Community (TV Series) Virtual Systems Analysis (2012) User Reviews

Community's Inception and Tenet

[safenoe · 8/10 · 15 February 2022]

I chuckled at Troy breaking down sobbing, "I didn't get Inception!" and really this episode kind of has an Inception and Tenet feel to it, with 2001: A Space Odyssey thrown in for good measure.

This episode divides. You either love it or hate it. I like it very much and it's worthy of season 3 for sure.

The other reviewer has it all wrong, this one of the best episodes of Community

[SoderberghFanboy · 10/10 · 25 August 2012]

While most of the episodes for Community have at least one review on here, I was more than surprised to see this one have a pretty damning summarization by the only reviewer. I know it's only one episode of the show and this probably won't be read, but I have to stick up for "Virtual Systems Analysis". It is not only one of the most pivotal episodes of the season in terms of relationships between the characters, but also one of the most imaginative and dense outings the show has ever had in terms of pure writing.

This episode takes place in a three hour span when the Greendale 7 go out for lunch. Annie is able to get Troy and Britta to go on an impromptu date and has to fill in for Troy in the Dreamitorium, much to Abed's chagrin. What begins as some awkward playtime becomes one of the most honest and inventive character journeys for both involved.

I have to preface my further love for this ep by saying the Troy/Britta relationship is my absolute favorite thing about the show. The episode before this is also in my top 10 or so episodes of the whole show because of it. While Community is certainly ambitious and succeeds mightily because of it (Pillows and Blankets, Lupine Urology, A Fistful of Paintballs), it always struck me the most when it kept things small. And nothing has been smaller and more gratifying than the budding relationship with Troy and Britta.

That being said, they aren't in a whole lot of the episode, and while I probably should have felt cheated, I was elated to see what Abed really thought about them and Annie's realization of others' romantic feelings besides her own (while she was mainly a "lovestruck teenybopper" in season 2). Up to this point, the show had seem to have written Abed into a corner. He could be awesome and nerdy, basically a surrogate for the megafan (like myself) watching it. But he also could be selfish, arrogant, and less than kind. After Pillows and Blankets, I thought he might gain some perspective, but he was the same in the next episode. Here, the writers give this thought its due, showing Abed as more than just socially awkward, but cripplingly self-centered.

This is all done through re-enacments of the study group from Abed and Annie in a make- believe "Greendale Hospital School" and instead of being confusing or dispassionate are streamlined fast and furiously into surprisingly emotional revelations for Abed as well as Annie. Annie comes to terms with her crush on Jeff and Abed must face his insecurities instead of pushing them (and his friends) away. It can also be downright hysterical such as Troy's breakdown from truth serum and Jeff's description of Pierce as "heart-wrenching, Alzheimer's patient and Emmy contender Pierce Hawthorne". It always seem logical and even when it zooms to other "people" in the Dreamitorium, we never lose focus on Annie and Abed.

This is probably my favorite episode of the show. I have watched it alone at least six or seven times and I every time I catch something new. The above reviewer says there is usually a B or C plot to take us away from the drama of the A plot, but this episode is so rife with originality and urgency, we don't really need that this time. And for the complaint of it being dull, maybe we should look back to when Shirley said "their relationship itself is a journey." That's the core of this episode and, through all the parodies and ingenious plot setups, the core of this show.

When I marathoned these first three seasons I remember it was the trio of the Troy/Abed conflict masterfully put on display in Pillows and Blankets, Troy's text from Vampire Mythology and this episode that made me fall madly in love with Community and say "this could very well be the best show on television." "Virtual System Analysis" is an example of what this show does best. Exhaustingly inventive, electrifying in terms of imagination, and emotionally honest, it is this episode that turned me from a fan to an adorer of the gem that is Community. Don't let the other review put doubt in your mind, this is might be the best half-hour the show has ever had.

TV at its finest

[familymacy · 10/10 · 25 June 2019]

While some may think this episode was bland and boring, they are not looking deep enough. In TV shows, there are static and dynamic characters, Abed mainly being a static character. However, in this episode we get to see his change furthering character development and making him more realistic and relatable. And the way this episode portrays this change is through his eyes allowing us to better feel his emotions and understand him-very creative and impressive artistically. While there aren't any fully static people in life, there are some very similar. This episode speaks for all these people and lets them know they're not alone. Personally, I even related to this episode somewhat.

My favorite episode of Community

[nfopuhfxir · 10/10 · 28 November 2020]

Community is one of my favorite shows ever, and while it has many, many episodes that mean the world to me, but this one is at the top of my list. It's mainly centered around Annie & Abed, and that's a good thing. While the entire cast of community is amazing, Alison Brie and Danny Pudi are the ones who steal the show, episode after episode. (Donald Glover's Troy is a close third) Yet, we've never really gotten any insight into their relationship. Annie is such an underrated character. She doesn't have many big moments or plot lines like Jeff or Britta, but she has great chemistry with almost every other character on her show, and her relationships with them are often integral to the story. Abed, on the other hand, Community's Sheldon or Barney, the breakout, "quirky" character who is the face of the show. But he is a much more meaningful character, because he real depth. I'm autistic, and Abed is by far my favorite character on the spectrum. Most characters with autism in movies or tv use their condition as a superpower when it's convenient to the story, with no investigation of how it affects their lives in literally any other way. Abed feels much more genuine to me. In the first season, there were several episodes, along the best of the series, that dealt with his condition, "Introduction to Film", "Physical Education", and "Contemporary American Poultry". Then this because less of a focus in the second season as the series became more conceptual and we got some of the best episodes in tv history like "Conspiracy Theory's and Interior Design" and "Remedial Chaos Theory" While I love those episodes to death, I missed the earlier episodes about Abed, as he was the only one not growing or changing with the show. He finally gets the chance to here. The Dreamatorium is a plot device that appeared in several previous episodes, but remained largely mysterious as to what is really was or it's significance to the show. Its easy to see the show taking a more straight-forward approach to this episode, one that squeezes the entire cast into the Dreamatorium, and it would probably be more popular and well-received for it. However, the showrunners decided to take a much different, and in my mind much better approach, and I'm very glad they did. The episode starts out normally (or at least, normal by community's standards) with Abed and Annie acting out a sci-fi show. However, the stimulation quickly falls apart as tensions arise between the two. Normally apartment episodes go allot smoother, as Troy is there to mediate the relationship between Abed and Annie, but since he's out of the picture having lunch with Britta, there's nothing stopping their very different personalities from clashing. Abed is an unemotional nerd with poor social skills who isn't good with women, and Annie is a headstrong young women who doesn't entirely understand guys. Annie really wants to get to know Abed better, so she can fix him and make him more empathetic, but she doesn't realize that she's hurting him in the process of doing so. Abed points this out by be different members of the study group. However, we're seeing them through Abed's eyes, so it make sense that he would know allot about Troy, for example, but have much less insight into the other members. The best part is the introspective ending, where Annie and Abed turn into each other and realize that their not so different. It's a great psychological investigation into the shows best character, one that I can relate to allot. Abed's pop culture obsessions aren't just because he's a nerd, they are a way for him to understand a world which is alien to him, just as he often seems alien to other people. But while, as per usual, there are a slew of references to the likes of Inception and Carson Daly, at its heart this episode has very little to do with pop or nerd culture, and much more to do with feelings and relationships- you know, girl stuff. Sure the way the episode wraps things up might be a bit unrealistic, and it's not for everyone, but since when has community ever been? Virtual Systems Analysis is, in my opinion, Community at its best. It brings back the relationship driven drama of season one without sacrificing the conceptualness of seasons two and three. Community would go downhill soon afterwards as Dan Harmon and various cast members leave in the later seasons, so it's really good that we got this great episode before that happened.

Whoever rated this a 1 has no joy in their life and aren't as intelligent as they think

[jcnross · 10/10 · 7 January 2021]

The episode was fine. It was nice to have Abed operate outside of his comfort zone of always having Troy around. Also, I actually prefer the Britta/Troy ship over the Britta/Jeff ship. Though I have no idea how it will play out as this is the current episode I'm on.

I'm not going to write paragraphs defending it. If you liked it, great. If not, and you gave it a one and insulted anyone who liked it, then I hope you will someday recover from the debilitating brain damage you have clearly sustained.

Also, I rated this a 10 to offset the rating of 1 foolishly given to it by a certain deluded individual who clearly never got hugged as a child.

The most perfect and deep episode I've seen

[ktkmeh · 10/10 · 12 November 2021]

I really think the ones who gave this a 1 star did not understand the meaning behind this episode. It was more than perfect. It was so well made, it could be one of the most perfectly executed episodes in cinema from the story, to direction, dialogues, acting and whatever else was done. Just brilliant and beautiful.

Good but I have some bones to pick

[dictionarydash · 6/10 · 8 September 2022]

I really liked how they included dynamics in this episode that we don't see often in the show--Abed and Annie, in the Dreamatorium, which we hear about often but don't often see. I also thought the ensemble was very impressive on all sides, playing themselves being played by Abed, both with Abed's perception of them and with some of Abed's subtle quirks.

However, I feel that they tried too hard to lean into some idea of stereotypical neurodivergence for Abed, and it didn't quite work. Annie says Abed only thinks of himself and never of other people, but if that was true, why would he stay in Annie's experiment in season 1 for a day and a half? Why would he constantly try to make his friends happy by sharing Christmas with them in multiple Christmas episodes? How about that Halloween episode, where he takes Britta's survey and is the only one to answer in ways indicating that he does care about the wellbeing of other people? For the sake of comedy, they create an Abed using tropes about autism that are both untrue for Abed and just sort of offensive for neurodivergent people in general.

Community's streak of good episodes ends with this one.

[giantpanther · 4/10 · 20 April 2012]

Community is one of my favorite shows, its only real flaw is that out of every season of 20 or so episodes you get five episodes that are bad, maybe 3 that are average, and the rest are good to brilliant. The brilliant ones are the ones that keep me coming back, for example last week's episode where Britta has to be kept away from her ex boyfriend Blade was a hilarious episode 10/10.

This one fails, not big time like a few of the other community episodes but it attempts to be different and in the process forgets that it also needs to be entertaining. The ultimate problem is that this episode leans largely on a very weak plot-line in community one that should only really be touched upon jokingly and never focused on fully. For example in the 11th episode of this season, Troy and Abed decide they need to be "normal" for Shirley's wedding so they go in the dreamatorium to weird out for several hours and normalize themselves. In that context its funny, its touched upon briefly and if you think the dreamatorium is a stupid plot-line gimmick you don't have to deal with it for long.

In this episode Annie and Abed go into the dreamatorium, a room in their apartment that they have painted with stripes so that they can go in there and play make believe for several hours. At one point during the dream sequence Pierce say's "can I just say I have no idea what is going on here." That line was essentially throwing the casual viewers a bone, saying look if you don't get this don't worry it doesn't make that much sense anyways. So Annie and Abed go in there to play make believe and Abed soon gets bored with Annie since she doesn't know how to play in his make believe world of inspector space time, so he develops a game where by Annie is a hospital administrator, something she wants to be in reality, and from there the show goes on in a strange direction where Abed's social awkwardness is further explored and examined.

Here are a few of the inconsistencies with this episode, we are shown two things Abed weirding out big time, and Troy having an obsession with Abed. While Abed does get weird, and while Troy and Abed have a strange relationship, its not the the extent that this episode shows it. Troy would be able to go and have a good lunch with Britta as it has been shown many times before that they have a solid relationship that may be more than a friendship.

There wasn't really any of Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) in this episode and he is basically the necessary anchor within this show, he is shown a few times but in the dream world where Abed is essentially playing Jeff as the way he thinks Annie perceives him. So a Jeff-less episode already had the odds set against it, and by focusing the action all on the dreamatorium this episode just drifted too far off into weird land.

Here's the other weakness of this episode, usually we have two or three plot lines to follow, so in case we find one dull at least we will be entertained by another. For example last week episode 15 of this season, we see Britta freaking out at Annie's apartment, Jeff and Shirley teaming up to investigate Blade, and Pierce attempting to become best friends with Chang. All three funny story lines, if you didn't like one then you'd like the other two at least. Where as this episode has its one and only plot-line of the dreamatorium, I briefly was hopeful that they would flash over to show Britta and Troy eating lunch but we didn't get any of that.

WORST EPISODE

[zdflanders · 1/10 · 6 November 2018]

I don't care about what the majority of fans are saying about this episode. It's terrible. This show was appealing because it focused on realistic community college life and making friends and acquaintances who are totally opposite form each other. It's a realistic and relatable plot to the majority of people. I noticed the series was starting to stray away from that plot before this episode but this is inexcusable. It's completely unfunny and the focus is completely dull. Abed is hilarious because of the atypical way he acts in situations and amongst other people. It is completely ridiculous to show an entire simulation that's completely in his mind and for some reason just have everyone just play along like it's real life. That is SO unrealistic. No one in real life does that ever! I can forgive certain episodes that are no where near realistic (like the annual paintball episodes) but only because they are actually funny and entertaining. This series has seriously declined. I can see why it got cancelled.

This episode appeals to the simple minded who don't understand real life. Seriously your taste is abhorrent if you like this episode. Go ahead and downvote if you disagree. I'm not apologizing. Truth doesn't care about your feelings.