Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Community - The Complete Third Season DVD review

The Third Season of Community, and final season with show creator Dan Harmon as show runner, is highlighted by a video game episode that features 8-bit versions of the cast working to save Pierce's (Chevy Chase) inheritance from the evil Gilbert (Giancarlo Esposito), the introduction of Inspector Spacetime, the Air Conditioning Repair School, the Dreamatorium and Evil Abed, the study group being told Greendale isn't a community college but an insane asylum, an all-campus war between pillow forts and blanket forts, and a near-perfect Law & Order parody.

The season starts out a little slow with a handful of good, but certainly not great, episodes. However, things pick up "Remedial Chaos Theory" which shows us how a single roll of the die could alter the future of each character in both big and small ways. We also get another Glee-ful Christmas episode, Annie (Alison Brie) moving in with Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed (Danny Pudi), and a disastrous attempt to make a new commercial for the school spearheaded by Dean Pelton (Jim Rash).

Although it isn't the strongest season of the series, there's plenty here worth watching for fans of the show. The final arc focusing on the expulsion of the Greendale Seven drags on a little longer than I'd like but has several fun moments including a complicated break-in, the Dean's doppelganger (J.P. Manoux). and the sheer insanity of Chang's (Ken Jeong) evil regime. The three-disc collection includes outtakes, deleted scenes, featurettes on the Christmas episode and "Pillows & Blankets," and commentary for every single episode from various cast and crew (and important guest-stars) including Harmon, Gillian Jacobs, Brie, Joel McHale, Pudi, Yvette Nicole BrownAndy BobrowChris McKenna, Rash, Martin StarrMaggie Bandur and Matt Murray.

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