You're made of sterner stuff than I; I usually muted the sound when he was onscreen.

Halloween already? Oh, right, October 19th, that would have made sense.

I think I vote thumbs down on that one

I didn't love it. I liked the emotional throughline, I think, but some of the dialog seemed off. And the camera work was different, though they were doing something stylistically so I'm not sure if that's a bug or feature.

I liked Annie's misinterpretation of "ring girl."

And, as much as I hate Pierce, I'm a damn sucker for Pierce and Gilbert's new brotherness.

But those were only a couple of moments in the whole thing, so I was meh on it.

We thought it was way better than the first ep anyway. Still...

Loved seeing Gilbert again! Such a treat.

Eta: I also enjoyed Annie's "If this is supposed to be like that movie where something like this happens..."line, although the "I hate reference humor" didn't need to be there.

I liked the emotional throughline, I think, but some of the dialog seemed off.

Yeah, I honestly don't know whether I'd notice if I didn't know there should be something off, but there was definitely something off. A lot of Jeff and Britta's dialogue, mostly. The jokes didn't land the right way.

Eta: I also enjoyed Annie's "If this is supposed to be like that movie where something like this happens..."line, although the "I hate reference humor" didn't need to be there.

Agreed.

Okay, to sum up the show's problems from my perspective:

1) I think the show has become too self-aware. There is a way of having reference humor that doesn't feel like winking at the audience all the time. The humor is also getting broader.

Consider the "My Dinner With Abed" episode - only "Community" could do that shit and get away with it. it clearly was a reference, once that revealed quite a lot about Abed and Jeff and addressed the tensions in the group without it feeling like a jackhammer to the head.

2) The character notes are not slowly developing. The characterization is getting shorter.

I don't think they get that the joke with Britta as psychologist is that she wasn't a very good one in the first place. So you can't have her be all competent all of the sudden after a summer. Don't drop a bomb like Jeff has his father's contact info and has been sitting on it all this time. Don't we need some lead up to this?

3) Except for Annie's awesome costume, there was no signifier that this was Halloween. Maybe they excised other parts of the episode when they knew this was airing in February, but this could have been any other episode at any other time of the year. I certainly did not feel that way about previous Halloween episodes.

Those are all spot-on, I think.

That being said, "Secret dogs!" was my favorite joke of the night, I think.