I have no problem with Community becoming more of a low-key comedy: trying to match the combination of high-concept stories, layered referential humor, and strong character arcs was an impossible task for any show to maintain. Considering the numerous creative minds the show’s lost between seasons (and not just Dan Harmon’s), it becomes impossible to ask. There’s no doubting that Community would become a different show – but we all held out hope it would stay true to the characters, without the overwhelming feeling of forced emulation of previous seasons.Episodes like ‘Alternative History of the German Invasion’ obliterates much of that hope for Greendale: it might be the first time I’ve ever cringed while watching Community, a mess of lifeless stories, unfunny jokes, topped off with a thoroughly underdeveloped resolution.
There’s one thing I do like about ‘Alternative History of the German Invasion’: no relationship talk. The last three episodes have been bogged down in the lifeless Britta/Troy relationship, or in scenes where Annie is falling all over herself in front of Jeff. None of that is present in tonight’s episode, and it evens out the group dynamic, instead of feeling like characters are being split up and spread out for the sake of ‘shipping story lines.
Unfortunately, that’s about the only enjoyable thing about tonight’s Community, which brings back most of the German foosball athletes from season two (minus the head of the group, Nick Kroll) to provide a frame of the group as the evil entity on campus, the Nazis of the Greendale World War II. Even in theory, this doesn’t sound like a great idea: first of all, who the fuck wanted to see the Germans again? Secondly, the times where Community has tried to paint the study group in a negative light have led to some of the weakest stories in the series (Todd and Jack Black’s character back in season one, to name two – the only time it’s really worked is ‘Advanced Dungeons and Dragons’) because they almost feel too harsh on the group at times.
Well, there’s no worry of that in ‘Alternative History’, which rushes through scene after scene after scene, without taking the time to develop a real conflict between the German trio and the study group until the very end – and fully neglects to flesh out the emotional ending it reaches for. For two-thirds of the episode, the Germans are just stealing the study room to be dickheads – but after the study group frames them drinking to get it back, all of sudden the Germans become mouthpiece for every disgruntled character in the show’s history. Why did this have to be framed around the Germans – simply to make Hitler references that aren’t really grounded in anything (except Shirley’s SS t-shirt?)?
In the end, we get not one, but two painfully forced Winger speeches, and the group wants to give back to the school in the end, because it’s given them so much. Not give back to the people they’ve fucked over for three years (those flashbacks were the one funny thing in the episode… Todd: “they lost a pen”) or even apologize: no, they fix a couple lights and paint a few old, shadowy rooms to make themselves feel better. Everyone feels good, shares a smile, BOOM. Credits roll, episode is over. Really?
If it was funny, it might be forgivable (to a point – there isn’t much personality exuded from any character this week, even Britta, who’s largely silent for the first time ever)… but the episode isn’t even funny, going nowhere with its guest cameo (Malcolm McDowell) or any of its cliched pop culture references (Game of Thrones, 100 Red Balloons, obvious German culture jokes, and Troy mentioning Burn Notice, which airs on NBC-owned USA). I’d watch a version of Community without the heart or introspection that once made it special, but a Community without a brain or a voice? I don’t know how much I’m interested in watching that, half hours where it feels like the actors know their characters have been lost, and don’t have a lot of interesting material to keep them – our the audience – engaged in these characters.
Grade: C-
Other thoughts/observations:
– Chevy Chase has just stopped trying, hasn’t he?
– Jeff gets mad that people took the study room, but there’s no mention of how they haven’t been in the study room for the entire season. Granted, this was produced as the second episode of the season, but it still feels weird when they all of a sudden, are obsessed with getting their table back.
– In one scene, Annie says the study group table “is just a table.” I don’t believe anybody would say that at this point in time, even Jeff.
– a Troy and Abed podcast ruins the entire point of Troy and Abed In The Morning jokes.
– one thing Community had mastered was slow evolution of characters… season 4 of Community has become a rapid regression of these characters.
– enough Inspector Spacetime… seriously.
– The new German ringleader didn’t really sound all that German.
– “He has amdeansia!”
– Vicki looks very different this season.
– In Germany, they watch Hogan’s Villains.
– did anyone think Abed’s friendship with one of the Germans was going somewhere? Completely thrown away.
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I actually enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong, it was no “Remedial Chaos Theory” or Paintball, but I thought it was solid episode. I think if the new writers have a little more time to find their footing we’ll see a huge improvement, so I hope this isn’t the last season.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that will happen – early word is Community again had a 1.1 in the 18-49, which matches the series low set with last week’s episode. It’s looking really bleak, especially if hardcore Community-heads aren’t even tuning in anymore. Then again, ALL of NBC’s new comedies have failed miserably this season, so they may bring it back just because there’s nothing else to air. We shall see.