TV Review: Community Finale 3.20, 3.21 & 3.22
3.22 Introduction to Finality
rating: 5
Jeff begins the episode determined to pass the biology final, suddenly mentioning how focused he still is to get his bachelors and become a lawyer again, whilst Annie and Britta are concerned about Troy & Abed. Abed namely for not leaving his room since Troy left, and even agreeing Britta to study him, shes a psych major, remember! That must have popped up in every episode this season. Elsewhere the Dean announces the closure of Subway in the cafeteria and wanting to finally open Shirleys Sandwiches, but Shirley and financier Pierce fight over who gets to sign the contract, with the Dean deciding theyll settle in Greendale court. We also learnt Leonard has a crooked penis, Theres no such thing as bad press. Meanwhile Evil Abed has crossed over from the darkest timeline into our reality. Its still awesome that Abed has a dark persona, who persuades him to let him take over Abeds body for the day to make things that little more darker. The hallway strut scene was badass, and hilarious. Troy is depressed during his air-conditioning classes, leading Vice Dean Laybourne (guest star John Goodman) to teach Troy of the prophecy of the truest repair man whilst also showing him The Sun Chamber, a battle booth in which two repairmen duel to the death by trying to fix an air-con. The weirdest part of the episode was the abrupt demise of Vice Dean Laybourne, who died after this scene (off camera) fixing an air-con. Troys outbursts at how ridiculous this whole concept is were great. Shirley manages, with her sexy voice, to persuade Jeff to represent her at Greendale court, whilst Pierces lawyer is Alan (guest star Rob Corddry), the guy who got Jeff fired which led to him going to Greendale. Corddry was, as always, damn funny, playing the douchebag role effortlessly. Alan threatens Jeffs position being held for him at the firm if he doesnt throw the case and let Pierce win, whilst the Dean goes through a bunch of courtroom themed outfits, the best being blind justice. Evil Abed is also on his way to the courtroom to cut off one of Jeffs arms to maintain evil. Troy ends up suspecting the Vice Deans right hand man Murray murdered him to become his replacement, and challenges him to the sun chamber in honour of Laybourne. It felt really 80s, not least because of the wacky announcer at the start. Troy manages to keep his cool and manages to fix the air-con whilst making sure Murray doesnt die, which is when he reveals he murdered Laybourne. Great final cameo by Goodman too in Obi-Wan form. The rest of the air-con school decide to send Murray to the Infinite Labyrinth of Eternal Ice, which baffles Troy, No, take him to the police. He murdered someone. Take him to jail. You guys are weird. Amazing dead-pan delivery by Glover. Jeff wins the court case with a great Winger speech about helping others instead of yourself, simultaneously forfeiting his old job to do so, but winning the case for Shirley, and even changing Pierces attitude on using the word gay in a derogatory sense, and stopping the darkest timeline (and his own arm) from taking over this reality. Man, thinking about it, Community is a really weird show. The episode ended beautifully with a montage of the gang moving forward in their lives, complete with the At Least It Was Here theme tune in the background. If this was the last episode, I would have been satisfied. Shirley and Pierce open the sandwich shop, Jeff passes biology and decides to search for his father (please cast Bill Murray, please cast Bill Murray), Britta moves into the now defunct Dreamatorium with the final shot being of Abed jumping into a Dreamatorium he made out of a makeshift cardboard box in the fort, highlighting the power of imagination. It was an iconic moment that cemented the idea that Abed is the heart of the show. Not to mention some teasers for next season, namely Chang living in the air vents of City College, whose Dean is still planning his attacks on Greendale, and the fact that Star-Burns faked his death! I wouldnt hold my breath on seeing him next season though, especially now Harmon is no longer showrunner. Sorry I keep mentioning that, it still hurts. Nevertheless, what a fitting finale that did the characters justice. Sony can criticise Harmon all they want for not making the show commercial enough, but he certainly developed the lives of these characters beautifully over three seasons, always moving forward, and giving us some of the ballsiest and unique sitcom episodes Ive ever seen. Not to mention dozens of GIFs of Alison Bries cleavage. See you at season four. Cool. Cool cool cool. #sixseasonsandamovie