
I covered the first season of Community last time around. Now it’s time to get to the second season. This season is different, as I do recall. It leaned more into the pop culture of it all and the genre parody. They found what worked for the show. Is season two a step up? It’s time for me to rank every episode of the second season of the cult sitcom.
24. “Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy”
23. “Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts”
22. “Asian Population Studies”
21. “Celebrity Pharmacology”
20. “Accounting for Lawyers”
19. “Aerodynamics of Gender”
18. “Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples”
17. “Early 21st Century Romanticism”
16. “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons”
15. “Anthropology 101”
14. “Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking”
13. “Competitive Wine Tasting”
12. “The Psychology of Letting Go”
11. “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas”
10. “For a Few Paintballs More”
9. “Basic Rocket Science”
8. “Intro to Political Science”
7. “Cooperative Calligraphy”
6. “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design”
5. “A Fistful of Paintballs”
4. “Paradigms of Human Memory”
3. “Mixology Certification”
2. “Epidemiology”
1. “Critical Film Studies”
Hmm…is this season better than the first season? It’s definitely more ambitious. It’s less a show about a study group at a college and more about wild stories and events. There are so many genre riffs in here. Paintball was brought back and turned into a two parter. The first half of that is great, while the second is still very good. There is a parody of Rankin-Bass Christmas specials that I enjoy, plus a parody of clip shows.
I do have to note looking at my list, that the culture-riffing episodes are by-and-large higher on my list. Clearly, that’s what worked for me. My top episode is a parody of My Dinner with Andre and sort of Pulp Fiction, after all. However, there are some good episodes, like “Mixology Certification,” that are more about character dynamics. In the end, this season is probably slightly better than the first, but only slightly.