A critique of Community Season 4 (AKA "The Gas Leak Year") 

I've learned a lot in the 2+ years since first making this video on 2 Left Thumbs. I had a lot of fun re-editing it, and adding to it. I hope people enjoy this even more than the original! And if you are looking for something totally new from me, please watch my Little Demon Season 1 review! ► ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zhqJErOUqMA.html

One of the worst aspects of season 4 that I was surprised you didn’t bring up is how they brought back Annie’s infatuation for Jeff. The season 3 episode “Virtual Systems Analysis” gave really good closure to their relationship with Annie and Abed both working through their personal problems in the Dreamatorium. Then this season casually brings that dynamic back without a second thought. It felt like such a blatant recession for her character

Magnitude's "pop pop" origin story is my favorite joke of season 4

Pedro Pascal struggling to read "here's your sperm" is one of the funniest things ive ever heard.

The Changnesia thing was so terrible because it ruined the joke. It was laugh out loud funny when you see the note "My name is Kevin. I have Changnesia.", i was literally in hysterics. Having the other characters assume Changnesia is a real medical condition (and not allowing it to be an unhinged note written by an unhinged character) was just so... late-stage Simpsons.

season 6 is streets ahead season 4. i absolutely adore frankie and elroy. i hope they’re in the movie

I still like the use of the term gas leak year. Rather than referring to the season as being bad, it’s a good explanation for why character arcs relapse back to season 2 and season 1. Most sitcoms don’t really have character growth be so important but to community the personal growth each character is central to why they stay together.

As a Doctor Who fan, I will always love season four for its Inspector Spacetime episode. It’s so accurate to the Doctor Who fandom. Even the small details of the episode are strong. Like the alien tart cards in the phone booth. So clever.

I didn't know about the sexual misconduct scenario but I'm glad Megan ganz was able to find some closure and I'm glad to know that Dan Harmon is capable of remorse. Both are not exactly common in such cases

troy and britta getting together was easily the worst thing that happened in season 4 and i stand by that

I think "The Whale" episode has the best written Shirley storyline of any Community episode. I don't love her character but I do love Yvette Nicole Brown and I always wanted to see her do more but it really felt like the writers were never quite able to make her work in her own storylines. The relationship drama was fine for her but she never got to be funny? I love seeing her story as a gym teacher because it gave her some well-deserved wins and some good jokes too

One thing I noticed the last time I rewatched Community is how technically tight and impressive the first three seasons are. Rather than having A and B plots like most sitcoms, Community routinely has A, B, and C plots--all of which connect at least thematically, but often in actual interconnections where something relevant from one storyline proves important to another. It's part of what helps those first three seasons feel so breakneck and non-stop, and I remember immediately noticing season 4 dropped back down to the more standard 2 plots per episode format, or when they tried 3, they weren't well-integrated. It's a little thing that really affects the tone of the show! Also I felt like Abed was the worst-handled in season 4, and felt extremely vindicated when Dan Harmon turned out to be autistic himself, because, yeah, what felt like one of the most realistic and relatable portrayals of someone pretty obviously on the spectrum came from another autistic person. And in season 4 it...really felt more like what allistic people THINK autistic people are like (when it wasn't, as you said, outright character regression). As a fanfiction reader, season 4 feels like the kind of fanfic I only don't back button out of if I'm REALLY desperate. My wife and I did end up skipping through most of season 4 last time we re-watched, because it super does not hold up.

I think season 6 is underrated. It does feel like we are coming to a close with the series, there are still some stand out episodes and a pretty satisfying finale. Paget Brewster and Keith David need to be in the movie in some capacity. I mean, if you can get Keith David in your movie... put Keith David in your movie.

I feel like the puppet episode is far more impressive, then it is good The amount of work they went through with those puppets and just the amazing puppetry is just so good, and I personally like the songs in that episode Everything else though just kinda....sucks since there's no real story

"Season 4 is basically fanfiction." I have literally said this exact sentence when trying to sum up why Season 4 feels so distinctly "off."

Season 4 Has so many great moments that in a vacuum are fantastic. Even the Space time convention, as weak as that episode is, I love when Abed doesn't freak out be cause he knows Troy will come find him. Considering how he was bullied and would be left in lockers for hours, and is traumatized by it, it's such a sweet moment. Jeff's confrontation with his father, and the whole "you get credit for that too" monologue its fantastic, and the closure on that storyline was great, along with Jeff realizing that this group is his family, and that they do care about him, which he admits that's something he struggled with his whole life. Hell even Peirce and his brother (Gus from breaking bad) admitting that they're both kind of depressed about their father dying, and that they have a hard time dealing with a lack of closure. You can tell there's a real heart to this season, I think partially because cancellation was looming and the idea of doing one school year per season, they tried to wrap up everyone's character arcs. Since this is the end of there college career and they are all gonna move on after they graduate. Obviously this isn't how it happened, and we got 2 more seasons and a movie (hopefully). But this season has some really good emotional moments that are a lot like early season 1 where every episode had a pretty emotional through line. Troy and his football career, Abed with his parents. I think this season just lack the writing to get to those moments in a natural way.

I love this video! Thank you! I do want to say, as far as season 4 goes… As someone with a terrible dad, I really appreciated the way the episode where Jeff meets his father was handled. It was fittingly underwhelming/anti-climactic. He spent his whole life imagining this interaction would be life-changing and it was, but not in the way he imagined it would be. I thought this episode had a lot of heart and realism. People are disappointing, it’s important to say your peace even if the recipient doesn’t want to hear it, etc..

I'm really glad that you mentioned how it really felt like Dan Harmon fractured his personality into the main cast of characters. I've always felt this way and it's nice to hear that someone else agrees with me on that

People only like season 4 more than 6 because of the cast. Season 6 is honestly streets ahead, even without Donald, Chevy, and Yvette.

I say this as someone who has enjoyed a lot of Harmon's work, I think the reality is that Dan Harmon earned not having season 4 to run. He talks about the reality of how bad he was at running the show in an effective way on Harmontown. He was bad at keeping schedules and budgets in line, often erratic, hard drinking, chaotic, and at times abusive. It seems in many ways he has grown from that place. Having heard a lot of his Harmontown moments talking about parts of this time, you get a strong feeling that his self-improvement on so many fronts in the later seasons and projects, come from him being taken off of community during season 4.

The season was fine. Like I get the hate but it really wasn't that bad. I watched the show without knowing anything behind the scenes and it did feel like something was off. It was also to bright and more colourful than the previous seasons and some episodes were not to my taste. But I rewatched it again with my sister when it came on Netflix since she didn't see it and it was better than I remembered.

I think it’s interesting that after season four, so many things changed including the lighting/makeup. Idk if anyone else notices it but the lighting is so much more harsh in the later seasons compared to earlier. As well as in some episodes you can clearly see the actor’s makeup/pores/etc. compared to earlier seasons when everything seemed like it had a smoother look to it. Maybe a nod to Dan wanting it to be more serious/budget cuts?

I started watching the show by catching reruns on MUCH in Canada and had no real way to know what season I was watching because of that. But I remember sometimes thinking something felt weird: when I then started watching season by season afterwards, I realized those awkward episodes all happened through season 4. So yes, it is possible to see the cracks in S4 without knowing about the drama or Harmon being gone.

I remember enjoying the first rendition, so seeing the revised rendition is a no-brainer. Also THE PROPHECY HAS COME TRUE!!! 6 SEASONS AND A MOVIE!!!

The commentary track really highlights a ton of the issues with Chevy. Constantly asking if he absolutely had to be in a scene and going to his trailer if he wasn't, insisting on having jokes all the time, just not understanding what was happening constantly. My favorite example is the slow-walk scene in the KFC spacewagon episode. He didn't get that him walking normally was the funny part, and when he was told there was a joke he said "I'll show you a funny walk!" and tried to take over the whole scene. He can be funny but honestly I don't think he understands comedy well at all. Very highly recommend the commentary track by the way. Especially for the last two seasons where it's just Harmon, even though all of them are fun, because he explains just so much about the show. How the logistics of making an episode impacts it more than you might think, how terrible his own workflow was for everyone else, how important it is for character to inform jokes, the danger of his own hubris, it's all great. He said if he ever headed a project like this again he wants to have someone hired just to tell him "no, that's insane, you can't do that". To avoid things like the many months it took to make the second d&d episode he ended up not liking at all, just because he decided early on "yeah I can follow up an amazing episode, I'm better than every other writer so it should be easy enough"

What I don't like about season 6 is that they kinda dropped Hickey and Duncan again. Duncan was already an established character from previous seasons, so we already knew a lot of them. Hickey was the perfect replacement for Pierce and he had such a fun dynamic with the rest of the cast which left a lot of room open for more depth. Whilst I like Frankie (Elroy not so much tbh) we got to spent such little time with them that it felt weird to have them in the finale.

Its crazy that this was posted today because I literally Googled last night after the first episode of this season "why is season 4 so different "

i am SO happy you appreciate Paget Brewster the way i do. she is my absolute favourite female actress and commands and brilliantly plays every role i've seen her in

THIS is what media reviews should be, even though you don’t really like this season, I love how you’re willing to give, not just a positive outlook, but an empathetic one. Love it!!

as someone who stopped watching after troy left i can confirm that was 100% the nail in the coffin lmao. i didn’t know about any of the behind the scenes stuff or even about dan harmon leaving so season 4 just left me with this weird feeling i couldn’t place, and then troy left so abruptly that i thought it was a joke until i googled it and decided i needed a break 💀 this video kinda sold me on the later seasons though i’ll probably finish it now

The one thing to admire about Season 4 is it's the last season with the original cast (even with Pierce not showing up all the time). Afterwards they just keep swapping in new characters (Hickey, Frankie, Elroy) to fill the roles of those who left (Pierce, Shirley, Troy). Hell they couldn't even keep their first replacement (Hickey) after his first season.

Chang farting during the 4th "cool" never fails to crack me up.

I recall watching an interview with Harmon about how much he hated the Matrix reference in the final episode of Season 4 stating it was out of nowhere and forced. But I'm reminded of the Foosball episode in which Jeff and Shirley are suddenly anime for no reason.

The first time I watched the show I barely noticed, if at all. Maybe overall episodes weren’t as strong but ideas moments and characters were still all there and that’s what I remember; great moments between memorable and likable characters. As many lesser shows do Community never misunderstood its own characters too much, they remained pretty consistent throughout.

9:47 Chang was always kind of the antagonist in my eyes like in season one he was the foil and his class was the obstacle the study group had to get around and then in season two he just takes more of a backseat as antagonist for pierce to be in that role so for season three he just returned to the forefront

The body swap episode is honestly one of my fav episodes of all of community

The episode with Professor Professorson is probably one my favorites.

No way season 6 was as bad as season 4. I mean it's true that there was a lot of cast missing, but a lot of season 4 is just unwatchable for me, season 6 has some fun episodes and moments

Community is like jesus, once dead, resurrected and then a promise of second coming that yet to come.

I just finished rewatching community and went looking for your video on it, so glad I found this one when I did

And Jesus WEPT when he heard someone liked season 4 more than 6.

I have two friends who quit watching community when season 4 aired. After it became available for streaming I pleaded with them for years to please give the show another chance. One day I was at their house and I just put the show on and they got stuck watching season 5 with me. They didn't hate it, and in fact, one of them told me it was their favorite season.

I started watching this show in 2021. And I loved every season.

I love seasons 5 and 6 for their total experimentation, that hits so much more than misses. I definitely skip season 4 on rewatch. I've seen it once, and that's enough. I just introduced my friend to Community and told him to watch season 4 for at least a few episodes. He had the same reaction where he said it was worth a first watch, but he wouldn't watch it again. But season 5 has Meow Meow Beanz, Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, GI Jeff, the Lie Detector episode, Troy's farewell (floor is lava), Repilot, the 'found textbooks'...I mean, those are all peak Community episodes, in a season of only 13 episodes. Then 6 has the dog that graduated, the prisoners on ipads, the racist comic, the amazing grifting episode, chang's movie.....

Watching season 6 during its airing was so so sooo hard. I haven't had to surf those sketchy sites with too many pop up ads and hard to find video players since the early days of the internet. But I was so determined to watch from Canada (whyyyy did they put it on streaming and then not let Canada watch lmao) because I've loved Community since forever. Nothing else feels like coming home than to put on any episode. #sixseasonsandamovie

Okay so I wrote a passionate love message to the person who created this video, appreciating the construction of your script and by the framing of the clips you chose, then deleted it all. So I promise I really mean everything I write, I just can’t do things more than once. I wanted to emphasize how invested I was in every word that was said. Your use of information and conversation kept me in a very comfortable back and forth without the stress of arguing. I felt the need to express this because your content felt very fulfilling and refreshing to watch. It was interesting and personal. It felt progressive and came to a comfortable conclusion. The video was undeniably well made, and deserves appreciation to that extent. Anyways slayed 🎉

Back in 2020, I used to rewatch Community nonstop. As in that once I( was done season 6, I would go right back to season 1 and repeat 4 times in a row. I recently just rewatched the series in full back in May and weirdly, I had the exact opposite opinion change on season 4. I thought it was a lot better than I remembered it being, and I found parts of 5 and 6 worse than I remembered. I don't even know what the reason for that was, I just feel like maybe I had more fun with season 4 this time around. Even though I disagree with you though, man can I say that this was a great watch and I'm very glad this came up in my recommendations. It's absurd that you're only at 4.5k subs while creating such amazing content like this, and I really hope that soon you'll have a massive blow up and just skyrocket in traffic (bonus kudos for using Danganronpa bgm, it's always a perfect go-to for these types of videos)

Has anyone else noticed that Abeds speech about his new job is his newerish role in mythic quest

I don't understand how people can call S6 a bad season. Sure, it's not as good as 3, 2, 1 or even 5, but there are some GREAT moments in there; i.e. Dean and Takashi's texting thing (plus the Yakuza joke which itself is a cackler), Jesus wept, the briefcase parade, and so on. And also there is, if I dare, one masterpiece of an episode: Wedding Videography. I keep rewatching it every once in a while because ham girl that shit's good

Love the new version of this video! If you ever watched The Office, it would be cool to do a similar video for a similarly weak season (Season 8).

your video made me rewatch season 4 then watched 5 and 6. Then restarted with 1, 2 and 3. Now i have the experience of watching worst to best!

I know people hate it but I love Intro to Felt Surrogacy. When Troy hits that "I caused the Greendale fire of 03~~" 😘👌

Well done, you hit on all the important issues, both good and bad, that make the "Gas Leak" year so significant. Like a forest fire that no one wanted, it did clear land and fertilize the ground to allow new growth. No, it wasn't the same forest as before, but it was proper growth

The jars of olives bit, is my Favorite bit from the entire show 😂 KILLS me

The wedding episode from season 6 is seriously one of the best episodes

the first rendition of this video is what introduced me to your channels! glad to see you come back to community again

Frankie is my favorite character in Community. If she isn't central to the movie, I'll riot.

Season 6 is perfectly fine. It’s definitely got a strange feeling to it, the show’s aesthetic just felt a bit darker and more dreary, but there were plenty of good episodes and jokes. I remember watching season 4 without knowing about the change in staff and I knew something was off

Yeah season 6 is a lot better than people give it credit for. There are some brilliant episodes in there.

Tbh I don’t think season 4 was that bad, it’s not as good as the rest but it was solid

As someone who is a new fan to community, ( currently on season 3 of my first watch through) I knew a lot about the behind the scenes drama and all that , but this show is seriously something else its not just one of my favourite sitcoms it’s up there with one of my favourite shows ( again I’m still a first time viewer) but it’s up there I wish I got into it sooner

One complaint I’ve heard people say about gas leak year was Troy and Britta’s relationship was forced but I felt like they had built it up and hinted towards it a lot in season 2 and 3

I think if you focus on the highs of the other seasons, and the lows of season 4, yes, the difference is huge. But to be honest, there are some pretty average episodes in the first 3 seasons, but people love them because of how aspects get referenced later. Season 4, if it was referenced in later seasons in the same way, would be well respected. That being said, I’ve only seen Seasons 4-6 once each.

I really appreciated this video, I personally stopped at season 3 and ended up rewatching the first three seasons like 3 times, then finally decided to watch the rest.

Well I for one am glad to know all this. I stopped watching completely during season 4 but now I know there is hope on the horizon

omg I love your guys stuff so glad I found this 2 left frames channel

hoping this channel gets more recognition

Lol, big community fan. I feel like you nailed it all on the head really. I honestly loved Frankie lol

I actually watched season 6 as a window in a window and. A little sped up on RU-vid in Canada - so nice they got it all on Netflix now!

I just watched Community for the first time and Season 4 seemed so weird to me. Thank you for this video.

I will defend the final three seasons of Community with my dying breath! There is substance, character growth, uniformity and self-awareness, just as there had always been. Besides, Paget Brewster and her Frankie is a much welcome breathe of fresh air for the formula, in my opinion. They did a perfect job maintaing afloat the gruyere of a boat that this series I deeply love had become. And I also think we owe a great deal of gratitude to them because now we're getting a movie too.

99% of people that hate 6 and like 4 are first time viewers. Almost everyone that rewatches the show, especially multiple rewatches, changes their mind and begins to like 6 while 4 gets worse.

Do people dislike season 6?? Its my second favorite season after 3.

Season 4 was the only season that gave Jeff Winger an arc and that's why I love it. We saw some actual growth.

Omg I'm so excited to respond to this video, lol. I have watched more than a few "gas leak year" videos and I have to say, I have never seen one that echoes my own opinions about S4 so closely. But before I get to all the many things I agree with, gonna start with the very few things that aren't just straight up saying "yes!!! Also..." First off, even though you gave them the credit they deserve, I just want to thank Port & Guarascio one more time for holding down the ship well enough that we got a season 5 on NBC. While I suspect they were very hands off showrunners (I'll get into this more later) they gave the old creative team the space they needed to make a product that, while definitely flawed, was good enough to get renewed one more time. Other timelines have other showrunners exerting much more influence and truly tanking the show - I think they recognized the writers were all community vets and probably deferred to their judgement more often than not. I feel like that gets overlooked in these discussions - no they weren't a good fit for the show, but I think they respected the show and Harmon enough not to tinker with the formula - that's why the episodes seem like fanfiction, I would guess, because that's kind of precisely what they are in a way. So cheers to them. When it comes to Chevy, I honestly kind of understand why he got upset - they made him do a friggin hand puppet performance of Hispanics and Asians!! He very much got reduced to "old racist guy" and while yes, that was a part of his character, he was more nuanced than that under Harmon. My understanding of how he got fired is that he said something like "what are you going to do next episode, have me call Shirley a ******?!" - which is absolutely not ok to say and he deserved what happened to him, but I totally get why he felt that way. Finally, you said in S5 that a bunch of writers followed Harmon back but that actually didnt happen - he brought back Chris McKenna as his 2nd in command, yes, and I think Andy Bobrow and Tim Saccardo were still there, but most everyone else were new hires - many of them followed Harmon to R&M actually and are now big names in their own right, but he was taking chances on people from Funny or Die, among other things. Just another credit to Harmon that he could basically completely rebuild the writers room and identify so many young talents. Ok I'm afraid something is gonna happen and I'm going to lose all of what I've written so I'm just gonna split my comment into 2 - agreement and praise forthcoming!

I was watching the old video and saw “(OLD)” in the title, and said “wait, there’s a new one?” 1 day old, lol

I love this, it reminds me of listening to a friend I have talk about film and media

i know this is in season 5 but one of my favourite fore shadowing moments is at the start of season 5 when they're talking about characters leaving shows after a few episodes into a season, and troy gets really annoyed and is like "after everything scrubs did for him?!", but then donald glover leaves the show like 6 episodes into the season. it's just so funny to me and i never see people talk about this moment. i'm sure it's easy to miss on the first watch, but watching it again and knowing that troy is about to leave, it's so sad yet funny edit: i just finished the video and realised this is literally referenced near the end. i'm glad it's getting recognition HAHAHA

I had no idea about any of the drama or bts about season 4 but I noticed it almost immediately when I was watching it, then decided to look into what happened. It left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the series but I think I’ll give it a genuine second shot after watching this

Season 6 is great. Characters are all consistent and you can really feel how they’ve grown. Plus IMO some of the best laugh out loud moments came in that season, thanks to Elroy and Frankie

I think the only reason people think 4 isn’t as bad as 6 is cuz most of the cast was gone in 6. Even without Troy, Pierce and Shirley the season is still streets ahead 4. Less cast members in 6 still feels better than 1 dimensional shells of former characters in 4.

I'm not against Abed saying they finally found a way to make paintball cool again. I think people don't consider the fact that that episode wasn't actually happening, it was all in Jeff's anxiety ridden mind while he dealt with the crisis of aging and leaving the college and his found family. That was something Jeff thought Abed would say and the over the top coolness would definitely factor into it all because, it was him exagerating the ideal adventures he would miss so much. Plus, in my opinion, this episode worked way better as a "Jeff mid-life crisis" episode than "G.I. Jeff" in the latter seasons (that was also framed as an "it was all a dream", with an obnoxious art-style change like the puppet episode)

I 100% agree with Chevy regarding the trajectory of his character. Pierce's racism in Season 1+2 felt accidental and oftentimes based on ignorance whereas from Season 3 onward it becomes much more mean and spiteful. It got too hard to watch and I can see why he dropped it.

Frankie calling the dean a idiot has to be my favourite moment

Love this video,thank you!!

I love all of community I need a movie ASAP

Fun Fact Megan Ganz, the woman that dan harmon sexually harassed, Is the same megan thats on the its always sunny podcast as the producer. Also, i would bet thats the reason they fired harmon. She likely told someone and they took the appropriate action. Funny how he ended up making a show with another person who committed sexual misconduct (justin roiland) birds of a feather flock together i suppose.

The giant mechanical spider is just a visual gag referencing a certain producer or exec who was just obsessed with putting a giant mechanical spider in anything as a plot beat

The Amazon trivia thing basically Implies she isn’t exactly normal, she somehow communicated with her past self when she was no longer there as the IT lady. The trivia also does mention bio shock infinite and the one girls powers that helps you through the game. There’s even a theory that she maybe some Eldritch being or something because she’s the only one who nearly talked to her past self.

The season started as a weaker one but towards the end it really grew on me.

After rewatching Community for the 6th time and graduating from college, I think I'm at the point where season 6 is my favorite.

Shirley is underrated! She’s amazing her episodes are some of the best. She may be bigoted but she’s the genuine badarse.

It is true that i didn't know that 4th season had a different management, it just felt slightly weird, but not enough to arouse suspicion

I can understand why season 4 is bad when its explained to me, but I notice I like 5 and 6 less still because main characters are taken away. I do wonder about the timeline where S4 didn't swap showrunners and what that might have changed about 5 and 6 also. I think you touch really well on how more effective his writing is on this show when he's involved.

Probably an unpopular opinion, but season 6 is my favorite. It showcases Harmon's writing ability even with a stunted cast & set. And the end tags are, by far, next-level hilarious.

honestly I never understood why people hate the fourth season so much-- and I've watched the show more times than I'm willing to admit-- but this video helped me become more aware about the lack of flow from the previous seasons and why that hurt the characters

I think people are biased of season 6 because it was without several characters, but I thought the writing was just as good as ever.

great analysis!

I just finished the show, so going to watch everything.

The fact that Season 4 is so difficult to watch is part of why this show is one of the greatest of all time. We as the audience are in on the joke. It's a part of the show's lore that one season is a total outlier from the rest and, unlike Dexter, which featured a similar series of mild peaks and dumpster fires following its best seasons, the show was fully self-aware and did not try to rectify the problems that it caused. It just continued to be the same show we know and love, even as cast was being rotated in and out in Seasons 5 and 6, it became part of the gimmick. Season 4 being terrible is absolutely necessary to the cult-classic status the show has received, and no one can tell me otherwise.