Community (Season 5)

By: Robert Murphy

(Possible spoilers)

Now like many of you out there you may have rolled your eyes at the fact that Community took on another season after the group finished their two years at Greendale Community College but even so I was glad to see it back on the air anyways. Dan Harmon once again returns as well to direct the show after he was fired before Season 4 and I believe he brings with it just what the first episode is all about, a repilot. The study group had gone their separate ways with their degrees to set out in their future careers but things haven’t gone as well as they’d hoped and they all return to their school and start again.

The show returns on a very high note as the first couple of episodes make a solid stride towards the classic Community feel that I have enjoyed watching since the beginning of the show. Jeff (Joe McHale) sits in a slumped state as his new law career isn’t going so well, turns out helping people isn’t as profitable as being an evil snake of a lawyer like he use to be. Enter the man who got Jeff fired in the first place, he has a case for him that gets him back to Greendale and once the study group hears about this they all come running back, seems as things weren’t going well for them either. After this first episode the study group is reformed in a new way and the group returns to the halls for various reasons but unfortunately Pierce (Chevy Chase) doesn’t make an appearance anymore. We also say goodbye to another cast member Troy (Donald Glover) who’s only a part of the first five episodes of this final season but the show does a magnificent job of writing him out in true Community fashion.

Community’s first few episodes continued the great style of the show picking up pop culture references and making their own versions of it such as the episode entitled “App Development and Condiments” which pokes fun at The Hunger Games. I was a little disappointed to not see a paintball episode for the shows final season but the writers did manage to pull another episode “Geothermal Escapism” which completely destroyed the school with a game of hot lava which was new and a great change up for the paintball episode. But the best new addition by far to the show had to of been Buzz Hickey (Jonathan Banks) who takes on the role of Greendale’s Criminology professor and by far made for my favorite moments this season. The Breaking Bad star plays the gruff former cop who is stuck in the vortex of despair that is Greendale College and he joins the group and adds something that I just loved.

The show for me though did start to soar near the end, season 5 came to an early close at only 13 episodes and the shows final send off just didn’t do it justice. The finale is broken up into two parts and the group is left trying to save Greendale from being sold off. We get a little back story into Greendale’s past and find out that it use to be a computer college at the founder left money hidden on the grounds, a little cliché, but whats worse is they pulled the whole he’s still alive bit. There is a touching moment with Jeff however that will leave you with some hardcore feels but everything else just felt a little lack luster. Then we had the extremely strange G.I. Joe style episode as well, normally Abed (Danny Pudi) will go crazy and inspire a cartoony moment for the show but this time it just wasn’t as charming or as good. These being the last three episodes is what left me with a bad taste in my mouth but it wouldn’t make me hate the season as a whole.

Community’s final season did just what it set out to do in my mind and that is give itself an entire reboot back to its roots and what it was all about to start with. It was a great little throw back to have Jeff be a little evil once again in the first episode. It was a disappointment to see Donald Glover leave after the first few episodes but the gap was filled in quite nicely by Jonathan Banks and it also gave Danny Pudi room to grow a little as a character too. I do wish that the show had more time to keep hitting its high notes especially with Dan Harmon on board once again and taking control of what he started some years ago. We’ll see if time will tell on another season for the show but I do believe we’ve seen the last of Greendale for awhile.

Good:

- The show really gets back to its roots and the comedy I loved

- Harmon being back on board made me feel much safer about it all

- Jonathan Banks was such a magnificent addition to the cast

Bad:

- Unfortunately short

- The last few episodes left a bad taste in my mouth and weren’t great to leave the show to end with

Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10