Season 3 of Community is probably the weirdest season of Television I have ever seen outside of the DC Comics based shows. It's also probably the weirdest season of Television that I have ever heard of that isn't the entirety of Rick and Morty (which I have never seen). Which is funny because Dan Harmon created both Community and Rick and Morty. I said this in my season 2 review but it bears repeating here. Part of the appeal of Community is that it isn't afraid to break from the show's formula when the narrative demands it. So if the narrative demands that a two part pillow fight war episode needs to happen, then it happens. If the narrative demands that Chang becomes completely unhinged, takes over Greendale and expel the Study Group, then that's what happens.
I don't remember the exact quote but Harmon said in an interview I watched on YouTube recently that the writers never planned the show out at the beginning of each season, they just wrote the episodes, planting seeds for stuff to be dealt with later on in the season as they went along. Except for season 3, because this season is more heavily serialized than the first two seasons were. The continuity was tighter and if you paid close attention you could see a couple of things develop over the course of the season.
There are two elements that were introduced this season that become a staple of the show, though one of these things is only around for this season. The first element is Inspector Spacetime, a show that homages the real world show, Doctor Who. The show is introduced in the first episode of the season when Cougar Town gets pushed back to mid-season, freaking out Abed, as that is Abed's favourite show. So then Britta attempts to help out by finding Abed a new favourite show. Her first attempt fails miserably because the show she finds for him, a spoof of Downton Abbey, only lasted for six episodes. However her next attempt, Inspector Spacetime, which Abed has never seen and has been on since 1962, becomes Abed's new favourite show after watching only one scene from some random episode, without very much context. Which is pretty cool.
The second element to be introduced this season is the Dreamatorium, a room in Abed, Troy, and Annie's apartment that's designed like the Holodeck from Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's where Abed and Troy play pretend and it plays a big role in episode 16 of the season, "Virtual Systems Analysis". From what I gather from the season finale, we only see the Dreamatorium in this season and then once it gets transformed into Troy's bedroom in the season finale, we never see it again. Which is fine because it served it's purpose.
Dan Harmon said in another video I watched on YouTube, that he realized that they had taken Pierce too far and made him too unlikable in season 2, and so they dialed both him and Dean Pelton back in season 3. However, as a result Chang ended up getting ramped up to the point where he actually goes insane. Which makes him more difficult to watch on screen than he was in seasons 1 and 2 combined. His declining mental state can actually be traced back to the season finale as he gets dosed with a nerve gas to kill Troy's pet monkey who had been hiding in the air vents at Greendale since season 1. This gas makes him go crazy because of his already fragile mind, which we've witnessed in the first two seasons. And then for the rest of the season he just goes down hill which culminates in the story arc at the end of the season, starting with the end of episode 17 "Basic Lupine Urology".
The way I would've written the final arc of the season is to make it a full season arc with Chang kidnapping Dean Pelton and replacing him with a lookalike earlier in the season, and the Air Conditioning School, led by John Goodman and the actor who plays one of Adam Goldberg's teachers on The Goldbergs, being the reason that Chang got as far as he did, as Goodman wanted to take Pelton out and replace him with someone less incompetent, while Chang wanted revenge on the Study Group for excluding him in season 2 and making fun of him in season 1. However the way it was done was good, but it wasn't as developed as it might've been had they done more with it earlier in the season.
My favourite episode this season is the aforementioned "Virtual Systems Analysis" where the Study Group has a three hour lunch break because Biology class is canceled for the day so the group splits off for fun activities. Jeff goes off and does something, Pierce goes to watch the beginning of three movies, Shirley goes across town for lunch at a restaurant, Britta and Troy go on a lunch date and Annie and Abed go back to their apartment to hang out in the Dreamatorium. The reason I like this episode so much is that it explores how Abed feels about everything. We learn that he's afraid of losing Troy because Troy is the only person who has a lot of patience with him and without him Abed is afraid that he'll end up in the proverbial locker (he got stuffed in his locker a lot in junior high) because he doesn't fit in and the rest of the group will get sick of him. However, Annie helps him see that he's not the only who feels this way and because of this he does fit in.
This episode is my favourite of the season because not only does it feature my two favourite characters on the show, Annie and Abed, but it also resonates with me on a personal level. I'm autistic and my interests tend to stray outside of the normal geek stuff that my friends like, plus I also make tons of pop culture references that are specific to TV shows and movies. Because of this sometimes I feel out of step with my friends and they have to assure me that I do fit in with them. Which is what Annie does for Abed in this episode. Hopefully we get more episodes featuring these two, because their chemistry is just as good as Abed's is with Troy. At least to me.
As for romantic relationships this season, Shirley remarries her husband Andre, who first appeared in season 2, and hints of a romantic attraction between Troy and Britta begin showing up pretty early on in the season. Unlike the previous two seasons though, the romance is even less of a focus this season, so Pierce, Jeff and Annie don't have romantic partners this season. Abed does during a video game that the group help Pierce out with so that he can claim his inheritance after his father passes away. His in game sprite does anyway.
This is the season where you really start to see NBC starting to get sick of this show. From the little research I've done on the production of this season, NBC pulled Community from it's mid-season schedule, in favour of the Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey led comedy, 30 Rock, putting the show on hiatus from the Christmas break until the middle of March when it returned. Also they fired Dan Harmon at the end of this season, leaving new showrunners to take the reigns for season 4, which only has thirteen episodes for me to go through.
Final Thoughts and Rating: Overall I think season 3 of Community is weird and ambitious. Maybe a little too ambitious as many of the storylines this season ended up going nowhere or started out strong but ended up fizzling out by the end of the season. As a whole though it was still a pretty great season. I didn't have any new favourite characters this season, it's still just Britta, Abed and Annie that I like the best. Both Pierce and Dean Pelton were toned down quite a bit thankfully. I also felt like the Air Conditioning School was more of a cult than Pierce's Reformed Neo Buddhism cult is, which made it the weirdest part of the season. Especially since it's an example of a storyline that just fizzled out instead of growing to it's full potential. I'm giving Community season 3 8/10 stars because while enjoyable, it was bloated and too much was going on in the season.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_(season_3)
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