Did Community overshoot with “Documentary Filmmaking: Redux”? – Quibbling Siblings

Debbie:

The sky is a little less blue, the birds are singing slightly off-tune and somehow my chocolate doesn’t taste quite as good. OK, that last part may not be true, but my world is just a little duller knowing that Community has been pulled from the schedule. I’m not a big sitcom lover, and the cleverness that Community has brought to the table is unsurpassed.

This past week’s episode, for instance — “Documentary Filmmaking: Redux” was a piece of work. Like Kona, I adored every shout-out to past episodes, like bringing in Luis Guzman, Magnitude, the E Pluribus Anus flag and of course Abed making a film. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the acting so spot-on, and I always think it’s top-notch. But the Dean became a major player in this episode, and Joel McHale‘s Dean impression was perfection.

Rumor has it you thought that Community swung and missed with this episode, though — tell us about that.

Bob:

The rumors are true! Yes, I thought this episode was a swing and a miss, but what a swing it was. Truly, this is why I love and, more importantly, admire Community so much. The show is fearless. It is definitely the most creative show that takes an incredible number of risks. The vast majority of those risks turn out brilliantly, but every once and a while they fail … at least in this guy’s opinion.

I thought “Documentary Filmmaking: Redux” just wasn’t a great episode. I love the dean character a lot; I even got a little giddy when I saw that Jim Rash got his name added to the regular’s list during the opening credits (is there a show on today with a better theme song, by the way?). I think this episode showed me that the dean works best in small doses, though.

Don’t get me wrong, there were great moments in the episode. I enjoyed Pierce’s antics, I did like Luis Guzman’s appearance, and McHale was brilliant. I feel like all the callbacks that you mention sort of happen in every episode, so they didn’t really stand out in my mind. The flag shows up a lot, much like the “human being” mascot.

Through most of the half hour, I just felt bad. I felt bad for the dean, I felt bad for the people involved, I felt bad for Luis Guzman. I just wanted things to go well for the commercial. I guess at the end of the day everything turned out okay, and the dean learned an important life lesson (a staple for Community), but I just didn’t think the payoff was enough for all the human misery.

Debbie:

True, everyone was pretty pathetic, but it didn’t hit me because it just felt so fictional. You, with the cold, cold heart felt something, though … good for you!

Hopefully the last few episodes of Community to air before it’s yanked from the schedule will be more to your liking. Would you rather them play it slightly safe so they can go out on a good note, or are you willing for them to take a chance and attempt something crazy?

Bob:

Community play it safe? I would have none of it! Heck, I love most of the risks that the show takes. I know there was a lot of fan backlash to the episode about Troy’s 21st birthday, but I loved the episode. Yeah, it was definitely a different type of episode, but I enjoyed it. I guess this was a different type of episode too, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I think I was frustrated because it seemed so easy for Pelton to make an easy and successful commercial. It was right there, but he had to implode. I don’t know … it just didn’t work for me.

Debbie:

I found it easy to believe Pelton could implode … he’s always teetering on the edge. For a show that’s always putting the characters into other roles (even Claymation!) it felt just fine for me to have the characters all follow Pelton’s lead and melt down.

For the record, I loved Troy’s birthday episode too.

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Dec 01, 2011 @ 18:20 EST5EDT