Troy and Abed’s double-team pranks and schemes were a central element of the fun of Community, but this outshone them all - not least because nowhere else, not even in “Geothermal Escapism,” did their friendship ever come closer to a breaking point. Both episodes bring an era of Community to a fitting conclusion. Of course, this ultimately leads to a heartbreaking exchange between Troy and Abed that dares you to not cry when Abed admits he sees lava when he thinks about Troy leaving. Then, there’s “Geothermal Escapism,” a high concept homage to post-apocalypse movies in which the campus says goodbye to Troy with one final game of lava.

The episode’s setup is simple - the cast pings back and forth around a table - but it digs into some dark place before ultimately ending on a sweet note that also successfully convinces you that maybe the best thing for Troy to do is leave. On the one hand, there’s “Cooperative Polygraphy,” which sees a deceased Pierce trap the group in the study room and create discord with a ridiculous and hilarious polygraph test that thrust several violations of trust out into the sunlight. If there’s one thing Community didn’t do, it’s miss its chance to acknowledge how much it was going to miss Donald Glover and his performance as Troy, because it sent him off with two fantastic episodes that are in conversation with and celebrate the highs of the first three seasons. It helps that, as fun as the Lord of the Rings parodies and Abed’s masterful Dungeon Mastering are to watch, “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” is also a story about Jeff reckoning with his past cruelties and learning to be a more accepting friend - both to study group member Pierce and to background character Neil (Charley Koontz), thankfully never again referred to as “Fat Neil” after this intervention. As so often, Community stood at the vanguard of a cultural shift, and probably pushed it along. Celebrities play it now, everyone’s seen Game of Thrones, and a game centered around in-person imagination and collaboration has taken on new resonance in an age of increasing alienation (to say nothing of our current moment - try getting a D&D group together on Zoom if you’re bored at home!). In the years since this episode aired, Dungeons & Dragons has become more culturally acceptable a pastime than ever before. A fun thing about revisiting “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons” now is noticing the amount of time the characters spend mocking and deriding the titular role-playing game, even as they find themselves increasingly sucked in.

The best er episodes