In typically self-referential form, the second season of Community returns with hopes that it will be more self-contained adventures and fewer relationship-driven plots. This it does in a season that sees the return of paint ball (wisely using it as the season-closer this time), a stop-motion episode, a faux-retrospective clip show, and of course a brilliant Dungeons & Dragons episode that brought my watching of the season to a pause as I went back to it several times.
It does remain a show that needs you to go along with its very meta ways, but it has great energy in doing so. Although the nature of many of the plots does mean that the season as a whole doesn't totally flow, it does suit the material well, and gives it a punchy pacing to the episodes. Some of the decisions in season-long threads are a bit odd though, and not always successful. Shirley's baby is of course one of these that stands out the most, but a more interesting one is that of Pierce. In this season he is much more than just the difficult one in the group, but is more and more marginalized by the plots as part of creating and driving the narratives. This does actually work quite well (as seen in the D&D episode), but it has a price – and that price is that his character is really pushed out of the show almost, and with the season's ending it is hard to see a natural way for that to be undone. Whether than changes the dynamic of the show or not I don't know, but it was a good tool in the season, even if it did have this impact.
The key thing is that it remains funny throughout, and does so in a silly yet smart manner. The emotional core of the show is of course present to a point, however I felt it was balanced out pretty well by the meta aspect of the writing and delivery, so it never got too sentimental or corny, even when it did. The cast are not perfect perhaps, but all fit their characters well and are funny in their timing and delivery – even if the material very much keeps them where they are without too much movement (Chase aside). Generally though, it is a very consistent and funny season, that had me from start to finish, throwing in some particularly strong episodes and moments along the way.
It does remain a show that needs you to go along with its very meta ways, but it has great energy in doing so. Although the nature of many of the plots does mean that the season as a whole doesn't totally flow, it does suit the material well, and gives it a punchy pacing to the episodes. Some of the decisions in season-long threads are a bit odd though, and not always successful. Shirley's baby is of course one of these that stands out the most, but a more interesting one is that of Pierce. In this season he is much more than just the difficult one in the group, but is more and more marginalized by the plots as part of creating and driving the narratives. This does actually work quite well (as seen in the D&D episode), but it has a price – and that price is that his character is really pushed out of the show almost, and with the season's ending it is hard to see a natural way for that to be undone. Whether than changes the dynamic of the show or not I don't know, but it was a good tool in the season, even if it did have this impact.
The key thing is that it remains funny throughout, and does so in a silly yet smart manner. The emotional core of the show is of course present to a point, however I felt it was balanced out pretty well by the meta aspect of the writing and delivery, so it never got too sentimental or corny, even when it did. The cast are not perfect perhaps, but all fit their characters well and are funny in their timing and delivery – even if the material very much keeps them where they are without too much movement (Chase aside). Generally though, it is a very consistent and funny season, that had me from start to finish, throwing in some particularly strong episodes and moments along the way.