Community - Season 4 [US] *Spoilers*

Gingervitis

Marry me:

(Skip to 2:04 if you hate Jimmy Fallon)

Kilkenny14

Gingervitis wrote: »

Marry me:

(Skip to 2:04 if you hate Jimmy Fallon)

Join the queue Gingervitis

pickarooney

Cheesy :pac:

CiaranTheGreat

Absolutely love the show but I'm finally going to admit it to myself..... Britta is quite possibly the most annoying character I have seen in a while. Between turning her into an idiot and her trying to "therapize" people I just find her embarrassing. I always thought she was the weak one of the ensemble but know it is more evident then ever

stevenmu

CiaranTheGreat wrote: »

Absolutely love the show but I'm finally going to admit it to myself..... Britta is quite possibly the most annoying character I have seen in a while. Between turning her into an idiot and her trying to "therapize" people I just find her embarrassing. I always thought she was the weak one of the ensemble but know it is more evident then ever

Yeah, after they had that show about Britta Britta-ing things, they completely Britta'd Britta.

CiaranTheGreat

Britception

AlmightyCushion

All these Britta puns are a britta craic.

pixelburp

CiaranTheGreat wrote: »

Absolutely love the show but I'm finally going to admit it to myself..... Britta is quite possibly the most annoying character I have seen in a while. Between turning her into an idiot and her trying to "therapize" people I just find her embarrassing. I always thought she was the weak one of the ensemble but know it is more evident then ever

I agree with this 100%, and unfortunately have also come to the same conclusion. Whatever else I feel about season4, it has only served to solidify my antipathy towards that (now) awful, awful character. It's amazing to think that she was once the savvy conscience of the group, and frankly the way in which she has been deliberately transformed into the incompetent wannabe therapist is pretty bad writing all-told - and the writers know they have, given Geoff once commented "I can't believe I thought you were the smart one" to her once.

CiaranTheGreat

pixelburp wrote: »

I agree with this 100%, and unfortunately have also come to the same conclusion. Whatever else I feel about season4, it has only served to solidify my antipathy towards that (now) awful, awful character. It's amazing to think that she was once the savvy conscience of the group, and frankly the way in which she has been deliberately transformed into the incompetent wannabe therapist is pretty bad writing all-told - and the writers know they have, given Geoff once commented "I can't believe I thought you were the smart one" to her once.

I would love to know how the actress feels about how her character has developed. Everyone's character has developed for the brittar (aw yeah) apart from hers it's like she did something to annoy the writers and they are getting their own back!!

phasers

CiaranTheGreat wrote: »

I would love to know how the actress feels about how her character has developed. Everyone's character has developed for the brittar (aw yeah) apart from hers it's like she did something to annoy the writers and they are getting their own back!!

That's debatable.

Troy and Abed have both regressed severely and Pierce is downright crazy.

Jeff has grown, as has Shirley. Annie sort of has I guess, but as a whole the group hasn't really done much improving.

If we're talking actors getting the short end of the stick we can't overlook the old, crazy, racist elderly racist crazy elephant in the room.

CiaranTheGreat

phasers wrote: »

That's debatable.

Troy and Abed have both regressed severely and Pierce is downright crazy.

Jeff has grown, as has Shirley. Annie sort of has I guess, but as a whole the group hasn't really done much improving.

If we're talking actors getting the short end of the stick we can't overlook the old, crazy, racist elderly racist crazy elephant in the room.

I must be the only person that liked pierce as the ducaine family raping villain.

Sinfonia

CiaranTheGreat wrote: »

I must be the only person that liked pierce as the ducaine family raping villain.

Pierce is a great character!

MOH

phasers wrote: »

That's debatable.

Troy and Abed have both regressed severely and Pierce is downright crazy.

Jeff has grown, as has Shirley. Annie sort of has I guess, but as a whole the group hasn't really done much improving.

If we're talking actors getting the short end of the stick we can't overlook the old, crazy, racist elderly racist crazy elephant in the room.

Britta and twisted

expectationlost

90210 inspector spacetime

BlitzKrieg

I actually enjoyed that...

but it's also the episode that felt most like happy endings then anything yet. They're just lucky that I actually like happy endings. The opening bit with britta/troy felt very much at home in happy endings.

Also is it just me or is troy & Britta turning a bit into Jane & Brad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-gBwTobmVU

huh...



If I was to say what they were getting wrong (over and over) it's the same mistake they made with the halloween episode, that they parody or mock something directly which is kind of not what the show ever did I think. There were more Homages then parodies and the humour came more from connecting two really odd notions together to create a scenario ripe for humour, goodfellas combined with cafeteria food, Dan Brown conspiracy theory combined with beuracracy of college. Star Wars/Westerns/john Woo with paintball.

Either the show takes its own spin on set up like the above or if they are directly addressing an event or custom they dont directly focus on it, they'd sort of work around it (the dungeons and dragons episode being a great example)

Put simply, you wouldnt get the nerds following the hot girl around convention joke (lowpoint of the episode for me I think)

If this was seasons 1-3 Community I'd say we'd never see the convention itself rather all the scenes of the episode would have taken place in the hotel lobby and rooms. I think the jeff/annie story was the closest to hitting the right mark but they didnt spend nearly enough time on it, they needed it to go bigger with annie's lying so that when it came to her doing her fake affair bit it would have gone how I think they intended it which was Annie saving face rather then actually being somewhat hurt by jeff (which I partly thought they were going with until they had her explain after) also that plotpoint of jeff saying he's leaving also muddled it more, they shouldnt have had that, Annie should have known he was there but just got carried away.

As for the troy and Abed plotline...I hated, hated, hated the nerd trying to steal abed plotline. It really needed to go to the same tone as the trampoline episode for its conclusion and actually have it be something much more extreme (he's a racist, which I thought they were setting up with him being in Nigeria or something really far off field) what we got instead was something so blah and again plays to stereotypes and parodies that I didnt care for it at all.

The Pierce/shirley storyline also probably could have done with a bit more time, though I'm cautious that chevy chase phoning it in that it might have gone worse, the pay off at the end was good, but it might have been nicer to have spread it out over the episode more.

As for Britta, bit of a none mover this episode, I liked they didnt go too far with her and Abed over the minerva bit, but like I said the lowpoint was the nerds following her joke.

Overall 3 plotlines, 1 was a bit of stinker, the other 2 were good but far too short.

Though there are some little touches I laughed at which I think others wouldnt have at. The adverts for green space ladies in the phonebox oddly got more of a laugh out of me then they should have cause I'm currently living in london and those phone boxes are full of adverts just like that for transvestites...it drew my eye.

The whole nerds at the convention thing seemed like they were essentially mocking their own fanbase. I mean, think about it, what made Community was the vague nods and winks that only "nerds" would get.

FlyingIrishMan

Deleted User wrote: »

The whole nerds at the convention thing seemed like they were essentially mocking their own fanbase. I mean, think about it, what made Community was the vague nods and winks that only "nerds" would get.

No, not really.. if anything Shirley's line - "smart, complicated, and doesn't talk down to it's audience" was their way of referencing their audience.
Either way, they never represented the "nerds" in a bad way.

Personally, I think I preferred last weeks episode, but this episode definitely wasn't bad, though its getting very harsh reviews by critics.

AG2R

Loved it. People need to stop slating it though

Washington Irving

That was by far the best episode of the series so far imo. Really enjoyed Pierce and Jeff's scenes, hopefully Abed and Troy will get back to their best now. After two below par episodes (with the second marginally better than the first imo), it seems to be gradually improving, thankfully.

Crumbs

Abed's line: "For the first time in my long history of being locked inside things, I knew someone would come."

Sinfonia

Comedy-wise, Troy is seriously carrying the show so far.
I laughed at most of his lines, but not really any of the others.

Highlight reel goes:
Britta's exit from the apartment - Troy being funny - 90210.
Pierce had his moments too, but can do so much more; I feel like he's being underused, and if the rest of the season goes that way, Chase's departure makes sense.

Matt Lucas's character didn't really make waves, although I kind of liked that; better to have a subdued guest star than an overhyped one.

phasers

What the hell? That sucked worse than every other episode combined!

Did I watch a different show to you guys? I thought every single storyline was hackneyed and stupid. Everything that happened was completely predictable. Annie pretending to be married was cringeworthy, as was the tired 'nerds following the pretty girl' gag. I almost liked Tory and Abed's story but Britta and Matt Lucas ruined that.

The sets look like crap this season too.

I dunno, maybe it's because I've never liked the Inspector Spacetime joke and I hate when they pair the group off like that but that was the worst episode I've ever watched. Even worse than the Schmiddy kids.

I really, really, really want to like this season but I'm struggling. The show has changed, and I'm not crazy about the direction they're taking.

Also, Troy and Britta wish they were Brad and Jane.

Sinfonia

You didn't like the Schmiddy kids episode?

giggii

I really enjoyed the latest episode, I wasn't sure if the Troy/Britta thing would mess up the dynamic, I feel it works. The Jeff and Annie storyline was really sincere, and Matt Lucas' guest appearance worked, he added tp the show without taking from the characters... I'm really hoping "Winger-ing" becomes a thing now!
My one worry about the focus group part was that it kinda had the same vibe as the "Save our Bluths" episode in Arrested Development, which spelled out the viewers issues with the show and ultimately its cancellation... Hope it's not the case though it might not be 6 seasons and a movie, but I think Community has another season in it yet!

phasers

Sinfonia wrote: »

You didn't like the Schmiddy kids episode?

No, UH-DUHHHH


I liked Abed's college adventures but I can't watch those kids, they make me extremely angry and uncomfortable. I know that was the point, but even thinking about them makes me cringe.

Sinfonia

phasers wrote: »

No, UH-DUHHHH


I liked Abed's college adventures but I can't watch those kids, they make me extremely angry and uncomfortable. I know that was the point, but even thinking about them makes me cringe.

"School his ass, Mark"

Also Starring LeVar Burton

The Schmiddy kids episode is one of my all-time favourites from the show - think it's great... "Is she wearing a discman?"

Again, liked this episode... Apart from the season opener, I've felt the second and third episode have been pretty much the norm...

Did anyone else thoroughly enjoy the hotel room number reference? Does anyone else even know what I'm talking about?

FlyingIrishMan

Andy Bowbrow said that this week was planned to be an episode based around the study room, but NBC moved it because they thought the InspectiCon storyline would be easier to market.
Study room will be back next week, and there will be plenty of study room stories in Season 4, they just haven't had a chance to show one yet with the halloween episode last week.

Also, last night got a 1.1 in the overnight reviews, likely to go up to a 1.2 again, Parks and Rec got a 1.4. Don't know why people watch crap like American idol and tbbt. On the other hand, if Community does go up to a 1.2 after a final review, it will make Community the only NBC show to not drop this week which is good for us.

pixelburp

I thought it was a mixed bag: some of the Troy / Abed stuff was funny enough, hell even Britta had her moments, but the Annie plot was just ... bad. I had thought her character had grown beyond the childish daydreaming of earlier seasons, so her sudden marriage fantasies seemed really off-kilter. But thinking about it, most of the cast in S4 have been like exaggerated caricatures of themselves, so maybe this was merely a continuation.

Tricia Helfers cameo seemed pointless - they didn't even throw any BSG winks, which seemed a massive waste.

Oh and maybe I'm the only one, but while Inspector Spacetime was funny as a throwaway gag that once, it's all gone a bit overboard & overstayed its welcome a tad. And that's speaking as a Dr. Who fan; it's just too on the nose to be funny or charming.

phasers

I completely agree pixelburp, the Inspector Spacetime stuff is just too much. I like how Cougartown has been used as a sort of background gag (although the 'hallo-wine' thing last week was a bit iffy) and I think IS should have been used the same way.