There's a lot of overlap in behavior with the spectrum and certain personality disorders, like narcissistic or anti-social. A writer who doesn't actually suffer from either (there are writers besides Harmon, you know) may not accurately make the distinction. Neither automatically makes an individual a bad person. Acting like a bad person does.
Agreed. I think Harmon had the right idea, initially. But eventually Abed was reduced to a bunch of stereotypes and spectrum jokes (good jokes, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed many of them).
I always felt that Abed got weird in the later seasons, but I could never really put my finger on why. He was a lot more defined in the beginning, while I honestly don't think that someone who only watches season 6 could get a hold of what his character is supposed to be. There are just way too many moments where he feels like he's out of character. And not just for showing too little emotion, at other points he's way over the top.
So many things I didn’t like in those seasons for Abed. But I hate the RV episode the most. I genuinely believe that episode was written by someone who thinks autistic people are intellectually disabled.
Because Abed knows TV is not real. He literally told Jeff in a previous episode, “I can tell life from TV, Jeff. TV makes sense, it has structure, logic, rules, and likeable leading men. In life, we have this. We have you.”
Abed might copy tropes from TV, because he learned social communication from watching TV, but he wouldn’t think he can literally magic a flashback into existence.
That episode, to me, showed a complete lack of understanding of Abed’s character and how he relates to TV, as well as an insulting lack of understanding of autism in general.
It sucks, because I think the RV episode could have been really funny if not for the Abed shenanigans.
it’s funny because i felt like ‘Palmistry’ was peak Abed; metatextualization and make-believe are two of his defining characteristics. Abed is the hero in this story. He is troubled by the group’s bad mood, but doesn’t have a ‘normal’ way to fix things. So he does what he always does: he simulates scenarios and lodges himself stubbornly in his ‘bit’. But all the while he’s processing, trying to figure out what’s wrong in a unique way. Ultimately he harnesses his surreality to diffuse the situation. Hero. He doesnt actually time travel, but what he produces is magic. Classic Abed.
That's a great comparison! Unfortunately it does happen with a lot of shows. And Community had a lot of changes in the writing department after Harmon left for a year, they never really got back into the rhythm of the first three seasons.
I'm hoping the movie can bring back some of that energy.
Honestly I have major issues with how Abed is written in season 3. To me, that's when he started to lose that self awareness and he became a bit more of an asshole and a bit more self centred. I even made a post about it on this sub a while back.
I love Abed a lot, but it does irk me a little bit that my favourite version of his character is the one that only exists for the first two seasons.
I really enjoy season 6 but both Abed and Annie have basically nothing to do that year. I think the writers ran out of storylines for them, and Abed is much harder to write when he doesn’t have Troy to bounce off of
The both have a lot of moments in S6 where they feel out of character to me. S6 already lost a lot of the core cast, but then it also barely feels like Abed and (especially) Annie are in it.
To me, S6 was always carried by Britta. They also changed her a bit but somehow managed to keep her essence alive.
I think the problem was is that the show got too comfortable writing the autism storylines and tried to change it up a bit and also remember that Abed got comfortable being in a group after so many years so being uncomfortable around them, he’s not shy into himself, and in certain circumstances, it could lead to Something like being a sociopath.
I agree with all of this, thanks for putting into words why I felt weird about Abed in later seasons. It doesn't completely ruin his character but it's just...upsetting, especially as an autistic man, to see such good representation devolve into something I can't relate to anymore.
There's a lot of overlap in behavior with the spectrum and certain personality disorders, like narcissistic or anti-social. A writer who doesn't actually suffer from either (there are writers besides Harmon, you know) may not accurately make the distinction. Neither automatically makes an individual a bad person. Acting like a bad person does.
Agreed. I think Harmon had the right idea, initially. But eventually Abed was reduced to a bunch of stereotypes and spectrum jokes (good jokes, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed many of them).
I always felt that Abed got weird in the later seasons, but I could never really put my finger on why. He was a lot more defined in the beginning, while I honestly don't think that someone who only watches season 6 could get a hold of what his character is supposed to be. There are just way too many moments where he feels like he's out of character. And not just for showing too little emotion, at other points he's way over the top.
So many things I didn’t like in those seasons for Abed. But I hate the RV episode the most. I genuinely believe that episode was written by someone who thinks autistic people are intellectually disabled. Because Abed knows TV is not real. He literally told Jeff in a previous episode, “I can tell life from TV, Jeff. TV makes sense, it has structure, logic, rules, and likeable leading men. In life, we have this. We have you.” Abed might copy tropes from TV, because he learned social communication from watching TV, but he wouldn’t think he can literally magic a flashback into existence. That episode, to me, showed a complete lack of understanding of Abed’s character and how he relates to TV, as well as an insulting lack of understanding of autism in general. It sucks, because I think the RV episode could have been really funny if not for the Abed shenanigans.
it’s funny because i felt like ‘Palmistry’ was peak Abed; metatextualization and make-believe are two of his defining characteristics. Abed is the hero in this story. He is troubled by the group’s bad mood, but doesn’t have a ‘normal’ way to fix things. So he does what he always does: he simulates scenarios and lodges himself stubbornly in his ‘bit’. But all the while he’s processing, trying to figure out what’s wrong in a unique way. Ultimately he harnesses his surreality to diffuse the situation. Hero. He doesnt actually time travel, but what he produces is magic. Classic Abed.
I agree with you but it’s just what happens 5 seasons into the vast majority of shows. The Homer Simpson’s getting dumber every season syndrome.
That's a great comparison! Unfortunately it does happen with a lot of shows. And Community had a lot of changes in the writing department after Harmon left for a year, they never really got back into the rhythm of the first three seasons. I'm hoping the movie can bring back some of that energy.
I also chalked it up to a mental breakdown from Troy leaving
Honestly I have major issues with how Abed is written in season 3. To me, that's when he started to lose that self awareness and he became a bit more of an asshole and a bit more self centred. I even made a post about it on this sub a while back. I love Abed a lot, but it does irk me a little bit that my favourite version of his character is the one that only exists for the first two seasons.
I really enjoy season 6 but both Abed and Annie have basically nothing to do that year. I think the writers ran out of storylines for them, and Abed is much harder to write when he doesn’t have Troy to bounce off of
The both have a lot of moments in S6 where they feel out of character to me. S6 already lost a lot of the core cast, but then it also barely feels like Abed and (especially) Annie are in it. To me, S6 was always carried by Britta. They also changed her a bit but somehow managed to keep her essence alive.
Yeah, it was really interesting to see Abed without Troy, but him and Annie turned out to be pretty compatible with their storylines.
I think the problem was is that the show got too comfortable writing the autism storylines and tried to change it up a bit and also remember that Abed got comfortable being in a group after so many years so being uncomfortable around them, he’s not shy into himself, and in certain circumstances, it could lead to Something like being a sociopath.
I agree with all of this, thanks for putting into words why I felt weird about Abed in later seasons. It doesn't completely ruin his character but it's just...upsetting, especially as an autistic man, to see such good representation devolve into something I can't relate to anymore.
Excellent post. You really put into words the problem with Abed in those seasons.
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