NBC’s ‘Community’ season 5, episode 4 preview: Walton Goggins on guest spot, Troy teaser

“Community” has already knocked it out of the park on a few separate occasions this season, but Thursday night’s episode could be the biggest one yet. Despite it having at times a bottle episode feel to it, it will reveal one emotional wrinkle after another about why Pierce Hawthorne died, where the characters are going moving forward, and also some secrets and feelings that some of them have about each other.

Walton Goggins is going to be on hand as a man tied to Pierce who raises some questions and possibly even interrogates them, and he tells TV Guide that even he as an outsider realized that the weight of what he was doing was very important:

“While we were shooting it, I felt, and I think everyone that was there felt, that it’s a very important, very pivotal episode in the journey of that show. It is a real opportunity for those characters to look at themselves and where they’ve come. For me, to help them facilitate that realization was a real honor. I’m very grateful that I got a chance to do it.”

It was also revealed in this article that you will learn the reason why Troy (Donald Glover) is leaving during the episode, so the one that follows this will deal a little bit better with that character’s exit.

But, it is appropriate that the show takes an advantage of the opportunity now to acknowledge its departures, and tribute two of the characters that contributed to its success (even if you don’t like Pierce Hawthorne very much). Given how abrupt Chevy Chase’s exit was during season 4, they never really had an opportunity to dive into anything until now.

Having Goggins there should help to list the whole thing. He was great on “Sons of Anarchy,” and he’s consistently amazing playing Boyd Crowder on “Justified.”