We just couldn’t let go of Community. After we heard that Hulu’s talks to revive it failed, we jumped into our office conference room Dreamatorium to travel to the brightest timeline, where the show has been renewed, to bring you recaps of the sixth season. And before you ask: no, sorry, no one knows whether it’s going to end with a movie or not. Even here in the brightest timeline, Community is still Community.
On last night’s season premiere, Troy Barnes made his return! Yes, in the brightest timeline, Donald Glover still left the show to further his music career. Here, though, his music started a Bill and Ted-style musical utopia where all disease has been cured, climate change has been solved, and everyone is excellent to each other. We’ve all also reached level 16 in Reformed Neo Buddhism and formed one global nation under a blurple flag.
Right up there next to the U.S. flag:
Too bad you can’t see it. It’s beautiful.
Instead of air guitar, of course, we do this:
It’s a fair trade.
Anyway, so Troy returns to Greendale having successfully sailed around the world with the help of LeVar Burton, which means that he has inherited Pierce’s share of Hawthorne Wipes to the tune of 14 million dollars. Over the loudspeaker, the Dean welcomes him back as he greets the study group and also mentions how fortunate they are that the Earth narrowly avoided collision with an asteroid that would’ve destroyed all human civilization.
Everyone is glad to have him back, especially Abed, but it quickly becomes clear that this is not the Troy that left on the boat—not in a clone Troy way, although that’s how Abed passes it off at first. He’s too busy planning all of the fun things he and Troy are going to do together to notice much, but he’s still a little annoyed.
Then, when Troy turns down a marathon of all the Kickpuncher movies, including the Kickpuncher reboot at the end for MST3K purposes, Abed decides something has to be done. Troy, on the other hand, is trying to divide his time between his friendship with Abed and helping Greendale with his newfound wealth. Though the school was temporarily saved from mediocre sandwich-based doom, it’s still broke and in jeopardy.
Things get worse when they find out that Chang has sold all of his diamond teeth to get his stolen money back, and he’s invested money in City College in an effort to help them buy and destroy Greendale. He’s also 100% more unsettling without teeth. Wow. Just wow.
The rest of the group is pretty much on board with new Troy, but Abed is convinced that the money is what changed him and convinces him to see a Robin Williams-esque therapist in an attempt to secretly Good Will Hunting Troy back on track. He does this despite the protestations of the rest of the group, including Brie Larson as Rachel, because she’s a regular on the show now. I’m never coming back from this timeline, you guys. It’s the best.
Everyone here is this happy all the time.
It backfires—or works, really—in that Troy finds the guidance helpful and becomes even more convinced that he has to step up and do something important with his wealth and new attitude, which causes a confrontation between him and Abed. Abed angrily rants that Pierce meant for the trip to turn Troy into the man he was supposed to be, but instead it turned him into the man Pierce was supposed to be, and nobody wants to be that. I mean, Pierce didn’t even want that.
Troy is hurt, and he tells Abed that it’s not the money that’s made him different. He’s just growing up, and they can do it together if Abed will give it a chance. To prove it, he’s going to donate his money to Greendale to solve its financial problems, because while he’s grown up a lot, he’s not ready for that kind of responsibility. Instead, he’s been inspired by the therapist to become a guidance counsellor at Greendale. (Sure, he’s in no way qualified, but come on — it’s Greendale. No one’s qualified.)
Then, he flips the Good Will Hunting situation around on Abed by telling him he‘s the one who isn’t using his potential, and he delivers the speech that goes, “Every day I come by your house and I pick you up. And we go out. We have a few drinks, and a few laughs, and it’s great. But you know what the best part of my day is? For about ten seconds, from when I pull up to the curb and when I get to your door, ’cause I think, maybe I’ll get up there and I’ll knock on the door and you won’t be there. No goodbye. No see you later. No nothing. You just left. I don’t know much, but I know that.”
Abed’s fears that he’s lost his friend are gone once he sees that Troy still noticed the movie bit he was doing, and he agrees that they’ll try to grow up together.
This was definitely a Troy and Abed heavy episode, so hopefully we’ll see more of what’s going on with the rest of the cast next week. Until then, I’m going to go ride around on my hoverboard and then drive home in my flying car to watch the marathon rerun of this episode that plays on every single channel to try to pick up on all the references.
(via Community and the Brightest Timeline)
- Talks to bring back Community on Hulu broke down
- Dan Harmon has feelings about the show, too, everyone
- Here’s how last season ended
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