Most underrated episode of season 4?

Capt. Blicero
Season 4 Community disqussssion!

Question of the day:
What is your underrated episode of season 4? And can you offer a defense?

Please try to champion an episode of your choosing. It could be an episode that you think is the best of the season but some people don't like it, or it could be an episode you think is decent (though not great) but you don't think it's terrible.

I will post my episode soon. (I don't post my preferences in the main comment because I think it creates a bias before people even have a chance to think or answer.)

20 HOURS AGO 4 LIKES

bongoes
EDIT: Advanced Documentary Filmmaking. I thought it was one of the better episodes of the season but I feel like a lot of people forgot that it was a pretty good episode because of the tag.

3 DAYS AGO 6 LIKES

jmunney
Yeah, people really went disproportionately crazy town banana pants over that tag.

2 DAYS AGO 1 LIKE

Semi-bored torontonian
"Advanced Introduction to Finality" - for the reasons I posted yesterday.

19 HOURS AGO 6 LIKES

Dr. Clash
I agree with your underlying point - the way that the episode intended to show Jeff's growth - but man, did I just hate the execution. It was a sweet idea at its core, and possibly could've worked for me if they had cut way down on the timeline stuff (a la the silly clip at the end of Knots, which I enjoyed) but... just spending SO MUCH TIME in Jeff's head (12 out of the 21 minutes, in fact) was just egregiously pointless, when there would've been many far more conservative ways to get the same message across far more effectively. I've watched it three times now, and parts of it minimally improved enough for me to change it from an F to a D+, but I just really really hate the execution to the point that i can't appreciate the underlying message in that context.

Glad you and other people at least liked it though. It's just weird being on the other side of the looking glass. I really liked the rest of the season, though, so I can handle hating one episode.

19 HOURS AGO 6 LIKES

Teah-Timeh
The good Doctor makes a fine point.
Many of them, actually. I think the episode also got a bad rap because by the time it aired a sort of consensus had formed that "this ain't Community any more", and was coloring evreybody's opinion.

2 DAYS AGO 2 LIKES

Dr. Clash
Heroic Origins - not my favorite episode, but near the top of my list. I believe the people who REALLY DISLIKED this episode outnumber those who liked it and those who were so-so on it, so I wanted to give it a fighting chance.

I do understand the main complaint with the episode, that being (correct me if I'm wrong) that the episode was pretty unnecessary, and that there was no reason the characters had to have intersected prior to meeting for the study group. And I get that - there is no reason the characters had to have affected each others' lives prior to formally meeting, and repeating the "destiny" motif appears to undermine the motif of the entire show, that being the finding of a family in a group of random strangers.

Does the episode actually undermine that core concept of the show, though? While Abed stresses the "destiny" motif at the begging of the episode, it really has no effect on the progression of the episode, until it's echoed again by Jeff at the end. So they showed the characters interacting, they showed how Jeff and Abed gave Andre the opportunity to cheat, they showed how Abed indirectly led to Annie's rehabilitation, and so forth. But they never actually, in the episode proper, attempt to convince us that the group was destined to meet. Sure, they try to half-ass the concept with Jeff and Abed's assertions, but all the episode really does is show us that the group indirectly affected each others' lives prior to meeting. Unnecessary? Absolutely. But taken as what the episode is actually saying, it's harmless to the core of the show, even if Abed might be trying to convince himself of otherwise.

Of course, there's always the possibility that you simply didn't find the episode entertaining. To which I say, ok, fine, it's definitely not an overtly funny episode, nor is it attempting to be. But I'll be damned if I didn't find it interesting. For me, it was just neat to see past versions of the characters, and even if it wasn't necessary, it was interesting to see the ways that the characters did affect each other, the broad strokes of which don't necessarily contradict what we already know about the characters.

If it helps, view the episode as a sort of what-if scenario - the characters don't have to have affected each others' lives this way, but what if they did? It's an interesting experiment (at least to me) if it can be taken not-so-seriously.

Also, call me nuts, but I really like what they did for Chang at the end of the episode. His storyline was by no means properly developed prior to this episode, but I enjoyed how they closed off his arc from season 2 - all he wanted was to be part of the group, and now he's being given a second chance at that. That final scene between Abed and Chang, to me, was a really sweet moment.

Of course, there's still the possibility that you just plain hated this episode and found it pointless and stupid and unfunny and cumbersome, to which I say: this.

18 HOURS AGO 8 LIKES

SG Standard
I agree!

9 HOURS AGO 4 LIKES

Teah-Timeh
The good Doctor makes a fine point.
Many of them, actually. I think the episode also got a bad rap because by the time it aired a sort of consensus had formed that "this ain't Community any more", and was coloring evreybody's opinion.

32 MINUTES AGO

OccamsBlazer
Community is a dandy show.

That's COMMUNITY SUCKS' boring, well-adjusted brother. They don't talk much.

18 HOURS AGO 4 LIKES

The Narrator Returns
After deep soul-searching, I choose Conventions of Time and Space. Everybody seemed to like it at the time, but recently, if people have been talking about it, they tend to do so in very negative fashion. I really like it, personally. It was funny, true to the characters, and even troubling developments (the Annie subplot, mainly) were handled well. It's a solid episode, is what I'm saying.

18 HOURS AGO 4 LIKES

Dr. Clash
Yeah, I feel like people who complain about the Annie subplot are taking it a bit too rigidly. Doesn't every teenage girl at some point fantasize about marrying guys they have or have once had a crush on? (NOTE: I am not or have ever been a teenage girl, but Annie's line at the end about how many times she's "married" Jeff, Troy, etc. corroborate this) Just because Annie is apparently over Jeff as a romantic interest doesn't mean she'd completely bar her mind from wandering in that direction. Sure, she takes it a bit far, but it's a sitcom that by this point in its run was taking place in a bit of a heightened version of reality, so it's absolutely forgivable. Even taken as an externalization of her imagination, it's perfectly in character.

18 HOURS AGO 5 LIKES

Capt. Blicero
I hate her regression as a character in that episode, but I still like the episode as a whole.

Anyway, before the season started, I thought this one would be reviled because people were so sick of the Inspector Spacetime thing. It seems like it was too popular with the other, more general Community fans, and the writers were sticking it down our throats. I was afraid this one would get unfairly panned.

But it works! It's a great Troy/Abed episode, and most of the rest of the characters are used well -- Shirley is nice and not just a mother, and Pierce, while causing harm, does so in a way where he's not blatantly racist but just misguided.

18 HOURS AGO 3 LIKES

LloydBraun
But Annie is 21 or 22 now, not a teen, and should haven grown out of that "<3 <3 John Stamos xoxo" phase, especially when she had been written to be so much more multifaceted than just the "girl in love with being in love and oh, hey, she's taking forensics, too". RIP Annie (101 - 210/223/307/317)

17 HOURS AGO 5 LIKES

SG Standard
I agree with this, too. Nothing about Annie's subplot bothered me. She's always been like that, with the exception of VSA, and in all honesty, her "in love with being in love but not with Jeff" revelation in that episode rang very hollow since it is totally inconsistent with what we had seen from her over the past couple seasons. She's always had a thing for Jeff, and I don't mind her indulging in a little fantasy one bit.

9 HOURS AGO 5 LIKES

LloydBraun
Just because it's in character doesn't mean that should be her status quo forever. Again, she's not a teenager, she's at least 21. More to the point, it's the least interesting facet of Annie by a long shot and it dominating her characterization is the reason she has only evolved in bits with large gaps in between since 210 (see the other episodes I cited).

4 HOURS AGO

Dr. Clash
To be fair, being 21 is not that far removed from being a teenager, in my experience, at least. Hell, I'm 21, and still being in college, much of my personality, and those of many of my peers, are probably still far more comparable to "teenager" than they are to "20-something adult". So having Annie still act like a teenager in some capacities isn't horribly far fetched.

I see your point with the second bit, though I think mileage on that comes down to individual expectations. Given how rarely and sporadically they've bothered to progress Annie's character, I've long accepted, however disappointing it may be, that the writers just plain aren't interested in doing that in any extended capacity. Yes, her "boyz <3 <3" phase is certainly not her most interesting trait, but it's what they've decided to do, and taken as it was, I didn't find it bad at all.

That's a long winded way to essentially say "it's all about individual opinions and expectations", but there are definitely arguments for both sides.

4 HOURS AGO

LloydBraun
It's not just the number 21, it's that she's 21. This is Annie, someone who long ago blossomed into a self-made woman that by the age of 19 had already been through addiction, essentially being disowned by her mother, and lived on her own. She also has a cutthroat streak and knows how to use her sexuality to get what she wants, and she doesn't seem to fit in with other girls her age. But how do they choose to write her at this crucial juncture in her life? As a lovelorn teeny bopper with a big book of wedding ideas. I'm sorry, I'm not just going to accept that because that's the path the writers chose (or settled for) and it's "not that bad". We've got to expect better than that.

3 HOURS AGO 1 LIKE

Dr. Clash
That's fair. When it comes to expectations, like I said, I came into this season expecting very little, and expecting there to be these sorts of inconsistencies, and I decided that it was a show that I would watch to entertain me on the surface and nothing more. That way, I prepared myself to overlook things that worked (for me) on the surface, even if they're weren't entirely consistent. No one can be faulted for being disappointed that the show isn't living up to its former character development, though, so you've got me there.

3 HOURS AGO

LloydBraun
To be fair, it started in season 3. She has been way too normal and well-adjusted for a Community character.

1 HOUR AGO

Capt. Blicero
Intro to Felt Surrogacy (gah, what an name....)

Here's a short defense:
The episode begins in silence, a sort of in media res, before we pick up on what's happening. (You can also think of it as starting the episode in the exact same way as the Greendale 7 do: you know nothing, and you learn of the secrets basically when they do.) I think it's an interesting, unique device -- you know something is wrong, and eventually the episode fills you in. The scene after the credits (it's the typical cold open banter at the study table that's usually before the credits) is top-notch material for season 4, and honestly I think it would do well in any season. (Most of the lines I quoted below come from this little scene.)

In order to make this grand leap of turning our cast members into puppets, they use the Dean, which I think is appropriate. They've gone through a sort of trauma, and he thinks the way to therapize this is puppetry. I believe that works well in terms of characterization and motivation. The study group's used to doing silly stuff to appease the college/Dean. Do they have to sing? Well, they're puppets, so what we're seeing is the projected, imagined version of their puppetry; that's all. The translated version of telling a story through a hand-puppet is a puppet singing.

Likewise, the second mechanism to make this puppetry adventure work is why they would even go on this balloon ride. It's a good use of how old the show is: they're bored, they know each other too much, so they decide on a trip. Maybe it seems like they decide on whim, but they're summarizing it through song, aren't they?

And a note on the songs -- some people have said that its' a musical episode and if they don't like the songs, then they just don't' like the episode (paraphrasing.) IF they fail, then there's no point to turning them into puppets. Well, I really liked the first song. I do think it's catchy. Sara was great, and if you don't think so I will murder your entire extended family and show it to you as a DVD extra. Just listen to the glorious lilt in her voice as she says, "If you have a question / feel free to ask it!" The next song (about staying at Greendale) is also catchy, I think, and then there's the secrets portion of the episode that has some snazzy lines like the one from Pierce. However, if you don't accept the episode and that the characters turned into puppets (though they didn't literally turn into puppets; we're just seeing it through that filter.)

The gang runs into trouble because they take off without their sexy, sensual balloon guide. I also love when Chang is used sparingly like garlic salt (too much of garlic is a terrible, horrific thing, but a dash here and there is divine.) "Did I miss it?" "Did you miss what? Who said anything about a missing balloon?" I love it when they find a way to exclude him from the story early. He's like the first guy who dies in every horror movie. So after they ride into a storm, they crash into a dark forest -- typical story-building stuff. It's an adventure. Then ... a terrible beast comes out of the woods! Jason Alexander with hair!

Jason's character represents the fear of post-college life. "So this is how Greendale graduates end up: as transient mountain men." He gives them the hallucinogenic berries, as entry of sorts to the weird world of Greendale, but it leads to them divulging about some of the darker aspects of their lives. They all came to the college as broken people, trying to hide the pain, and eventually revealed their troubles to each other as friends. The balloon trip is a microcosm of their entire Greendale experience as friends.

Since they didn't know no one else heard their secrets (they only know they admitted it), Shirley was the only one who admitted hers because she went first. But this changes: they admit their own secrets to support her. And thus, the silence at the beginning is explained, and they come together after an adventure not because of the sights but because they opened up.

(I don't think it's a perfect episode, however, because the songs *could* be a little better, but they''e still pretty good. Also, the Dean is atrocious here, really hurting my appraisal of the episode. The secrets could be discussed further. I don't think they're bad. Some are funny and right on for characterization. But people are a little too harsh when trashing the secrets. I believe the biggest issue was Troy's. Causing a fire is BAD, Troy. But of course he could burn an anthill. Why would he be incapable of that? Actually, one way lots of people deal with anthills is pouring gasoline down it and sometimes lighting a match. The fumes are often enough to kill them. Not saying it's a good idea, but many boys kill ants. It's a real thing that happens.)

EDIT: Crap, I wrote down a bunch of quotes and they disappeared. Here are most.
"Jesus don't snitch."
"My father is witholding."
"Who are we, Jeff during sex?"
"I'd rather stay at Greendale!"
"Look at the burner! Check out the basket. If you have a question, feel free to ask it!"
"Damn you Vicki!"
"Treating me like Judas, judging me like Judy."
"I never slept with the great Eartha Kitt. We dry-humped inside her tour bus."

18 HOURS AGO 7 LIKES

Semi-bored torontonian
Shirley's secret was great - exactly the kind of thing that her rage issues would prompt her to do, and her mother hen side would forever regret. The others were more hit or miss, with Jeff's in particular smacking of trite cliche and blatant pathos appeal.

My main problem with the episode though was the complete lack of relevance of the concept, More than that, the puppets actually hindered the acting, which in turn meant that the emotional content of the secrets failed to register completely.

17 HOURS AGO 4 LIKES

Capt. Blicero
What relevance does there need to be? Lots of episodes had nothing happen. can't it just be a joyride of fun and merriment as long as things are reset at the end? Plus, it was about a group who are bored and need adventure because they've been around each other too long. That's a natural result of being together for years. So this episode is playing with that group function. Should they cause huge emotional catharsis in each episode? Invent genres? No. It's an American comedy. You gotta keep the laughs coming and invent new stories to deliver stories. I'm saying the episode isn't terrible, not the best of the season. Does lack of relevance of the concept mean there's no point to the puppets? In the episodes, the puppets are a way for the group to therapize themselves.

And every latched onto that emotional/puppet argument when someone first said it. I don't buy it. We've done episodes without real faces before. AUC was emotional with clay. So, yeah, you can emote without human faces. And it wasn't the entire episode. Besides, some of the secrets are in jest, and the voice conveys a lot of emotion. It's hard to argue about whether or not you believe there's enough emotional connection with those faces because that's subjective, but that just seems like a bullshit excuse. How about we address the actual content?

17 HOURS AGO 4 LIKES

Semi-bored torontonian
AUC is actually a good illustration of how why IFS didn't work. In AUC the concept was directly tied in to the plot - the claymation was there because Abed was delusional. I suppose you can argue that the puppets have a similar role, as the group is using them as a way to ease themselves into admitting their horrible secrets, but the gimmick isn't nearly as well integrated as the claymation was, because, unlike in AUC which was told from Abed's perspective, there's no one unifying p.o.v. in IFS. And that in turn exposes the gimmickness of the concept and distracts from the emotional content. Not just that - it makes that content feel shallow and maudlin.

In a way, I feel this could have worked better as just a wacky story, without any emotional stuff.

17 HOURS AGO 4 LIKES

Capt. Blicero
But I'm not saying it's as good as AUC. I'm saying it's like ... mid-range for the season. It's not the worst or near the worst, which many people say.

15 HOURS AGO 3 LIKES

LloydBraun
The following are reasons 409 is bad
1. Gene Hong
2. twitter.com/adamlevine... (people dislike Adam Levine, right?)
3. There is no narrative thrust or point to the episode that derives from what has gone on with the show or the characters. The cold open has no weight in retrospect. The group's secrets don't reveal anything interesting about them. The episode was so clearly done just for the puppets. Even the much-maligned 204 tracks some important threads like Pierce's story and Jeff and Troy's relationship.

I do like that first song a lot; it's still not out of my head yet. And I was surprised by how much people piled on this episode.

17 HOURS AGO 6 LIKES

--->
Capt. Blicero
For a concept like this, breaking the normal narrative of the show, does the episode have to be stellar? Is it all or nothing? You can't have an episode like this without it being exceptional? That is, if you're going big, you can't miss? I don't think it's perfect, because of the Dean and some of the secrets, but I don't think it's terrible either. I think this episode had some great lines (didn't it?) that were perhaps not received well by some people who weren't willing to accept them because they didn't buy the concept. Is that the problem? If you don't buy into the concept, then it kills the rest of the episode?

15 HOURS AGO 3 LIKES

roare
History 101. It was messy, but other than the 'elite 3' (Cooperative Escapism , Herstory, BHA) I honestly liked it the best. I liked the balls-to-the-wall craziness of it all, and I thought the Abed TV story had some of the funniest material of the season and also some of the best emotional material of the season. It was certainly flawed, but I found it more enjoyable than much of what followed.

17 HOURS AGO 5 LIKES

Affrosponge88
Collapse
I love "Introduction to Felt Surrogacy." The hate it gets here baffles me. Honestly? I think it hit too close to "Harmon-home" for some people, and they just don't want to admit that Harmon would have wrote something similar to it (notice I said "similar" not "exactly"). I'll write up a long post on the episode defending it sometime this week.

LIKE REPLY
14 HOURS AGO 7 LIKES FLAG

thedirte
I really enjoyed Paranormal Parentage, Puppets, and COST. That's all I have to say about that.

10 HOURS AGO 4 LIKES

jmunney
In a way, every episode this season was both underrated and overrated, LOL.

Hey, I kind of remember doing this sort of thing about a week ago...

...

“Intro to Felt Surrogacy”
If I were picking the least bad episode of Community Season 4, I would go with something safer and less divisive like “Herstory of Dance” or “Basic Human Anatomy.” But I am picking the BEST, not the least bad, so my choice is what had the most good, even if it did have some problems. First off, the homage nature of this episode: some held up “Felt Surrogacy” as an example for why Community should restrain itself from further theme episodes by contending that it did not fully commit to its homage, a contention that I find bizarre. Like a Muppet movie, it had a sense of adventure competing with a whole heaping of melancholy. Accordingly, the songs were catchy, bouncy, and just a bit dark. As for the confessions, here is where the strong reactions were provoked from viewers, and where the risk-taking that won me over made itself known. These secrets were not symptoms of inconsistent characterization or character regression, but illustrations of the fact that though these people have changed, they are still broken, and they constantly struggle with regret, even if they don’t always show it. Some of the confessions cried out for further resolution that never came, but that is more a fault of the season overall than of this particular episode. I can see legitimate criticisms being made against “Intro to Felt Surrogacy,” but you can’t say it didn’t try. Oh Lord no, you cannot say it didn’t try.

2 DAYS AGO 1 LIKE