This season, so far, has been full of absolute standout episodes. The zombie-themed “Epidemiology” absolutely shouldn’t have worked, but it turned out to be amazing. The aforementioned “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design” and the audacious “Basic Rocket Science” stretched the boundaries of sitcom storytelling. If you go back to last season, “Modern Warfare” (the paintball episode) seemed to be the episode where people fell in love, with its pitch-perfect recreation of any action movie cliché you can imagine. Or there was “Physical Education”, which climaxed in a game of naked billiards. The early “Introduction to Statistics” involved an extended Beastmaster tribute, a bad trip, and Abed as Batman. The third episode gave us a savage parody of Dead Poet’s Society, and the 
second episode brought Joel and Pierce’s insane presentation for Spanish class. (Which at one point involved “some very specific criticisms of Israel”.) But going back, I think Community was always this good – we just didn’t realize it yet. The character bits in the pilot are much funnier now that we know these people. At the time, I thought the set-up was a little forced, but knowing what we know now, Harmon and company were probably doing a meta-commentary on exposition-laden pilots. And the whole thing turns into a tribute to The Breakfast Club by the end, which seemed out-of-place in a premiere episode, but now we know that’s how Community rolls. They declared their intent from day one, and it’s been our job to keep up.
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.