Community: The Best Episode From Every Season
3. Season 4: Basic Human Anatomy
Due to the absence of series creator Dan Harmon, Community's fourth season feels off. Fans and future seasons refer to the year as "The Gas Leak Year," and often criticize the lack of character consistency in these thirteen episodes. However, a handful of episodes from the Gas Leak Year actually work quite well, such as Paranormal Parentage, Herstory of Dance, and especially Basic Human Anatomy.
The episode, written by Academy Award winning screenwriter Jim Rash (aka Dean Pelton), and follows Troy and Abed as they "switch bodies" a la Freaky Friday. This happens to coincide with Troy's one year anniversary with Britta, so Abed, as Troy, goes on that date.
While in each others' bodies, Troy (as Abed) and Abed (as Troy) both explain that Troy wants to end things with Britta. This shows just how much Troy and Abed care for and understand each other, since they both articulate why Troy and Britta are better as friends perfectly. Additionally, seeing Danny Pudi play Donald Glover and vice versa is priceless, as is seeing Jim Rash play Joel McHale.
Basic Human Anatomy captures Community's spirit better than any other episode of Season 4. Its parody has a purpose, it's heartfelt, and it's as funny and clever as the other seasons. A seasons worth of Basic Human Anatomy-esq episodes would have made the Gas Leak Year match the quality of the other seasons.