Community: The Best Episode From Every Season
Even the Gas Leak Year has its moments.
Five years after its final episode, Community has enjoyed a second wind of popularity. After the NBC/Yahoo! Screen series hit Netflix earlier this year, more and more fans introduced themselves to Jeff, Britta, Abed, Shirley, Annie, Troy, Pierce, Chang, the Dean, and the wacky world of Greendale Community College.
The show follows Jeff Winger, a smarmy and lazy lawyer who, after he is caught with a fake bachelor's degree, must enroll in a local community college. There, he befriends his study group, made up entirely of crazy characters, and hilarity ensues. The show became famous for its homages and parodies, with episodes such as its Dungeons and Dragons spoofs, its documentary formatted outings, and its many paintball themed action movie sendups earning particular acclaim among fans.
Despite Community's greatness, its quality tended to vary between seasons. Most fans agree that Season 1 is great, Seasons 2 and 3 are the show's peak, and Seasons 5 and 6 are a solid finish to the show's run, though nowhere near as good as the earlier seasons. As for Season 4...we don't talk about the Gas Leak Year.
However, every season in the show's run has produced some great episodes. Here is the best episode from each season of Community.
6. Season 1: Modern Warfare
Modern Warfare, which comes towards the end of Community's first season, introduces the concept of paintball to the series. The episode follows Jeff, who, after waking up from a quick nap, sees that the gun based game has engulfed Greendale's campus. After discovering that the prize is priority registration on next semester's classes, Jeff takes the game seriously too, teaming up with the study group to ensure that they are the last seven standing.
The episode's highlight comes towards the end of the paintball game, when Jeff and Britta, after having sex, take on a crazed Chang (which is really a normal Chang) as he enters the study room, blasting them with paintballs akin to an action movie villain. After Chang and Britta eliminate each other, Chang laughs, as he reveals a paint bomb under his shirt, and that there's no such thing as priority registration. An enraged Jeff jumps out of the study room just in time, then confronts the Dean about this lie.
This episode is both funny and action packed, filled with great character moments, such as Jeff and Britta's relationship progressing and Jeff gifting Shirley his priority registration. Though Season 1 has many great episodes, such as Debate 109, Environmental Science, and Physical Education, Modern Warfare edges them out due to hits high stakes, parody, and the fact that it paves the way for many other incredible paintball outings.