The Starburns Memorial Riot

Community, S03E18

The group decided to have a memorial for the deceased Starburns to handle the grief they were supposed to be experiencing from losing one of their classmates.  Annie and Greta insisted that they should feel something at Starburns' passing, but Jeff was impassive about it until he heard that his death prevented them from a complete Biology grade and guaranteed them a summer course instead.  At the memorial, Jeff began to speak about his displeasure with Greendale and the others in the group followed in suit, each sharing one of their personal complaints about the nature of the school.  The other students in attendance got fired up by the ideas the Jeff group were presenting and a riot broke out.  The dean panicked and allowed Chang and his kids to use force to stop them, including pepper spray.  The event caused so much damage and attention that the school board wanted a hearing concerning those responsible.  The dean agreed to use Chang a scapegoat to protect Jeff's group, but Chang countered that idea with a much more cunning one that was successful in getting the group expelled.

I agreed with Jeff that them wasting time on grieving for Starburns was pointless.  It was mostly a chance for Greta to use some of the crap she thinks she has learned in her psychology class.  Thus, I didn't expect the memorial for Starburns to be anything but a joke (but not in a funny way), until Jeff got up to speak and started bad-mouthing the school.  I really liked how everyone had something bad to say about Greendale, even Annie and Shirley who are usually good for spinning things in a positive way.  The dean has never had any control over the school (thus why things like school-wide pillow wars and paintball fights can break out), so it's little surprise that he would turn to Chang to bail him out.

I'm happy that Chang, who is usually in the background like a little crazy time bomb, has finally stepped into the spotlight again.  I really liked that his request for more force on campus was written in crayon with pictures as if a child had written it.  Later, when he sent his little army out to handle the riot, Chang was just standing around laughing like a maniac.  That was damn funny.  I actually felt bad that Jeff's group and the dean were going to blame him for everything that happened (when the dean could probably be looked upon the most guilty for his lack of managing skills) until Chang tranquilized the dean and replaced him with a lookalike.  Wow.  Then he showed up at the hearing in a nice suit (where did he get that from--he looks like he's never owned a suit in his life), acting like everyone's best friend.  I thought he was just a hop away from the looney bin, but he's actually a damn good evil mastermind.  As much as I like Jeff's group, I had to applaud and admire Chang's scheme.  I wonder how long he's going to keep that fake dean around.

The last scene where the group was gathered at Abed and Troy's was nice.  I liked that Abed brought up that amazing episode where they showed a different timeline each time someone rolled the dice, and Abed wondered if the current timeline was the darkest of them all.  However, instead of ending on a sad note with everyone worrying about what they would do now that they were expelled, they all seemed to accept what had happened to them because at least they still had each other.  That was much better to see than them having a pity party or a bitch fit about it all.  I guess there's still hope for them all.

I want to see what will happen with Chang's position now that he's gotten rid of Jeff and company (not that I think they were exactly in his way to "glory").  It would be funny if he tried to take over the dean's position somehow, but I know that with him in a position of power, he would quickly abuse it and cause his own downfall.  It will also be interesting to see what the group does now that they don't have to go to Greendale for school.  Hopefully they will still find a way to see each other and have some kind of wacky mishap like usual.  However, I'm mostly hoping that the real dean will come back and get the seven of them reinstated as students as they should be.

Abed and Troy As Cops? Hell, Yeah!

Community, S03E17

This week, the gang was spoofing Law and Order.  I've never watched it before, but I could still appreciate the joke.  The gang's yam for biology was destroyed and Annie employed Shirley to find a culprit that she and Jeff could take to Professor Kane to get the grade they deserved.  Shirley, a fan of crime shows, immediately tasked Abed and Troy to interview suspects and do the leg work.  After talking to a lot of people, the two pointed the blame to Todd, one of their initials suspects.  They had a court-like session in the biology lab, with Professor Kane as the judge, and proved that Todd was the one who dropped their yam jar.  However, Jeff realized that Todd wasn't entirely to blame and requested that both of them be given C grades.  In Jeff's closing remarks, he revealed that the reason Todd dropped their jar was because another student was sabotaging everyone's projects to prevent his girlfriend from failing.

I liked that Troy and Abed were acting like cops, but were careful enough to know that they didn't have the actual power to hold anyone against their will or punish them for their crimes.  They really commit to any role that someone gives them, especially if it's reflective of a TV show or movie.  The best investigation work was when they had to catch Starburns in the library and Troy dressed up as a "typical nerd" to bait him.  Their plan was so ridiculous, yet it worked like a charm to get Starburns to steal Troy's bag.  Then they interrogated him with the "good cop/bad cop" method.  They were acting insane, but for the most part, everyone was cooperating with them.  In another scene, Abed was flying off the handle when it looked like Jeff and Annie wouldn't be able to pin the crime on Todd with his real lawyer present.  He was shoving off papers on their tables like he was really pissed off.  I loved it.

Another person who was pretty funny in this episode was Professor Kane.  I liked how he was annoyed by their court room antics, but allowed them to act like that anyway.  The part I liked best about him was when he was defending the honor of the pinky swear Abed and Troy made with Starburns.  Kane wasn't about to back down even when the Lieutenant Lawyer was demanding that the person who saw Todd in the room have his reasons for being in the biology lab explained.  He can be some a formidable presence when he wants to be.  But he is an incredibly fair man.  Maybe a little hard, but he is damn fair.  And I respect his character for that.

I was amazed that Jeff was the only one who picked up on the strangeness of Todd burning himself on their jar.  I thought that was really weird and wondered what that was about until Jeff brought it to attention at the end of the "trial."  I never expected it would be Neil behind it.  Actually, scratch that.  When he was talking to Abed and Troy when showing them the log, I had a good feeling he was involved in the crime.  After all, he commented that he had already heard about their yam being destroyed and that his yam had bloomed.  There was no need for him to say all that.  I didn't think he would have done it so he could have sex with his girlfriend.  What a weirdo.  Good thing Jeff showed how mushy all the yams were or Neil would have gotten away with it and all the blame would have gone to Todd.

The last thing that was funny (in a creepy way) was the extra where Shirley wondered why the boys were still bunking in the study room.  The dean came in with warm milk and sang them a bedtime song that proclaimed he would be there staring at them when they woke up the next morning.  What the hell??  Still, it was cute that Abed and Troy were comforted to sleep by this weird lullaby.  I have no idea why the dean is taking care of them, though.  That dean is such a mystery.

Sometimes I think that this show would be great if it was nothing but parodies.  I like seeing what roles each of them can play in a different situation besides being a student.  They can turn all kind of problems at school into a creative and more serious matters than they are.  Really love how they can do that.  But I guess if they do it all the time, it wouldn't be as special.  However, I'm willing to see them prove me wrong.  So far, I've enjoyed every one of their extraordinary adventures from the paintball fights to the Law and Order case.  This show better have many, many more opportunities to stretch their creativity in the future.