Chagnesia: Real Or Fake?

Community, S04E06

Abed shot a documentary about Chagnesia to submit to the MacGuffin Institute so that the school would get a grant to pay for Chang's, aka Kevin's, recovery.  Jeff pretended to join the cause only so he could expose Kevin the moment that he slipped up and showed his true colors.  Despite geting his friends to unknowingly investigate Chang's activities before his amnesia and his current behavior, Jeff struggled to find any incriminating evidence to support his theory Kevin was faking it.

As much as Jeff has good reason to doubt Kevin, it was hard to take his side when his friends had already been won over by Kevin.   When Jeff is acting by himself, especially if he's trying to hurt someone else, he looks more like a bully than a lone hero.  In fact, I felt a little bad for Jeff because he looked like such an insensitive ass throughout the whole documentary.  The worst was when he was trying to make out with Chang's ex-wife, in the hopes that Kevin's jealousy would reveal his lies.  Instead, Jeff looked like some kind of sex-crazed animal, attacking a woman who had only come to help her former husband.  I liked that Abed didn't show us how bad it had gotten before people were able to stop Jeff from embarrassing himself further.

Some other things that I liked included the comments at the beginning from Dr.  Kedan.  I thought he gave the funniest line when he mentioned that Kevin didn't remember being Chang, yet was still making puns:

Why Changnesia affects the memory, not the ability to make forced puns is all things we can study now that someone finally has it.

I kept thinking about that myself.  If Kevin has such a huge memory loss, why is he making those Chang puns?  Although, I'm glad he is.

My second favorite line was when Abed and Jeff were reviewing the footage that Britta had taken and Jeff was hopeful that they would see Chang slip up now that he was alone:

Doubtful.  When he's alone he mostly practices smiling and frowning.  We've all done it.

I loved the way Jeff looked at Abed when he said that as much as I like picturing Abed staring in a mirror practicing smiling and frowning appropriately.  It's a nice nod to that fact that Abed usually appears very expressionless in almost all situations.  If any emotion ever shows in his face, it's usually surprise/horror.

In the end, it was interesting that Jeff came to understand a little bit of how it felt to be Chang and be isolated when he friends were surrounding their new friend Kevin, while Jeff had to sit by his lonesome.  It was what he deserved, and it taught him an unexpected lesson.  However, I loved the irony that Chang was in fact lying all along.  Jeff hadn't completely been won over, but it looked like he was going to give Kevin a chance.  This all seems to be going according to Chang's plan, which I'm excited to learn about.  Also, who was Chang talking to?  Was it his wife?  Or someone else that has reason to get back at Greendale as much as Chang does?  Super glad that Chang hasn't turned as good as he seems.

This was a good episode.  I wish that it had been a funnier documentary, considering that Abed was the head of it.  However, he does tend to let stories play themselves out and keep himself neutral from the actions going on around him.  He did sort of help Jeff, but Jeff definitely didn't have any true allies with him on the quest to expose Chang.  After learning what seemed to be a valuable lesson about giving people second chances and walking in another person's shoes, Chang revealed that he was doing exactly what Jeff suspected he was.  It's unclear what Chang's evil plot is this time, but hopefully Jeff will catch onto it before Chang puts all their lives into chaos or worse, in danger.

Who Are The Real Germans?

Community, S04E04

Jeff and the others had their study group room invaded by the German students at school who kept beating them to it.  When the gang came up with a plan to get the German's amenities usage at school suspended, their victory backfired and led to other students who had been coveting their study room for years to band with the Germans to protest Jeff and the other's monopoly.  Dean was also entrusted to look after Chang while he is recovering from his amnesia.

I realized that one of the reason I must have liked this episode a lot was because the conflict in this story wasn't internal in their group, but external.  When Jeff and the others work together to solve a problem they're having at school or somewhere else, I enjoy that better than their own personal squabbles.  Not to say those don't have their own comedic merit, but lately I haven't been feeling the issues within the gang.

So when the Germans returned (I don't exactly remember them from before, though) I was pleased to see them target the gang.  From the moment Reinhold opened his mouth, in a taunting and superior tone with a hilarious German accent, I was on board for this study room war and ready to laugh.  Reinhold had me rolling with his evil laughter in class and how he and his lackies kept beating the others to the study table every morning.  I liked the idea that they seemed to literally have nothing better to do than to make Jeff and company frustrated.

I also enjoyed that the gang's ruse to get the Germans banned from the study groups by tricking them into celebrating their own culture on campus actually made them see that they have always been the oppressors.   That's interesting because you don't think about how they've had to been hogging that room for years without consideration of the other students.  It's too bad that they failed their test in Cornwallis' class because they really learned first-hand the lesson he was trying to teach about history from different perspectives.  This was a lesson I hadn't expected them to reach, so I really liked the story from beginning to end.

Besides the story itself, there were several lines that I enjoyed throughout.  The first was when the gang was whining about missing out on the ice cream class:

[Troy] I don't get history.  If I wanted to know what happened in Europe a long time ago, I'd watch Game of Thrones.

[Annie] Troy, that show takes place in a fantasy realm.  This class is about the real world.

[Troy gasps excitedly]

[Abed] Not the show.

[Troy] You need to think before you speak!

Troy continued making me smile when he didn't respond well to their history professor's introduction:

[Cornwallis] I'm Professor Cornwallis.  I know what you're all thinking, and the answer is yes.  I am a direct descendant of General Sir Charles Cornwallis, who surrendered the British forces at Yorktown.[Troy] Was anyone thinking that?

Cornwallis seems like he's going to be funny (if he continues to be their teacher).  I liked how he doesn't quite fit in Greendale in so much as he doesn't abide to absurd ideas that seem common at the school.  When he heard that they thought it made sense that he could have possibly set up a ruse to teach seven of his students a lesson, he lamented over his new job:

My, God, I've made a terrible mistake coming here.

But my favorite lines came from when Jeff finished explaining that they needed to use a ruse to beat the Germans:

[Abed] You had me at "ruse."[Jeff] That was the last thing I said.[Abed] Good thing you said it.

I feel like this was the kind of episode I had been waiting for since October.  Well, at least something similar to this with more of a dramatic development than what was called for (like a war over blankets and pillows).

It was good to see that Chang has gotten back into the school again, but I'm eager to see him get his memories back.  A tame guy named "Kevin" doesn't have the same draw that the original out-of-his-mind Chang does.  However, maybe for a while he can terrify the gang who I know can't possibly forgive and forget his past deeds so easily.  The Dean has for sure, but I'm counting on those like Jeff to watch him carefully for the other shoe to drop.

 This is my top episode so far.  Knowing that this show seems to be picking up some steam, I'm hoping that there will be many stories to come that will blow this one away and make me even forget it.  I'd gladly welcome back the Germans again for any other beef they care to have against Jeff and the others--they were excellent rivals in the study room war.  It was a good twist that the group learned that they were blindly oppressing others at the school and did something about it to make up for their behavior.  I don't know what Chang could do to make up for all the atrocities he's done at Greendale, but his amnesia and seemingly pleasant attitude now gives him a chance to start over with everyone.  I'd rather he didn't because you just can't beat how hilarious Chang was as an antagonist--what would the school be like without their resident psycho?

Great To See The Greendale Crew Again!

Community, S04E01

Jeff fought for admission balls in the Dean's games for the History of Ice Cream class.  His friends didn't want to help him, feeling betrayed at the news that Jeff only needed the one history class to graduate early.  Annie and Shirley decided to play some senior pranks.  Britta joined Troy in his beginning of the year tradition of making wishes at the fountain.  Abed, via Britta's instructions, went to his happy place and refused to leave when hearing about the changes that were to come with their final year of school.

I can't deny that I've missed this show and was dilgently waiting for its return.  I can't say, though, that I really loved any part of this season premiere. What I liked mostly was just seeing their faces and remembering the dynamic of the group.  It's generally entertaining to see them doing just about anything because they're a weird group of people.  However, I didn't laugh as much as I had anticipated.

I definitely missed Dean's outlandish outfits.  This time he was dressed in a red dress and later a tango dress while doing the "Hunger Deans."  Besides the costumes, I didn't really think the games were funny or anything.  Maybe if it hadn't just been Jeff running around to get the balls I might have liked it a little better.

Annie and Shirley could have stirred up some trouble doing pranks around the school, but they didn't do much of anything than realize that Jeff wasn't being as big of a jerk as he seemed.  I did sorta like that Annie was really bad at coming up with pranks, such as moving the Dean's stapler, but that was only slightly successful as a joke when the Dean mentioned he was having a bad day because someone moved in stapler in the end.  Apparently she was right about that being able to drive him crazy.

I'm still not used to the idea of Britta and Troy testing the waters or whatever they are doing instead of officially dating.  In fact, it took me a second to remember that they thought of each other in a romantic way.  I had forgotten about that because they haven't really done much as a couple yet.  Anyway, I didn't like much her messing with the tradition Troy and Abed had made together.  Yes, Troy should be more open to things outside of what Abed deems as right, but on the other hand if it's a choice between Britta's world and Abed's world, I think that Troy better fits in the latter.  Abed may be a little out there, but at least he's intelligent.  I can't get over the fact that Britta just always sounds so stupid, so her giving her two cents about how they should do their fountain wishes wasn't welcome to me.  If this is how their interactions are going to be from now on, I don't see myself supporting them as a couple.

How I have missed Abed and his fantasies.  In the Abed TV universe, I liked that Pierce existed as Fred Willard.  I could get down with that replacement, even though it would be harder to imagine Willard as a naturally rude and racist old man.  It was also cute that when the others were looking at job magazines, "Pierce's" magazine read "Coffins."  Still, even though it was just inside of Abed's world, it was a little annoying to hear the studio audience.  I thought at first they were doing that on the real show and I was about to get scared.  Later, when Abed went into his happy place within his happy place, I got a little kick out of him changing everyone into cartoon babies called "Greendale Babies."  I don't know why, but that was a little funny.  The best thing, though, was when everyone was trying to bring Abed out of his own mind and Jeff walked up to Abed.  In Abed's mind Jeff had told one of his trademark speeches to solve whatever problem was going on that week, but this time Jeff hadn't even gotten the chance:

[Abed] That was a killer speech, Jeff.
[Jeff] I-I didn't say anything.  I literally just walked up.

I also liked the little promos going on during Abed TV.  It was cute to see Abed and Troy in chef outfits in "American Sword Chefs."  What in the world would that show be about?

At the end, Chang was shown handing a mailman a note about his "Changnesia."  He was naked and seemed really confused.  Not sure what to expect from him this season, but I'm a little excited to see him get back into the mix.  Chang was definitely my favorite teacher of theirs.  He needs to have a place at the school again.

Lastly, there was a little extra segment of Abed TV where Abed and Troy were in drag.  It was kinda funny that Dean refused to believe that Britta wasn't a man.  I like the idea that Britta looks less feminine than Abed and Troy do if they were to dress like women.

This episode was okay.  I'm just happy enough that this show is back on the air to worry too much about what the first couple of stories are about.  I am worried that the show might not be able to continue once they do graduate, but I also couldn't see how they could stretch out another year of school at a community college.  There weren't many laughs this time around, but I mostly liked another glimpse of Abed viewing the world through TV eyes.  He seems to be already on board with the changes that will come with the new school year, but I'm sure Abed will find trouble adapting with something else and we'll be treated with Abed TV once more.