I know the video game episode from earlier tonight was originally the season finale, but this makes a much, much better ending to a tumultuous season of well-written television. Those last five minutes, just … wow.
OK, so let’s start with the relatively light stuff … which just comes down to the Dean and Rob Corddry. Jim Rash gets to put on just a few more insane outfits before the end of the season — I kind of thought he pulled off the Lady Justice costume rather nicely. Corddry came back as a reminder of everything from Jeff’s past and he does smug very well. He wasn’t stealing any scenes, but then again this episode was all about the core gang, so Corddry did his job.
Now, onto Evil Abed. I loved how he quickly began to recreate the darkness that permeated through his own timeline. He had a good start with Britta (who you can hear mention possibly dying her hair) and he was only a few feet away from taking down Jeff’s arm with a kitchen appliance. I have no idea how he was going to get Annie to accidentally shoot Pierce, but the guy is clever and evil so I guess he had some sort of plan. Looking back, it’s pretty chilling that Evil Abed was once just Abed. It’s still the same character and it only took a roll of the die to set him on this path of darkness.
Setting this later in the summer was a smart move, not only to show the gang retaking Biology, but to also let Troy have some time at his new studies. Like Troy says, the intensity radiating from the AC repair school is just so ridiculous, but what makes the murderous secret society of tradesmen with a foretold messiah work is John Goodman and his baritone voice. I wasn’t quite sure how the writers would handle his character throughout the year and it was better than I would have anticipated. Troy being the bigger man and doing the right thing (thus proving he is the AC messiah) fits in with his growth over the past three years while also working as a parallel for Jeff’s big speech.
Say what you will about Jeff’s almost obligatory end speeches. I don’t care if they’re melodramatic — this one totally worked for the season finale. What he said really sums up the entire show (and this message has been reinforced by Dan Harmon on the commentaries): a community is simply individuals coming together and choosing to be good to one another. And a great community can survive practically anything … even the darkest parts of each other. This revelation truly shows how far Jeff Winger has come since the pilot — and when he thanked Corddry for inadvertently sending him to Greendale … that’s just good storytelling.
With the theme song playing in the background (love that song, by the way), we get to see the characters moving on just a little bit. Shirley and a less insensitive Pierce do get their sandwich stand. Britta moves in with Troy, Abed and Annie. Jeff begins the search for his father. This could have been the very last episode of Community ever and while alternate timeline Katie Schenkel is probably still heartbroken that the show is over, she at least knows that the show ended on a really, really good note while giving the characters a good end to their story (here’s hoping there are no felt bearded doppelgangers in this writer’s future).
Of course, since the montage also included some ominous shots of Dean Spreck’s sinister plans (with a possible Chang team-up) and Abed hiding away another Dreamatorium, I am very glad we are getting at least 13 more episodes of this amazing show. But still, it won’t hurt to shoot for more. Six seasons and a movie, anyone?
Oh yeah, and Starburns is still alive! So there’s that!
All the best quotes:
“Because you think you’re broken, you’re going to get diagnosed by someone who said her favorite superhero is ‘X-Man’?” — Evil Abed about Britta
“Who cares … everything is terrible.” — Britta
“Oh no, have you been watching Dance Moms again?” — Annie
“I made a new rule that the air conditioning school has to act like a regular school. I can do that because I’m their messiah.” — Troy
“Cool. I went crazy and wanted to cut off Jeff’s arm.” — Abed
Clacked by Katie Schenkel 
on May 18, 2012 @ 00:01 EST5EDT
I loved the…
#sixseasonsandamovie
At the end! Haha
For once shuffling episodes around I guess worked out for the better. As cool as it was to have Gus Fring show up on Community, that one was just too weak to be the end of this year.
Just seeing everyone get their moment to shine in human form made all the difference.
*POST AUTHOR*
I actually think the video game episode would have worked perfectly last week, as if this is what they did while they were expelled. Here, they go from “Let’s save the Dean!” from last week to “Oh hey, Pierce might get a huge ton of money!” Some momentum gets lost.
Yeah switching last week with the video game one would have made a much stronger lead up to the finale. I thought it was rather weird to throw a stand alone episode in the middle of the fray. Maybe it will lead to more once Revolution is cancelled and the actor is available again. Even in the Friday death slot following Whitney, Community has a better chance than a high concept drama on NBC.
Good article!
(Little typo though: It’s supposed to be Troy, ABED and Annie ;) )
But are you sure they actually move in together? I mean I can see how one would think that, but to me it rather looks like she’s helping him move back in. And they only took down the dreamatorium so Abed gets better.
At least that’s my guess.
Anyway….While the finale was really good, I’M having doubts about Britta’s evolution. After it was clear that the Jeffy Britta pairing was not optimal and in fact a bit too cliché, I think devolving Britta is not the solution. Ofc this is the only option to make the Britta/Troy pairing possible (since they have a huge age difference), but she actually went from the “mum” of the group to another kid. Jeff mentions it once (“You seemed smarter when I first met you”).
Not sure whether I should like that.
Plus: THEY FOOLED US!
I was SO psyched about Jeff/Annie. Esepecially when he daydreamed the song in the first episode. (quote: “We’re gonna sleep together!” unquote)
It somehow feels left out with all the Troy, Abed, and Lawyer Problems at the end.
it’s “You seemed smarter THAN ME when we first met”
*POST AUTHOR*
Typo fixed. Thanks for the heads up.
I always saw the “We’re gonna sleep together” line from the season opener as a joke line more than anything, since the other lines of the song describe becoming mainstream and Britta getting happy and Troy and Abed fixing their frame of mind.
I thought so too, but all of those things came true too some extent. Troy and Abed did become normal for one episode and you could say Britta is finally happy (after the whole Blade thing)
Anyway….well I probably was reading more into it than there was.
The mind only reads what it wants to read! Or see/hear/smell
*POST AUTHOR*
Don’t worry. Last season finale I was CONVINCED that Nathan Fillion was going to guest star as a hallucination of Mal Reynolds to inspire Troy to win. The signs were all there, and yet…
I still don’t get why Britta and Troy didn’t kiss (instead of kiss on the cheek) when he was going away to AC school. Just seem fairly odd, and it seems like Britta hasn’t kissed anyone since that eastern european murder guy