Six seasons (and still not a movie) later, Community has reached more audiences recently than the show ever did while it aired on television. Its availability on three major streaming services -- Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime -- has introduced the cult comedy to legions of new fans who were either too young or unaware of the underrated (literally), underpromoted show as it was airing. Centering on the misadventures of a study group of lovable misfits at the wacky Greendale Community College, Community is a mixed-modal masterpiece of 21st-century comedy that tips its hat to other genres, films, and television shows with panache. Known for its considerable amount of concept episodes, the show was perhaps too weird and edgy for mainstream audiences in the early 2010s, when standard Multicam fare such as The Big Bang Theory reigned supreme in the ratings.
The show's first season, our introduction to the Greendale 7, is considerably more laid-back and less atypical than the show's following seasons, which would swing between genre parodies, multiverse explorations and Claymation specials like it was nothing. Season 1 might boast fewer classic episodes than later seasons of the show, but it arguably attains a higher level of consistency as a result of it checking its swing -- for the most part. So, without further ado, let's check out the Greendale 7's most eminently rewatchable early episodes.
7. Introduction to Statistics (Season 1, Episode 7)
It’s not the best Halloween episode in the show’s canon -- that would be Season 2’s zombie-attack show-stopper, “Epidemiology” -- but this episode features both a stoned-paranoiac Pierce (Chevy Chase) and Danny Pudi’s stunning Batman impression, so it’s up there. Annie (Alison Brie) throws a Day of the Dead party for an extra-credit opportunity and demands the popular Jeff (Joel McHale) come, as he will draw people. This also being the unpopular Annie’s attempt to be “cool and laid back,” she hilariously screams at Jeff in the hallway. But Jeff has his eye on the sophisticated Professor Slater (Lauren Stamile) and ditches Annie’s party to attend the staff party instead. Slater provides a strong foil for Jeff’s wily, seductive ways. And like virtually all of Jeff’s romantic partners, the two have fantastic chemistry (Jeff has chemistry with everyone, the show will humorously acknowledge from time to time). This episode just has a bunch of hijinks, the most notable being Pierce’s backfired attempt to look cool by taking Starburns’ pills and ultimately hallucinating grim reapers, Annie’s skeleton costume, and other pieces of death iconography in a goofy trip sequence. Jeff, recognizing that his friends need him, leaves Slater to aid the age-fearing Pierce in his chair fort, making one of his biggest character leaps thus far in the show, from selfish jerk to caring group father. Every character gets somewhat fleshed out in the episode, ultimately making it a highlight of early Season 1 when the show was just figuring out its character beats.
6. Beginner Pottery (Season 1, Episode 19)
In Season 1 of Community, Jeff’s characterization is generally the most interesting, as he was still, at this stage, the show’s main protagonist. Sure, the show’s an ensemble, but we mostly view the strange world of Greendale through his eyes (of course, that’s to change with later seasons). That’s why this episode, which finds us delving deep into Jeff’s psyche following his relative failure at pottery and his jealousy of a deeply talented fellow student, Rich (Greg Cromer), is essential. It explains that the vain Jeff only acts that way as a self-defense mechanism, to ward off failure. Also, the show’s fascination with pop culture unearths a funny gag in Professor Holly’s (Tony Hale) aversion to the pottery love scene from Ghost. His only class rule is not re-enacting that scene; there’s even a “no ghosting” poster. The episode’s subplot, meanwhile, commits to the show’s first few seasons’ habit of introducing a crazy class that no other university has. In this case, the course is sailing, taught in the school’s parking lot. It’s brilliantly wacky, with overtly dramatic music backing Captain Shirley’s (Yvette Nicole Brown) sail-hoisting instructions to sailors Troy (Donald Glover) and Annie (again, the boat is parked). Whether it’s insanely neurotic staff members, as in Professor Holly’s case, or classes that could have been designed by Britta (Gillian Jacobs) when she’s stoned, Greendale never disappoints!
5. Communication Studies (Season 1, Episode 16)
Perhaps the Season 1 will-they-won’t-they romance between Jeff and Britta -- the impetus for the formation of the study group -- is not one of the show’s more original storytelling elements. It’s a sitcom trope, having been done to death through the years on a variety of shows. But on Community, (1) the actors have particularly good chemistry, and (2) dedication to romance is never the show’s main narrative fuel, lest it grow stagnant. In this episode, it’s clear that Jeff has romantic feelings for Britta, but the main takeaway is how much the jaded Jeff has come to value her emotions, as any good friend would. Britta embarrassingly drunk-dials Jeff, and then Jeff tries to restore the power balance in the two’s relationship by returning the favor.
Of course, real feelings come out… or so the show has you think before the conclusion pulls the rug out and has Britta reveal that Jeff’s voicemail for her was actually him professing his love for his girlfriend, Slater. It’s sweet to see the two have each other’s backs, especially given that Jeff’s original intent in befriending Britta was purely out of carnal lust. Friendship also plays a role in the episode’s subplot, with Annie and Shirley’s backfired prank on Señor Chang (Ken Jeong), after he embarrasses Troy and Pierce by pointing out their lack of girlfriends in class. Season 1 Chang, miraculously always funny despite being broadly obnoxious, produces the episode’s most memorable sight gag: his bumping and grinding on the women’s-pantsuit-wearing Pierce and a near-tears Troy at the Valentine’s Day dance. Donald Glover, perhaps the show’s best comedic performer, then yells “SLUT!” at Pierce after he ditches him to go get yogurt with Chang on the back of his motorbike.
4. Debate 109 (Season 1, Episode 9)
One of Community’s threads that seems to engender the most fan discussion is the platonic-until-it’s-not love between Jeff and Annie. This episode’s main plot, which sees the duo pair up on a debate team to defeat frequent Greendale nemesis City College and their egotistical debate captain Jeremy (Aaron Himelstein), is the show’s first realization that magic lies in the relationship between cynical Jeff and life-affirming Annie. Here, McHale and Brie play well off each other, as sexual tension infiltrates the characters’ debate prep, culminating in a sweet-but-hilarious punchline of Annie kissing Jeff to prove that man is inherently evil (the debate topic at hand). Meanwhile, the bizarre Abed-as-soothsayer subplot sees the group finds out that Abed is making prescient predictions about everyone’s future vis-a-vis his student films. This subplot finds the show dipping its foot into the waters of meta-commentary that the show would come to brandish for the remainder of its run. On pure laughs, the episode is one of the season’s funniest; on heart, it’s up there too. But “Debate 109” also has importance in the Community canon for laying the groundwork for future character dynamics (Jeff/Annie) and sources of humor (Abed’s keen observational skills).
3. Pascal’s Triangle Revisited (Season 1, Episode 25)
The best Community episodes are the ones that combine humor and pathos in equal measure, giving the comedy the weight it needs to dig in deeper. When character is foremost, everything else is secondary. Here, when Britta grabs the mic at the Greenville Transfer Dance to proclaim her love for Jeff, her character’s vulnerability shines through. And so does Jeff's, as he's shown debating the merits of a comfortable life with girlfriend Slater or an unpredictable one with Britta. And the dance itself features some of the funniest moments of the entire season, letting each of the side characters shine: Professors Duncan (John Oliver) and now-student Chang, who have never been bosom buddies, almost come to drunken blows over Chang’s suspension, and Dean Pelton’s (Jim Rash) odd dalmatian fetish gets spotlighted. The title hints at the love triangle brewing between Jeff, Slater, and Britta, and while this serves as the dramatic backbone of the episode’s final act, the episode also contends with Troy’s hurt feelings over Abed’s reluctance to have him stay with him and Annie’s decision to move with boyfriend Vaughan to Delaware. As a season finale especially, this episode offers a wonderful overview of its characters without feeling jam-packed, as it sets them off on new directions just in time for summer -- er, next season. And that unexpected, yet quietly foreshadowed kiss between Jeff and Annie at the episode’s end makes one grateful for streaming services that enable binge-watching.
2. Modern Warfare (Season 1, Episode 23)
A concept episode to end all concept episodes, a lot of ink has been written (and paint spilled) about Community’s paintball episodes. This one, the series’ first, is its best; it’s directed like a no-holds-barred action flick replete with cheesy Die Hard leaps and lines aplenty. Shirley’s “Seriously, I’m going home” following her getting shot, is still a classic. Here we also see Jeff and Britta finally hook up, bringing the past 22 episodes of tension to a satisfying release. The genre appreciation on display here -- Terminator, The Warriors, John Woo films -- showcase a cast and crew firing on all cylinders, palpably basking in the enjoyment of their craft more than virtually any other episode of television.
The show’s main cast members have detailed their satisfaction with the episode, seeing it as a risk that was lucky to make it onto network television; would people find a full-length depiction of war, with paintballs subbing in for bullets, funny? The same sentiment can be applied to Community as a whole; how did some of this trope-eschewing, meta-pontificating zaniness make it to air? The fact that “Modern Warfare” is one of the show’s episodes to be posted in full on the show’s YouTube account (it’s no longer up, unfortunately) signifies its status as a highly creative watermark for the show. 12 years later, Community’s inaugural voyage on the virgin seas of high-concept, serialized paintball adventure represents one of comedy television’s finest stylistic diversions.
1. Contemporary American Poultry (Season 1, Episode 21)
It goes without saying that Community is a fan of homage. This Season 1 episode is the first time the show commits to a (nearly) full-length film spoof. A Goodfellas parody replete with the 1990 film’s trademark voiceover narration and freeze frames, this episode marries the mobster film with a plot of Greendale’s cafeteria skimming out chicken fingers (a likely substitute for Goodfellas’ cocaine). The perturbed study group puts together a plan to install Abed in the kitchen to ensure they receive the prized tenders, but things go awry as the group, now a certified crime family, grows drunk off of its newfound power at Greendale.
Everything here is so ridiculous but so befitting for the wacky world of Greendale, where a student body can lavish fellow students with plasma-screen TVs and monkeys solely for a shot at chicken tenders. When the ensuing fallout happens, in a montage set to that immortal “Layla” piano cue that soundtracked the original film’s scene of the police finding the bodies, the results are beautifully cathartic. Ultimately, the episode has one of the most intricate plot structures out of any episode of the show. Like the gang’s well-thought-out plot to get Abed hired in the kitchen, involving Red Sparrow-esque honeypots, staged photographs, and ridiculous costumes. Plus, each character gets a moment to shine in the episode; Community is at its best when it can have all of its characters in the same room, riffing off of one another. The episode is also, along with “Modern Warfare,” the brightest early indication that the show was more than just your average run-of-the-mill sitcom; Community’s world was simply bigger, fitting to burst at the seams.