And there’s the cast. It is hard to believe that at one point this was “The show with Chevy Chase and the guy from The Soup”. The whole group is so fully-realized, and every different pairing gives you a completely different type of story. 
Joel McHale’s Jeff is still (usually) the focus of the show, but they’re not afraid to have him be a bit of a douchebag. He can be shallow and petty and above all the nonsense that his friends get into, and that just makes him funnier. I don’t know whether they ditched the simmering romantic tension with Britta because they didn’t really have chemistry or because it’s funnier that way. Either way, it frees Gillian Jacobs to be something more than “the hot girl”. Britta really came to life when she became a killjoy who tries to fix the less mature members of the study group. A flawed character is always funnier than a lust object, and Jacobs stepped into the former role beautifully.
This season really needs a Pierce centered episode before Christmas. I don’t think we’ll get one, but I really want one.
Great review. I’m not as scientific as you, but this show definitely evolved and evolved quickly …in the same way Simpsons did from Season 1 to Season 2. I knew I liked something about The Simpsons and Community in Season 1, but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Luckily, the writers for both shows figured it out and both are brilliant.
How long to you supposed Community can keep this up?
I LOVE this show. i didn’t want to love it, but now I am hooked. I watch them several times through on-demand. I can’t even say which is my favorite but Basic Rocket Science and Epidemology are a close tie. But the paintball one was great! I just thought the premise was unworkable but they are great every week. I don’t think I’ll ever say that about Outsourced.