He also left me his ashes. He asked me to burn them. I don’t think he knows how ashes work.” – Abed
When a polarizing show like Community is bombarded with irreconcilable criticisms, it’s to be expected.
Only a privileged portion of the population is capable of traversing the layers of jokes and pop culture references, so when those very vehement fans begin to find reason to complain, it bares paying attention to.
Except in the case of Community, these complaints usually arise as a show grows comfortable in its regularity and stops putting in the same effort seen in earlier seasons. Of course, contending that Community is just more of the same is like arguing that all cheeses are the same because they give you gas.
As far as first viewings go, “Course Listing Unavailable” seems a jumbled mess. Not only is the school semi-reeling following Alex “Starburns” Osbourne’s untimely demise in a meth-lab explosion, but the study group, henceforth referred to as “The Greendale Seven,” is being forced to take summer courses following Professor Kane’s resignation, and by extension, the null value assigned to his biology course.
Of course, Community’s depth and richness is never immediate at first glance. I take it as an unspoken requirement to not publish my reviews until after my second viewing, and this week has proven particularly difficult to contain. The world always feels most chaotic after the death of someone you know, and chaos reigns supreme over Greendale as the school itself becomes the scapegoat for the mounting insecurities of its students.
Even chaos can beget symmetry, however, and it’s almost too coincidental that the death of one student can set off such a seemingly orchestrated chain of events tending towards the darkest timeline. Following a riot incited by the Greendale Seven at Starburns’ wake, the Dean is pressured by Chang into signing off on his contract allowing martial law, indefinite detention, and preteens in riot gear to reign supreme. Instead of getting the chance to blame such violent escalation on the psychopath responsible, the Dean is finally replaced by Chang’s Moby impersonator.
Following the expulsion of the Greendale Seven, nothing stands in the way of Chang’s militarization of Greendale, and potentially the darkest timeline as a whole. For the time being, at least, Troy is keeping Britta from marrying the pizza delivery guy, and by extension, Pierce’s death, Jeff’s lost arm, and Troy and Abed’s felt goatees. Even though the group has demonstrated its toxicity to each other in the past, perhaps the change of setting will harmonize their goals rather than pit them against each other.
Some stats and info about Community, “Course Listing Unavailable”
TV SHOW – Community
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 3, Episode 18
AIRED ON – May 3rd, 2012
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – NBC/Yahoo! Screen
GENRE – Comedy, College Shows
CREATED BY – Dan Harmon
CAST – Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover, Chevy Chase, Gillian Jacobs, Alison Brie, Yvette Nicole Brown, Ken Jeong, Jim Rash
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.