Community: Season 3 Premiere

School’s back in session for the students at Greendale Community College. This year started with a fresh, “new” Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) – in a suit and goatee, instead of his normal outlandish costume – and a fresh new direction for the study group. The group has kicked Pierce (Chevy Chase) out, and Jeff (Joel McHale) couldn’t be happier. The rest of the episode focuses on what it means to be a part of the group and what it means to be apart from the group. However, as is always the case with Community, the A plot is rarely the most interesting element of the show.

There are several “B-stories” which will propel the rest of the season. It seems that the main thrust of this season will be normalcy. The opening musical sequence tries to establish this idea. Well, actually, it does a good job of establishing that the theme of the season is normalcy, but in the most abnormal way possible: IT’S A MUSICAL SEQUENCE. The Dean establishes his desire to set the school right, as he starts looking around for extra expenditures. When he calls the Vice Dean of the Air Conditioner Repair Annex of Greendale Community College (John Goodman) into his office, he ends up with more than he bargained for. It turns out that his part of the College brings in 80% of the revenue. As Dean Pelton finds out, he’s really not in control of Greendale. His desire to get down the brass tacks and return the college to normal has been quashed before he even got to start.

Starburns (Dino Stamatopoulos) makes a return this season. He re-enforces the overriding theme of normalcy by going directly against it. His first appearance in the episode reveals that over the summer, he has added a Lizard to his persona. When Shirley asks about it, he responds that she’s not even paying attention to the person underneath. Comically, Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) says that she’s not interested in the person underneath. (Starburns also gets an excellent jab at Breaking Bad.) This seems to be a non sequitur to the rest of the show, which still works because the point of the episode is that there is more going on underneath all of the weirdness than meets the eye.

The most satisfying subplot was also nearly the most invisible. When Abed (Dani Pudi) finds out that his favorite show, Cougartown, has been moved to a midseason premiere, he’s sure that this means the death of his beloved show. (Sorry Cougartown, but it really isn’t a good sign.) The gang, not wrapped up in Jeff’s craziness, helps Abed look for his new favorite show. Britta (Gillian Jacobs) first brings Abed the “original” British show Cougarton Abbey, which Cougartown was based upon. Quickly, Abed learns that the show only ran for six episodes before all of the characters committed suicide. According to Britta, “the great thing about British television is that they give you closure.” Abed’s unhappiness at the situation is quickly assuaged when the gang introduces him to “Inspector Spacetime,” a tongue in cheek nod to Doctor Who. Of course, the point of this subplot doesn’t seem to be simply about Abed’s turmoil about losing his favorite show. There’s an element of foreshadowing here — what’s not clear is exactly what’s being foreshadowed.

There are a number of references to death. The most notable one is with Cougarton Abbey, where the viewer is “given closure” at the end of a series. Jeff also yells that he must “kill the one thing he loves” while he beats the crap out of the study table. The fact that the gang is taking biology, a.k.a. the study of life, together may also foreshadow this element. However, the most on the nose reference to the gang dying comes during the tag, when they discover that Chang (Ken Jeong) has been made a security guard. Jeff says outright, “So, this is the year we all die.” What will prove to be interesting is whether or not this is simply an escape hatch so that when the show is inevitably canceled, the writers have an out. Or possibly, this will crop up later in the season.

Either way, Communitystarted out with a bang this season. I for one am waiting with baited breath to see more Donald Glover and Alison Brie. They’ve both been fantastic in previous seasons, and while they had their moments in the premiere, they could have been a bit more substantial. Community has a way of building steam and working in the most implausible plot elements (the Halloween Zombie episode, anyone?), this season is certainly shaping up to be an interesting one.