Back in the day I was in the 'OMG Community is awesome, you just need to get past the rocky episodes and it's unlike anything...' camp and now I am very 'It's interesting how many people had serious lapses of judgement regarding that show'... and other statements all using passive voice. The XMas specials are still amazing to me, though. I rewatch at least the season 3 one every year.

But yeah the D&D episode pretty much showed it as group therapy for socially maladjusted people, which it can be, actually. But there was a strong implication of 'that's it, that's all there is to this'. I have always hated that episode and been so confused when it's talked up in RPG spaces. Honestly the X Files episodes is more fair to D&D because it shows a guy who just happens to be into it rather than making implications about everyone who likes it. (OT but god I used to love the Darin Morgan episodes of The X Files, but then he wrote what he wrote for the reboot and I can't rewatch them. Ignorance would be bliss)

It is weird that more hasn't tapped into Satanic Panic and so many people don't know it happened. It's like, there are a lot of lessons to learn there about how mass conspiracies die, what the aftermath is like, and how people deny ever having been swept up in it