“Community’s” Most Poignant Moments

Dan Harmon is out as the showrunner of Community, and…well, how do I express how I feel about this?

I feel like Abed during the last episode of Cougarton Abbey. I feel like Troy watching the apartment burn around him as he stares down the evil troll. I want to shriek like Abed, cry like Troy, scream “NOOOOOOOOOO!” like Annie, say “That’s not nice” like Shirley, and…do whatever Pierce, Britta, and Jeff would do when they’re upset.

Alan Sepinwall and Mo Ryan have talked about the circumstances behind Harmon’s firing and why it’s unfair, so I won’t go into that issue. (But it is totally unfair and I hate it.) They’ve also talked about why Harmon IS Community and how the show won’t possibly the same without him.

I agree with all of that, and honestly, the idea of a Community without Dan Harmon hurts my heart, because this is my favorite show on TV right now, and one of my favorites of all time. Honestly, I love Community more than I love Arrested Development – and I REALLY LOVE Arrested Development because it’s brilliant and clever and oh so funny, but Community has a sense of heart and real emotion that elevated this show beyond “funny” to “wonderful and essential to my life.” It’s a show about a group of damaged, broken, lonely people who find comfort and strength in each other, against the backdrop of wacky adventures at a weird school where nothing makes sense.

Community may still be funny without Dan Harmon, but it won’t be as weird, and it won’t be as moving and special. Other bloggers have written about their favorite moments from Community, often focusing on the funny parts. Today, I’m going to write about my favorite heartfelt Community moments, the ones that demonstrated how special this show really is.

“Introduction to Film” – Abed’s short film
Abed spends the whole episode trailing Jeff and Britta, “directing” them to act like his mother and father, and the end result is a film that shows an incredibly sad backstory, where Abed was abandoned by the parent who tried the hardest to understand him until she couldn’t take it anymore and left him and his father. This was a moment that I didn’t appreciate too much the first time I saw the episode, but after getting to know Abed over time, the emotional relevance of this film really speaks to me. It feels especially poignant to see Abed’s father tear up as he finally gets insight into his son, but Jeff and Britta don’t get it, and won’t until they get to know Abed a little better.

“Environmental Science” – “Somewhere Out There”
How many shows will give you a montage where “Somewhere Out There” is accompanied by a high-energy Irish band instrumental? More importantly, how many shows will give you a montage of two people dancing, a person giving a speech in a public speaking class, and two friends singing to a rat? We see Britta looking at Jeff in surprise as he finds himself strangely moved by Chang and Senora Chang’s reunion. Shirley gains confidence in public speaking with help and support from Pierce – support he gave without an ulterior motive – and was grateful. Troy learns that friendship means doing things for other people and fights his fear of rats to help Abed. (This madcap, moving scene then ends with a truly hilarious Donald Glover shriek as they return the rat to his cage.)

“Contemporary American Poultry” – Jeff and Abed discuss chicken
This was my favorite episode of season one (yes, I loved it even more than “Modern Warfare.”) The Goodfellas parody was excellent, but what really made the episode for me was the conversation between Jeff and Abed at the end, where Abed reveals that the chicken scheme was to bring him closer to people and find connections with others. It’s an important moment for both characters, where we realize that, despite all of that isolating behavior, Abed really does want to understand people better. He also winds up feeling sorry for Jeff – a nice twist where the cool Jeff Winger isn’t as cool as he’d like to be.

“Pascal’s Triangle Revisited” – Jeff and Annie kiss
There are many reasons why I love this kiss. I love the “twist ending” aspect of this finale where, instead of Jeff choosing Britta or Professor Slater, he surprises the television audience by kissing Annie. I love that the kiss is smoking hot and passionate on both ends. But I also love the conversation that leads up to the kiss, where Jeff talks about the nature of love and living life: do you try to evolve, or do you be true to who you are? Meanwhile, Annie feels torn about moving to a different school to achieve her dreams, and staying at Greendale where she has her makeshift family. Their struggles are universal and I love seeing them connect over their mutual feelings of not knowing what the hell to do.

“Cooperative Calligraphy” – “What if a ghost took the pen?”
Jeff Winger is known for his somewhat cliched end-of-episode speeches where he rallies the group together. On the surface, “what if the ghost took the pen?” seems like the silliest speech of all. Even Abed, who wanted a Winger speech to end the episode, cautions the group, “Let him finish.” But this is a great moment where the group collectively decides to believe an impossible fantasy instead of tearing themselves apart. Jeff and Annie share a smile, Troy eagerly explains his theory about the ghost taking the pen as the group listens in, and they all drink it in – except Pierce, who seems lonely and on the outside of the group. Great moment of togetherness while also foreshadowing Pierce’s isolation later on.

“Mixology Certificate” – Annie and Troy talk about high school
After a night of drinking, where Troy realizes that “alcohol makes people sad,” Annie confesses that she was pretending to be a different person all night because she didn’t want to be herself. Troy reassures her by telling her he understands her now, and lists several things he knows about her. It’s a nice change of pace to see Troy as the most aware, mature one of the group, and to see that yes, he does notice things about his friends even when he’s playing with Abed. Annie gets the reassurance he needs, and it’s really sweet, especially because Annie’s no longer pining for Troy as an unattainable crush and just sees him as a friend.

“Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” – Brittabot is ejected from Planet Abed
I had gone back and forth on Britta’s character up until this point, finding her somewhat annoying in the early half of season one but feeling her slowly grow on me over the second half. By season two, I had finally come to like her and find her pretty funny. But this is the moment where I started absolutely loving Britta and I never turned back from there. She just tries so hard, and her intentions are so good, and watching her little Claymation face (yes I know it’s not really Claymation, shut up Abed) fill with tears as she realized she let down her friend just breaks my heart.

“Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” – Teddy Pierce was still on the train
Shirley and Jeff and Britta couldn’t quite reach Abed, while Troy and Annie stuck with him the entire time. Not too surprising from any of them. But despite insisting over and over again that he was only there for the cookies, Pierce was the last one on the train. “I didn’t want to go home. It’s depressing this time of year.” I found it especially moving because Pierce, of everyone in the group, could most understand what Abed was going through, and could relate to him missing his mother. Also, Teddy Pierce is so huggable and cute.

“Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” – The study group thaws Abed
All of his friends, even the ones who couldn’t relate to him in the beginning, are there for Abed at the very end. I get teary just thinking about it, much less watching it. It’s such a bittersweet moment. At the end, Abed still doesn’t have his mother, but he has his friends.

“Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking” – Jeff and Pierce have a confrontation
This episode bothered me the first time I watched it because I thought Pierce got off too easily for manipulating his friends, and what he did to Jeff was particularly cruel. But he’s so pathetic and miserable in this scene that I’ve started to feel sorry for him, despite his actions. Watching Jeff unleash his pain about his father was also disturbing to watch. Some really good dramatic acting from Joel McHale and Chevy Chase in this scene.

“Critical Film Studies” – Jeff and Abed connect
This scene gets to me for the same reason that “Contemporary American Poultry” does. Even after almost two years with the study group, Abed still struggles to connect with people without using pop culture references, and Jeff feels even more ashamed of his little Indian girl story than he did before he told it. They’re so damaged and lonely that I really want to give them both a hug.

“Remedial Chaos Theory” – The study group dances in the prime timeline
Abed invites Annie to live with him and Troy. Buzzkill Britta gets to be the fun one in the group as she brings everyone into a group sing-along and dance-along of “Roxanne.” Pierce tosses his mean gift to Troy in the garbage can. Jeff watches the group have fun, unable to participate in it himself, but appreciating the view. Another moment where he knows he needs the group more than the group needs him.

“Documentary Filmmaking: Redux” – The study group forgives the Dean
We finally get an episode about the Dean, and it is glorious. Jim Rash is brilliant showing the character’s breakdown. And it really gets to me when Jeff offers him a hug and the Dean looks overwhelmingly grateful and happy. The Dean’s crush on Jeff is almost always played for laughs, but I find it genuinely moving here.

“Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism” – Jeff and Shirley walk off arm-in-arm
Watching little Jeff and little Shirley walk together, their past behind them, almost had me bawling when I watched it. Childhood wounds are so difficult to overcome, and neither of them are completely beyond it, but they’ve taken a step in the right direction and they’ve done it together, forgiving each other along the way.

“Pillows and Blankets” – Troy and Abed break up and make up with help from Jeff
I don’t like seeing Troy and Abed fight! “Pillows and Blankets” was one of the most inspired, silly episodes of the third season, but it all took a sad turn when Troy read the email Abed wrote about him, and then when Troy sent Abed the mean text message in return. Our closest friends have the power beyond anyone else to truly hurt us, and I was honestly worried about their friendship’s future. So when Jeff went back to the Dean’s office to get the Invisible Friendship Hats, I “awwed” like Annie and Shirley.

“Origins of Vampire Mythology” – Britta realizes the text was from Troy
I didn’t expect this moment to get to me the way it did, but apparently I root for Troy and Britta more than I thought I did, because again, I Annie/Shirley-awwed over this moment. I love that we don’t know what he actually said to her, and I love the smiles between Jeff and Annie, and I love that Annie has grown to the point where she can actively root for her longtime high school crush to date her other friend.

“Digital Estate Planning” – The study group forfeits to Gilbert
I can tell this is a great show when I become emotionally invested in a character that appears in one episode. I felt for Gilbert when the recording of his father rejected him, and marveled at Pierce’s maturity when he gave the win to his brother. And to keep the moment from becoming too sentimental, Pierce tried to give Gilbert a gun to use in the video game, which made me LOL until the end of time.

“Introduction to Finality” – The final montage
Because it feels like an ending and a new beginning for all of these characters. While the logical part of me recognizes that the cast and crew of Community are still employed for one more year and that’s a good thing, the selfish part of me wishes this was the series finale, where none of the characters are completely healed, but they’re all in a better place than they were when the show began, and we can imagine whatever ending we want for them and their lives.