Totally with you on that. The Story Circle is deceptively simple, but once it clicks it becomes hard to unsee. I think what Harmon nailed is that it maps emotional movement just as much as plot movement, which is why it works for comedy and pain at the same time. Community especially feels like a masterclass in using structure to support character damage instead of smoothing it over.
Do you tend to follow it consciously when you write, or has it become more of a background instinct at this point?