1x01 Pilot

[8.0/10] It’s funny, I remember looking down on the pilot to this show a little bit. I want to say I watched it in its original run (or at least shortly thereafter) and was relatively unimpressed for reasons I can’t fathom now. And on my first rewatch of the series, I believe I slagged it a bit for not being the loony, out there show that I had come to know and love and yet.

But revisiting it now, it’s a pretty impressive first outing for the series, one that sets up the essential premise and ideas of the show, introduces the character, and gives you a taste of that trademark, reference-laden, joke-a-second Harmon dialogue that gives you a good introduction to what the show will become, even if it isn’t fully-formed yet.

The episode has basically three elements to it, which get mixed up together as the pilot goes on. The first is Winger sparring with Professor Duncan for the answers to all his tests his semester, and it provides a great chance for Joel McHale and John Oliver to bounce off one another in hilarious fashion.

The second is for the show to set up the Jeff/Britta sparks, and it’s the most tedious part of the episode and probably the one that turned me off the most. Maybe it’s just having watched Groundhog Day recently, but the heel with a possible heart of gold trying to woo the principled woman plays a little better once you realize (via Abed, naturally) that Harmon is wearing his Bill Murray influences on his sleeve here.

The third is introducing the rest of the gang, and their dynamic, which is well-served with Jeff tearing them down and, at Britta’s prompting, building them back up. It does a good job of both showing the group at their worst and at their best, while doing the same for Jeff and showing that he can use his powers for both good and for evil.

All of these elements are mixed and matched nicely, and the humor is spot on. While the characters aren’t quite themselves yet (Britta in particular is more of a generic love interest here) the core of their interactions is firmly present. Maybe it’s just returning to the show after a long absence, but even in this early stage, Community feels a little like coming home, and the laughs, observations, and quick-paced but complex character work is all there. A very nice start to what the show is and what it will be.