Welp, I've changed my mind about this show. I absolutely loved the first season. I was a bit hesitant to watch season 2 because by the end of the first season they'd gone in exactly the direction I feared with the romances - EVERYBODY is trying to bed Jeff, including, surprise surprise, Britta. It's BORING, okay? I'm sick of male/female buddy comedies consistently going to that place.

That said, I gave the second season a chance, because there were some truly wonderful moments in season 1 ('Modern Warfare', 'Contemporary American Poultry', 'Physical Education', 'Environmental Science') that I was really hoping would flow into season 2. Well.... 'Epidemiology' and 'Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design' were great. 'Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas' was cute and a really good idea, but in the end it felt like an uncomfortable attempt to give Abed a deeper character and push us into connecting with him. Only problem being he was already my favorite character, and quickly becoming the only character I actually liked. And the way they did it was lame. Abed's mom who always always watched a show with him doesn't show and crushes him. That's great for the character, who has had a lifetime of building up an impression of a character. The audience has never actually seen Abed's mother and really? After not showing up for a year and a half she is ... not showing up? Well, that's... not any different at all. Too bad, because I want to like that episode so much.

But then it all went bad. Like really bad. The character of Pierce was written to be an asshole. I get this. Insensitive and dickish. I get that. What I don't get is why they keep shoehorning excuses to keep him in the group into the story. He never, ever changes, and yet the group keep letting him back in after the most shallow apology scenes which frequently ended with him making yet another offensive or hateful statement. I realize this is a comedy and it's done for comedic effect but HE IS AN ASS. 'Advanced Dungeons and Dragons' was the last straw for me, with that character. Again, here is an episode I *really* wanted to like. It was brilliant. But Pierce's actions were beyond selfish or thoughtless, they were actively, brutally vicious. I felt nauseous when he ripped into Neil. If Jeff had stood up at that exact moment and punched him in the face, I'd have been okay with that. As it is, it was the usual five minutes of ignoring Pierce followed by a forgiveness scene summarized as "ha ha, our wacky old racist sexist sociopathic friend did it again!"

After that I just stopped liking the characters. Abed I liked. He doesn't seem to have a malicious bone in his body - he just wants to help everyone, he enjoys the things he enjoys, and he seems confused as to why he shouldn't. I like him, and I would love to watch more of him. But Jeff is the next most likable, and he's the self-confessed asshole from the beginning of the series. He's likable because he *admits* to being a huge jerk. Well, and because he did at least actively try and get Pierce to go away several times. At least.... well, more on that in a minute. Let's go through the cast list. Pierce, duh. Shirley is a bigot. Annie is manipulative. Britta is a poser. I suppose you could boil them all down to "they're hypocrites". Shirley and Annie both act like sweet, innocent girly girls, but when they want something, they do whatever it takes to get it, only showing remorse at the end of the episode - and then forgetting it by the next. Britta pays a whole lot of lip service to various causes that she never actually engages in. And Troy - well, there's nothing wrong with Troy, but *there's* an empty character. He's an ex-high school jock. He enjoys having fun with Abed. I really love their friendship, but it's not enough to keep me in the show.

The two-part ender to season two *nearly* convinced me that things were going to change... until - ooh, surprise - Pierce was once again forgiven and praised at the end of the last episode, after spending *two* episodes being a horrible human being. FABULOUS. I forget where the humor is in that. I'm sure it's because I lack a sense of humor and not because being an asshole isn't funny.

Despite that, I gave it one more try. I started tentatively into season 3. I got through episode 1, in which Pierce is finally gone until JEFF OF ALL PEOPLE lets him back in, godDAMMIT, Jeff... and then episode two began with a wacky alternate Annie, Britta whines about a friend being held hostage having a facebook group, Chang gets *another* wacky situation to be wacky in...

And then I turned it off. For good this time. I'm so sorry, Community. I wanted to like you, I really did. You had so much promise. But at the end of the day you're full of terrible people pretending to be good people and doing a lousy job of it.