Quick Thoughts: COMMUNITY, "History 101"

For those die-hard Community fans who're aware of the behind the scenes drama involving Dan Harmon, "History 101" was probably a slap to the face, but that's probably because they were expecting it to be a slap to the face. As for me, I liked it well enough. It wasn't great, but it didn't put me on a ledge either. It was a different version of Community, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Now, I'll admit that there were somethings that didn't land. I thought the whole Hunger Games homage was a bit weak, and I could've done without people getting on Jeff's back for wanting to graduate on time (although I don't know how far he'd go as a lawyer with just a degree from a community college). Even Annie, who I usually like, came of as rather annoying, but oh well.

Thankfully, Troy and Britta did a lot of the heavy-lifting in terms of delivering jokes that actually made me laugh, and while I don't know how I feel about them together, I liked them enough to keep me engaged in the episode. Abed's plot about creating a sit-com in his mind to be his happy place was more problematic, but it had Greendale Babies so it ultimately won over.

Was "History 101" a successful return for Community? No, but it's not like the show was flawless to begin with, and I'd wager a bet that most "fans" would've commented on its genius if they didn't know about Harmon leaving. At the end of the day, most people were going to hate this episode regardless, which is fine. It just should've had a fair chance.