10 Best Community Episodes

After a truly shaky fourth season without creator Dan Harmon, peace was restored for a substantially better fifth season. While the show was still miles from its glory days, they did manage to bring out a few memorable episodes in its closing run, most notably “Geothermal Escapism”, Donald Glover’s final episode.

It does lean a little too heavily on the wackiness that overtook the show in its later years, with the Floor Is Lava game being a retread of previous paintball episodes (and not even a knowing one), but the emotional heft given to the departure of Troy elevates it, especially in its closing third.

Glover was on his way to superstardom at this point, but puts in an emotional final performance as he says goodbye to the study group. The character of Troy perhaps evolves more than any other over Community’s run, and Glover was up to the challenge of every iteration.

With two of the original seven leading actors now departed, it was perhaps not a wise decision for the show to continue. Returns would diminish, but at least the penultimate season was graced with one great, touching episode to remember.