Go Back  DVD Talk Forum > Entertainment Discussions > TV Talk
Reload this Page >

Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

TV Talk Talk about Shows on TV

Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Old 02-28-13, 03:00 PM
  #1  
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
 
Deftones's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Arizona
Posts: 80,962
Received 1,359 Likes on 922 Posts
Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

The gang begin a European history course after missing out on an ice-cream class. Adding to their misery is an encounter with the arrogant German students they battled last year. Elsewhere, Chang returns to Greendale, much to Dean Pelton's chagrin.
Old 02-28-13, 03:13 PM
  #2  
DVD Talk Legend
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 19,324
Received 873 Likes on 644 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Nice; we finally have an episode which takes place at the school.
Old 02-28-13, 03:14 PM
  #3  
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
 
Matt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 4,639
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Even if tonight's episode sucks, we still have this outfit to look forward to:

Old 02-28-13, 03:29 PM
  #4  
DVD Talk Limited Edition
 
Meglos's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 5,407
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Originally Posted by MWB
Even if tonight's episode sucks, we still have this outfit to look forward to:

Outfits.

Old 02-28-13, 03:57 PM
  #5  
DVD Talk Limited Edition
 
madcougar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Houston
Posts: 6,691
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Originally Posted by Noonan
Nice; we finally have an episode which takes place at the school.
Speaking of school... it's an episode THAT takes place in the school, not WHICH takes place in the school.

You're welcome.
Old 02-28-13, 04:14 PM
  #6  
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
 
Matt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 4,639
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Originally Posted by Meglos
Outfits.

Even better.
Old 02-28-13, 05:53 PM
  #7  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 568
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

That self-pic of Jacobs is not very flattering.

Hopefully a return to the school comes with a return to form for the show.
Old 02-28-13, 06:08 PM
  #8  
DVD Talk God
 
DJariya's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: La Palma, CA
Posts: 78,683
Received 3,550 Likes on 2,542 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Just wanted to let you guys know I'm back from vacation. But, I'm not really in a TV frame of mind yet. Just sat through an 12 1/2 hour flight and I'm freaking exhausted. I'll gradually work my way back to contributing to this forum. I have 2 weeks worth of shit to watch as well.
Old 02-28-13, 06:51 PM
  #9  
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
 
Deftones's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Arizona
Posts: 80,962
Received 1,359 Likes on 922 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Originally Posted by DJariya
Just wanted to let you guys know I'm back from vacation. But, I'm not really in a TV frame of mind yet. Just sat through an 12 1/2 hour flight and I'm freaking exhausted. I'll gradually work my way back to contributing to this forum. I have 2 weeks worth of shit to watch as well.
I'll carry the torch into next week.
Old 02-28-13, 06:55 PM
  #10  
DVD Talk God
 
DJariya's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: La Palma, CA
Posts: 78,683
Received 3,550 Likes on 2,542 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Originally Posted by Deftones
I'll carry the torch into next week.
Old 02-28-13, 07:18 PM
  #11  
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
 
Moopher's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: kj
Posts: 3,238
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Mmm cleavage.
Old 02-28-13, 07:34 PM
  #12  
DVD Talk Gold Edition
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: A secret rebel stronghold in the Republic of San Marcos
Posts: 2,406
Likes: 0
Received 15 Likes on 9 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

That felt like a real Community episode. Cautious optimism rising...
Old 02-28-13, 07:41 PM
  #13  
Moderator
 
dex14's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 44,889
Likes: 0
Received 4,516 Likes on 3,064 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Originally Posted by Meglos
Outfits.

"I fuckin love tits, you guys"
Old 02-28-13, 07:47 PM
  #14  
Senior Member
 
Gilgamesh1082's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 660
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Hey, the Germans were doing the Strongbad Techno music!
Old 02-28-13, 09:40 PM
  #15  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 568
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

"You had me at ruse."
"That was the last thing I said."
"Good thing you said it."

Actually a pretty enjoyable episode, and it didn't feel like any of the characters were dumbed down or trying too hard. Showing how their study room use affected the other students over the years was fun. Some of the jokes fell flat but this might have been the strongest of the season so far.

I'm still waiting for a truly outstanding episode though. Something tells me this isn't going to be a season that demands to be rewatched.
Old 03-01-13, 01:40 AM
  #16  
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 4,883
Received 31 Likes on 25 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Originally Posted by SpanishTechno
Showing how their study room use affected the other students over the years was fun.
That was great.

Todd - "They lost a pen"
Old 03-01-13, 06:23 AM
  #17  
DVD Talk Limited Edition
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Southside Virginia
Posts: 6,457
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

This was a really good episode. I have some commentary about it, but I want to stress I'm not trying to pick the show to death. My expectation is that when such a big change happens at the top, there will be things that are different.

With that said, Dan Harmon would have never made several of the choices in this episode. First, the Dean would have been much more involved in the study room thing. Having the Dean distracted with Chang was a good call, but something more specific to the plot would have been a much better choice. Establish that the Dean had signed that study room out to the group like a couple of semesters at a time but he got distracted by the Chang stuff.

On top of that, Community is not a show where the other study rooms are clearly objectively inferior and therefore the rest of the school hates the gang. It's a show where (perhaps with one funny exception), the study rooms should be all virtually identical. One should have had an oval table instead of a rectangle. Another should have had different color chairs. Sure, put one in the basement and make it horrific. The point should have been how absurd the attachment to the one particular one was. The other students shouldn't have been rioting against the group, either. Instead, the group should have tried to rally support from the other students who were then just completely mystified about why it's a big deal. Leonard perhaps would be sympathetic if he thought they had to use study room x, the one crappy one in the basement, but then when he found out no it's that they were in study room b, the one that is identical except the chairs are a different color, he's just exasperated.

The Harmon view on this show was very specific and absurdist to a larger degree than with these new guys. It appears when they try to recapture that type of thing, they can't get the characters right. When they get the characters right, they don't get the absurdism correct. It's close enough to satisfy me, but I thought we weren't going to get any more Community because it was going to be canceled last year. I see this as bonus Community which is better than no Community.
Old 03-01-13, 08:21 AM
  #18  
DVD Talk Limited Edition
 
Meglos's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 5,407
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Old 03-01-13, 08:47 AM
  #19  
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
 
Join Date: Jul 1999
Posts: 4,592
Received 13 Likes on 11 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

I liked the flashbacks showing the group monopolizing the room for nonsense
Old 03-01-13, 08:59 AM
  #20  
DRG
DVD Talk Legend
 
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: ND
Posts: 13,421
Likes: 0
Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Yeah, this one was pretty good. I loved the little throwaway lines... like the Germans referring to the show as "Hogan's Villains". And Pierce getting pissed about not being the group's 'Hitler'... "So we're not even going to talk about it?"
Old 03-01-13, 10:06 AM
  #21  
DVD Talk Limited Edition
 
madcougar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Houston
Posts: 6,691
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

I was immediatly put off by the fact that Nick Kroll was missing from the group of Germans. At that point, I realized I couldn't place the other two actors if I'd wanted to. I know that this probably sounds insane, but at this point, I just couldn't enjoy the episode.
Old 03-01-13, 10:17 AM
  #22  
DVD Talk Limited Edition
 
rocket1312's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 6,142
Likes: 0
Received 946 Likes on 669 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

This episode was ok, but I still haven't seen anything this season that comes close to the show's best. The stories so far all have great ideas in them, but none seem particulary well fleshed out. Dan Harmon was notrious for agonizing over every little story beat making sure that they were all in service of his little story arc circle/chart/thing that he drew for each episode. That level of personal investment seems missing to me this year. It all feel very "paint-by-numbers."

I liked the callback to the "history of ice-cream" and Pierce complaining that Jeff was the Hitler was great. I was initially excited to see the Germans return, but that excitement was quickly squashed once I realized Nick Kroll was replaced. The new guy (who I assume is some comedian I just didn't recognize) wasn't nearly as funny. And what's the deal with all of the guest stars this year? Was there any real reason they needed Malcom McDowell to play the teacher? It seemed totally wasted to me. I assume he's going to be recurring so hopefully they'll actually use him more later on.
Old 03-01-13, 10:45 AM
  #23  
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
 
Xander's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Des Moines, IA
Posts: 4,676
Received 80 Likes on 62 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Originally Posted by DRG
Yeah, this one was pretty good. I loved the little throwaway lines... like the Germans referring to the show as "Hogan's Villains". And Pierce getting pissed about not being the group's 'Hitler'... "So we're not even going to talk about it?"
Agreed. And I liked them showing how the other students felt about the Greendale 7 hogging the study room all the time.

I wish Nick Kroll had returned. The new head german was annoying. But overall, I liked it.
Old 03-01-13, 10:45 AM
  #24  
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
 
Obey The D's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 8,626
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Originally Posted by rocket1312
And what's the deal with all of the guest stars this year? Was there any real reason they needed Malcom McDowell to play the teacher? It seemed totally wasted to me. I assume he's going to be recurring so hopefully they'll actually use him more later on.
They have a guest star play the teacher every season! I think people need to stop over-analyzing this show and just watch it.
Old 03-01-13, 10:52 AM
  #25  
DVD Talk Limited Edition
 
madcougar's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Houston
Posts: 6,691
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 2 Posts
Re: Community - "Alternative History of the German Invasion" -- 02/28/2013

Originally Posted by Obey The D
They have a guest star play the teacher every season! I think people need to stop over-analyzing this show and just watch it.
I agree with this point. Hell, Betty White played the professor in Season 2 for a few episodes at least.

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.