Community Digital Estate Planning: 10/10

I never review episodes, I honestly never do. But I am making an exception here. I am going a little bit different here. This is because the quirky comedy is back in my life. After they all disappeared in the late 2000s, we have a television show that is carrying in the tradition of the creative cult hit shows that sprinkled network television and eventually embellished itself in reruns. Community’s Digital Estate Planning episode is hands-down one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a very long time. After watching this, I have finally found the show that will fill the void that was left by the disappearance of Scrubs, Everybody Hates Chris, My Name is Earl, and Arrested Development.

The shows I mentioned above were each comedies that were a cut above the rest because they were extremely creative, always found different ways to entertain, and sometimes were downright clever. Scrubs had their random flashbacks and cutaways while also combining crisp random humor and plenty of heart. My Name is Earl was very smart writing surrounding a very unique premise that builds in hilarity as the seasons progressed. Everybody Hates Chris was a satirical and insane look at life in Brooklyn in the 1980s—which was a combination of family sitcom with social/political/racial commentary combined with that Chris Rock twang. And Arrested Development was……Arrested Development.

Back to the episode. While this is a bit farther along the series timeline, it is easily for you to pick up and figure out the characterizations—even though it’s the plot that will keep you hooked. Without spoiling too much, one of the recently-deceased fathers of one of our main characters created a video game that he must complete in order to gain the inheritance.

And what follows is half an hour of 8-bit hilarity that mimics, spoofs, and pays tribute to video games of all sorts from Mario to Sonic to Zelda to your classic SNES and even the recent Minecraft. The jokes, references, and fun quips come flying from all directions and then to spice it some more there’s even a few surprises in the latter half. The more games you have played over the years, the more you’ll enjoy this episode. And to top it all off, after all the fun and mayhem---there is a nice poignant moment to seal the deal.

Community had escaped my grasp all these years but after a random trip to On Demand, I have finally seen the subtle cult hype, and now I am totally drawn in. One of the best written and directed episodes of any show I’ve seen in the past ten years, Community’s Digital Estate Planning is gold.