After being off the air for five years, the hit NBC sitcom Community I found a new home on Netflix. But the streamer, who runs all six seasons of the series, recently pulled a controversial episode from its catalog. Here’s a breakdown of why Netflix no longer streams “Advanced Dungeons and Dragons”.
‘Advanced Dungeons and Dragons’ appears in season 2 of ‘Community’
As the fourteenth episode of Season 2, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons centers on Neil (Charley Koontz), a fellow Greendale student who teases his weight. After being nicknamed “Fat Neil”, Neil seems depressed and possibly suicidal, so Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) decides to cheer him up by playing his favorite game, Dungeons and Dragons.
Jeff gets the entire study group to join the game. Each student acquires a different character, with Abed (Danny Pudi) leading the game as a dungeon master.
Finally, Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase) and Chang (Ken Jeong) realize that the group is playing without them. Then they force themselves into the game. In the end, after Pierce relentlessly tortures Neil and loses the game, the group learns that Jeff was only trying to cheer Neil on because he felt guilty for coining his nickname.
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The episode is often considered one of the best in the series.
Written by comedy writer Andrew Guest and directed by Joe Russo, “Advanced Dungeons and Dragons” touched on topics such as bullying and suicide, and also featured significant character growth. Among fans of Community, is often considered one of the best episodes of the show.
“‘Advanced Dungeons and Dragons’ is the best content episode of anything I’ve ever seen,” wrote one fan on Reddit. “The acting and characterization are wonderful, and the cast totally sells them. The narrative is fun, tight, and surprisingly emotional. I can’t beat how well they did this. It is incredibly talented writing. ”
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Why the episode of ‘Community’ was brought out by Netflix
Community I found a new life on Netflix, with old and new fans who revisited the show and put it back in the spotlight. But amid growing awareness of racial insensitivity, the streamer released “Advanced Dungeons and Dragons” because it features Ken Jeong’s character Chang in a black face.
As the group plays, Chang appears covered in dark black paint, wearing a white wig and elf ears. He declares himself a dark elf named Brutalitops the magician.
“So let’s just ignore that hate crime, huh?” Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) asks the group, to which Chang replies, “I’m either a dark elf or a drow.”
But some Community Fans argue that Chang’s outfit was not racially motivated. And they are pointing out that he dressed as a dark elf, as implied.
“@Netflix removing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons episode from Community it does nothing to heal racial injustice, “wrote a fanatic on Twitter.” Chang was dressed as a mythical creature from a fantasy world. The skin tone was not a social commentary or a representation of black culture. You did an escape here!
“So Netflix brought out the episode Advanced Dungeons and Dragons from Community because of the black face,” another fan tweeted. “But Chang was not on the black face. So there is no nuance or analysis here at all.
It is unclear if the episode disappeared from Netflix forever. But the transmitter may make an announcement in the next few days.
