Wasn’t there something about the gang having more fun and being less weird than the first two years combined? While alternate universes are certainly fun and I adored this episode, Community isn’t exactly making great strides in the “being more accessible to a general audience” department. Coupled with its low ratings, I’m getting a little worried about Community‘s continued survival.
But enough negativity. Let’s just enjoy the fact that this episode was amazing. As we were going through all of the alternate universes, it was fun to pick your favorite. Yes, the one where they all ended up happy and dancing to “Roxanne” was adorable in a Waiting to Exhale-kind of way, but there’s a lot to be said for the version in which Pierce gets shot in the leg and dies. I can get behind the version in which Annie and Jeff make out and things get weird, but I’m not so sure I’m a fan of the one in which Britta and Troy start making googly eyes at each other.
Most of all though, I’m just excited about Troy and Abed having an apartment together. If I have one complaint about this season so far, it’s that there hasn’t been nearly enough Troy and Abed just kickin’ it together. Look, I love the whole cast, but the last minute of the episode belongs to them. We haven’t gotten our traditional Troy and Abed endings, and it’s making me a little antsy. I’m hoping that once they’re in their apartment, we’ll have more opportunities for the two of them together at the end of the episode.
Of course, it looks like Little Annie Edison may be making her way into Troy and Abed’s domicile. This could be the only thing that makes Troy and Abed living together better; it just opens so much up. Not only is there the potential for more off-site episodes like this one (which I love), but they can be filled with awkward encounters between Annie and Jeff and perhaps even revisit the season 1 romance between Annie and Troy.
It’s interesting that they brought up Shirley’s alcoholism again; it always struck me as a weird dropped storyline. After Troy’s birthday party, it seemed like we’d delve into Shirley’s past a little bit more, but we never did. I wonder if this means that we’re going to finally get into it, or if it’s just going to be a weird gag that gets trotted out every so often. I’ve always said that Shirley needs more character development, so it would be nice to learn a little bit more about her life before the study group.
Not having the episode take place at Greendale means that there was no Chang, Dean, or any of the other nutjobs that populate the school. As much as I love them all, it was refreshing to just get back to the core group. This episode felt like a nice vacation; I can only assume that everyone’s going to come back next week refreshed and ready to kick ass.
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Oct 13, 2011 @ 21:29 EST5EDT
Great episode! I laughed hardest at the one that ended in total mayhem, but I actually got a little teary-eyed at the end when everyone was having such a good time together.
The way I understood that whole first episode this season was “I know you want us to change, but we don’t want to, so deal with it.” not the other way around, and I’m glad for it. I love this show and I want it to get stranger and stranger. I would rather have just one more season or less of the show I love than many more seasons of a show that has homogenized itself for the mass market.
I do miss the Troy and Abed endings. Brilliant episode
Flat-out loved this (these?) storyline. Definitely my favorite one so far in this young season. Going back to the dark universe at the end was a stroke of genius. Loved the pizza guy showing up: “There are other timelines?”
One thing I noticed was that the person who left set the tone for how everyone else acted; e.g., Abed leaving caused everyone to be horrible to each other, and of course Jeff leaving meant they could be more at ease. I wouldn’t put it past these writers to have intentionally done that based on which character they selected to leave. I’ll watch it again and try to see if I can pick up more of that.
Also loved that (prime timeline) Troy & Abed were watching “Professor Spacetime” at the end. “Looks like we’ve arrived just in time, Professor!” “More accurately, just in space.”
The Inspector Spacetime joke hidden in the last few second of the episode made my whole week.
Dan Harmon is a genius.
I guess I’m echoing what has already been said, but this was the best episode of the season so far. Brilliant. This show keeps proving over and over that it’s the smartest comedy on TV.
And that ending with Troy and Abed wearing the goatees was hysterical.
I think the absence of Chang and the Dean actually made this episode better. We have seven main characters and all their relationships with each other to explore. This is the perfect kind of story to do that.