I had high hopes that the splitting of the group would mean something, and for a time, I thought it might. However, Hank sees through this right away and refuses to do what the others want, marking a shift away from the “Advanced Dungeons and Dragons” plot. Like the episode with Neil, the group - namely, Abed - come up with a game designed to fix the issue between Hickey and Hank. But what ends up being most interesting about the episode is the game of Dungeons and Dragons itself. “Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons” tries to ramp up the conflict by making the game about Hickey (Jonathan Banks) and his dysfunctional relationship with his son, Hank (David Cross). Already, it’s pretty hard to top that in terms of stakes. Season two’s “Advanced Dungeons and Dragons” introduced (Fat) Neil just at the moment when he was about to commit suicide.
In his meta way, Abed (Danny Pudi) says sequels are hard to do, but they’re probably harder when the original is really good. This week’s “Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons” is the most explicitly similar episode since “Repilot,” and boy, does it have its work cut out for it. On the one hand, the similarities to previous seasons make season five feel much more like a season of “Community” than season four ever did, but often, the callbacks only serve to make me feel nostalgic. In these reviews, I’ve frequently pointed out references and similarities to previous seasons of “Community.” I’ve yet to decide if all these callbacks are a good thing or not.
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