Director: Dan Harmon
Starring: Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, Chevy Chase, Jim Rash, Ken Jeong
Running Time: 448 minutes
Extras: Deleted scenes, gag reels, commentaries on every episode, “A Glee-ful Community Christmas” feauturette, “This is War: Pillows vs. Blankets” mockumentary featurette.
Season three of COMMUNITY sees our favourite study group take on Biology 101 that involves: a sabotaged biology experiment, Jeff (Joel McHale) repeating ‘mitosis is’ over and over again and the untimely death of a classmate in a methlab explosion. Outside the classroom Troy (Donald Glover) grapples with the decision about whether to go to air conditioner school (headed up by the brilliant John Goodman as the vice-dean) and as the Dean (Jim Rash) is kidnapped by Chang (Ken Jeong) and his team of interns, the gang are expelled from the only place they have ever fit in, Greendale Community College.
The first two series of COMMUNITY were hilarious and the show is so sophisticated in its jokes and parodies that any serious fan of film or pop culture would only catch half the references. Season three does not disappoint and is undoubtedly the best season so far. Just like the first two seasons there are unique episodes that you can watch over and over again, such as the one filmed almost entirely as a video game (just like a 90s video game complete with sound effects).
The piece de resistance of the series is the episode entitled ‘Pillows and Blankets’. Based on Ken Burns’ famous American Civil War documentaries and narrated by the original narrator Keith David, ‘Pillows and Blankets’ is a stellar episode and if you only ever watch one episode of COMMUNITY then this should be it. You also have the chance to see Chang command a group of 12-year-old interns, creatively dubbed ‘The Changlorious Basterds’.
We see the gang outside of college more and it’s good to see that their dynamic still works when taken out of the usual setting. The series is not getting tired and hopefully the stream of cult jokes will continue to amuse us for years to come. There are a couple of episodes in season three that are mediocre, but this is more to do with Abed’s (Danny Pudi) weirdness increasing exponentially and not at all a lack of originality in the storyline.
COMMUNITY was almost cancelled halfway into season three, but thanks to a little help from its fans, it should be on our screens for a couple more years. #sixseasonsandamovie
COMMUNITY is available to buy on DVD in the UK now.
