This episode wasn't 'that' bad!

It's been interesting coming to this series late and reading the reviews it got from the same reviewer through the first four seasons. Because the reviews for Season Four stopped making any sense.

Having viewed the season and read the majority of the reviews from Todd, it seems that for three seasons the high concept "crazy bullshit" episodes are the ones which got the best reception, the best reviews and yet in Season Four, it is the episodes which take the high concept "crazy bullshitg" appoach that are almost punished with reviews and ratings which don't match what was provided on screen.

There are only really two fair criticisms of Season Four. Firstly that it didn't resolve all its Arcs (which is unfair because a show which expected 22 episodes, can't be expected to close everything out when it ends up only getting 13) and the way that the denouments in the middle of the season lapsed into moralising and falling into the old school sitcom trap of being nothing more than a thinly veiled morality play. The second criticism is valid but even then it was only a few episodes and didnt really undermine the rest of what we got.

Overall the strangest thing abiout how Season Four appears to have been reviewed (and from the audience rating, received by viewers) is that there is no inherent or real difference between Season Four and the first three seasons. The humour is similar, the framing is the same, the use of high concept and parody is identical.

This is the same show it was before, despite the change of show runner. If anything reading these reviews has been most interesting to see a reviewer fall out of love with a show despite nothing fundamental changing in the show.

I think I saw it in a different Community thread somewhere (good luck finding it) but it rang true: season 4 feels like it's a first draft. The other seasons were more honed and funnier, and Season 4 was very similar just ... not quite there. It needed a few extra passes and a critical eye before it got out of the writer's room.

About taking the "Jeff-as-teacher" bait...

The complaint I keep seeing when power-reading Season 4's reviews is how there is a lack of emotional resonance throughout. Seems that those who agree with that sentiment are forgetting that this is a comedy. Emotional nuance and personal growth are nice additions, but hardly the focus.

Little things, like Evil Jeff shoving his shoulder in the locker to hide his missing arm from Annie are just funny. Who cares if it's "all a dream"? Sure, people watch Community for different reasons, but these reviews have been commentary on the "nature" of Community as opposed to the substance of the episodes.

#100seasonsandanamusementpark

If we are still doing the 1,000,000 comments thing, here you go!

We'll make it some day ielasimov. Someday.

reading this made me feel sad... ive not read every review of yours. but ive been reading the ones from eps ive really loved (and finales). its a shame to see a show you once loved become one you just dont care about...

youre right, this show has been about jeff graduating and they should have done this differently, just a character episode of them all together instead of an attempt to rehash things that have been popular before.

You know my grandpa is a hard nut to crack? Yesterday, I saw him, and he was watching Fox News while explaining to me how thoughtful a recent episode of Louie was dealing with an overweight woman.

It was weird.

We did it, AITF!

:(

ipod nano

It's the engagement ring from the pilot!

Wow, over 82,000 comments. Remember when there used to be a ton of comments on some reviews? Remember pagination?

Thanks, disqus.

Over 82,000 comments! Holy makes-complete-sense-at-this-school! You guys must have LOVED this episode as much as me!! :'-D

I just came back, curious to see how Todd had generally ranked season 4, and wow... Such high marks across the board. At the time, I was kinda sorta hoping the episodes were going to turn out okay too, somehow.

Wishful thinking.

I remember getting ten minutes into Intro to Finality, and telling myself that it was finally all going to be over soon. Anyway, a year or two out, season 4 was going to look the same, no matter what. It wasn't possible for it to continue, which meant certain cancellation, but then the unthinkable happened... A more realistic average for this season would have been a C- or a D+ imo.

I just now finally saw this. I kept hearing how disappointing season 4 was, that I managed to be okay with it due to low expectations. I kind of liked this episode, and preferred this episode to the Heroic Origins one. And the Pierce's haunted house one.

Yeah, this one I actually thought was a lot better than the Heroic Origins one, which was just kind of painful.

I also realize I'm talking to 4 year old ghosts here but what are you gonna do.

IPOD NANO

IPOD NANOOOOOOO

Ipod Na-yes?

Just re-read this review after almost a year's distance and I gotta say, I still agree. This episode was putrid, and one of the few episodes of Community I couldn't watch more than twice. I toughed it out the first time and then watched it again a bit later to make sure that I wasn't being too harsh, and it's just a piece of crap through and through. It's all off, the writing, the mood, the fact that it could have been the Series finale. Just terrible, terrible stuff. Thankfully Harmon and co. are back at the helm and we're seeing the old spark return.

Got about 10 minutes through the Felt Surrogacy and gave up. Will just skip the rest of the season. Someone summarized things up nicely here in the comments for the 1st ep: "So this is what Community fanfic is like." :<

What's up with the comments crapflooding here? Why doesn't AVClub have a lounge forum where you guys can hang and discuss anything offtopic? I was on forums in the 90s with such niceties. It is impressive to dogpile more comments than most internet denizens ever make in their whole lives on a thread about a single episode of a TV show, but it does make it a bit difficult to find actual discussion of said TV show, ya know?

commentin' on girls, commentin' on girls
I ain't never seen it but I'm commentin' on girls

also I was finally able to log in to disqus

Yay.

YOU'RE ALL STUPID AND NO ONE IS HERE TO STOP ME FROM INSULTING YOU DUMB STUPIDS

I'm here, and I'm currently tracing your call.

Hey SBT, is there anywhere on here where y'all still come together and talk sometimes? I was wondering if there would be an SNL live thread tonight. I miss coming here :(

HEY LINDSAY! We've been missing you!

We're always hanging out in the board of last week's Community review.

We're usually liveblogging SNL here: http://tinychat.com/avclubc...

i'm not SBT, but i still get notifications from this board.

we're on the geothermal escapism review for the moment (we travel review to review), and there's always the chatroom: http://tinychat.com/avclubc...

everyone was saying just the other day how they missed you!

its coming from inside the house.

It's coming from inside the mouse.

I'm still here

NOT SO FAST, MYSTIC BOUNCE!

it is i, captain netiquette!

mutual respect and tolerance for different opinions WILL PREVAIL!

wrong place

But oh so right time.

*farts everywhere*

Hey, you're not Stingo!

And Stingo's not my mom!

That explains the look on Ron Swanson's face.

wallflower Is Listening To. . .

John Cage, Fontana Mix and Solo for Voice 2, both performed by Eberhard Blum. Cage's Fontana Mix is one of his most beautiful scores, and overlay of lines, dots, and a grid, meant to give cues for "events" in music or dance or theater. This CD is 50 minutes of that (performed by Blum on flute) overlaid with 10 minutes of Solo for Voice 2 (also random, with Blum vocalizing letters) in the middle. It's spare, like most Cage pieces, and since there's no intentional connection between the sounds, the focus is on the sounds themselves.

It works. Cage often quoted a 17th-century writer (or possibly a 20th-century Zen teacher) who sez that the purpose of music is "to sober and quiet the mind and make it receptive to divine influences," and there's something of that here. Blum uses a range of effects (overblowing, trilling, tapping the keys) but the dispersal of the sounds makes each one exist in its own space. The randomness of the score disciplines him (and me while listening) to break away from what we would expect of music and listen to the sounds. (Cage, and also Iannis Xenakis, have written of the necessity of calculating and creating randomness. If you just try and listen or play randomly, you fall into patterns without intending to.) Although not his best in this style (Ryoanji or the extraordinary Freeman Etudes would be those), it's a pleasant and quieting experience.

One thing I found myself thinking is that there is a lot of sound to be heard by applying Cage's scores to other non-Western-canon instruments. A version of this performed by Susan Rawcliffe's howling, screeching, multi-chambered flutes would be something amazing, and unforgettable. (Because of the shapes of these, the sound cannot be predicted as on a normal flute.)

I'll check these out. What is wallflower listening to now?

Follow the traveling conversation that is the Community Zone (it usually moves to the latest Community review on Sundays) or just flip through my posting history to find out. I'll be putting some new pieces up this week. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for replying. I have got a few recordings of compositions by John Cage, i.e. The Seasons, Indeterminacy, and Complete Piano Music, Vol. 1, but it's a pretty daunting body of work for the uninitiated!

Well yes, there is a shit-ton of it. It works best if you treat it as Cage said you should--leave it on, let other sounds exist, pay attention, and if you don't like it, you're free to walk away. (Somewhere in these posts I've covered Music for Four and the Harmonies from Apartment House 1776 and I'm pretty sure I did a Cage Gateway to Geekery on another article but can't find it.)

"let other sounds exist"

I like that phrase, whether it's yours or Cage's. I listened quite a bit last year to Chris Watson's El Tren Fantasma, a spliced-up field recording of a train journey across Mexico from Los Mochis to Veracruz. It's a remarkable and immersive listening experience. I found that birdsong and other ambient noise would blend with the recording, so every listen seemed like a truly unique experience. It might not be your cup of tea, but I recommend it. https://soundcloud.com/expe... [album preview]

More recently, I've been listening to La Monte Young's The Well-Tuned-Piano: https://www.youtube.com/wat...

I need to express this.

January 7th: "Love my place at Flagler Beach!!!!"
January 6th: "When life serves you lemons, make lemonade. Gotta love Key West!!!!!!!"
January 5th: "Isn't winter terrible?"

The preceding were Facebook updates from my uncle, all accompanied by screenshots of his weather app from somewhere in the bowels of Florida.

Piece of shit.

Key West is awesome! Ain't no bowel.

Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's all great. BUT THREE DAYS IN A ROW JESUS CHRIST UNCLE