This season of community started off with what could have been a phenomenal episode, but somehow fell short. The premier had everything going for it, Michael K. Williams and John Goodman as guest stars, a fancy musical opening sequence, references to 2001 A Space Odessey and Doctor Who, and Senior Chang living in the air ducts. In fact everything this show had going for it is probably what held it back. Though Community is famous for its episodes that delve into absurdity, the strongest episodes are the ones which focus on the characters. With Pierce leaving the group in “For a Few Paintballs More” it made for the perfect set up for a big character comedy dealing with Pierce’s redemption. Instead the Pierce’s return is handwaved, and focus moves to Jeff going a little crazy.
The main plot revolves around Jeff becoming “the villain”. When Pierce returns Jeff says that he shouldn’t be in the study group because he’s not in Biology 101. They’re now friends and have evolved beyond only hanging out in class together. When Jeff’s kicked out of the biology class the group shares his plan backfires, and he finds himself ostracised. It was a weak plot which was dressed up with one off gags. I’m not saying the gimmicks weren’t funny but any one of them could have been its own episode. Chang living in the ducts could have made an alien parody episode. John Goodman alone was so hilarious it was terrifying.
On a scale of 1 to Epic (Epic = 10) this episode gets a 6.7.