simply, and with little fanfare, one of the gang, which just felt wrong.
InAnalysis of Cork-Based Networking,hes so characterless he doesnt even quite seem like himself.
Theyre just supports for Chang.
Compare Season 5 episodes to those from the first two seasons.
Its probably been on too long.
The losses of Chevy Chase and Donald Glover were clear evidence of the series gradual breakdown.
Coupled with the damage done by Season 4,Communityhad probably just been dealt one too many blows.
Troy especially was a solid source of positivity.
But truly,Communityprobably should have ended years ago.
You may have noticed I didnt suggest comparing Season 5s quality to that of Season 3.
Again, Season 5 did not succeed as a reboot.
Too bad one year later hed apparently forgotten about all that.
There was a lack of ambition and development.
In characters and concept, Dan HarmonsCommunitywas always about challenging and changing itself.
It was the blandest, most cliched, bad-sitcom resolution the shows ever served up.
It broke its own rules.
Communitywas a show about change that used its finale to crap all over the very concept that defined it.
But Season 5 broke more of the series own rules beyond that.
Jeff this season did almost exactly the same thing.
It wasnt all confined to the episodes ending.
Another formerCommunityrule voiced by Harmon on more than one occasion is that the series isnt meant to have villains.
However, the finale finally turned those school board guys into unabashed jerks who apparently hate Greendale just because.
I dont like to even vibrate it.
And now, well, here we are.
It had become self-aware.
Its no secret that the drama behind the scenes informed the subject matter of the show.
Seriously, look at G.I.
Harmon was a hero to critics and his fanbase.
There were already murmurs of the movie that would simply have to happen.
It felt like the show could do whatever it wanted and a sixth season was inevitable.
If not, itll be because an asteroid has destroyed all human civilization.
Then he looked at the camera, like a smug douche.
As it turned out, the weirdest thing did happen.
In the world ofCommunity, everybodys dead now, I guess.
Its a lame ending, a silly ending.
The series went out hobbling erratically, full of misplaced confidence.
Ill admit that a better, realer ending would be appreciated.
Id like to see if its possible to grant that wish.
I have some interest in seeing if it would be possible to grant that wish too.
Wasnt this season we just had meant to ground us some already?
Season 5 had some great moments, maybe two or three good episodes, but grounded it was not.
Communitywas once a show about embracing change.
So lets not cheer on the broken version of it that it became.
Lets learn from it from back when it was good, accept this change, and move on.
Its not about six seasons and a movie for me.
You only have to watch three seasons.
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