A critique of Community Season 4 (AKA "The Gas Leak Year")

Community is a series that has been praised for its riffs on the sitcom genre loving homages to All Things pop culture memorable characters with satisfying arcs Punchy writing that somehow feels both believable and completely unrealistic true repairman will repair man and basically pioneering a new sort of meta storytelling and joke crafting that constantly peeks over the fourth wall without actually breaking it basically they were acknowledging the tropes but not the audience with Abed then pretending that there is an audience even though in their world there shouldn't be the show explores this a lot and it wrinkles the brain every time you just wrinkle my brain man a show where a group of mismatched school peers grow together to become something more much like the characters of the sitcom Friends they grow to become a community wait I don't know how's it going everyone my name is Graham and welcome to two left frames the original cut of this video is now a little over two years old a lot has happened in that time for example we're actually getting six seasons and a movie but it also means I have the opportunity to clean up this video a little bit this isn't exclusively a review of season four it's more about the show at large some of the changes that were happening behind the scenes at this time and ways that those changes impacted the show itself this video will have various time stamps in case you feel you already know the surrounding details and want to just get to more of the venting critique portions of the video I'd say an interesting thing that's happened in the last two years is people have gone from considering season four to be the worst season to instead much more commonly viewing season six as the worst maybe I'll make a separate video on that someday but in the meantime let's talk about the fourth season of Community you know well there was that gas leak last year oh don't blame it all on my dad last Lake year if you've watched the show before the constant Winks nods and layered meta commentary ensure Community only gets better when re-watched if you've never seen the complete series you're in for a treat I won't pretend it's all Perfection there were a few Week episodes throughout as there would be with any show but when Community is in its stride which sometimes spans entire Seasons it is easily one of the best shows on TV and with all six seasons now on Netflix including the final season that was on the short-lived Yahoo streaming service and was never available in Canada now is the best time since its original run to hop on board the production history of this series is absolutely insane it weathered multiple cancellations and is now coming back from the dead with that six seasons and a movie Promise becoming a reality surely that's got people curious as to why the show has endured the way it has but I'm sure a question that's been raised for old and new fans alike is what is the deal with season four the intent of this video isn't to tell people season 4 is unwatchable but if you did notice it's not quite the same that I'm here to explain what happened I think at the time first seeing it I knew something was off but having just re-watched the full series with a full appreciation of the behind the scenes drama and an overall better understanding of what the show is about and therefore what it's missing during this stretch this fourth season is a struggle I didn't remember it being quite this rough but I really had to force it there are jokes and setups that kinda work I guess but it's funny in the same way that modern Simpsons is funny the writers are competent enough to write a few jokes but she birded it so with a warning like that why even bother with the show at all first and foremost despite its faults thanks to the incredible cast of characters and comedic stylings established in this series even the relatively rough fourth season is better than like ninety percent of sitcoms out there and the crazy thing is with no prior knowledge that things were dramatically different behind the camera on a first watch of the show I almost guarantee you won't be immediately chased off by the gas leak year you may be vaguely aware something is amiss and there are more dud episodes than usual but it's not irredeemable if you've never seen it go watch and enjoy pretend I never inflicted this curse of knowledge upon you and little bit of that context in mind I actually want to start off praising season four reminding people of the things that worked well and acknowledging that it's still good television the long and short of it is that we lost the show's Creator who also served as showrunner for those first three seasons new writers were brought on had an insane mountain to climb and had to work against extraneous circumstances like Chevy Chase being phased out of the show I'll unpack Those Behind the Scenes details after going through what I found to be some of the more redeeming qualities of the gas leak year I think it's unfair to frame it in an only negative light Beyond just saying they did their best I believe one of the top episodes of the season was probably economics of marine biology the idea of Landing a whale is really funny and the silly antics and ways the characters break off to achieve that is generally pretty effective I really do like Jeff and Pierce finally connecting over something and becoming genuine friends there's a feeling that Jeff finally get gets pierced a little bit better for a character that's been so at odds with everyone in the group this whole time it makes sense that two of the older characters who share daddy issues and are so staunchly independent would get along plus the idea of physical education education is brilliant in the same way that their boating class was with an athletic Troy being terrible at it but the character of the whale is essentially never mentioned again which could have made for some pretty funny running jokes as he injects money into the school and has his own unseen side Antics and the biggest problem is that there's no real lesson learned here everyone chasing the whale is being an asshat and bending their morals and at the end of the episode they get what they want so even in one of the stronger episodes there is still a lack of growth in this deus ex machina that bails them out the Freaky Friday episode basics of human anatomy it is an excellent conceptual episode it manages to give great insight into both Abed and Troy it showcases the ways that the two still need each other and how they both have room to grow each coming out the other side of this episode Having learned a little something that feels much more akin to traditional Community it really is the only episode that has that same storytelling plus I love this line at the end that so quickly sums up the depth of their friendship that was my problem not yours it's the best way someone's ever woken me up in my life I think it's worth noting this episode is actually written by Jim Rash it's the only episode he wrote for the show but it makes me wonder if maybe he should have been leaned on a little more in the writer's room this season I mean the man is an Oscar winner after all although in his own words he doesn't think his idea was very strong and that it's thanks to writers like Megan Gantz and the others to really carry it through it's an episode that properly understood that you can't simply do a parody just because it's the reason movies like Date Movie are terrible there needs to be a heart and basic story to act as a vehicle for the parody the episode even has one of the best end tags with Troy and Abed doing outtakes for a fake gag reel that's a new Fresh idea and again feels a lot like the earlier Seasons well I'm on the subject of these end tags one of the best ones of this season is actually in one of the worst episodes which if anyone is curious is in my opinion is probably conventions of space and time but at the end here we see Luke Perry and Jeannie Garth and Pierce's bastardized version of inspector space time that's a really funny payoff and something that isn't milked beyond that I guess I can give credit to McGuffin Neurological Institute for being a silly joke something else I think worked was abed's self-aware take on going on two dates at once and the pairing with Brie Larson is oddly believable but honestly she might just be capable of chemistry with anyone abandoning her the rest of the season is such a waste and referencing that later on in the series a few times is pretty wonderful are you gonna have another intense burst of compatibility with a girl we never see again but it just makes you wonder why they introduced so many elements in the season just to immediately throw them away and while the episode itself is funny it's predicated entirely on characters behaving in ways they no longer should be this would have made sense as a season 1 or season 2 gag at this point Shirley and Annie should have a pretty deep understanding that Abed isn't going to respond well to matchmaking and Abed would have learned several times how his manipulating others has consequences and will likely hurt the ones he loves so it's a funny episode it in a vacuum but in the larger context of the series nobody is acting based on their season 4 character trajectory everything this season is one step forward and two steps back sure it still brought quality laughs a few times per episode but rarely joy and those two things really aren't the same yeah if you enjoyed the series and enjoy the Four Season just as much then please tell me to shut up but that's being in it that's it was a very different feeling yeah I don't think there's a lot to be gained from just ripping into the fourth season of this show even if I do too so a little ruthlessly at Parts but more so to attempt to deconstruct why I feel it doesn't hold up and laying out the full events that led us to this disappointing series midpoint the loss of Chevy affected the show greatly he had really filled a villainous role within the group in season two finding redemption in season 3 paralleling Jeff's struggles with his own father and helping each other grow both directly and indirectly by shining a light on each other's struggles and emotional shortcomings they also used this opportunity to make Chang a bigger character and position him to become the new villain that ballet of characters and changing roles is very interesting but it really showed these characters grow and change Pierce could still be a prick but he was lovable in a very love-hate sort of way it's a pretty hard balance to strike to have this guy cast shape change on Duquesne what shape do you choose from still have moments like this good luck Pierce don't eat it never had it that completely redeem him and make him worth keeping around plus it leans into the joke that they're all kind of terrible and he's just the only one who owns it oh yeah Shirley's also eventually lost from the show but on a re-watch I think she was probably my least favorite character she's really despicable in her own particular way it's a traditional Muslim dish looks delicious I'm guessing it's a woman that won't be allowed to eat that that's too bad this overbearing hyper-judgmental religious character is far too close to a common type of person I grew up around so when she starts acting in those ways it gives me this visceral tingle down my spine that I just hate a browsy available literature about Jesus Christ it's your personal savior or not but the character is well written and event Nicole Brown does a phenomenal job acting as her but for those very personal reasons I didn't really miss her that much and the eventual joke that she quote spun off from the show is very well handled and extremely funny and it leads to some amazing meta jokes about characters potentially just leaving at the drop of a hat are you coming back Elroy I think so probably maybe I'm rambling the show is great but I should probably start getting into actual specifics here while it might be well known at this point I think I should explain the behind the scenes turmoil that led to this dud of a season it's very well documented at this point but I think there is more to be said about it with the hindsight of the series completion and it's important to understand when discussing why these structure arcs and general writing of season four is so choppy and straight up doesn't work let's start with the elephant in the room despite Chevy Chase still being present this is truly the season we've lost Pierce Hawthorne he did not want to be there I mean he said in every interview that he who doesn't like the writing and he doesn't like the hours it's been reported that come season four Chevy felt his character had been damaged and had been made too overtly racist part of me thinks that's him not really understanding the character that's weird to say because no one should have a better Insight than him but I think Pierce's constant struggle to improve while simultaneously missing his his own subtle prejudices is something many of us can relate to when interacting with certain members of older Generations I don't want to start lumping things too broadly there but I'm sure everyone has witnessed or heard some casual racism that's baffling in a way that you would never think actually existed in the real world in that way Pierce felt pretty true to real life Chevy became increasingly difficult to work with having his role severely reduced before leaving the show altogether in this season he's completely missing from a few episodes Phil's only a voice role in one and is relegated to what feels like only a cameo appearance beyond that it sucks to see his character fizzle out and disappear like this especially in a season that really could have benefited from his stirring the pot spiteful energy who's Pierce I know he's not with us but is he still but truthfully this made his absence in season five a little easier to cope with do you guys feel weird about doing this without magnitude he had already kind of been phased out of the show at that point and instead he had probably my favorite character send off of all time a bit nadir did you know that you were insane and nothing that you said ever made any sense to me yep here's your sperm it's stupid gross over-the-top manipulative and borderline offensive in all the ways we knew and loved from Pierce yes I wish he would have gotten a proper goodbye but this was the next best thing Pierce was a crazy old coup yeah but I think he knew something about me that even I didn't know until now it appears Chevy's time on the show was coming to an end regardless of anything else behind the scenes and of course that would have upset the Rhythm and writing of the season on its own but pairing that with the leaving of the show's Creator Dan Harmon really left things in a dire position Dan Harmon was relieved of his role of showrunner after the season 4 renewal but well before any pre-production would have begun it's easy to look back and realize that he was crucial to the show's odd blend of Comedy homage Trope subversion and more there are certain shows that need the person that created them and the person has the culture in their brain but at the time Sony Pictures Television simply saw a well-loved show with established characters that they felt was likely now steering itself it has been reported that Harman was erratic and unpredictable on set much like Pierce as a character maybe that says a little something about how that character was both written and and cast because Chevy Chase similarly was becoming more difficult to work with I guess write what you know and the easiest acting is playing a role that's close to home really makes a lot of sense it's been said that he was arrogant difficult and reportedly a jerk to both cast and crew Harmon has since openly shared his struggles with alcoholism at the time and while this wasn't public information back when the show was being made we now know that there was some sexual misconduct with Harman making advances to one of the writers Megan Ganz he has owned up to it and that's been its own messy Saga that has largely been addressed and moved past with it being said by the victim that he gave a master class apology it doesn't appear to have contributed to his firing as it wasn't well known until years later but it does fit with a pattern of depraved behavior during an unstable part of Harmon's life he doesn't get a free pass on his toxic actions and attitude but by all accounts he has really turned his life around since then and is someone people once again enjoy working with as many have now seen with the lengthy development times of Rick and Morty Seasons Herman has a blend of creativity that has been described as a concoction of perfectionism and procrastination the man produces amazing work but his workflow is not particularly productive although in recent years he seems to have found a much healthier balance which probably goes hand in hand with straightening his life out for example he was recently a producer on the new animated adult comedy little demon the most recent video on the channel before this one is my full review of that first season I'm bringing it up here because I really did enjoy the show and I want to encourage as many people as possible to watch it so if you want to learn more about that I'll have a link in the description probably a pinned comment as well producers writers and frequent directors all left community at the same time Dan may have been difficult but many recognized that the show simply wouldn't be the same without him several key creatives like Anthony and Joe Russo had their own bigger projects to attend to but many simply didn't want to be a part of the show without harming the captain was gone and most of his crew left alongside him writers Moses port and David guaracio were brought in as the new showrunners they themselves were fans of the show but not creators who had actually worked on it at any point we should really thank them for their hard work trying their best and for keeping the seat warm we can't really fault them for being handed this cult phenomenon that was essentially the singular voice and vision of one man and being expected to flawlessly execute that that unenviable task was really destined for failure it's not like Harmon's own seasons were complete Perfection but there was clearly a passion there that persisted even through the occasionally weaker episode there is an Essence and irreplaceable quality there that kept us watching through good and bad what it comes down to is the seeming effortlessness with which the first three seasons presented themselves brought characters together and delivered memorable stories whether whether they be grounded or bombastic looking at season 4 you can feel the effort with a capital E Harman was understandably not a fan of the Season viewing it as an imitation of his vision which really does sum up the vibe this season gives quite well it attempts to hit the same beats with high concept episodes genre homages out of body experiences and other forced and Hollow Recreations of well-loved episodes of Seasons past while he did slam the season Harmon also acknowledged replaced us with two guys didn't know what they were getting into you know they tried their best calling these new showrunners initial signing a no-win situation when quizzed about their approach to community before the season had aired port and guarassio had said we're gonna keep Community plenty weird but that is only a small small part of what really made the show great and we definitely know that now I think we finally reached the point in the episode where I would just like to vent about season four and why I feel it truly did not work and the things I really specifically disliked about it while this may be a little ranty I hope it shows the ways in which different episodes either come up short or Flop entirely after all it's obvious that no single thing made this season so rough there are a few bright spots here and I can talk about them post-rant this is a pair of very capable showrunners and writers those shoes were just too big to fill my apologies if I get a little too Skating here I felt that there are just some straight up awful storylines entire episodes and plot beats it's just an overall Hollow feeling that permeates the season one of the big ones is I hate the entire Chang ninja storyline throughout season four it was just kind of confusing inconsistent a major annoyance and they just truly didn't know what to do with the character as Chang himself addresses later on in the show this was a study group yeah Chang was our teacher what that's right and frankly haven't been well utilized since I get that they have to basically reset Ken Jeong in order to have him remain a part of the show without again returning as an outright villain obviously no one in the group or the school was going to tolerate that but I found the storyline irritating they were pretty backed into a corner here I'm not even confident Dan Harmon had a strong idea of what he was going to do with the character after this he kind of fully imploded that storyline again not wanting to outright blame the new showrunners that's like getting handed a bag of loose Lego without any instructions and being told to construct the Millennium Falcon but even the elements of this storyline that fall way outside of what Harmon set up are also mishandled we learned that Chang is working with the Rival Dean Chang out hahaha [Music] do that and they show a tease for this giant mechanical spider they're building and that just never comes up again maybe they wanted to do some groundwork laying of their own for next season but considering how frequently they failed to make things matter within this season it instead appears to be yet another plot beat that completely dissipates with zero resolution the puppet episode is such an obvious grab at what worked in past Seasons without any of the heart or understanding of why those were special people like stop motion with deep character exploration let's do puppets drugs and more of that and while I'm at it other high concept ideas like the invasion of The Darkest Timeline a return of paintball and mixing in elements of the Matrix are all great ideas don't logic this one away from me we finally figured out a way to make paintball cool again sorry Abed Dan Harmon rightfully made fun of this approach what how does it work is coming out of that season that clearly is different than it was when you were there like tonally like fans are gonna recognize that you're back they're gonna they're gonna hear that that tone again hopefully right yeah but it won't be in the form of a uh Matrix uh spoof like I'm back look uh the wire like I want that's that's not what I ever the idea of bringing back the Darkest Timeline and paintball could have worked mashing them together was itself a fun shake-up but the writing here is so stiff and the actual character exploration on hand is so shallow that despite some great moments is it you damning thing is that this entire episode is based on the most tired lazy Trope of it was all a dream really a show that previously made the single best bottle episode by mocking bottle episodes is now just using gimmicks at face value it'll just never hold up to a re-watch especially not compared to other examples like the GI Jeff episode a weird high concept packed with jokes that's also dealing with aging and depression remember when this show used a Pulp Fiction setup to instead do a dinner with Andre tribute now they're doing parody in a way no more well thought out than Shrek this one just feels weak it's too on the nose no disrespect to Shrek I love their use of references in those movies it's literally the first video on this channel they just aren't used subtly or very cleverly I'm not a big fan of heroic Origins I really dislike the idea of everything being inherently linked that's a personal preference that goes beyond Community it's part of why the Star Wars sequels are kinda stupid and at the same time explaining something doesn't make it somehow better [Music] that didn't work for the Star Wars prequels apparently not good for Star Wars not good for Community the one good thing that came out of that episode was giving a needless backstory to magnitudes pop pop [Music] that actually does crack me up Carmen's Story Circle has been over explained at this point but it works and this season instead simply uses Dave's machines at every episode and always solving people's problems over and over with no lessons learned it completely goes against the patterns of past Seasons where characters were forced to deal with their own problems or insecurities and learn something about themselves there's a weird absence of meta humor with Abed self-aware commentary never being properly utilized which goes to show that abed's role was really to be a voice for Dan Harmon paint ball occasionally our campus erupts into a Flawless post-modern homage to action adventure Mythology mischaracterized by the ignorant as parody as an aside he still fills this role in later Seasons even after evolving Beyond his TV reference lens so his character moving past that is no excuse Ave what did I tell you you can't just Mumble nonsense no one's cutting away okay fine here's my actual plan Abed probably has the most character growth of anyone and instead he kind of regresses in this season I mean that's a larger problem the character is kind of fundamentally change in many dramatic ways it starts to feel like The Growing Pains of season one where the show is finding its footing and while you're at it why don't you take your cutesy I can't tell life from TV gimmick with you you know it's very season one Jeff also specifically reverts backwards to just being a full-on ass to all his friends but Abed is the more egregious one going back to being totally needy and inconsiderate requiring over protection and childlessly disregarding others it undoes so much of what he learned in past Seasons similar to Chang I would say the dean is over utilized and loses some of his charm they took what was funny about it dialed it up to a thousand did it 30 times per episode and it just kind of becomes grating I really do love that in later Seasons they were able to give Jim Rash a more prominent role and just make the dean more fleshed out and enjoyable I'm very happy with how they eventually balanced out his character rather than having Harmon's concept of loving homages they are swapped out for needless parody that he was big Hunger Games sets and themes but they're not saying anything about that dystopian genre it's just a filter put over top of the episode the story doesn't move through it or explore it in a meaningful way instead look at something like the post-apocalyptic lava Floor episode from this extra level of commitment the story and the parody are working hand in hand it's not simply present and while it became less important to the larger show anyways the concept of primarily spoofing sitcoms is entirely lost here a common concern from fans going into season 4 was that the show would devolve into something more similar to every other multi-cam laugh track sitcom in season 4's opener they do this literally taking a jab at that is pretty funny but at the risk of hurting feelings or scaring away fans they pull those punches very quickly which is something the show never really did before now is not the time to half-ass a concept that could have been the entire episode making that a b plot rather than the center of an entire episode maybe show us a lack of confidence you don't want to play too roughly with someone else's toys it largely detracts from the idea that the entire series is lampooning sitcoms if you make a specific segment that is making fun of sitcoms it undermines all the subtle things you're doing throughout the rest of the writing The Writer's grasp at seemingly interesting ideas without any concern for continuity or late payoffs this is largely seen with Jeff meeting his dad and working out some issues there that was a huge part of his character and it was just suddenly dealt with resolved axed and thrown away an even worse example is probably the dean moving in next to Jeff I think this is made relevant precisely once in the rest of the season if that was all you were gonna do with it what was the point I think we made a big deal about me moving next door to Jeff and that sort of that right that was never mentioned again I want a back pedal for a second because that whole father-son storyline is too important to relegate to like one sentence having Jeff meet his dad was a long teased storyline that confrontation should have been a defining moment for Jeff's growth and while the episode maybe has a few strong elements I personally really like Adam DeVine I don't know if he's obnoxious to some people he has so much bigger than mine but I watched a lot of Workaholics in college so it was fun to see him here and I liked the idea of having him as Jeff's unknown relatively wimpy cloying half-brother except him and the father are just completely discarded after this episode it really feels like season four was scared to fully introduce anyone new which is something Harman always did masterfully whenever the show needed a jolt but the discarded characters are a symptom of a larger problem the whole episode is as one viewer of the original cut wonderfully put it underwhelming and superficial this major scenario plays out like any other run-of-the-mill sitcom there is nothing community-esque about it I don't need to reiterate the impact that the loss of Pierce had on the show so he'll move past that although his underutilization and absence here really undercuts a lot of what used to work about the show and more than anything else something that really encapsulates all other argument the loss of harman's distinct influence over the character's banter let alone communicating their personalities as we'd come to know them similar to someone like Joss Whedon having distinctly quippy writing or Sorkin being continuous Breakneck big brain moments Harman has one of the most distinct forms of back and forth I'm saying you're a football player it's in your blood that's racist your soul that's racist your eyes that's gay that's homophobic that's black that's racist damn jokes are often so layered that a quick three-line exchange is unlikely to be appreciated the first time through there really is no recreating that I don't want to lick Dan Harmon's boots too hard he absolutely has faults as a writer but when this show was such a passion project for him being played out so close to his chest it's no wonder others struggled to pick up the pieces rather than having a singular stand-in character Dan Harmon essentially fractured his personality and spread it across multiple characters which means he has a very strong insight into how they should be written season 4 can be distinctly funny but in a way that's much more similar to other existing sitcoms if you want incredibly distilled examples of how this season comes up short look at the season 4 post-credit Stingers the first three seasons gave us utter Insanity character insight and some of the most quotable or memeable moments from the entire series the funniest ones of season 4 are the ones that ape what worked from the old formula this feels especially wrong because the entire point of these end tags was to be unexpected and non-formulating I'm just gonna throw this out there just because I'm piling on anyways this is probably also Jeff's worst haircut season 4 is basically fan fiction it has all the right ingredients but added in the wrong order then baked too high witty banter layered nuanced jokes and Trope observations have been largely swapped out for one-dimensional caricatures with traits that often feel more like season one and these non stop references without much substance especially in the callbacks to earlier Seasons there's nothing earned there it's something quick and satisfying but has no lasting appeal it's often difficult to pinpoint precisely what is missing about each episode and why it doesn't work but upon re-watching the full season it feels like the show is running entirely on desperation that sounds really harsh but the vibe is that they wanted to prove that the show can still be funny and that it works without harming you know it's the same old fun you remember this humor and writing works just fine the first time around but now that I've seen the season for a third time it just doesn't hold up it felt like I was waiting it out rather than truly ever engaging with it looking back now with the full picture and especially with the hindsight of season 5 we can see what a sore thumb season 4 was that's one more thing I'd like to accomplish with this video I'd like to stand in defense and praise of season 5 and 6 for showing everyone how Community is meant to be be done and breathing new life back into a dying show these last two seasons are dramatically different from the first three but it's amazing how much it can still represent what community was all about despite everything being stacked against it season 5 delivers what might be one of the best seasons that's part of why I feel it's worth working your way through that relatively short season four even if it feels so much longer the show was in a steep decline through season four and that carried forward with the loss of rising star Donald Glover season 9 of Scrubs that graph is only in the first six episodes son of a after everything scrubs did for him Dan Harmon has said himself that he thinks this was probably the nail in the coffin Troy's goodbye and absence next season likely had the greatest impact on everything moving forward not just because losing two key roles was a one-two punch to the show's cast but because it was felt half as much again by completely changing abed's character and removing one of the audience favorite dynamics of the show in the face case of all of these obstacles season 5 comes back with a vengeance Carmen is back and a bunch of the original writers followed and it shows the writing is weird and unique he's the one making bad Bridges that's like me blaming owls for how much I suck at analogies the characters have more emotional depths in one episode than the entire previous season Jeff is right his case closed let's make some money and acknowledge their own flanderization when we met you were an Eclectic Anarchist how did you become the group's Airhead thank you everything here is showing off how the show was done right while outright dunking on season four that might be kind of petty but it's very hilarious as a fan of the show and leave it to the show that's known for being meta to pull something like that off re-pilot is one of the most brilliant episodes of the entire series maybe it's not the funniest or most conceptually accomplished episode but it immediately demands our attention flaunts what was always best about the show and swiftly corrects rewrites and sweeps aside failures of the premium previous season I dropped the Amnesia thing copped to my crimes and went to jail now I'm on work release best to just ignore it and move on suddenly Chang is a hilarious character again similarly Troy and Britta was something set up much earlier but it never had an impact on the show them breaking up was important but the relationship Dynamic never mattered we were told they were a couple but we were never really shown it that maybe could have been an enjoyable storyline and the breakup felt even more earned instead it was rightfully roasted here this inspection is going to be the most boring thing to happen here since British dated Troy the incessantness with which this show takes Digs at itself is really a thing of beauty in season 4 I felt the dean was driven into the ground only to be brought back here as a crucial role I mean I wore a ton of costumes in season four and I do I do know that one of the big things about season five was the first episode called re-pilot and Dan was you know sort of wanting to re-establish the world similar to Chang he's completely redeemed and is a very interesting member of the cast on that same note I have no idea how this show is able to so quickly add in new cast members that are immediately so well understood then likable in their own ways something I picked up on in season 6 is that they use a bit of a cheat code with Frankie in her introductory episode they give her basically one trait in common with everyone else so they immediately get along in some small way I'm worried you're not distinct enough from Annie both in terms of physicality and purpose okay yet only one episode later she somehow still maintains all those traits while feeling entirely like a unique personality I really don't understand how they did that and it truly makes me wish she was a part of the show earlier you're not the new Annie here's a new op-ed don't know what that means yet I love how they have Paget Brewster reference her previous appearance as the I.T lady my emails tour get bounced back to me in Aramaic and when I call I hear an undulating high-pitched whistle that makes my nose bleed having this full on meta joke buried as such a subtle past acknowledgment that would confuse anyone who hasn't made that connection themselves is the exact sort of tightrope walking season 4 never even came close to and in general kudos to whoever realized that this actress was previously wasted on such a small role and only having just personally given season 6 my own First end-to-end Watch I found it to still be a very enjoyable stretch of the show the complete lack of Chevy Chase and eventual loss of Donald Glover certainly hurts these later Seasons but their ability to Pivot is one of the most miraculous comeback stories and they almost make it entirely worth it for the relentlessness with which they mock their own failed season throughout their rest of the series run cool cool cool cool oh cool I farted during the fourth one it's an inside joke that pure Venom really is a thing of beauty season six feels worth unpacking one day besides being overseen by a now defunct streaming service the Gap in production means they no longer had the original sets or crew from NBC to work with for that reason much of the season was filmed in a parking garage and the school hallways or exteriors are rarely if ever used everything about the filming lighting Framing and pacing seems to have changed entirely well maybe not necessarily successful I think they tried to use it to their advantage to separate it from past seasons and not feel like an imitation of itself as Harmon directly accuses season 4 of being while season 4 crumbles under a re-watch I think season 6 benefited from it I had only seen the first few episodes and the back half of the season was a first time viewing for me I would say acquainting yourself with the stylistic changes is no small task and harms the enjoyability of it the first time around that might be why I never saw it through the show was also just notoriously hard to watch in Canada up until now there are amazingly well executed gags like the dean having the wrong number and texting these Japanese kids thinking him and Jeff are secret best friends it's one of the best things from the entire show what are you doing nothing at all I wouldn't say that you just put five huge cans of Olives next to me that alone should convince you to stick with it and see what other strange and amazing New Concepts those last two seasons have to offer I also love watching the transition to a much deeper level of insanity with the episode end tags you can easily see some Rick and Morty influences here these used to be one-off gags or running mini jokes largely based on Troy and Abed they were always kind of unexpected and pretty silly but in the interim where Dan was away from the show and working on Rick and Morty end tags and nacho were much more High Concepts cerebral and existential even though he was going from this sci-fi animation to a quote grounded sitcom there's a noted tonal shift here where Dan clearly he was enjoying that as an opportunity to essentially make short films micro parodies or answering unasked questions while it's likely comparing apples to oranges when looking at the tags pre and post season 4. these season 5 and 6 end tags are some of the best bits of Comedy from those later Seasons so yes season 4 is a blemish on an otherwise outstanding show if it's your first time watching the series I think you should still watch it all end to end and at some point maybe do a second full re-watch and I think from there you can decide for yourself it took until my third time around to have firmly made up my mind about season four and I think I'm simply gonna skip it next time but while this video explains why I personally dislike it and do not think it works I also hope I was able to prop up the rest of the show enough to convince people to watch it in its entirety please don't stop at season three watch the whole thing this video ended up being much more aimless than I intended turns out I had much more to get off my chest than I I simply dislike the season of the show hopefully that level of passion that this show incites in people is an encouragement to check it out rather than a deterrent that it so often can be oh I just thought of this since corny but I'm gonna say it the fan base of the show is its own community I'm sorry I'm sorry I said it no I I've never I've never had a bad experience with this Show's Community the way I have with with many others and I think that's worth noting there's a reason something like six seasons and a movie can be touted all these years later and never be done in a way that feels aggressive or like you're excluding people who aren't in on the joke in fact there's not many fans out there who would be more eager to let you in on a joke I think that's really special and was that a fizzling out of steam here I might never have more to say about the show in my entire life I got it all out here at once so thank you all so much for bearing with me and watching and taking in this massive rant and ramble thank you to patrons of the channel it means so much to me that you guys would continue to support me when I continue to put out such directionless content like this I hope people enjoy watching it as much as I enjoy making it thank you again all so much and I hope to see you again soon foreign

Channel: 2 Left Frames

Views: 298,709

Keywords: 2 left frames, community series, community netflix, community season 4, the gas leak year, the gas leak year community, community the gas leak year, season 4 community, community worst season, community best season, community why season 4 is bad, community why did pierce leave, community dan harmon, dan harmon community, dan harmon season 4, community gas leak, community gas leak year, community chevy chase, chevy chase community, #sixseasonandamovie, community movie

Id: 8XSiMQ2ofLA

Length: 41min 32sec (2492 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 03 2022