Community (Season 6)

By: Robert Murphy

It's not entirely out of the question for a show to worry about whether or not it will be back for another season the following year but one show perhaps takes the cake for not only worrying about that fact but making large jokes at that expense. Community ended it's fifth season with a touching goodbye which left the school still standing and somehow still a school but did not seem to be coming back any time soon. The internet had something to say about that though as the sixth season aired it's thirteen episode season on Yahoo Screen. Whether this was a good or a bad thing remained to be seen so as a long time fan I was determined to give the show the benefit of the doubt as I've always done and see just what tricks lay in store. 

The formula for our main cast stays pretty much the same as it always has over the past couple of years. It is now the sixth year or "season" as Abed (Danny Pudi) will often refer to it as and somehow the group is all still here but that is in order to save the school from finally imploding on itself. Jeff (Joel McHale) is still teaching law or barely teaching I should say, one of his desk drawers actually being an ice box for his scotch is evidence of how much he is trying to teach. Britta (Gillian Jacobs) has fallen on tough times and is now homeless but still fighting the good fight against everything having to do with the government. And then finally you have the always hardworking Annie (Alison Brie) who starts the first episode happily excited in completing the last item on the save Greendale agenda. This joy however is offset when decades of brightly colored frisbees come crashing down around each and every one of them. It's in this moment that you realize it is a good thing that the formula hasn't changed and that things will remain much in the same ridiculous fashion that they always have been. 

A big fear for me with the transition into online streaming was whether or not things would be inherently different but this doesn't seem to be the case. The only noticeable difference as the show makes this transition is perhaps in it's budget as items throughout the show appear to be slightly downgraded from it's NBC days. This doesn't stop the show from being handled with the same level of care and returning to it's original ways all those years ago when it first aired.

New characters are nothing new to the series, the addition of Jonathon Banks as the Intro to Criminology teacher and new member of the group proved to be a real winner in my eyes. Community hoped to continue this trend with the addition of two new members now that more people than ever have gone and left the show for their various reason. First we have Frankie Dart (Paget Brewster) who is a big pencil pusher type that joins the group now that it is no longer about studying and more about saving Greendale from getting shut down. She knows all the ins and outs to help them in a bigger fashion but she doesn't click with the group at first as she acts much like Abed with a robotic sense of human interaction. It also doesn't help that she comes in and takes charge of most everything leading to a classic Community theme of turning the whole school into some sort of era time piece, this time it was a 1920's speakeasy. Frankie gives a very adult approach to everything that goes on at the school which is where her humor lies, while everyone else including Jeff should be acting more adult they often goof off and cause things like a giant paintball game that destroys the school, an episode and event which I was happy to see return.

We then have our other new member who does the impossible and tricks Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) into buying an outdated three dimensional program for the school. The show continues to stay at the forefront when it comes to it's pop culture references like this one but it would seem that this 3D system is more like something out of a bad 90's film than the ground breaking stuff that is happening today. The man responsible for this is Elroy (Keith David) and he that one character that had the get rich quick scheme and was suppose to be rocketed into fame and fortune but is now living out of an R/V selling these terrible systems. He sort of becomes the Pierce (Chevy Chase) of the group who is lost in some other time period with his mannerisms and ideas but somehow he fits in with the group. Elroy is perhaps my favorite new character as I really liked the idea of an older guy trying to fit in with a younger group of people, it works in an odd sort of dynamic and certainly creates some good one off jokes that Community does so well.

The shows brand of pop culture humor and unique ways of branding things were one of it's best points way back when and I feel this is where this new season want to return to. You don't have Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed together with their childlike imaginations to inspire a huge school wide transformation and yet through years of being around Troy and Abed the group picked up this little ability and sends the school back to the 1920's as I said earlier. You then have moments in the episode "Advanced Safety Features) where Britta's boyfriend returns once again after he was expelled for trying to sell exclusive products to students and the school in the first season. The entire episode is one big plug for Honda and their new line of vehicles but at the same time it doesn't feel like a plug, you're bringing the audience in on the joke and it works wonderfully. You then have episodes like "Modern Espionage" and "Intro to Recycled Cinema" where they make reference to James Bond and the other being about making a crummy space movie staring Chang (Ken Jeong), clearly poking fun at Star Wars. "Modern Espionage" being my favorite for their recreation of the famous elevator scene in Captain America: Winter Soldier and the Dean somehow taking out a group of muscle headed maintenance men.

I am not entirely sure what the future holds for Community as the final episode makes obvious reference to Abed's quote of a good show making six seasons and a movie but the entire episode makes me question that ability as the crew says another heartfelt goodbye to one another. This season however was a return to form an classic show moments with huge paintball fights, school wide transformations and references to pop culture and modern trends. While not every episode hit for me, it's hard to find any show that would, but everything felt like a return to form for the show and now we must wait to see if that movie is just around the corner.

Good:

- A classic return to form for Community

- Original characters like Jeff, Abed and Annie are still doing what they do best

- New characters Frankie and Elroy are great additions

Bad:

- A few hit or miss episodes

- Some downgraded prop design and effects with the transition to Yahoo

Scully Rating: 8.7 out of 10

Cougar Town (Season 6)

By: Robert Murphy

It's always tough to say goodbye no matter what the situation, but I feel it's always especially hard to say goodbye to a fantastic show one that you've watched since the beginning and kept right along with. Cougar Town may not have started out as that kind of show for me but it did grow on me after the initial effects of it's premise began to fade. It's hard to believe that the show was actually going to be about Jules Kobb (Courteney Cox) dating younger men for an entire show. A plot like that would be at best a one season type deal but the characters and story grew into so much more than all that and all that remains of the God awful idea is the reruns of the first season and the title for the series. Now though it is time to say goodbye to Jules and the rest of the cul-de-sac crew so let's see what the final season has in store.

The big shocking reveal at the end of the previous season turned out to be that Laurie (Busy Philipps) is pregnant with Travis's (Dan Bryd) child. Now normally a show would make the entire season be about the pregnancy but Cougar Town took a different approach to the whole ordeal, maybe because it was their final season or maybe because the whole having a baby thing has been done to death as I just mentioned. The first couple of episodes do see some shenanigans with an insane Laurie, her character is already crazy enough without all the hormones but with a child driving her insane she becomes a lot worse. Perhaps my favorite pregnant Laurie moment was during the episode where Jules decides to give up wine while Laurie is pregnant. Since Jules can't do anything alone she makes everyone also give up wine as well too soothe the savage beast that is Laurie Keller. When it turns out that they all betray her though in an elaborate "speak easy" style escapade she goes full juvie on all of them and whips around a sock full of nickles. 

As I said though the whole pregnant Laurie bit gets condensed down rather quickly and in one of the episode an eight month time skip occurs and Laurie has baby Bobby in the second episode. The rest of show sees real change and growth for the rest of the characters with plenty of other interesting changes that surprised me. Adult Bobby (Brian Van Holt) ends up finding a high paying job opportunity out of state and ends up moving away from everyone. It's a move I didn't see coming or rather I didn't want to see coming as Bobby was probably my favorite character and it was certainly hard for Andy (Ian Gomez) to lose his best friend and because of this we actually see a major change for his character too. Andy was always the bread winner for his home while Ellie (Christa Miller) stayed at home but after Bobby leaves he ends up becoming a stay at home dad. This leaves Ellie to return to work herself, if any of you forget she use to be lawyer. Everyone's roles get reversed and changed and I actually really enjoyed seeing these new changes being brought out, I would have loved to see more of them if the show continued but that sadly that won't happen.

Midst all of the switching and changing though much of what Cougar Town's core strengths continued to shine through for it's send off season. Plenty of the earmark moments for the shows humor have continued forward this time around such as Ellie and Grayson (Josh Hopkins) duking it out together. Then we have Andy who spends some of the season sulking without his best friend Bobby around (their bromance is something the writer Bill Lawrence does well and has plenty of experience with i.e. Scrubs). Then you have Travis and Laurie who only just began to figure out their relationship now they have to figure out how to add a kid into their own craziness. One thing that I didn't enjoying seeing occur all over again was Grayson and Jules arguing over the two never having privacy, Jules wanting everyone around her to be involved in everything and Grayson wanting some alone time for them. It's an issue and plot device that should have been nipped in the bud the season following the twos marriage to one another. Grayson really just needed to get over it already and move on but for the most part everything else continued to move smoothly and in classic Cougar Town fashion. 

In the end, I feel like this final season for Cougar Town was a fantastic send off for the series, it didn't feel like a goodbye sort of thing but rather each character continued forward with each of their own story arcs. This is a great thing because for the first time in awhile the dynamic of everything the show was founded on was shaken up, it wasn't all about drinking wine and everyone hanging out at Jules's all day long for once. Bobby moved away and got a job, Laurie and Travis have their own kid, Ellie went back to work, heck even Jules managed to change a little when she reads her first book. Again, it's too bad this change didn't occur sooner and if it did maybe that could have spelled out another season for the show, but it was a fitting end for a show that evolved quite a bit from it's start. 

Good:

- The show finally saw some real change

- Plenty of the core strengths continued throughout the season

Bad:

- Some of the more lack luster gags and plot elements continued

- Why weren't these changes made sooner? Why were they done in the final season?

Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Archer (Season 6)

By: Robert Murphy 

Being a super spy is a dream that I'm sure a lot of guys would imagine wanting and why wouldn't they, James Bond makes it look so damn appealing with the amazing cars, cool gadgets and beautiful woman. Sterling Archer also helps with this appeal as well as he parades around the world narrowly escaping death at every turn and single handedly keeps the worlds scotch and whore house industry going. However, the last season of Archer, Archer Vice, saw a departure from his world renowned exploits and him and the other members of ISIS tried their hands at being drug smugglers. Hey, how hard could it be right? Well. as it turns out it can be very difficult when you're working with the incompetency of this sorry lot. Now that this all over, Archer and his friends are back doing what they do best or rather adequately or um, yeah, they do alright I guess. They are now a division of the CIA and for whatever reason they see the former espionage group as a valuable asset to have and they go back to business as usual, literally, it's the same building, same layout and just as funny as it always was. 

The first few episodes of this latest season feel like a return to form for the series, we've stepped away from being criminals and going outside the law (sort of) and now Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) can go back to shirking his responsibilities and still somehow getting the job done. If you honestly missed the entirety of the last season, you could almost say it never happened when you click over the channel to start watching it all over again. This isn't a bad thing when you think about it because you need a little time to return to form. However, the other half of the show starts to bring home a new angle for the series and that is the fact that Archer is now a father (the only thing you really learned last season). Yes, it turns out that the child Lana (Aisha Tyler) was carrying is somehow Archer's and things enter into a whole new realm. Archer isn't exactly new to parenting though as he played foster parent to one of his call girl's children, let's just hope that he doesn't get this one a tattoo.

The entirety of this season is really about two thing, Archer and Lana and their new dynamic and Archer coming to terms with actually being responsible for another human being. This second point become exceedingly obvious in the episode entitled "Sitting" where Lana trusts Archer enough to actual watch their child, alone. The whole episode is a very touching one as he starts to feel a bond with baby A.J. until a strange visitor comes a knocking and Archer goes into full butt kicking mode and starts "Archering" all over the place. You heard me right, that's a thing this season. The only difference is now he realizes that he has something to protect and we see an extremely serious and an extremely scary side to Archer, one I've never seen before. It turns out a serious Archer is one you don't want to mess with. The experience proved that Archer isn't a goof all the time and some of the best moments through all of season for the show were when Archer dropped the act and was truthful about his feelings.

Moving on to the other fact I mentioned, the second half of this season centers around Lana and Archer who officially get back together. It's something that people always hate in shows, why would you put the main characters together, it'll ruin the show. Well, it would seem that doing this actually makes Archer more intriguing if anything. Three of my favorite episodes from this season revolve around Archer trying his best to behave but ending up being his usual self and ruining everything. At one point, Lana returns home with A.J and Archer so her parents can meet their grandchild and the idiot that is responsible for her birth. There is a moment in the hot tub that will leave you cringing.

Our other characters also go back to their old ways after being criminals doesn't work out, Cyril (Chris Parnell), Pam (Amber Nash), Krieger (Lucky Yates), Cheryl (Judy Greer) and Malory (Jessica Walter). As I said, things are back on course for each of them in terms of their characters but the writing still remains top notch and keeps the dialogue between each of them just as good. The episode entitled "Vision Quest" proves this through and through as everyone except for Malory ends up trapped in the elevator to work, needless to say tension are high and I wouldn't want to be trapped in a small space with these sociopaths. Malory though isn't left out at all this season, her character makes her mark by constantly trying to make changes in Lana's parenting style and showing the trademark bad parenting she used with her own child. Malory tries to bribe Lana to change A.J.'s name to her own, starves her because she thinks the baby is too fat and plenty of other eyebrow raising moments.

In conclusion, it's nice to find out that even though plenty of the dynamic has now returned to the way it was before Archer Vice, the show still can offer great dialogue and interesting new stories. Even the earlier episodes that I glossed over in my review were some excellent new missions, my particular favorite was when Archer, Lana and Ray must climb a treacherous mountain with a potential killer in their midst. It's fraught with danger and plenty of moments for Archer to bugger the whole thing up. I hope that Archer now being a father brings things closer to us discovering who is actual father is and learning more about his past. We never know what the future of the show holds except that it will be filled with Archering action all over the place.

Good:

- The show returns to it's usual spy format with some great new missions

- Dialogue is still sharp as ever

- Animation is on the top of it's game

- Archer as a father and the new avenues it opens up with Lana and for the story was great

Bad:

- Some of the earlier episodes do feel like the same old same old for the Archer story you've already seen

Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10