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?

Don's Not A Murderer, But Peggy's A Little Racist

Mad Men, S05E04

Don came down with a fever and imagined having an affair and killing the woman involved.  Peggy bonded with the new secretary, Dawn, and let her stay the night despite she didn't trust her 100 percent.  Sally butted heads with Henry's mother and felt terrified when she learned more about some recent murders.  Joan welcomed her husband back from the war, only to send him packing when he proved that he cared more about the respect and status he got from the army than his own family.

I liked seeing Don a little sick.  I was hoping that we get to see Megan taking care of him, but most of that happened while we watched Don seemingly slip back into his old habits.  I was going to get so angry at Don if he had really slept with one of his old skanks.  Thank goodness it was fever-induced dream.  I was most worried when I saw him choke the bitch--how in the world would he cover that up??  Especially since he killed her and then hid her body under the bed.  And he didn't even hide it well--there was one leg still poking out.  I let out a breath when the morning came and Megan was talking to him per usual.  I could see Don possibly involved in a murder cover up, but hopefully not so sloppily.  I mean, I don't want Don to go to jail.  He's not that bad of a person.  Not yet, anyway.  I wonder if this dream signifies him "killing" that sleazy part of himself.  I really hope so.

I was pleased to see that Dawn wasn't going to just be a background character completely.  Her starting a friendship with Peggy was a good way to ensure that she could get some screen time, but what the hell was up with that moment with her purse??  I'll give Peggy points for not taking her purse out of the room, but she sure as hell wasn't smooth about those few seconds where she wondered if it was okay to leave it in the room with her.  She did just get a huge payday for saving Roger's ass--guess money like that she can't just have sitting around unguarded.  Still, I wish that of all things Peggy could have done that was offensive to Dawn it had been something ignorant out of her mouth and not some action like that.  I just think that Peggy is one of those people who should know better than to treat people like that. Especially when she thinks that she gets Dawn's feeling of being an outsider (no, bitch, you don't).  I'm counting on her making amends in the future.  If she is the decent person that I've come to think her character is.

Um, Henry's mother is all kinds of crazy.  I can understand why Sally was complaining about her to Don.  I'll skip over the part where she thinks that necessary discipline for a child involves striking them for no reason so they'll be prepared for the unexpected (her father sounds awful).  No, the real part that made me wonder how Henry could leave Sally alone with her was her lack of filter when describing the murder in the paper (I don't care if Sally read them on her own--you don't need to tell a frightened girl that much truth), her burglar alarm (a kitchen knife, really?), and the ease in which she dispensed a pill to calm Sally down for the night (man, she loves resorting to pills to solve problems).  Henry's mother makes me think again about denouncing the way Betty used to treat Sally.  Goodness.  I wonder how that's going to play out later on.  I'd hate to see Sally start taking pills regularly.  It'd add to the dramatic element, but I hate to see a young girl downing drugs.

As far as Joan tossing her husband out on her ass, I say way to go, Joan!!  He's such an asshole.  If he was going back to war to protect a cause he believed in, I would think he had a good reason to rush back in.  Instead, I only felt like he was using his army status to be the big-shot he wasn't back at home.  Wow.  That would be great if his absence wasn't a burden on the family he left behind.  True, he'd only be gone a year but why risk something happening to you just so could feel superior about yourself??  I couldn't be happier that Joan stayed strong and held her ground.  Screw that guy!

On a side note, Michael seems to be walking on a thin line already.  He obviously has talent and a way with words that might even rival Don's, but he is very into his own world.  When told that his stunt at the meeting with the clients almost got him fired, Michael was impassive as if he hadn't noticed how very pissed Don was.  I don't know why, but I love it when Don yells at the younger people at work.  There's something very funny about it.  So I can see that he might have to do that constantly with Michael if he doesn't get out of his deluded world.  Nice to see that he has the potential to be entertaining not just as Peggy's rival, but as a comical thorn in Don's side (sort of how Craine tries to buddy up with Don but Don just blows him off).

So much to look forward to next time, as usual.  What I most want to see (although it may not be addressed next time) is how Joan fares without her stupid husband holding her back.  Hopefully this means that she will soon be walking down their office as she should be.  What I'd least want to see is more of Betty whining about her weight while she stuffs her face.  Unless we reveal some kind of meaningful point through her domestic boredom (I suppose that's her problem), I'm not interested.  And of course, we better see Peggy set things right with Dawn.  Hate to see that swept under the rug like so many issues on this show.

Pillows Versus Blankets, Part One

Community, S03E13

The stories of Jeff apologizing to the mysterious Kim who sent him a hate letter before "she died" and Shirley and Pierce's using Greta as a pawn to bring down a personified version of Subway Corporation were nothing to the story of Abed and Troy starting a war over a pillow and blanket fort.  This was an unfinished story, so it's unclear whether the rivalry between the best TV duo I know is going to end up being a permanent thing.  Despite that the vice-dean had a hand in creating the rift between these friends, my dislike of Abed continues in this episode.

I have little to say about the non-Abed Troy stories, but I was interested in one aspect of Greta's story.  The man who played Subway was Travis Schuldt!  No matter what I see him in, I will always see him as the original Ethan Winthrop from Passions.  I don't think I've seen him since his short-lived role on Srubs.  In this episode, he managed to sweep someone as cynical as Greta off her feet and was his usual charming self (Ethan was always pretty hot).  It's too bad he had depraved sex with Greta and the corporation took him away and replaced him with a less handsome look-alike.  He and Greta could have made a cute couple.  And it would have been nice to see her in love instead of being the source of negativity for everyone.

Now onto to Troy versus Abed.  I worried if the tension we saw last week would still be there this week, and it totally was, even though it looked like the two were fine.  Nothing says Abed and Troy like a pillow fort, but thanks to the dean suggesting that they go for the Guinness Book of World Records for a fort made of either pillows or blankets, Troy started to feel second-rate to Abed.  It's so hard for me to abandon all of the love I have for such an unique character like Abed, but through Troy I see how selfish he can be.  Troy was eager to take on the challenge of breaking the record, but Abed (although, wanting no glory from building a fort beyond the fun they could have) ignored Troy's desire completely.  No wonder it was so easy for the vice dean to whisper in his ear that Abed didn't respect his opinion--he wasn't lying!  When Abed was telling him how to stack the pillows before he told Troy to basically go ahead and waste his time building a pillow fort but he wasn't going to help, I was almost a little happy that Troy ran off.  I say little because I don't want them to fight!  But I understand why Troy would feel like he wasn't important to Abed unless Troy was doing something for him.  

I changed my mind a little about Abed later when he rather easily agreed to tear down his fort in order to make room for Troy's (so he does care about Troy's desires?), but of course, the vice-dean came and interfered right before Abed pulled the crucial sock (I guess that would have sent everything crashing down?).  After that, Abed wasn't backing down, nor was Troy, so they were both the leaders of their own little pretend forts.  Seeing them stand on opposite sides broke my heart, but at the same time it was a little exciting to see.  They usually work together, so if they go against each other, which one of them would win?  I wouldn't be mad if they resolved their issues easily after one heart-to-heart talk (because I love them together and I don't care about plot when that's concerned), but I doubt it will happen if they are going to drag out the story until next time.  And what sort of fights will they have with pillows and blankets?  That's extremely interesting to me.

If the next episode can turn to anything like that fabulous paintball story, I will die.  That was insanely cool!  I didn't think they would do anything like that again any time soon, since they just brought back Community and all, but perhaps they're playing all their cards while they can (who knows if someone stupid will try to cancel their prematurely again?).  I can't wait for the conclusion of Team Abed versus Team Troy!