Community's Almost Finale

Article first published as Community's Almost Finale on TheTVKing.

For all of the complaints I've had about this fourth, Dan Harmon-less season of NBC's Community, and those complains have been numerous, as you'll see if you read my weekly reviews of the show, the one character that the writers have totally gotten right is Jeff (Joel McHale). Jeff, who starts out as a self-centered ego maniacal jerk, has grown into someone who is a true leader and team player. Working out the inner pain that causes him to be bad, Jeff is able to become good.

The fourth season finale, "Advanced Introduction to Finality," is a Jeff-centric story. Having taken the required number of credits, Jeff is graduating early, halfway through the school year. His former colleague, Mark (Joe Lo Truglio), offers him the chance to get his old life back, becoming a lawyer again with a fat paycheck, relying on his lack of scruples to make him rich and powerful.

When Community begins, this is what Jeff wants. He's annoyed at having to attend college, and is fine with using the people who can help him skate through, biding his time until he can return to his old life.

But along the way he has come to value those around him. His study group has become his family. These people see something in him that no one in the legal world did, and like Jeff for who he is, not just what he can do. That wouldn't have mattered to the old Jeff. The new Jeff, however, sees that his life is better for his friends, and resists turning back to his old ways, deciding not to take the job.

Which is why "Advanced Introduction to Finality" mostly takes place inside of Jeff's head as he battles with himself over the path to take. He imagines Evil Jeff and Evil Annie (Alison Brie) invading his world, soon joined by their evil companions, trying to make him go back to the law. They destroy his relationships and attempt to wreck everything he has built.

Jeff does build himself an escape hatch in the form of Abed (Danny Pudi) and Evil Abed, whom are now both good, working together to stop the Evil Study Group and save Jeff's soul. Together, they not only give Jeff the weapons he needs to fight back, but help him come to terms with why he should not go back to who he was.

Taken by itself, the main meat of the episode is goofy. Sure, it combines some fan favorite elements of Community such as paintball guns, the imposter Dean (J.P. Manoux), alternate realities, and both Annie and the Dean's (Jim Rash) crush on Jeff. Many of the recurring players attend Jeff's graduation / wedding, so they get to be present. But the story falls flat, especially in the paintball fight, in which everyone spends more time delivering witty banter than actually struggling to win. For all the great gags, such as hearing about The Cape season three, it doesn't add up correctly overall.

Since it's all in Jeff's head, though, it's OK. There was a time Jeff wouldn't even have engaged in fantasies, but now, influenced by his friends, this is how he chooses to work out his internal monologue. It's a testament to his maturation and development, and once the basic premise is understood, "Advanced Introduction to Finality" raises itself up as one of the best installments of the season.

That being said, I am very grateful it isn't a series finale. Choosing to put the spotlight completely on Jeff's own journey robs the rest of the cast of any sort of ending. Annie doesn't get to be with Jeff, Britta (Gillian Jacobs) barely gets any validation for her talents, Chang's (Ken Jeong) moments are wonderful, but too brief, and the Dean only gets a small, public exchange with Jeff, rather than the heartfelt, open discussion of feelings he warrants. And Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) and Troy (Donald Glover) get even less than most anyone else.

The one other character, besides Jeff, who does get an ending is Pierce (Chevy Chase). Utterly wasted the back half of this year, with his absence of several episodes having to be explained away, Pierce grows jealous of the attention Jeff gets when graduating, and decides he wants to do so, too. So the Dean lets Pierce graduate from Greendale, too.

I can't say this is a satisfying way to let the old codger go. Having him lost in the woods would have been better. This is with little fanfare, and shows no growth for his character whatsoever. It's assumed Pierce won't return next season, since Chase quit the series, so this is probably the last we'll see of him. What a shame.

As much as it sucks to lose comedy legend Chase, and admittedly he is lost for much of the time he is actually on Community, his departure could be what saves the show. With Chase out, NBC is rumored to be interested in wooing creator Dan Harmon back. Considering how brilliant the show was when he worked on it, and how this season has been so comparatively weak, a Harmon return could be just would the series needs to revitalize and fix itself. Let's hope it happens.

"Advanced Introduction to Finality" is an almost solid episode, but not a fitting series finale. Since it doesn't have to be, it works well. The window is still open for the famed #SixSeasonsAndAMovie, if fans are lucky. For now, they can count their blessings regarding the unexpected renewal of season five.

Community has been renewed and will return to NBC, likely in early 2014.

Community continues to shock and awe

NBC's Community raises the stakes in "Course Listing Unavailable." Upset by the death of Star-Burns (Dino Stamatopoulos), which leads to a professor quitting and the study group, among others, forced into attending summer school, the students of Greendale rebel. Chang (Ken Jeong) takes the opportunity to seize power, initiating martial law and liberally using pepper spray. The school board is furious. Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) and the study group, now known as The Greendale 7, intend to make Chang the fall guy, but before they can, Chang replaces the Dean with a double (J.P. Manoux, Aaron Stone, ER), who gets The Greendale 7 expelled.

Community is having a hell of a spring run. Two weeks ago, the show blows many a mind when Annie (Alison Brie) breaks Abed's (Danny Pudi) brain and has to fix it in the Dreamatorium. Last week's installment is a full-fledged tribute to Law & Order, complete with a play on the theme song and the iconic noises, as well as some really good jokes. And now, "Course Listing Unavailable" starts a wild ride, surely a multi-episode arc, where the students must fight for their very right to attend class!

At heart of the story of Community, no matter how far out on a limb the series goes, is that it is a show about students attending community college. Now that The Greendale 7 are expelled, what will they do? Hopefully, it will take more than one week to expose Chang's scheme and resume their rightful place in the halls of Greendale. If they can overthrow the tiny dictator, though, it seems likely the real Dean will be so grateful that he will give them the credits needed to make up for this expulsion. Thus, their summer school problem will be solved, after using much more effort than going to classes would have taken.

Chang is a weird character, and he is not everyone's favorite. This is all right, because he is often in the background, and goes weeks without having any real story. However, the plot of "Course Listing Unavailable" plays perfectly to his strengths. Chang gets to be crazy and actually cause serious trouble, rather than just being an annoyance. His army of children is fantastic, because they have the same emotional maturity, and they are the only group of people that would willingly serve such an insane ruler. This is using Chang in the absolute best possible way.

Jim Rash continues to delight as the Dean. Now with an Oscar under his belt for a screenplay he wrote, Rash still proves he has the sitcom comedy chops to act ridiculous. In "Course Listing Unavailable," viewers see him select an outfit from his closet in order to break bad news to the study group in the form of a pun. It's something one may long assume the Dean does, but it's fun to get this glimpse of the process. And it's moments like these that make Rash (and his equal parts lovable and creepy character) invaluable to Community. Rescue the Dean! The show can't afford to lose him!

With everything else going on, the death of Star-Burns is a bit overshadowed. While never a key player in Community, Star-Burns is one of the B-cast, which is essential to give the school its charm, and to fill out the universe. It's funny how his death affects the characters. Jeff (Joel McHale) may just be trying to cause a riot to avoid summer school, but Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) have some feelings about his passing. After all, Britta once made out with him! Though, Troy (Donald Glover) likely cares more about Star-Burns' lizard, and Abed and Pierce (Chevy Chase) are probably just jumping on the band wagon, in the differing ways that they usually do so.

There is no series like Community on television. It's a brilliant piece of writing, with an awesome cast. The stories take wonderful chances and go in unexpected directions. For instance, who could predict that the end of "Course Listing Unavailable" would reference back to a fall episode about the roll of a dice, already a series classic? (Is this a hint that most of the season has happened in an alternate universe? Hopefully not!) Or that Subway, a major sponsor, would allow their restaurant to be trashed as part of the riot? Or that the students would, years later, criticize the anus-like school symbol they helped create?

Community deserves the chance to keep doing what it's doing, and the television landscape would certainly be worse off without it. So NBC, please renew Community for at least another season! Give the characters a chance to graduate! Community airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

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Wilfred doesn't define its "Identity"

     In the season finale of FX's Wilfred, Jenna (Fiona Gubelmann) eats drug-laced candy that Wilfred (Jason Gann) leaves laying out at Ryan's (Elijah Wood) place. The resulting strange behavior causes Jenna to lose her job as a news anchor. Ryan puts his lawyer hat back on to help Jenna with her boss (Ray Wise, Chuck, Reaper), but must resort to blackmail to get her position back.

     Because Ryan touches the dark side of himself, left behind until now, he begins to be sneakily manipulative in other parts of his life, too. Ryan drives a wedge between Jenna and her boyfriend, Drew (Chris Klein), because he wants Jenna for himself. However, this backfires, and soon Jenna is planning on marrying Drew, thinking she is pregnant, while Ryan's sister Kristen (Dorian Brown), a pawn in his game, is left by her husband, Leo (J.P. Manoux), not realizing she is the one carrying the baby. Plus, she tells Ryan he is dead to her. To make matter worse, Wilfred is hit by a car, leaving Ryan without any help in fixing the mess he made, as well as finding his "Identity." "Identity" being the title of the episode.

     "Identity" is a confusing episode of Wilfred for a number of reasons. First of all, Ryan struggles to comprehend what exactly is going on with Wilfred. His canine companion, whom he sees as a man in a dog suit, is perceived as a dog by others. Is Wilfred a dream? Is Ryan in purgatory, as Wilfred hints when he references Lost this week? Is Wilfred sent to better or worsen Ryan's life? Or perhaps he is a dark part of Ryan's psyche manifesting itself. This last explanation makes some sense, given that Ryan's bad qualities apparently disappear when Wilfred arrives on the scene, and after Ryan takes them back, Wilfred is left severely injured and with amnesia.

     But the question is, if Wilfred is representative of Ryan's bad side, why does he sometimes do good? The dog is an enigmatic figure, whose motivations are often murky, at best. While much of the time Wilfred campaigns to help Jenna and use Ryan as a servant, other times he truly seems to want to assist Ryan in bettering himself. Or Wilfred gets him into big trouble. So what exactly is this dog? An angel or a devil on Ryan's shoulder?

     It's also odd that Wilfred just happens to accidentally leave a drug sucker laying around, since his other actions are almost always well thought out, whether with good or bad intentions. Wilfred may act like a dumb dog at times, but he is a very deliberate character. To make such a stupid, far-impacting mistake seems unlike him. So maybe there is more going on here than is immediately obvious.

     Finally, why did Ryan's basement disappear, to be replaced with a closet? Certainly it ties into Wilfred's will, a foreshadowing of a disastrous event. But now Ryan can't each the will. Will the will explain why these happenings went down? Or how Ryan can get the old Wilfred back? Ryan didn't imagine the whole friendship with Wilfred, because the dog is still a man in costume just before Ryan goes home to discover the missing lower floor. The confusing finale leaves much in doubt between seasons.

     That being said, Wilfred remains an intriguing show, and while a tad unsatisfying, the finale cannot be called simple or boring. Wilfred has been renewed for a second season on FX.

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Article first published as TV Review: Wilfred - "Identity" on Blogcritics.