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

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

Nice; we finally have an episode which takes place at the school.

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:

http://i.imgur.com/JWnxcQC.jpg

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

Outfits.

http://i.imgur.com/T6MkKa7.jpg

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

Speaking of school... it's an episode THAT takes place in the school, not WHICH takes place in the school.

You're welcome.

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

Even better.

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.

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.

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

I'll carry the torch into next week. :wave:

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

:thumbsup:

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

Mmm cleavage.

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

That felt like a real Community episode. Cautious optimism rising...

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

"I fuckin love tits, you guys"

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

Hey, the Germans were doing the Strongbad Techno music!

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.

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

That was great.

Todd - "They lost a pen"

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.

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

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

I liked the flashbacks showing the group monopolizing the room for nonsense

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?"

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.

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.

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

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. :)

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

They have a guest star play the teacher every season! I think people need to stop over-analyzing this show and just watch it.

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

I agree with this point. Hell, Betty White played the professor in Season 2 for a few episodes at least.