The sixth season of Community is slightly better than season 5 was, but it was not as good as seasons 1, 2, and 3 are. In fact season 4 signaled the death of the series and it slowly died until season 6, episode 13, where it ended without much fanfare. However there are a few things that I really like in this season so it wasn't entirely unwatchable. Story wise it just didn't work as well as it was supposed to.
One of the things that I liked about this season is that the theme of change and accepting change is prevalent throughout the season. Our lives change all the time. We don't stay in the same status quo forever, but sometimes we have difficulty accepting that change. Especially if we've been doing something for six years or been with the same people for six years. This is a theme that has run through the last three seasons. Moreso in season 4, but also a little bit in season 5 with the death of Pierce and the departure of Troy. Oddly enough in both season 4 and season 6 this theme is explored through Jeff. In season 4 they're all graduating, but Jeff is graduating early and he isn't sure if he's ready yet. In this season, Jeff is afraid of being left behind because he's a teacher at Greendale at this point in the series, and everyone else on the Save Greendale Committee are students who will eventually leave the school. It's something I can relate to quite a bit as my friends have all come and gone at various points in my life and the only changes I've personally experienced since I got out of college was moving from one house to another.
Something else that I liked this season was the addition of Paget Brewster as Frankie Dart, the new consultant that the Dean hired to help fix up Greendale, and Keith David as Elroy Patashnik, the new head of the school's IT department. As characters they fit right in with the already established cast, even if their stories didn't really pan out the way Dan Harmon may have hoped they would. I'm not familiar with Paget Brewster's work at all, aside from her cameo as Greendale's former head of the IT department in season 5, but I'm pretty familiar with Keith David. Though I'm more used to his voice acting work as he was the voice of Goliath on Gargoyles and then the voice of Al Simmons/Spawn in the Spawn animated series in the '90s. Of course he's also narrated some documentaries, including one about the history of comic books. Aside from his role in the 2003 movie Agent Cody Banks, this is the first time I've seen him in live action.
The problem with the new characters is that, while they fit in with the established cast, they didn't really contribute anything to the season as a whole. The writers kept pairing them up with different characters but nothing stuck. For example in the season premiere, Frankie and Abed bond as Frankie understands Abed, due to the fact that her sister has a mental disability, though it's not specified as to which one, much like Abed's was never revealed on the show. But then they don't have any scenes alone together like their initial lunchtime scene in the season premiere, for the rest of the season. I was actually interested in that dynamic, because there was chemistry there between Danny Pudi and Paget Brewster. Unfortunately it fizzled out.
I think that's the biggest problem with this season as a whole. Everything just fizzles out. Stories aren't great, and the character dynamic was heavily messed up as almost half the original cast was gone as Shirley left between seasons. And while it shook things up, it probably did the most damage to the show. Even the chemistry between Jeff and Britta was pretty much gone this season. They had one scene together in the second episode of the season, after Britta discovered that her parents, played wonderfully by Martin Mull and Lesley Ann Warren, were secretly supporting her financially through her friends. But that's it. Even Annie and Abed didn't have an episode together this season, which was disappointing because I really felt like Annie would become the new Troy to Abed following Donald Glover's departure in the previous season. No such luck.
My favourite episodes this season were episode 8 "Intro to Recycled Cinema" and the series finale, episode 13 "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television". "Intro to Recycled Cinema" was the closest this season got to returning to the show's glory days in the first three seasons. It was wacky, it was strange and it told us something new about one of the characters. It's the episode where Jeff admits to Abed that he's afraid of being left behind, as Pierce died, Troy left to go sailing around the world with Levar Burton, Shirley left to go take care of her dying family member, and in this episode it looked like Chang was leaving to pursue an acting career in Hollywood. And then eventually Britta, Annie and Abed would leave too, with Annie becoming president, leaving Jeff alone at Greendale.
"Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" is probably the best series finale of a sitcom that I have ever seen. The series finale of The Big Bang Theory comes close, but the reason I like this episode so much is that it was simple. There was no grand story, no making a big deal out of it being the series finale. It just was. Annie and Abed left at the end, but they just had fun talking about what a seventh season of Community would be like. Jeff had two ideas. The first played into his fears of being left behind from "Intro to Recycled Cinema" and so the seventh season is where everyone gets a job teaching at Greendale and Jeff is the new Dean, with Pelton taking classes on how to be a better Dean. Jeff's second idea is where he's working at Greendale still, but he's married to Annie and they have a child named Sebastian.
The thing I like most about "Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" is that Abed says something that really resonated with me about TV. Here's the quote from Abed: "There is skill to it (pitching a TV show). More importantly it has to be joyful, effortless, fun. TV defeats it's own purpose when it's pushing an agenda, or trying to defeat other TV or being proud or ashamed of itself for existing. It's TV, it's comfort. It's a friend you've known so well, and for so long you just let it be with you, and it needs to be okay for it to have a bad day or phone in day. And it needs to be okay for it to get on a boat with Levar Burton and never come back. Because, eventually it all will".
That speech resonates with me because not only does it remind me that change is inevitable, but it also reminds me of what TV's role is in the world. As Abed said, TV defeats it's own purpose when it's pushing an agenda, or trying to defeat other TV or being proud or ashamed of itself for existing. Which, unfortunately, is what I'm finding to be the problem with modern TV shows, with few exceptions. It's why I can't get excited about Star Trek: Strange New Worlds just from a premise announced by the person who has all but destroyed the Star Trek franchise for many people, why I couldn't get into Batwoman and why I'm probably not going to watch Stargirl if we get it here in Canada on Netflix or on CTV Sci-Fi Channel. It's also why I stopped watching The Flash and why I'm not sure I'll watch season 6 of DC's Legends of Tomorrow. It's just not fun to watch TV anymore.
Final Thoughts and Rating: Overall season 6 of Community was a mess. reducing the episode count to thirteen episodes per season was a huge mistake on NBC's part in season 4 and 5 and then keeping it to thirteen episodes when it moved to Yahoo! Screen for season 6. Stories were not well written, despite Harmon's involvement in the season, and the character dynamic just wasn't what it was in the show's first three seasons. I don't blame Harmon or the cast for that at all. Harmon was busy with Rick and Morty, and the fact that Community was already canceled and was running on fumes for season 6 on an untried streaming service hindered the show further. While my investment in the characters kept me around to the very end, the show itself was destined to eventually crash and burn. I'm giving Community season 6 5/10 stars because I still love the characters and the overall premise of the show, but the final season just didn't work as well as it could've, because just like with season 5, there was potential that was wasted.
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