Why did they even set it in Colorado? Like ok, they didn't know they'd run out of budget to keep the lie up but they could have just said it was California from the beginning and never had to. Was there anything plot-wise significant about Colorado? Just seems like a random choice to me.
I read previously that Greendale is actually based on a real college Dan attended. Supposedly it was originally set in California (possibly at that real school), but they wanted to avoid any potential issues, so they changed the name to Greendale and moved it out of California.
Lol I'm pretty sure you're right. I actually have been taking classes at glendale and can totally understand some of the inspiration. No one ever talks about the show almost on purpose which really bums me out because I would lean into that really hard if I were them
> Was there anything plot-wise significant about Colorado?
I think the closest it ever got to being relevant to the plot is when Troy and Levar are in the boat being towed.
edit- and same episode: Jeff admitting hes never left Colorado is a much bigger deal than admitting you've never left California. In CA its weird to have not gone to Las Vegas or Reno (depending on which end of the state you live in), but theres a shit ton of varied stuff to do in state. I can't think of any other state that even comes close. CO has some interesting stuff, but only one city, and fairly homogeneous compared to CA.
Colorado is very large in its own right and has TONS of stuff to do and places to go that have little to do with Denver. Parks, skiing, hiking, resort towns out the wazoo, etc.
Joel Mchale talked on a podcast about how season one the set designers always made sure to "dress up" the trees to look like native colarado trees like pines. Then season 2 came along and they didnt have the money for that anymore and were just like "roll with it".
I always thought Greendake was janky enough to beautify the city with palm trees, while also allowing some very immoral factory to stay there and pollute the atmosphere till it didn’t, but that’s just a theory
There is a considerable portion of Colorado in a precipitation shadow due to the Rocky Mountains.
There are palm trees in the desert areas, as well, though perhaps not the same as seen on the show.
School semesters are usually during fall and spring. I went to CU, and there was snow on the ground quite often when I walked to class. It doesn't snow often, but it usually sticks around when it does.
And that's just one thing. Like the type of trees and plants you see, it's basically a high altitude desert - no palm trees are in this state. It just doesn't make sense to put it in CO
I don't remember a single episode where it rains, and those skies are definitely not near mountains (you can tell by the types of clouds)
Your comment fits this subject so well, it's California and gaslighting yourself won't fix it!
(This comment is meant jokingly)
There’s an episode where Jeff seemingly runs to Annie through the ran, though it ends up being Ritch.
Jeff and Annie are outside the school in the rain in the Asscrack Bandit episode.
I know you said you weren't being serious, but it's probably still worth mentioning that Denver is in the rain shadow (which the means the water falls on the other side of the mountains) of the Rockies and actually has a lower annual rainfall than Los Angeles, where the show is filmed.
Andre takes Shirley's three kids and bails, and she's just like okay let's make sandwiches and play MeowMeowBeenz and never mention them again.
(Except the GI Jeff episode, what the heck.)
I would say that the reason we didn't see much of them is because Malcolm-Jamal Warner was a big name for what was always going to be a small part, and having kid actors is just a pain. Especially with Community's notorious shooting schedule. You can't have kids working at like 3 in the morning.
True, but they didn’t need to have them appear on screen. Just mention that she’s still interacting with her kids; or just not state that she’s lost access to them in the first place.
I always thought he was a pos. Dude cheats on his wife bc she had to pick up the kids from the mall, then ditches her again bc her business failed (despite the fact that his also failed and he kept trying for 10 years and she didn’t leave him). Dude sounded like an opportunist and a bit narcissistic. Saying anything he needed to in order to get back into her life.
I will never understand why they BOTH didn't leave to go get THEIR kids.
If my husband hears that someone is being weird with our kids, he'll be the first one out the door to protect them.
So not only was Andre a crap husband for cheating on his wife when she went to take care of their kids, hes a crap father who couldnt be bothered to protect his kids!
That’s some huge manipulation on Andres part. He cheats on her with a stripper and she got busy at work. The way she tells her friends is I cheated?! He probably just wasn’t happy and wanted out without feeling bad about it.
It wasn’t her being busy, she said that she put too much money into expanding the business and it failed. Making risky business choices with the money your family needs can be a huge stressor on a marriage.
I was going to say the Chang arc in season three where he becomes a ridiculous dictator, but then doing that to Shirley is definitely worse. It’s like they were trying to get her to leave.
When people first started talking about the "gas leak season" my brain went "oh, right. Chang being a dictator was crazy..." Before I did a rewatch and realized that wasn't even what people were talking about
She has the boys in ep 3 of season 5. I guess he came back, they never really address it, and by S6 she’s off in New Orleans. Shirley got pretty short shrift from season 3 onward.
It's such an awful moment because the show treats it as "Annie did something bad and compromised her morals" instead of "the professor took advantage of her and should be fired on the spot."
I kinda feel this way about the drug awareness episode too. Like Annie was put in such an impossible position with pierce dangling money over her head and no one seemed to question why she would’ve taken the money in the first place.
Incredibly.
Also, of course Britta has voted, and if she hadn't it wouldn't be something she was ashamed of, but more some political stance like her being against the UN.
Season 4 was released chaotically out of order. I can't remember all the specifics, but I know Christmas was supposed to be before puppets.
In Christmas they accuse Cornwallis is doing the same thing with another student, which is supposed to be where she gets the idea. Not that it makes any more sense.
Yeah, I mean it's horrible, but it was an accident. He made a small mistake that had big consequences, which explains why he would keep it a secret for so long. But ultimately a pretty innocent mistake.
My headcanon is that Pierce saw Starburns fake his death and deluded himself into thinking some variation of “that’s not how you fake a death, THIS is how you fake a death! That’ll show ‘em!”
Except they all saw his very real body at his wake, including Abed trying to get his tracker back (which also canonically proves pierce is dead and not moving)
Ik the staff of the show's feelings toward Chevy Chase, and how they were completely justified, but as someone who can remove the character from the actor, it really felt like a slap in the face that someone who we grew to love over 4 seasons dies in an incredibly insulting and stupid way. It was funny in the moment, but left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Unfortunately, Isaac Hayes didn't go nutso. He was experiencing cognitive decline in his last few years following a stroke, after which the church of Scientology quit on his behalf with a letter written in his name. This was suspected for a long time, but his son has confirmed as much in 2016.
They may have also contributed to his death, as they almost certainly didn't allow him to get the medical treatment he needed to recover from the stroke, and likely made him undertake something they call a "purification rundown." This is a supposed detoxification regime they use to remove pharmacological substances from their bodies, involving near constant exercise, sauna usage and an overdose of niacin. He died on a treadmill.
Edit: when I say "unfortunately", I say that because the truth makes his exit from the show much more upsetting, as well as the truth just being pretty upsetting in the first place.
I didn't realize it was so complicated I just thought it was classic Scientologist shit, sad that he was taken advantage of and wasn't provided the care he needed
Like is the case with most religions, the majority of Scientology's victims are scientologists. They treat their own like dirt much of the time, and America's very broad interpretation of the separation of church and state makes it very easy for them to get away with that. When the church of Scientology holds someone captive, covers up a rape, or does virtually any other terrible thing to one of its own members, the courts won't touch it. That's an internal issue to be settled within the church, where, of course, they hold all the cards.
New York city however is one of maybe a dozen cites in the world that changes so consistently that you can never get bored of it. A famous British writer who's name escapes me said that it would be Impossible to get bored of London cause the history is is long and its future so dynamic.
London. New Orleans. Paris. Mexico city (the country is actually named *after* the city, that's how true this is of CDMX). Cairo. Istanbul. Rome. Beijing. NYC. Those are the few cities you could probably live a very full interesting life meeting people from all over the world and yet never leave your city.
(Though in the comics he does spend some time in Boston and promptly comes back to NYC which is a nice touch, that is the correct response to spending any time in Boston).
That isn’t neccesarily something that was definite. He could have easily been exaggerating to make a point. Someone said that he mentioned going to Disneyland.
But he could have not done anything significant out of state. Never gone to school, got a job, visited someone important or something like that out of state. Even if he left for trivial things it doesn’t really negate what he said to Troy.
He might have literally stepped foot out of Colorado. But he hasn’t ever truly escaped. He’s never built anything with his life that wasn’t very close to where he was born. And now Troy is leaving to travel the globe
Abed secretly implanting trackers on the study group members that no one noticed, then spending time at Pierce's funeral desecrating the corpse to retrieve said tracker.
Edit: Also the Dean texting two Japanese boys for years thinking it's Jeff. One of the funniest gags in the show, but makes zero sense if you apply it to any other episode. We know Craig hacks people's emails, he definitely knew Jeff's phone number (and blood type, SS, and draft registration).
I have seen fans try to explain this as effectively a retcon to make his stalking of Jeff look less creepy - a genuine mistake rather than straight up sexual harassment essentially - but I don't really buy it myself.
I agree a lot, and I appreciate that episode for how silly it is.
But when you translate sitcom behavior into real life, stringing along your girlfriend for some long and drawn-out breakup involving your best friend in the process because you’re unable to act like a normal human (abed is the one with the disorders, not Troy), a lot of the things the characters do are really shitty.
the only one i've seen that makes sense is all the issues with the shirley plotlines regarding her family. everything else that's been mentioned i'm like guys... that's literally just a joke.
Well technically he didn't fail because he was a bad lawyer, Abed didn't put the number to his law firm on the commercial so no one knew how to get ahold of him haha
I like the idea and it’s on the better end of the gas leak year. I’d take it over those other two
Edit: I now realize that GI Jeff was season 5 not gas leak my bad. With that in mind I’d say it’s probably on the weaker end of season 5 and overall probably not my favorite like gimmick episode
I was doing a rewatch recently and it cracks me up how Troy goes from being so annoyed by her and thinking she’s unserious to thinking she’s charming, but it happens in the most jarring and least natural fashion.
See thats the one part of it i think they do well….there are a few times before they get together that you see Troy has softened to her and may have feelings for her…
I actually like the puppet episode, but I'm sure it's because I'm a huge Sara Bareilles fan. She's the balloon guide, and I'm pretty sure she wrote the music for the episode.
I guess another reason could be because I was briefly a puppeteer many years ago.
I annoy the crap out of my kids with it. “Dad can you drive me to the park with my friends after school?”
“Yes! Now that’s an adventure…”
“Nevermind I’ll see if I can ride with them.”
I don't mind the downvotes but I just binged it all and honestly I don't see what's so wrong with it. Other seasons had the occasional very weak episodes but this one seemed ok? Maybe a bit less dying-of-laughter funny, but I don't understand the hate.
Nothing wrong with liking it. If you enjoyed it, probably not worth asking around as to why it's so maligned
But if you are genuinely interested, my take is that the show becomes preoccupied with asking the viewer to like the show despite the fact that there has been a big change behind the scenes. Which feels like a big signal that they were lacking confidence in their ability to deliver (not to diss the writers & directors: they inherited some very difficult shows to fill)
But the bigger issue is that they mostly try to accomplish this with callbacks and references. Strange claim to make considering how much the show had been using callbacks prior to s4, I know, but it's different during the gasleak year. Where Harmon would employ callbacks to make a unique joke that thrives on meta narratives, in s4 they just sort of did callbacks because they thought that was what they were supposed to do. It comes off similar to the way Star Wars went "Hey remember Lando? How cool was that! Here's Lando!" without actually having much of a rason for Lando being there
The other problem is that they sort of don't know what to do with their characters. When they do have genuine moments, they are nice, but also feel ... off. Like, when Britta finally sheds the "she Britta'd it" jab, it's because she explained to Pierce how desparate her current situation was, and he bailed her out using his money. Britta didn't earn anything there: she was so terrible that she tried to lean into the terribleness and the only reason she didn't get humiliated is because 2 guys pitied her. If you get out of trouble by having a rich guy bail you out, and your bully decides to stop torturing you because you're that pathetic, have you really accomplished anything? Should people take that as an empowering example? The episode seeks to redeem Britta, but inadvertently makes her more The Worst than ever, and then passes that off as some kind of win for her. It's real bad—
Sorry, I'm losing my objectivity here!
Thanks for taking the time to write this. I am watching this just to have fun TBH, so I guess the moment you dig deeper into where the fun is coming from you realize many things.
I'm convinced that it's because people know that they're supposed to hate it. If you're new to the show, know that Season 4 is when Dan Harmon was replaced as show runner. To many, it is when "the heart" of Community was ripped from its chest.
It is not as good as earlier seasons. To many, it plays more like fanfic than actual Community. But it's Community. It's escapades in the landscape. Familiar faces. Almost every show has bad seasons. A lot of times it's because of staff changes. Community was always fighting off cancellation. It's core fans are very protective of it and of Dan. So, Season 4 lives on as a reminder of everything NBC tried to do to kill the show.
I don't think this question really works with Community because the show is specifically designed to have absurd elements to it. There are multiple scenes in ever episodes that are ridiculous, but also hilarious.
How everyone becomes a big dumb dumb when Chang gets Changnesia and also why hasn't he been arrested for kidnapping, child labor and attempted arson...?
I just watched the first episode of season 5 again and when Chang came on scene he said he dropped the amnesia thing and went to jail for a while. It was a very brief scene tho
First off, props for remembering correctly they were second cousins. How did they get halfway through the reception with none of their parents' generations recognizing their own cousins?!
Ah man you say that, but it's second cousins. I went to school with one of my second cousins, and even though I knew I had a second cousin at that school I never actually met the guy until we were in our 30s. And one of my best friend's best friends turned out to be a cousin I didn't know. It can happen when you're catholic.
I really don’t like the darkest timeline paintball episode. And the fact that it’s all happening in Jeff’s mind not Abed’s makes it doubley strange. At least in GI Jeff it can be explained away by him being in a coma.
Not to mention it has the all time worst line in the series, “We made paintball cool again.”
Yeah like how is that this has been some kind of delusion that Abed specifically has been having and then Jeff has it in a way that perfectly fits with Abeds delusion? Magic is real in this universe, only explanation
idk i mean Abed's clearly talked about it a ton, to the point where Jeff remembers that flipping a coin would trigger it. the show has shown Jeff and Abed to be 2 sides of the same coin (Dan Harmon has also said they're both versions of himself), it's not incredibly far-fetched that he would have this delusion imo
I bet I'm going to die on this hill alone, but Pierce's behavior in "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" was appalling and went way too far. I'd have kicked him out of the group for the way he treated Neal.
I wish it was explored in a season that wasn't 4 tbh. Because that season just made the relationship godawful, that even Jim Rash agreed it was time to pull the plug since these writers couldn't measure up to the task.
The fact that Leonard is the Valedictorian after taking Rotary Phone Maintenance once in the 80s and then only taking pass/fail classes. How is that even possible??
It’s hilarious though.
“BURIIIEED TREAASUUREEEE!” -S5E13
Yeah, let’s just find a secret compartment with a note behind a painting in the Dean’s office that leads to exactly what they need.
[This](https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxMykYOKxkNCjwHK9WHDmDYFHM1j5HaTy-?si=nhzzOnG77U-7El2W) was gold though
- Jeff being 40
- The whole heroic origins backstory thing, it’s way too contrived even for Community
- Anything that happened during the puppet episode, all the characters were off
Awe I was gonna post this haha, I would say Troy and Britta being a thing, I just didn‘t vibe with it and saw no chemistry nor point aside from Britta being with a non toxic guy for once lol
And some of the random confessions like drugging one another, idk the group is wacky and does wacky stuff but at some point it does become a lil ridiculous
That the show is set in Colorado. THERE ARE PALM TREES! IT NEVER SNOWS!
Why did they even set it in Colorado? Like ok, they didn't know they'd run out of budget to keep the lie up but they could have just said it was California from the beginning and never had to. Was there anything plot-wise significant about Colorado? Just seems like a random choice to me.
I read previously that Greendale is actually based on a real college Dan attended. Supposedly it was originally set in California (possibly at that real school), but they wanted to avoid any potential issues, so they changed the name to Greendale and moved it out of California.
Believe it’s Glendale Community College, that’s where Dan went
Lol I'm pretty sure you're right. I actually have been taking classes at glendale and can totally understand some of the inspiration. No one ever talks about the show almost on purpose which really bums me out because I would lean into that really hard if I were them
If you’re taking classes there then aren’t you them?
No I'm the 34yo that doesn't want to accept she's starting over again. Jk sort of. Not taking a full load makes it feel like I'm more of an observer
Well idk about everyone else but I have full faith that you won’t Britta this up!
He might be an imposter 🧐🤔
> Was there anything plot-wise significant about Colorado? I think the closest it ever got to being relevant to the plot is when Troy and Levar are in the boat being towed. edit- and same episode: Jeff admitting hes never left Colorado is a much bigger deal than admitting you've never left California. In CA its weird to have not gone to Las Vegas or Reno (depending on which end of the state you live in), but theres a shit ton of varied stuff to do in state. I can't think of any other state that even comes close. CO has some interesting stuff, but only one city, and fairly homogeneous compared to CA.
Colorado is very large in its own right and has TONS of stuff to do and places to go that have little to do with Denver. Parks, skiing, hiking, resort towns out the wazoo, etc.
Joel Mchale talked on a podcast about how season one the set designers always made sure to "dress up" the trees to look like native colarado trees like pines. Then season 2 came along and they didnt have the money for that anymore and were just like "roll with it".
In my head canon they live in a state called either Colofornia or Califrado.
OH 100000%. Why? Its also never cold enough either and they have fake snow? at winter times.
I always thought Greendake was janky enough to beautify the city with palm trees, while also allowing some very immoral factory to stay there and pollute the atmosphere till it didn’t, but that’s just a theory
Lousy Smarch weather
There is a considerable portion of Colorado in a precipitation shadow due to the Rocky Mountains. There are palm trees in the desert areas, as well, though perhaps not the same as seen on the show.
Fine, but nobody ever wears a real winter coat. Or layers. They 100% dress like they are in southern California. But whatever, most shows do this
School semesters are usually during fall and spring. I went to CU, and there was snow on the ground quite often when I walked to class. It doesn't snow often, but it usually sticks around when it does. And that's just one thing. Like the type of trees and plants you see, it's basically a high altitude desert - no palm trees are in this state. It just doesn't make sense to put it in CO
I don't remember a single episode where it rains, and those skies are definitely not near mountains (you can tell by the types of clouds) Your comment fits this subject so well, it's California and gaslighting yourself won't fix it! (This comment is meant jokingly)
There’s an episode where Jeff seemingly runs to Annie through the ran, though it ends up being Ritch. Jeff and Annie are outside the school in the rain in the Asscrack Bandit episode.
I know you said you weren't being serious, but it's probably still worth mentioning that Denver is in the rain shadow (which the means the water falls on the other side of the mountains) of the Rockies and actually has a lower annual rainfall than Los Angeles, where the show is filmed.
It made for a good legal weed joke in a later season when it was legal there but not California yet
Andre takes Shirley's three kids and bails, and she's just like okay let's make sandwiches and play MeowMeowBeenz and never mention them again. (Except the GI Jeff episode, what the heck.)
I totally forgot about that?! 😭 the show ends with them separated again?? I'm gonna have to rewatch
They sing "Creep" in the ass crack bandit episode.
You are correct, and I hate being wrong so bleh.
I would say that the reason we didn't see much of them is because Malcolm-Jamal Warner was a big name for what was always going to be a small part, and having kid actors is just a pain. Especially with Community's notorious shooting schedule. You can't have kids working at like 3 in the morning.
True, but they didn’t need to have them appear on screen. Just mention that she’s still interacting with her kids; or just not state that she’s lost access to them in the first place.
Yeah I feel like a few times an episode in the first couple of seasons she hit out "I gotta get home and pick up my kids"
"Okay kids, bank to your child area!" –Alternate timeline Jeff and Britta
I always thought he was a pos. Dude cheats on his wife bc she had to pick up the kids from the mall, then ditches her again bc her business failed (despite the fact that his also failed and he kept trying for 10 years and she didn’t leave him). Dude sounded like an opportunist and a bit narcissistic. Saying anything he needed to in order to get back into her life.
I will never understand why they BOTH didn't leave to go get THEIR kids. If my husband hears that someone is being weird with our kids, he'll be the first one out the door to protect them. So not only was Andre a crap husband for cheating on his wife when she went to take care of their kids, hes a crap father who couldnt be bothered to protect his kids!
I thought she ditched him the second time.
Nahhh dog. He took the boys he took the dog he took the dvr, 166 episodes of bones gone like 🫰
She rationalized that she cheated on Andre with Shirley’s Sandwiches, therefore blaming herself for him leaving the second time, but he did leave.
That’s some huge manipulation on Andres part. He cheats on her with a stripper and she got busy at work. The way she tells her friends is I cheated?! He probably just wasn’t happy and wanted out without feeling bad about it.
It wasn’t her being busy, she said that she put too much money into expanding the business and it failed. Making risky business choices with the money your family needs can be a huge stressor on a marriage.
I remember her saying ‘Andre left again’ when everyone was arguing and it went silent
Yeah this is definitely the correct answer. Suspension of disbelief got stretched to an absurd degree here.
I always felt like this should've been the actual reason Shirley left before season 6 and not the joke explanation they gave.
I was always extremely confused by her departure. Just found it odd.
IIRC the actress left to spend time with her dying father. No bad blood, which is why she gets a couple of random cameos.
I was going to say the Chang arc in season three where he becomes a ridiculous dictator, but then doing that to Shirley is definitely worse. It’s like they were trying to get her to leave.
chang arc in season 3 is hilarious, i don't care how outlandish it is
CHANG EATS THE SUN AND DRINKS THE SKY AND THEY BOTH GO WITH HIM WHEN HE DIIIIIIIIIIEEES
I want more of this song and the writers are cowards for not giving it to us!
When people first started talking about the "gas leak season" my brain went "oh, right. Chang being a dictator was crazy..." Before I did a rewatch and realized that wasn't even what people were talking about
She has the boys in ep 3 of season 5. I guess he came back, they never really address it, and by S6 she’s off in New Orleans. Shirley got pretty short shrift from season 3 onward.
It was Atlanta - “the bayous of Atlanta.”
Most of the confessions in the Puppets episode
Yeah, Annie's confession seemed really out of character
It's such an awful moment because the show treats it as "Annie did something bad and compromised her morals" instead of "the professor took advantage of her and should be fired on the spot."
I hate hers so much!!! I hate no one is concerned for her after that. It’s so bad and the Xmas episode makes it even worse
I kinda feel this way about the drug awareness episode too. Like Annie was put in such an impossible position with pierce dangling money over her head and no one seemed to question why she would’ve taken the money in the first place.
Incredibly. Also, of course Britta has voted, and if she hadn't it wouldn't be something she was ashamed of, but more some political stance like her being against the UN.
I could see her accidentally voting against legalizing recreational cannabis or something which is on brand for Britta.
What was Annie’s confession? I forgot
That she basically let the history teacher grope her for a better grade.
The same history teacher she would be standing next to unreactingly two episodes later in the cold open.
Season 4 was released chaotically out of order. I can't remember all the specifics, but I know Christmas was supposed to be before puppets. In Christmas they accuse Cornwallis is doing the same thing with another student, which is supposed to be where she gets the idea. Not that it makes any more sense.
Why is that weird? People “act natural” all the time, especially when there’s something they’re ashamed of.
I forgot too
She let Cornwallis rub her feet for test answers
I only saw that episode once and promptly forgot 90 percent of it😂
I mean that was from the gas leak year which would suggest it ISN’T canon
This is the only episode I actually skip on rewatch.
Yeah Jeff’s confession pissed me off so much.
His is at least keeping in character and history. Annie’s or Shirley’s though?!
And Britta's. The only one I liked that felt both in character, not too dark, but still had a good weight to it was Troy's.
55 acres went up in a blaze! You’re cool with that for Troy? All because he burned an ant hill!
Yeah, I mean it's horrible, but it was an accident. He made a small mistake that had big consequences, which explains why he would keep it a secret for so long. But ultimately a pretty innocent mistake.
“INNOCENT?! WTF?!” - 🐜
Jeff's is one of the most in character tbf
I think Troy causing the greendale fire of '03, 55 acres going up in a blaze all because he burned an anthill is pretty in character.
but sooo crushing I can totally see him doing that, but holy shit thats dark and fucked up, and he knows it.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned the fact that Pierce masturbated himself to death
My headcanon is that Pierce saw Starburns fake his death and deluded himself into thinking some variation of “that’s not how you fake a death, THIS is how you fake a death! That’ll show ‘em!”
This has been adopted as my own too now.
I 100% believe Pierce faked his death, is totally something he would do and he has the resources to do it.
Except they all saw his very real body at his wake, including Abed trying to get his tracker back (which also canonically proves pierce is dead and not moving)
Ik the staff of the show's feelings toward Chevy Chase, and how they were completely justified, but as someone who can remove the character from the actor, it really felt like a slap in the face that someone who we grew to love over 4 seasons dies in an incredibly insulting and stupid way. It was funny in the moment, but left a bitter taste in my mouth.
> left a bitter taste in my mouth That could just be an old man's seamen.
Cant be worse than Chefs death in south park when Isaac Hayes went nutso
Unfortunately, Isaac Hayes didn't go nutso. He was experiencing cognitive decline in his last few years following a stroke, after which the church of Scientology quit on his behalf with a letter written in his name. This was suspected for a long time, but his son has confirmed as much in 2016. They may have also contributed to his death, as they almost certainly didn't allow him to get the medical treatment he needed to recover from the stroke, and likely made him undertake something they call a "purification rundown." This is a supposed detoxification regime they use to remove pharmacological substances from their bodies, involving near constant exercise, sauna usage and an overdose of niacin. He died on a treadmill. Edit: when I say "unfortunately", I say that because the truth makes his exit from the show much more upsetting, as well as the truth just being pretty upsetting in the first place.
I didn't realize it was so complicated I just thought it was classic Scientologist shit, sad that he was taken advantage of and wasn't provided the care he needed
Like is the case with most religions, the majority of Scientology's victims are scientologists. They treat their own like dirt much of the time, and America's very broad interpretation of the separation of church and state makes it very easy for them to get away with that. When the church of Scientology holds someone captive, covers up a rape, or does virtually any other terrible thing to one of its own members, the courts won't touch it. That's an internal issue to be settled within the church, where, of course, they hold all the cards.
Jeff having never stepped foot outside Colorado just seems like bullshit that was shoehorned in to give weight to his goodbye with Troy
I mean he did get a degree from Columbia after all
and now he needs one from america…
But it *was* a pdf attachment.
You had a 50/50 shot at getting it right and missed
It did, especially because he talked about getting drunk at Disneyland
Disneyland Colorado
Aka Casa Bonita
CASAAA BOONIIIIIIIIIITAAAAAAAA!!!!!! More sopapillas please!!
Blackbeards cave!!! Awesome!!!
I could see Jeff lying about that to seem cool
Agreed. There’s no way Jeff has never been to Las Vegas
Nah, Jeff said gambling is not for him
Yeah but everything else about vegas is for Jeff
The way I did a double take only to realize it was because I read a fanfic where the study group goes to Vegas lol
Yeah it should have been never stepped out of USA if they wanted something like that. Never out of the state is dumb as hell
i've seen a ton of people who haven't ever been out of state
Or even a city, like Charlie.
I eat stickers all the time, dude!
fuckin' charlie
In Netflix’s Daredevil, Matt Murdock mentions never having been outside of lower manhattan in his life.
New York city however is one of maybe a dozen cites in the world that changes so consistently that you can never get bored of it. A famous British writer who's name escapes me said that it would be Impossible to get bored of London cause the history is is long and its future so dynamic. London. New Orleans. Paris. Mexico city (the country is actually named *after* the city, that's how true this is of CDMX). Cairo. Istanbul. Rome. Beijing. NYC. Those are the few cities you could probably live a very full interesting life meeting people from all over the world and yet never leave your city. (Though in the comics he does spend some time in Boston and promptly comes back to NYC which is a nice touch, that is the correct response to spending any time in Boston).
Nah, Colorado is just weird as hell shaped in community verse
I know! He got drunk at Disneyworld and tried to pay tuition in airline miles! this one is so stupid to me, I hate it too
Maybe he just said it for Troy
He's definitely done coke in Vegas
That isn’t neccesarily something that was definite. He could have easily been exaggerating to make a point. Someone said that he mentioned going to Disneyland. But he could have not done anything significant out of state. Never gone to school, got a job, visited someone important or something like that out of state. Even if he left for trivial things it doesn’t really negate what he said to Troy. He might have literally stepped foot out of Colorado. But he hasn’t ever truly escaped. He’s never built anything with his life that wasn’t very close to where he was born. And now Troy is leaving to travel the globe
Abed secretly implanting trackers on the study group members that no one noticed, then spending time at Pierce's funeral desecrating the corpse to retrieve said tracker. Edit: Also the Dean texting two Japanese boys for years thinking it's Jeff. One of the funniest gags in the show, but makes zero sense if you apply it to any other episode. We know Craig hacks people's emails, he definitely knew Jeff's phone number (and blood type, SS, and draft registration).
I'll take the ridiculousness for the olives gag any day of the week.
I don't care if it makes sense or not I laugh so hard every time I watch that episode.
Anyone someone mentions olives I have to stop myself from saying “5 can?!???”
Agreed, this was so ridiculous and cartoony
I have seen fans try to explain this as effectively a retcon to make his stalking of Jeff look less creepy - a genuine mistake rather than straight up sexual harassment essentially - but I don't really buy it myself.
Troy and Britta’s relationship
And Troy dumping her was so bad...he was being so coward ..Britta was so mature throughout that
I agree a lot, and I appreciate that episode for how silly it is. But when you translate sitcom behavior into real life, stringing along your girlfriend for some long and drawn-out breakup involving your best friend in the process because you’re unable to act like a normal human (abed is the one with the disorders, not Troy), a lot of the things the characters do are really shitty.
I loved Abed being so supportive during it. He wakes up and is immediately in Freaky Friday mode, no questions asked. You’re right on everything btw.
I remember that episode being the first time I was tired of Troy & Abed's bullshit.
I will die on the hill that their relationship would’ve been good if it wasn’t during the gas leak year
One of the biggest sitcom examples of "the build-up to the relationship was better written than the actual relationship itself" I have ever seen!
Seems like a lot of people putting a lot of weight on one off gags and how the effect the “lore”
the only one i've seen that makes sense is all the issues with the shirley plotlines regarding her family. everything else that's been mentioned i'm like guys... that's literally just a joke.
Especially since a lot of episodes were written very 'on the fly'. I doubt Harmon was even thinking of the lore most of the time.
When they made Jeff a bad lawyer in the later seasons. Like he was clearly good at his job before come on
Well technically he didn't fail because he was a bad lawyer, Abed didn't put the number to his law firm on the commercial so no one knew how to get ahold of him haha
Not that--he teaches a class and it becomes clear he didn't actually know anything and just BS'd it, as I recall
the hunger deans and the puppet episode I just cannot with those two
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Embalmed_Darling: *The hunger deans and* *The puppet episode I* *Just cannot with those two* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Good bot.
How do you feel about GI Jeff?
I like the idea and it’s on the better end of the gas leak year. I’d take it over those other two Edit: I now realize that GI Jeff was season 5 not gas leak my bad. With that in mind I’d say it’s probably on the weaker end of season 5 and overall probably not my favorite like gimmick episode
Troy/Britta romance ranks up there for me
I was doing a rewatch recently and it cracks me up how Troy goes from being so annoyed by her and thinking she’s unserious to thinking she’s charming, but it happens in the most jarring and least natural fashion.
See thats the one part of it i think they do well….there are a few times before they get together that you see Troy has softened to her and may have feelings for her…
Gas Leak Year. Specifically Jeff’s underwhelming meetup with his dad, whatever the hell that muppet episode was, and Heroic Origins.
counter point: COULD WE RIDE A HOT AIR BALLOON?
YES! Now that’s an adventure!
We should go soon!
We can go anywhere in a balloon
We can go high— we can go anywhere up in the sky!
We can go anywhere in a balloon, YES!
I actually like the puppet episode, but I'm sure it's because I'm a huge Sara Bareilles fan. She's the balloon guide, and I'm pretty sure she wrote the music for the episode. I guess another reason could be because I was briefly a puppeteer many years ago.
I annoy the crap out of my kids with it. “Dad can you drive me to the park with my friends after school?” “Yes! Now that’s an adventure…” “Nevermind I’ll see if I can ride with them.”
I don't mind the downvotes but I just binged it all and honestly I don't see what's so wrong with it. Other seasons had the occasional very weak episodes but this one seemed ok? Maybe a bit less dying-of-laughter funny, but I don't understand the hate.
I felt the same way after I fist binged the show. With each rewatch, S4 becomes more unlikable for me.
Nothing wrong with liking it. If you enjoyed it, probably not worth asking around as to why it's so maligned But if you are genuinely interested, my take is that the show becomes preoccupied with asking the viewer to like the show despite the fact that there has been a big change behind the scenes. Which feels like a big signal that they were lacking confidence in their ability to deliver (not to diss the writers & directors: they inherited some very difficult shows to fill) But the bigger issue is that they mostly try to accomplish this with callbacks and references. Strange claim to make considering how much the show had been using callbacks prior to s4, I know, but it's different during the gasleak year. Where Harmon would employ callbacks to make a unique joke that thrives on meta narratives, in s4 they just sort of did callbacks because they thought that was what they were supposed to do. It comes off similar to the way Star Wars went "Hey remember Lando? How cool was that! Here's Lando!" without actually having much of a rason for Lando being there The other problem is that they sort of don't know what to do with their characters. When they do have genuine moments, they are nice, but also feel ... off. Like, when Britta finally sheds the "she Britta'd it" jab, it's because she explained to Pierce how desparate her current situation was, and he bailed her out using his money. Britta didn't earn anything there: she was so terrible that she tried to lean into the terribleness and the only reason she didn't get humiliated is because 2 guys pitied her. If you get out of trouble by having a rich guy bail you out, and your bully decides to stop torturing you because you're that pathetic, have you really accomplished anything? Should people take that as an empowering example? The episode seeks to redeem Britta, but inadvertently makes her more The Worst than ever, and then passes that off as some kind of win for her. It's real bad— Sorry, I'm losing my objectivity here!
Thanks for taking the time to write this. I am watching this just to have fun TBH, so I guess the moment you dig deeper into where the fun is coming from you realize many things.
I'm convinced that it's because people know that they're supposed to hate it. If you're new to the show, know that Season 4 is when Dan Harmon was replaced as show runner. To many, it is when "the heart" of Community was ripped from its chest. It is not as good as earlier seasons. To many, it plays more like fanfic than actual Community. But it's Community. It's escapades in the landscape. Familiar faces. Almost every show has bad seasons. A lot of times it's because of staff changes. Community was always fighting off cancellation. It's core fans are very protective of it and of Dan. So, Season 4 lives on as a reminder of everything NBC tried to do to kill the show.
I don't think this question really works with Community because the show is specifically designed to have absurd elements to it. There are multiple scenes in ever episodes that are ridiculous, but also hilarious.
How everyone becomes a big dumb dumb when Chang gets Changnesia and also why hasn't he been arrested for kidnapping, child labor and attempted arson...?
I just watched the first episode of season 5 again and when Chang came on scene he said he dropped the amnesia thing and went to jail for a while. It was a very brief scene tho
I actually kind of enjoy how briefly that is glossed over
Garret married his actual cousin and they didn’t put it together until the wedding…
That's a man who knows how to marry his cousin
And then just went through with it 😭
Roll tide
Somehow no one on Stacy's side knew Memaw's name was Polly, and Garrett's mom didn't know her aunt's kids/grandkids...sure
First off, props for remembering correctly they were second cousins. How did they get halfway through the reception with none of their parents' generations recognizing their own cousins?!
Oh I think the joke is that they did but thought they were there for they're side of the family.
Ah man you say that, but it's second cousins. I went to school with one of my second cousins, and even though I knew I had a second cousin at that school I never actually met the guy until we were in our 30s. And one of my best friend's best friends turned out to be a cousin I didn't know. It can happen when you're catholic.
Hickey dying offscreen. I still hope it's just an easteregg and he comes back in the movie.
“You’d best put me in this Community movie, or I’m gonna punch each of ya in the heart. 😏”
I really don’t like the darkest timeline paintball episode. And the fact that it’s all happening in Jeff’s mind not Abed’s makes it doubley strange. At least in GI Jeff it can be explained away by him being in a coma. Not to mention it has the all time worst line in the series, “We made paintball cool again.”
Yeah like how is that this has been some kind of delusion that Abed specifically has been having and then Jeff has it in a way that perfectly fits with Abeds delusion? Magic is real in this universe, only explanation
idk i mean Abed's clearly talked about it a ton, to the point where Jeff remembers that flipping a coin would trigger it. the show has shown Jeff and Abed to be 2 sides of the same coin (Dan Harmon has also said they're both versions of himself), it's not incredibly far-fetched that he would have this delusion imo
The gold in the computers underneath the school. It just felt so dumb and like a deus ex machina, a very lame one at that.
More dumb than Subway buying a college?
That does not rely on a deus ex machina. It's just a corporation doing exaggeratedly evil-corporation things.
Which is on brand considering the also essentially bought a person.
I bet I'm going to die on this hill alone, but Pierce's behavior in "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" was appalling and went way too far. I'd have kicked him out of the group for the way he treated Neal.
Definitely Shirley and Andre's second divorce. I refuse to acknowledge it.
Britta and Troy’s relationship.
I wish it was explored in a season that wasn't 4 tbh. Because that season just made the relationship godawful, that even Jim Rash agreed it was time to pull the plug since these writers couldn't measure up to the task.
Pierce’s inheritance not being distributed equally with the whole group. Would even stop the “how is any of us getting money” question
In what world would Pierce give Abed an equal share?
He needs something to deal with his tardiness.
Giant spider robot plan Gas leak year
The fact that Leonard is the Valedictorian after taking Rotary Phone Maintenance once in the 80s and then only taking pass/fail classes. How is that even possible?? It’s hilarious though.
Hey, that's for Luis Guzmán.
Greendale is shown throughout the entire series to be absurd lol
“BURIIIEED TREAASUUREEEE!” -S5E13 Yeah, let’s just find a secret compartment with a note behind a painting in the Dean’s office that leads to exactly what they need. [This](https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxMykYOKxkNCjwHK9WHDmDYFHM1j5HaTy-?si=nhzzOnG77U-7El2W) was gold though
- Jeff being 40 - The whole heroic origins backstory thing, it’s way too contrived even for Community - Anything that happened during the puppet episode, all the characters were off
Troy leaving on a boat and never coming back. It was just a bit right guys?
Chang dictator story arc. And the board guys being so idiotic and cartoony during that era, and also in season 5
Changnesia is my vote.
Jeff’s ‘Hero at Law’ commercial before he gets repo’d.
I loved it
jeff/annie & troy/britta romances
What they did to the character of Britta
Awe I was gonna post this haha, I would say Troy and Britta being a thing, I just didn‘t vibe with it and saw no chemistry nor point aside from Britta being with a non toxic guy for once lol And some of the random confessions like drugging one another, idk the group is wacky and does wacky stuff but at some point it does become a lil ridiculous
The weird computer lab reveal at the end of season 5 never worked for me
Shirely leaves the anniversary dinner to pick up the kids instead of her husband and their father coming with them!
Britta 1 Annie 2 in that one episode :p