Community #4.4 “Alternative History of the German Invasion” Review

Summary: This episode isn’t very funny. It’s arguably one of the worst episodes the show has done, in terms of humor. And yet, it’s a remarkable, smart little gem that’s still better, and more relevant, than most comedies on TV.

If you have not seen this episode yet and don’t wish to be spoiled, don’t continue reading.

Review

Season 4 of Community is an odd creature. “History 101” was well-written and genuinely funny, but it didn’t seem to know what it was doing or what kind of humor it was going for most of the time, and ended up retreading old ground (particularly with Abed.) “Paranormal Parentage” was the strongest effort of this season thus far, throwing in laugh after laugh, an amazing sense of continuity, and ended on a huge emotional moment. “Conventions of Time and Space” was funny in the same vein of the premiere, and managed to course-correct Abed’s development, but didn’t have much of an emotional core, and made a few missteps along the way with Annie. “Alternative History of the German Invasion” has neither big laughs nor a true emotional core—not to the extent that the show has had in the past. While this could easily be another case of a reviewer saying how, “It’s different, but I can’t tell why,” this isn’t really that. In fact, this still totally feels like Community, which is a good thing. It’s just a lackluster episode of Community.

The simple fact is: “Alternative History of the German Invasion” isn’t very funny. It’s kind of uncomfortable for much of it, actually, because it’s hard to tell when it’s trying to be funny and when it’s trying to just be clever (and it can be both, but not always.) The German jokes are generally juvenile, without much satire and with way too much Seth McFarlane-esque “it’s funny because it’s offensive!” kind of humor, which is okay sometimes, but not really in Community. It’s close to how “Course Listing Unavailable” played out, actually; a really respectable experiment, but one devoid of many laughs and leaves you feeling kind of awkward. As a comedy, yeah, it fails remarkably. The jokes are either slow, stale, or don’t pack enough of a punch to justify the ridiculousness. At this point, the study group has gone to war so many times that it’s become a cliché itself. And the villains of the story are more annoying than Chang was at his worst. The Germans worked okay in small doses last year, but did they really deserve a spotlight? Considering there truly was nothing more to them outside of being German (ha?), then no, there really wasn’t. At least Anthony Michael Hall’s bully had his mustache and weird ticks, and Chang was, like, actually crazy. These guys are exactly what’s on the tin—they’re German! Really really German!—and with them being at the center, it’s is probably why the endeavor collapsed.

There were some inspired moments, though. Malcolm McDowell didn’t have much to do, but he still got to play with the “how a real person would react to Greendale” shtick a little more directly than Michael K. Williams did last year, a guest stint he was mostly wasted in. One of the few truly funny gags of the episode was the group’s assumption that their professor set the German scenario all up, only for McDowell to completely shut them down. The “you all had a test today!” punchline fell a little flat, admittedly, but the gag itself was old-fashioned Community lampshading at its best. The chair-breaking montage and the “SS” on Shirley’s shirts were also some of the few gags that landed. There’s also been a more cinematic quality to the filming this season, with more depth of shots and creative camerawork throughout. The show looks better than it ever has—as good as season 3 was, it looked like a really cheap show—and it’s a definite improvement here.

The thing that’s worth addressing about this episode, though—like nearly every episode of this season thus far, actually—is its ending. The study group is learning to grow, not as a group, and not as people in general, but as good people, specifically. That’s something different from what we’ve seen before. They became increasingly like Seinfeld-ian characters as seasons 2 and 3 continued; selfish and all-but-hated to anyone outside of their own clique. The only reason we don’t hate them is because they’re the ones we follow, love, and understand, because we’re basically in the group, too. So it’s fitting that a show which has so heavily hammered in simple, but profound messages about friendship and family (even Jeff called back to those messages here, albeit kind of hamfistedly) would address a similarly simple, but important message. It’s something of an evolution from season 3’s finale, actually; Jeff’s revelation there was that his friends made him realize that it’s okay to be a good person. The opener of season 4 had him attempting to be selfless for those friends. But now, the entire group is learning how to be selfless and good to everyone, not just within their own circle. It’s a very sweet route to take, and one that’s fitting and important in the long run. It’s just sad that it had to be wrapped in a lame story.

But Community’s weird that way. Since season 3, it’s tried to follow a formula more akin to serialized genre dramas—or cartoons, in some cases—and season 4 is magnifying that trend. Longtime viewers are at a point where it’s impossible to not care about the characters, and so far nothing has been done to completely derail them (with the exception of Annie’s weird “married to Jeff” subplot in episode 3, which was really awful.) But even in spite of that, season 4 has done better than the first three seasons in carrying over character development from the previous. It seems like a natural route for it to take, considering how deep it likes to go into continuity, character development, and “mythology.” And so far, it hasn’t failed at that in the least. So even when it isn’t funny, has it really failed?

But it is a comedy after all, and they’re supposed to be funny. And in the grand scheme of the show, it’s probably one of the worst episodes overall. But it’s an amazingly well-made, smart, and heartwarming worst, and is still better than the best of some weaker shows on TV. It’s held up by impeccable acting and production values (even in spite of budget cuts) and, at its least funny, it’s still got a heart. Four episodes into season 4, there have been hits and misses, but that’s no different than the beginnings of every other season. And even though the German angle of this episode wasn’t very good, it’s also an episode where our protagonists learn a valuable lesson about bettering their world only after discovering they’re basically Nazis. That’s not something you’d see on any other TV show, anywhere. And that says something right there: Community‘s still got it, even when it doesn’t.

Odds & Ends

• The Changnesia subplot was neither bad or good, it was just kind of there (which is why it didn’t quite make it into the review.) It’s good that Chang’s psychotic actions haven’t been forgotten, but this Changnesia—goofy as it may be—might actually be a good way to tone down the character who’d gotten too big. Too early to tell, right now.
• I like that this episode purposefully magnifies the fact that Dean Pelton and Chang are actually really, really similar, at least in broad character strokes.
• This is the first time we’ve gotten a full, unchanged opening sequence this season, which is kind of weird.
• The way the “Greendale became slightly better” line came full circle was a nice bit of writing.
• It’s totally fanservice, but I can’t help but like the flashbacks to season 2’s classic episodes, “Cooperative Calligraphy” and “Advanced Dungeons and Dragons”, and a joke similar to what we’d have seen in “Paradigms in Human Memory.”
• “Someone must’ve changed the channel to USA, ’cause I just watched a Burn Notice!”
• “The loveable misfits always win, the bumbling Germans always lose.”
• “Pierce, you moved to Canada!” “And it was Hell! Those people called ham bacon!”