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.

The Truth Packs A Punch

New Girl, S02E06

Jess learned more about Sam and wanted to have a real relationship with him once she developed feelings for him.  Winston hoped that dressing up sexy for Halloween would put the spark back between him and Shelby.  Schmidt tried to create a wedge between Robbie and Cece.  Nick's old flame Amelia came to town and he finally made the moves on her.

I don't remember if they did a Halloween story last year, but I didn't really love this one.  It was an important episode because everyone seemed to stop playing around and tell the truth about some of their current romances.  I'm glad that the air has been cleared so that the gang can move on.

I feel like Jess coming clean about liking Sam for real (though that was no shock because she wears her heart on her sleeve) was the saddest.  He seemed like a great guy who loves kids and would mesh well with Jess, but he just wasn't looking for the same thing she was.  I have no doubt that she can do better than him, but you felt like there was some potential there.  However, at least it frees her up for Nick who is still dragging his feet about his feelings for her.

This episode proved that Nick has always been this way about liking someone.  He had practically done everything under the sun to show that he was in love with Amelia in the past except come out and profess his love for her (or simply just ask her out on a date).  Luckily, with Amelia's subpar kissing techniques Nick probably dodged a bullet not immediately hooking up with her.  But at least he let her know about that, even if he paid the price with a slap.

Jess also seemed to pay the price for Nick's actions when he punched her in the face.  That wasn't as half funny as Nick getting beat up by Jess' fellow haunted house workers who made that experience Nick's "worst nightmare."  But I loved that Nick would overcome his fear of haunted houses to try to warn Jess not to ask Sam to be in a real relationship.  I was cracking up when he kept screaming when this scary clown kept getting in his face.  Somehow it doesn't surprise me that Nick has bad nerves like that.  I mean, he is a little simple-minded and probably believes that monsters exist (but is one of those people who pretends he doesn't).

Besides wanting to cheer for Nick getting kicked to the curb by Amelia, the best honesty was between Winston and Shelby.  Not because it was funny, but because it was necessary.  Maybe Winston's cop outfit wasn't the sexiest thing he could wear, but at least he didn't dress like a demented middle-aged woman who has a stuffed animal obsession and still thinks she's a princess.  I already hate puns, but Shelby's "reigning cats and dogs," just took the cake.  I wished that Winston had the authority to lock her up in his cop outfit.  Couldn't be happier that he finally had enough and ended it with her crazy ass.  I'm also glad they showed us just how nuts she was before Winston ended so I don't feel any regrets he's single again.  "Emancipation," indeed, Schmidt.

Schmidt was acting a-fool around Cece and Robbie, but at least he sort of decided to stop acting like a dick.  I'm glad that Robbie is smart and strong enough to stop Schmidt from headbutting him (what, is he a caveman??).  Also, he's just an all-around nice guy who offered Schmidt friendship instead of pointless rivalry.  However, I'm not convinced that Schmidt will completely back off.  I also didn't care too much for his Magic Mike costume.  Though, it was slightly better than him dressing as young Abraham Lincoln.  Of all things that he could dress up as and he picks that.  But I suppose it's better than Nick's (which I have no idea who the hell Arthur is, but what a lazy costume).

There weren't really any great lines from this episode, so that's a little disappointing, but it wasn't terrible.  I would have liked to see them in funnier costumes, perhaps.  They were just in outfits that made me want to shrug.  I loved that the truth came out and there was some punching involved (gotta love that Jess got to get Nick back in the end too).  Looking forward to seeing what everyone's next romantic journey will be.