Community: Every Season Ranked Worst To Best
2. Season 3
While Season 1 is Community at its most "normal," Season 3 is Community at its "weirdest." Nearly every episode acts as some sort of concept episode, and a majority of them work really well. This season gives us a Ken Burns style documentary about a pillow fight, an intense study of the Dean's psyche as he struggles to direct a commercial for Greendale, and a heist in order to take down Greendale's new dictator, Ben Chang.
Despite the ridiculousness of these episodes, Season 3 maintains Community's signature heart throughout its run. Even some of its zanier episodes, like Virtual Systems Analysis, which features Abed giving Annie a tour of his Dreamatorium, have serious heartfelt moments. Where most shows would abandon reality as they drift further into fantasy, Community continues to embrace its character moments.
Of course, the season's best episode is Remedial Chaos Theory. This Emmy nominated episode is widely regarded as Community's best. It follows a house warming party at Troy and Abed's new apartment. The duo order a pizza for their friends, and Jeff rolls a six-sided dice to see who will go to get dinner. This creates six alternate timelines that Abed envisions, including the iconic, grim, and hilarious Darkest Timeline.
In the end, Abed catches the die, and points out that Jeff rigged the system, making him the pizza getter and avoiding all of the alternate timelines altogether. This episode is clever, hilarious, one of a kind, and everything Community should be.
The only reason Season 3 does not rank as Community's best season is because all of its more bizarre concept episodes cancel each other out. If every episode is "a very special episode," they all lose a bit of their charm. However, if a season of television's biggest flaw is that all of its episodes are too good, then you know it's a great season of television.