Like many others, I've been binging shows very hard while twiddling my thumbs through lockdown. My latest was Community and boy was this show the very epitome of mixed feelings.
Here's your obligatory warning that I spoil pretty much everything.
I remember watching the first couple episodes when it aired and getting turned off. I didn't like that the writers were leaning so hard into the romance between Jeff and Britta, who did not have very strong chemistry (something the writers eventually noticed). I also didn't like that Britta didn't have much character other than being Jeff's love interest so I didn't want to root for them. As a producer myself, I wonder if the showrunners had Joel McHale and Gillian Jacobs read together during the casting process because it's very obvious. Anyway, revisiting it now, there are several changes that I missed out on, some good, some bad.
Seasons 1-4 had a strong connection to the premise while allowing the show to develop its own identity. Abed's weirdness got centered in film references and meta humor. Jeff and Britta got replaced with Jeff and Annie, and the age difference made a perfect obstacle for a perpetual Will They, Won't They. Troy's jockness, which wasn't that interesting when explored, was replaced for dramatic nerdiness and an amazing bromance with Abed. If I ever watch the show again, it will be fun to watch these things slowly creep in.
On the other hand, some things just went a little too far (including the actual number of season). Pierce, while sympathetic in the first season became cartoonishly mean. I had heard rumors that Chevy Chase became unhappy with his character and that caused him to act out on set, but damn. Also Britta, once removed as the object of Jeff's affections, suddenly became hyper liberal to the point of caricature. Again, because she didn't have much character to start with, the writer's had to fill in her dialogue with something other than "no Jeff, I won't sleep with you." Which is a shame since she could have been a nice take on a late-blooming maturity. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but I wish they'd made her a bartender earlier, since that would have shown her trying to support herself as an adult after an extreme teenage rebellion that went on for too long. And then there was Ken Jeong who was like the Dorne of the show; either super important or super unnecessary with few times in between.
All of these downsides I could have dealt with, especially since they were mostly still funny. But then came seasons 5 and 6. In season 5, I was horrified to watch the show become untethered from its concept, and drift aimlessly in a sea of chaotic storytelling. Then in 6, it just sailed off the edge of the Earth and into space (the Earth is flat in this analogy). Unlike shows like The Office, Parks & Rec, or the various crime procedurals, the premise of the show does not lend itself to the characters being on it indefinitely. From the start, there was a built-in endpoint (the gang graduating) and once the story was past that, it just became sad and pathetic to watch these people still be on screen like puppets that can't cut their strings. It kinda transitioned into a series of 20 min sketches with lots of meta jokes, bits, and homages, but no real substance. Now networks sometimes renew shows over the wishes of the producers so sometimes they have to limp on despite having no story, but that was not the case here. Personally, I blame that stupid #sixseasonsandamovie hashtag that encouraged the writers to push the show way past its expiration date.
Additionally, I have never seen a show cultivate a constant sense of unwarranted cancellation anxiety in its audience. I know showrunners deal with it all the time, but I've just never seen them pass that onto the viewers. In both the season 5 finale when they were cancelled the first time, and in season 6 it was like the writers were petrified of saying 'this is the end' and dropping the curtain. Usually when a show gets cancelled before the writers are ready, there's a feeling that there was more story they wanted to tell, but didn't get the chance. But in Community, they had no story left, so what was the deal? It made me wonder if creator Dan Harmon himself has issues with separation anxiety. It comes up on the show number of times, usually through Abed and the season 4 finale is the closest they come to a definitive finale, and that was the only finale Harmon wasn't involved in.
That's not to say the last two seasons were dead weight. There were definitely some gems there. That GI Joe episode just killed me, who doesn't love an overly dramatic game of The Floor is Lava, or a meta time travel story. But most of the time I wondered why the writers felt they had a reason for the show to exist. It felt like it was just on the air for the purpose of being on the air. And then bringing it back for a 6th didn't even feel necessary. I'm sure fans at the time were glad to have it back after a few years apart, but when you binge it like I did, the show seems to rapidly shrivel into a zombie husk of itself.
Which brings me to the actual series finale. Again I have very strong mixed feelings. The pitch session storyline was just sad to watch. It reinforced my assertion that the show had basically become a pointless sketch comedy. It was also annoying to hear the theme song so many times in a row. I was never crazy about the tune, but now I just fucking hate it. Once through that part, though, there's the final scene with Jeff and Annie, and I gotta tell you, it really fucked me up.
I've seen many fans wishing for the two to get together in a movie at some point, but personally, I've always known they would make a terrible couple. He never treats her well, and she would probably grow tired of her inabilty to "fix him." And the truly heartbreaking thing is I think that Jeff realizes that in the end. Even when he's fantasizing about them having a wonderful life together, the illusion quickly crumbles because he knows her and himself too well. That leads him to express a desire to be young again as if wanting a chance at being a different person for her. Something they accept can never be. It really twists the knife in the heart of the shippers, among whom I count myself.
I can't deny the show was truly something special, and it's very clear the cast and producers loved working on it, but I can't help feeling it left me in a state of emotional limbo. I might have been spoiled by the strong finales of White Collar, The Good Place, or The Office, which walked the viewers through all five stages of grief before a graceful curtain call. Community on the other hand seemed determined to leave its viewers at Bargaining stage, without any sense of closure. I think I will forever hate it for that.
After I finished my binge, I wanted to watch something different to cleanse my palette of the conflicted emotions I was feeling. I settled on GLOW since I had seen a few snippets when my wife watched it, and it looked fun. Halfway through I realized I was watching yet another show about Alison Brie playing a naive but hardworking member of an ensemble while having an awkward romance with a man twice her age.
God Damnit.
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