Community Rewatch- 1x10, 1x11, & 1x12

Hello again! I'm super bored so I plan on doing quite a few episodes tonight, especially since it's a weekend and I don't have to be up early tomorrow morning to chase toddlers around all day haha. Onward, Human Beings!

  

1x10- Environmental Science

Episode Rundown-This episode has way too much Chang in it for my liking. The A-story involves Chang's depressing life following his separation from his wife and he's taking it all out on his Spanish 101 class- i.e. assigning them a 20-page paper and a giant quiz on the day it's due. The group appoints Jeff, of course, to talk Chang out of it, but instead of helping the others he ends up helping himself- Chang decides Jeff's his new BFF and doesn't make him do any of the awful things he assigns the rest of the class. Waah. Anyway, Jeff solves this by calling Chang's wife and the two reunite at the Greene Daye concert. Lame, whatever, who cares.

The best part about this episode are the B- and C-stories. Abed and Troy are taking a Biology class (which is odd because they take Biology in the third season with the rest of the group in the third season too) and have to train a mouse to respond to a song. Abed picks "Somewhere Out There" but Troy is hella afraid of mice and refuses to help. In his fright, he knocks over Fievel's cage and he/she escapes. Luckily, later on, they sing the most beautiful rendition of "Somewhere Out There" ever, with more heart than anything ever sung on Glee. Take that, Gleeks. Pierce teaches Shirley how to overcome her fear of public speaking in the most amazing way possible and Annie and Britta aren't really important in this episode.

The ending tag is hysterical. Troy and Abed are planning a school-wide water gun fight when Pierce enters, asking if they're ready to start and brandishing a tiny gun. Abed and Troy are quick to poke fun at him, mainly because their guns are gigantic, but Pierce shoots both of them in the eye and it's revealed that his gun is full of pepper water! Gasp! Who puts peppa in wahtah?!

What Was Great

~ The Dean announcing Green Week and that they're changing the name of the school to "Envirodale!" Then Starburns bursts his bubble by saying, "But we're already called GREENdale..."

~ Chang pulling Annie's desk out of the room just because she didn't stop writing when he said "Pencils down."

~ "Guess what, handsome hobo? Your gravy train's leaving the station! Chuga chuga chuga chuga woooo woooooo!" - Annie, you are fabulous. Never change.

~ The beginning of the Dean's dalmatian fascination. Ohhhh dear.

~ Greene Daye not being Green Day

~ "LIKE." "UMMM." Pierce was great in this episode. "Try handing them a sandwich..."

~ "Somewhere Out There" was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Well that may be dramatic, but it was amazing. <3

~ The tag! Priceless.

What Wasn't So Great

~ Ugh, Chang, obviously. I hate when tiny moments are centered around him, let alone an entire episode.

~ The "pickled bull testicles" and all of the other shit associated with, you guessed it, Chang. Blegh. Unnecessary.

~ The obnoxious crying scene. Ugh.

Rating

I'd still give this episode a solid eight out of ten, because of how amazing the B and C stories were. But too much Chang, just saying. I very much dislike him.

1x11- The Politics of Human Sexuality

Episode Rundown- Greendale is having an STD Fair with a catchy slogan- Catch Knowledge! Jeff is envious when Pierce has a date to the STD Fair and he doesn't (which, by the way, Pierce's date is an escort... yeah) and upon thinking back to his last sexual encounter he realizes it's been a dry spell. Britta points out that all of the women in his phone have no identities (Car Wash Redhead, Tube Top R.E.M concert, Mommy who isn't his Mom) and realizes he's programmed her in his phone as "Hot Blonde Spanish Class." Classy. Eventually, he asks the Dean's very childlike secretary to be his date (She thinks Monty Python is the evil snake from Harry Potter and says things like "tinkles." Ugh.) but Pierce's date is quick to point out that he can do better. Jeff realizes that he's better than this ditzy blonde and has a heart-to-heart with Pierce about growing up and maturing. Finally, he changes the contact in his phone from "Hot Blonde Spanish Class" to "Britta." Awww.

Annie has decided to be the Dean's biggest helper in this episode, arranging the STD Fair, hanging posters, and passing out flyers and fortune cookies ("You will get AIDS... Unless you come to the STD Fair!"). He then decides she should be the one to demonstrate how to properly put on a condom in front of the entire school and she panics, because she's never seen a penis before. Britta and Shirley help her break into the Dean's office to practice on the anatomically correct model, but they're caught and have a group therapy session in which they're all supposed to say penis. Annie doesn't, however, and launches into a tirade about being comfortable with being uncomfortable with her sexuality. You go, girl.

As for Abed and Troy? Troy gets super jealous when he realizes Abed is better at sports than he is and challenges him to many different sporting events to find one thing he can do better. There isn't anything, though, and when the Dean realizes the free condoms are faulty, it's Abed who runs to the office to warn the students, "If you're going to have sex tonight, don't use condoms!!" Somehow, I feel like this isn't the right message you should be sending at an STD Fair...

This episode's tag was blah. Abed is reading a Chemistry book to Troy and the latter falls asleep. Abed then covers him with his jacket and turns out the light. Troy asks for a glass of water, which Abed promises him. The end...

What Was Great

~ Jeff's reaction to Pierce's girlfriend's profession. "Some mysteries solve themselves, don't they?"

~ "Don't gloat! It's impossible to guard you. Your eyes are too gentle and mysterious!"

~ "Don't eat the crab dip! Yeah yayyyy!"

~ "Hot Blonde Spanish Class?" "You're welcome." Oh Jeffrey Winger...

~ Annie's story about how she lost her virginity. This is the most amazing thing ever, especially because it's a true story. -ish. "He's gay now." "I think he was gay then."

~ "Just this morning while I was shaving and listening to the new Jay-Z, I was thinking about how I want to squeeze in a quick gallop this weekend." "Do you own a horse?" "Can you ever really own a horse?" HAHAHA.

~ The faulty condoms. Word of advice- don't try to print something on latex.

~ Annie's speech about being comfortable with herself. "And maybe, just maybe, if everyone were just a little bit more like me, we wouldn't have to have an STD Fair!" Preach girl. Preach.

What Wasn't So Great

~ Sabrina, a.k.a. the Dean's assistant, was super annoying.

~ Doreen the call girl was funny, but when she spoke I felt like she yelled everything. She's all, "YOU CAN DO BETTER, JEFF." Okay, chill, he's not deaf.

~ The tag was boooooring.

Rating

All in all, I would give this episode an eight and a half. It was very funny! Maybe not perfect, but still hilarious.

1x12- Comparative Religion

Episode Rundown- Feliz Navidad! It's Community's first Christmas! The Dean does everything in his power to stay secular, and instead of being Santa Claus, he dresses as "Mr. Winter." So there's a school bully named Mike that begins to torment Abed and when Jeff comes to his rescue, he becomes Mike's new enemy. All throughout the episode he tortures Jeff until finally, he does the ultimate ball-buster- he corrects Jeff's Spanish. I KNOW! So they decide to fight at 3 o'clock and meet by the bike racks as Shirley scolds him for this, because it's Christmas. Jeff corrects her, saying, "It's December 10th." Pierce and Troy teach Jeff how to fight in the most hilarious scene in the episode and Britta comments the entire time about how fighting is gay. I'm going to have to agree with her. Have you ever seen WWE?

Shirley makes everyone "WWBJD" bracelets, which stands for What Would Baby Jesus Do? for Christmas and everyone awkwardly accepts them. She announces she's throwing a Christmas party and again, everyone awkwardly responds. Then we learn why- Shirley is the only Christian. Annie's Jewish, Jeff's agnostic, Britta's atheist, Abed's Muslim, Troy's a Jehovah's Witness, and Pierce belongs to a religion called Reformed Neo-Buddhism, which everyone believes to be a cult. Shirley tries to be open about this, but it's clear it very much bothers her and instead of embracing everyone's religions, she throws her Christmas party anyway and leads the group in singing "Jesus is a Friend of Mine!" They decide to leave and watch Jeff's fight instead.

When 3 o'clock comes, Jeff decides not to fight in honor of Shirley's wishes, but when Mike attacks him, he has no choice but to retaliate. Soon the entire group is engaging in the fight and though Jeff avoids getting hit mostly, Pierce punches him in the face and says, "You're welcome." Classic. Afterwards, they learn they all passed Spanish and celebrate the holidays with a little champagne and each other's company. Aww!

The tag is hilarious- Abed is hanging garland, lights, and ornaments on an unhappy-looking Troy while singing "Oh Christmas Troy." Jeff asks why they do stuff like this and Troy shrugs and responds, "Because it's fun." That's all it takes for Jeff to join in, too.

What Was Great

~ "Ho ho ho! Merry happy!" - The Dean-as-Mr. Winter was hilarious

~ "Knock knock- my fist up your balls!" ".... Who's there?" Snarky, Winger. Snarky.

~ Shirley's reaction to everyone else's religion- "The Lord is testing me."

~ Britta's running gag about how fighting is gay. It's soooo true.

~ "Oh look. Britta brought what she believes in- nothing."

~ The fight scene! Amazing.

~ Teaching Jeff to fight: "You gotta look like you've got pennies in your mouth... Just think about the Crying Game." "What are you a North Korean seamstress?"

~ Troy's story about the first time he was punched- "First time I got punched in the face, I was like OH NO. But then I was like, this is a story..." ".... And a good one."

~ Shirley's rewritten version of Silent Night

~The fabulous tag

What Wasn't So Great

~ The bully drove me crazy

~ Chang. Blegh.

~ The song they used during the fight scene was hella annoying. Also, sorry for using the word "hella" a lot. It's kind of a crutch.

Rating

I would give this episode a nine out of ten. Seriously. It's that good. Community always knows how to make great holiday episodes! <3

Continuing soon!

Community Rewatch- 1x07, 1x08, & 1x09

Onward, friends! We're almost into double digit episodes! These three episodes are very different; one involves the first of many forts, one involves Vaughn again (yay!!), and one is the beginning of Jeff and Annie. Ugh. Let's do this!

1x07- Introduction to Statistics

Episode Rundown- In the very first Halloween episode, a few things are established that will carry into the next year's Halloween episode- Britta dresses in animal costumes because she hates when girls use Halloween as an excuse to dress like a slut. Annie's the opposite and like to get a little more risque with her outfits on Halloween. Jeff only dresses in things that will make him look good. Pierce makes references to things he thinks are hip but which really went out of style twenty-ish years ago. Shirley dresses as one thing but everyone else thinks she's something else completely. And Troy and Abed dress as intricate characters and always get into character. Awesome.

So this year, Chang announces Annie is throwing a Spanish-themed Dia de los Muertos party and that anyone who shows up gets extra credit. Jeff denies going, saying the party "conflicts with the enjoyment of my life." He also gives Britta first right of refusal when he mentions he has a hot professor. Which is when we're introduced to Michelle Slater, the statistics professor who insists she doesn't date students. Shirley, who's finally taken off her wedding ring conveys her hurt feelings through pretending Britta's upset over Jeff and Slater, even though she couldn't care less, and Annie later convinces Jeff to come to the party through, what else? Crying. Pierce is also taking medication for what Abed calls his "going problem."

At the party, Jeff spends most of the time hanging around and irritating Chang about getting into the faculty party and, when he leaves to be with Professor Slater, Shirley and Britta go after him to make Annie feel better, because apparently the entire party is based around Jeff. Anyway, they get there, yell at Jeff a little, he yells back, and they leave, but even still Slater turns him down. Britta then finds Shirley in Slater's office, which she's ransacking, and then proceeds to tell Britta all about the issue with her ex-husband. Aww =( When we return to the party, Pierce is, as Troy states, "tripping balls." He's having a hell of a time on this ecstasy; hallucinating, meowing, and all kinds of other ridiculous behavior. He builds a tower out of study table furniture and only Jeff can talk him of it. But oh no! It collapses!! Good thing Abed-as-Batman was there to save him! Woo!

The tag, oh my god. Greatest thing ever. Troy and Abed are doing Batman voices and talking about a world made of candy corn. So weird but so, so funny.

What Was Great

~ This was Community's first holiday episode, obviously, and it proved how great they were going to be. I wasn't disappointed.

~ Everyone's costumes were hilarious.

~ The scene between Britta and Shirley in Slater's office was so beautiful <3

~ "Can I ask you something I've always wanted to ask the real Batman?" and all of the responses, both in the episode and in the bloopers.

~ "Pierce is tripping balls. He's touching people and acting weird. It's like Grumpy Old Men, but not hilarious!" and all of Donald's variations of this in the bloopers.

~ Abed's Batman monologue. So great.

~ The glorious tag: "That's one of my biggest fears. If I ever woke up as a doughnut..." "You would eat yourself?" "I wouldn't even question it!"

What Wasn't So Great

~ Isn't it obvious? Too much Chang ;)

~ Annie's little-girl tantrum. Come on. Your eighteen, not eight.

Rating

It was great! I would give it seven and a half out of ten stars. Great Halloween episode, but Season Two's was better. ;)

1x08- Home Economics

Episode Rundown- We find out that Jeff has been evicted from his condo and has been living out of his car, which is both hilarious and tragic (he has a soap-on-a-rope, come on now). But there is an A, a B, and a C-story going on here, so while Abed and Britta try to cope with a homeless, desperate Jeff, Annie's crush on Troy hits a low much to Shirley's chagrin and Pierce becomes the keyboardist in Vaughn's band (also: Vaughn's back! Yay!).

Jeff makes it very clear to everyone that he doesn't need pity and anyone who offers him help "will be mentioned by name in [his] suicide note." A little harsh, yeah? He shows Britta his condo, douchey Italian faucets and all, but as he does so, his car gets towed. He is then forced into the lesser of many evils- Abed's dorm room. But they end up having a great time together, Jeff makes a new friend (PAVEL!), and soon he's a little too comfortable "dorming it up" as Britta says. Britta steals his faucets from his old complex and gives them to him as a little push to get off Abed's couch and find a new place, which he does, but not without thanking his gracious host, Mr. Nadir.

Pierce decides to talk to Vaughn about his and Britta's failed relationship and though this goes about as well as you might expect, he becomes the keyboardist in Vaughn's band, aptly named "Some Worries." Cannot even. They write a song entitled "Getting Rid of Britta," which insults her obviously, and when she confronts them about it, Pierce unknowingly defends her honor and is booted from the band. Which, of course, leads to his own tribute song- "Pierce is a B." Oh Vaughn... Learn a new insult.

Troy on the other hand asks Annie for help wooing a girl he likes and because of her huge crush on him, she agrees. She comes up with a date for the two of them on the east lawn, lends him her grandmother's blanket, and even sets up the dinner they'll have. Then, instead of telling Troy how she really feels... She fakes appendicitis. No, it's cool Annie. I would've done the same thing. She storms up to Troy and Randi while they're on their date and takes her blanket back, telling Shirley, "I don't care what you think. For me, that was huge." Aw, Annie =(

The tag involved that rapper guy from "Some Worries" coming up with a ridiculous rap about Vaughn. Some of the best lines include: "Vaughn's breath is so bad his butt's mad at his mouth," "then he goes to school where he's stupid again and everybody hates him even all his friends," and "when you come after Pierce yo the battle is on. So this rap goes out to stupid Vaughn." Well played, Pierce. Well played.


What Was Great
~ Vaughn! Loved him.
~ "Getting Rid of Britta" and "Pierce You're A B" are amazing songs. Seriously. =P
~ Britta's "inspiring" speech after stealing Jeff's faucets. I thought it was a really cute moment. Also, the fact that he knew they were his: "I made this notch to mark the optimal cleansing temperature for combination skin." Like... what?!
~ "Move on with my life? Schmove schmon schmith schmy schmife!!" HAHAHA.
~ "Remember when you pretended to be my backpack?" "Ha ha, yeaaah. I'm funny." Lol oh Troy...
~ Abed's words of wisdom: "You can do whatever you want. You just have to know what that is." Just fabulous.
~ Pierce's line: "When I put on these jeans, my ass looks like a baby pumpkin!" Amazing.
~ PAVEL. "Heeeey bros! BREETA!" Love him!


What Wasn't So Great
~ The episode started with Chang. Blegh.
~ Troy's obliviousness. Dude, Annie has a GIANT crush on you! What in the world...


Rating
I would give this episode a nine out of ten. So hilarious and so, so many good parts!

1x09- Debate 109

Episode Rundown- Jeff and Annie shippers rejoice- this episode is like your heaven. The A-story is, obviously, the whole debate team storyline. Annie's a part of the Greendale Community College debate team (apparently only for this episode, because it's never mentioned again) and needs a debate partner and after quite a lot of bribing from the Dean, Jeff agrees to be her partner. Their debate is the ever-popular question- Is man inherently good or evil? Jeff thinks it's quite the joke and sings "Evil Woman" instead of preparing, but City College comes out on top. The gay basketball team (Not being derogatory here. They're literally gay) interrupts, but when they continue the next day, Jeff and Annie come prepared! They realize they're a great team, but Simmons, their rival, goes off book and throws himself out of his wheelchair and into Jeff's arms, saying, "He hates me, yet he caught me. Man is good." The audience cheers, but Annie thinks fast, kisses Jeff who then drops Simmons, and says, "He was horny so he dropped him. Man is evil!" And, obviously, Greendale wins.

Britta is trying to give up smoking and Pierce decides for the episode that he's a "dynamite" hypnotherapist so, to throw him a bone, she decides to give him a shot. He definitely isn't dynamite; he isn't even good. So he falls around and trips and stumbles while Britta lies on the couch pretending to be asleep. But he catches her one time and begins painting a picture of a threesome in his hot tub, which she angrily responds to, telling him she'd been awake the whole time. Pierce, obviously, is aware of this and tells her he's humiliated, but it turns out that disgusting mental picture is the only one Britta can picture when she thinks of smoking, so yay! Habit abolished!

And then there's Abed, who's making viral videos called "Community College Chronicles" that are based on the things that happen to him and the study group, with all of the same characters. Only he seems to be able to predict the future, since he posts videos of things two weeks before the happen. Eerie. He predicts Pierce will hurt his leg, Britta will make Troy cry, Jeff and Annie will kiss, and Shirley will be chased by a werewolf. Ridiculous. But they all come true. Well, maybe not that last one.

The tag is Abed filming look-alike Abed and look-alike Troy from CCC (Community College Chronicles) doing the Biblioteca rap and Troy freaking out because the aren't getting the essence. It was... meh. To say the least.

What Was Great

~ Britta's angry disposition when she's not smoking. "A doddering old fool tells a stupid joke and I crush his windpipe with my three-ring binder!" Laughed so hard.

~ "Little Annie Adderall." Poor kid. Felt bad for her, but it was still pretty hilarious.

~ "Jeffrey! Did you hear my last P.A. message?" "I hang on every word!" "I'm gonna assume that's sarcasm." "You'd be correct." "So you didn't hear it?" "I'm barely listening now."

~ "We're going to study, we're going to prepare, and we're going to win that debate!" "Really?!" "No! What am I, iCarly?" Oh my god, so hilarious.

~The gay basketball team. "Oh nice shot Bruce! That was a good try!!" HAHA.

~ The end where Jeff goes to shake Annie's hand and she tries to hug him, then they try it vice versa, and then she goes, "Just pat me." Hahaha!

~ "This is wrinkling my brain." "This is wrinkling my brain!" "THAT'S WRINKLING MY BRAIN!"

~ "By the way Jeff, I think your shirt's trying to get out of your pants."

~ "My colleague likened people to the purity of fallen snow. I would respond, 'There is none righteous. No, not one.' Now I realize Mr. Simmons' quote was from the great Franz Wickmeyer. Mine was just from a simple desert handyman... Named Jesus." Greatest line ever.

What Wasn't So Great

~ The emergence of Jeff and Annie blegh

~ Simmons annoyed me SO MUCH. Ugh.

Rating

I would give this episode and eight out of ten. Hilarious A story, but the B and C stories were both pretty blah.

More soon!

Community Rewatch- 1x04, 1x05, & 1x06

Hello again! So there are like, 71 or 72 episodes of Community in total, so I guess I should get a move on with this if I don't want it to take up my whole summer. And so we continue!

1x04- Social Psychology

Episode Rundown- The fourth episode of the first season instigated one of the most awesome friendships on Community- Jeff and Shirley. Also, the introduction of the amazing character of Vaughn. So Jeff and Shirley walk the same way after Spanish class, but Jeff avoids her everyday, explaining to Britta that he can't take that much of her. Britta, Miss High and Mighty, tells him he's being mean, that Shirley's very easy to talk to, and that she's really glad he's not hitting on her anymore. We find out why later. Anyway, eventually Jeff can't avoid Shirley any longer and the two awkwardly amble to class. They eventually bond over their mutual affliction to gossip. Uh oh! Secrets don't make friends! Well, in this case, they did...

Annie is taking Psych 101 and gets into Duncan's special lecture, "The Duncan Principle," in which she's supposed to bring two human subjects. She asks the group, all of whom turn her down except for Troy, who wants "butt stuff." Odd boy, that one. Annie eventually convinces Abed to come too, even though he was really excited about the Indiana Jones film festival. So excited, in fact, he bought a whip. Could he be more adorable? Anyway, it's the waiting game experiment- keep telling the subjects the experiment is going to start in 5 minutes and see how long they wait before they crack. They all break down and freak out until finally, it's just Abed left. Hmm...

Shirley and Jeff continue to make fun of people, especially Vaughn, Britta's new flame, until they see the two of them making out on the grass. Classy, folks. So he's all dejected, leaning against a soda machine and he and Britta talk it out afterwards. But Jeff can't take being one of the girls, especially when Britta shows him the poem Vaughn wrote her. He takes a picture of it, shows it to Shirley who shows it to the group, and of course, in typical shit hitting the fan fashion, Vaughn and Britta enter the room and all hell breaks loose. Obviously Vaughn breaks up with Britta and Jeff feels awful about it (kind of), but he and Britta end things on a good note- they're still friends. Maybe more than that? Shirley tells him Britta had a sex dream about him. He still has a chance! Rejoice! =P

26 hours later and Abed is still sitting in the exam room. Annie tells him it's only going to be a couple more minutes and he says, "Okie dokie." Sigh. Duncan flips out, throws a tantrum, and blames Annie for warping "The Duncan Principle." She, in a fit of anger, yells at Abed to go home and then angrily asks, the next day in study group, "You sat in a room for 26 straight hours! Didn't that bother you?" Abed says, "Yeah I was livid." And when Annie asks why he didn't leave, he responds, "Because you asked me to stay and you said we were friends." AWWW! So cute, I can't even. To apologize for her rash behavior, Annie buys Abed the first three Indiana Jones movies, "because the fourth one blows," and Abed tells her they're still friends. So cute!

The ending tag for this episode was so, so funny. Troy and Abed are sitting on a couch in the study room, staring through a window and making fun of all the people on the other side, assuming they can't hear them. When Jeff walks through, they begin to make fun of him too, until he turns, calls them out on it, and says, "I can hear you through the window, morons." Troy and Abed turn to find the other people they were previously ragging on staring at them unhappily and Troy's solution? "Just pretend like you're sleeping. Just pretend like you're asleep." Classic.

What Was Great

~ Vaughn. The way he says hello three times, how he always says "No worries!", how he never wears shoes or a shirt. Love. him.

~ The Shirley and Jeff friendship. They're so much fun, I love it. Making fun of everyone reminds me of myself and my friends. That's all we ever do. =P

~ Vaughn's "tiny nipples" lol. So great.

~ Annie's entire storyline. I love Abed's adorableness, I love Troy's freak out, I love when she's like, "Oh that's so0o0o0o hilarious! Did you think of that the last time you skipped a trip to the dentist?!" Hysterical.

~ Introduction of Garrett!

~ The tag. Oh my god. "I think it's time for burning maaaan," "Ooh! I'm Sadaam Hussein! Ooh!" "Nice to meet you, duuuude." "Oh wow, I love reading and being a Desperate Housewife," "Ey mon, comin through, I love de Desperate Housewives!" So funny. I can't handle it.

~ Basically everything.

What Wasn't So Great

~ The episode started with Chang. =P

Rating

I would give this episode a 9 out of 10. Seriously. It's that good. <3

 

1x05- Advanced Criminal Law

Episode Rundown- This episode is the first time we got to see Jeff as a lawyer-in-action and it was fabulous. Okay, there's an A, a B, and a C story in this episode, so I'll just do a paragraph on each. The A-story, the main story, is Jeff acting as Britta's lawyer after she gets a disciplinary hearing for cheating on a Spanish test. There are some fantastic lines and scenes in this story, but the best is, when they get a ten-minute recess in the locker room, when Britta accuses Jeff of only being her lawyer because he wants to sleep with her, not because he wants to be her friend. He says, "Britta look at me. Look at me! No, look how handsome my face is! If I all I wanted was sex, I could get it from plenty of women without having to go through all this crap!" Hilarious, but he's got a point. ;) Anyway, she launches into this tirade about how she's so used to being worthless, she cheated on purpose because she doesn't think she can succeed. Crazy. Which is why, when they go back to court (which is in the pool, by the way), Jeff defense is insanity. And he wins; Britta's case is adjourned with her only punishment being therapy with Duncan. Hurray!!

The B-story involves Annie and Pierce. Annie's head of the school song committee (what school actually has this...?) and gives Pierce the role of coming up with Greendale's first original school song. He has an awful time with this and keeps using tunes of actual songs ("Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," for one). Eventually, he gives up and tells Annie he quits, which she doesn't accept, giving an amazing speech and telling him, "Life is tough, but we soldier on and that's just the way it goes!" Pierce, inspired by this, writes Greendale's school song and displays it when the Dean (love him, LOVE HIM) exhibits the statue of Greendale alum Luis Guzman. However... he used the tune to some song by Bruce Hornsby. Oh Pierce. Will he ever learn?

The C-story is with Troy and Abed. Troy starts messing with Abed and "lying as a joke," but gullible Abed believes everything he tells him, because he's never had anyone mess with him before. In a way to get Troy back, Abed pretends to be an alien, writing in weird font and symbols, jumping over things, and making weird sounds with his tongue. He even rents a green screen to talk to his "commander," which is really just himself wearing antennae and using a deeper voice. Troy, fed up with the nonsense, tells him, "It would be less creepy if you WERE actually an alien!" They agree to stop messing with each other, do their special handshake, and continue on as friends. Aww!

The ending tag was definitely odd. Abed and Troy are trying to see how many pencils they can fit in their mouths. Oh jeez...

What Was Great

~ The Dean- everything about this man makes him fabulous. I love the things he says, the things he does... Just great.

~ Jeff as a lawyer- he's so adorable when he's in the zone. And skinny tie! Shout out to The Soup!

~ Annie and Pierce's friendship- they're just cute and it makes sense why later he says she's his favorite. She's been the only one who's ever nice to him.

~ Britta- she was pretty great in this episode. First confessing she was the cheater, which made us think she was being the hero in saving her peers. Then actually being the cheater, which was kind of shocking. Then her reason why was pretty sad. Great character development.

What Wasn't So Great

~ The tag was kind of boring. Not as good as the previous episode's.

~ Too much Chang. There. I said it.

~ I wasn't a huge fan of the C-story. Troy and Abed are adorable, but the alien thing? Eh.

Rating

Overall, I would give this episode a seven out of ten. Great, but not fantastic.

  

1x06- Football, Feminism, and You

Episode Rundown- This episode, again, had an A, a B, and a C story, so we'll break it down again. Abed promises to "lay low for an episode," because Jeff tells him he treats them too much like characters on a TV show, so he's hardly in the episode. But the A story involves Troy struggling with Jeff trying to get him to play football for Greendale (only because the Dean's blackmailing him with ridiculous posters of him) and studying with Annie for astronomy (only because she's infatuated with him and wants to spend as much time as possible). Greatest exchange ever (until this point at least) happens while they're on the football field. That'll be in my greatest moments for sure. Anyway, he agrees to play football much to Annie's disappointment and tells Jeff to loosen up and take a pottery class or something. Coincidentally, he'll take one later in the season. Hmm.

The B story involves Shirley and Britta, the former trying to teach the latter how to become more feminine, which Britta clearly isn't. It involves something very simple- girls go to the bathroom in groups. But when Britta does go, she does everything wrong, in Shirley's opinion. She listens to Shirley's story about a stranger pissing her off and takes the stranger's side, she has nothing to offer but calls Shirley a robot because she wants a makeover, etc. They solve things by Britta agreeing to open up and then later counseling Annie when she comes in the bathroom crying over Troy. She feels super accomplished when she makes Annie feel better and the girls rejoice. Yay bathroom buddies!

The C story includes Pierce and the Dean trying to come up with a new school mascot for Greendale. They used to be the Greendale Grizzlies, but, as the Dean says, "Some of these students have been called animals their entire lives..." and so he changes it to the Human Beings. They make a color wheel of skin types and a board of stereotypes to stay away from; as Jeff says, "I think not being racist is the new racism..." They finally come up with it; the Human Being is a tall, skinny person (still not sure if it's a man or a woman, three years later) in a gray unitard with Sharpie-markered eyes, nose, and mouth. So. Weird.

This episode's tag was Abed and Troy breaking into the main office so they could make ridiculous announcements. Then they ran into security officers that looked exactly like them Say whaaaat?

What Was Great

~ Troy's back story- I loved learning about his background. It was so interesting!

~ The color wheel- "It goes from Seal to Seal's teeth!"

~ Annie emerging from a bush to follow Jeff. Hilarious.

~ Troy's rap! "Hip hop, body don't stop. Riverside got the broom, don't need a mop. Put your team in a box, put a ribbon on top. We're not John Kerry, cause we don't flip flop! Bing bong, sing along. Your team's Al Gore cause your views are wrong!" Oh my god, so funny.

~ Troy and Jeff in the football field: "That's racist!" Absolute perfection.

~ The reveal of the Human Being. Love it.

What Wasn't So Great

~ The B story was meh. Not fabulous. 

~ Jeff making Annie cry in public. She's a kid! Although the lines were hilarious when it happened...

~ The tag was kind of lame...

Rating

All in all, this episode earns a 7 out of 10 stars for me. I loved a lot of it and wasn't a fan of only a few pieces. Well done! 

More later!

Community Rewatch- 1x01, 1x02, & 1x03

Hello again! Last night I began my rewatch of Community's fabulous show running, so this morning I'm planning on posting reactions of the episodes I've watched. This doesn't really have much of a purpose; I'm only doing so because, well, all of my TV shows have ended for the summer and there's really nothing else to do. =P

1x01- Pilot

Episode Rundown- So, obviously, this is the pilot, so it's the first episode of the show. We understand that Jeff Winger is a disbarred lawyer who is seeking a legitimate bachelor's degree at Greendale Community College and will lie, cheat, and steal to get there even faster than necessary. He meets Abed, moons over Britta, and proceeds to find a former colleague. He has a hilarious conversation with Professor Ian Duncan that explains all of this and when Duncan asks if he's ever heard the adage, "Cheaters never prosper," Jeff says no and that, "If I wanted to learn something, I wouldn't have come to community college."

After the jazzy title sequence, we see Pierce in all of his Pierce glory having a very hard time with a hot dog. Hysterical. Jeff then proceeds to make a move on Britta and invites her to his study group with very, very bad Spanish. In a turn of events much to Jeff's chagrin, when Britta shows up, she brings Abed, who later invites the rest of their soon-to-be "family." Jeff, not deterred by this, mentions that this group may be "untutorable" and when he intentionally makes them this way, Britta finds out he did all of this just for a chance to have sex with her. She's disgusted, as most people would be, and Jeff promises to right his wrongs if she'll have dinner with him afterward. She agrees reluctantly.

And then Jeff launches into the most perfect speech I've ever heard (up until this point, at least) in my life- Sharks, Pencils, Ben Affleck. It's random, it's hilarious, it's freaking genius and easily the best part of the entire episode. It calms everyone down, excites them, and then Britta drops the ball and tells everyone the truth- he's "a lying creep who purposefully upset everyone" and then she asks him to leave. Which he does, only to find out the test answers Duncan gave him are just blank sheets of paper, the last one reading, "Booyah." But it all ends on a happy note when the rest of the group invites him back in to study and Abed tells him he "sees his value, now." Aw, happy endings!

What Was Great
~ Sharks, Pencils, Ben Affleck- I cannot even begin to cover the amazing quality of this speech. It's literally flawless. "We're the only species who observes Shark Week. Sharks don't even observe Shark Week, but we do. For the same reason I can pick up this pencil, tell you its name is Steve, and go like this. *snaps pencil in half* And part of you dies. Just a little bit on the inside. Because people can connect with anything- we can forgive a shark, we can sympathize with a pencil, and we can give Ben Affleck an Academy Award for screenwriting..." Just... So, so good.
~ Abed- legit everything that came out of his mouth was pure gold- introducing himself to Jeff, The Breakfast Club and Dirty Dancing references, the end where he thought he went deaf. Just gold. Love him.
~ Learning just a piece of everyone's back stories- Annie's pill addiction, Troy losing his scholarship, Shirley's divorce and kids, Britta's "save the world" mission, Abed's parents' divorce, Pierce and his seven marriages. It was awesome because, even though it's a comedy, they all have these dark back stories which I'm anxious to read into in the future.

What Wasn't So Great
~ The episode in general. Because this is only the first episode and they were still trying to find their groove, the episode came out kind of... blah. It's an episode I feel like you can only appreciate after loving the show for a while; it has that kind of humor and wit. But it isn't the episode I would recommend to someone who's just starting to watch the show. Watch some of the more exciting ones first, and then come back to the Pilot.

Rating
I would give it a solid six out of ten stars. A funny but somewhat lacking introduction to a great show.

   

1x02- Spanish 101

Episode Rundown- The second episode of the first season introduced us to the most annoying Spanish teacher since my time in high school- Señor Chang. He teaches the episode title class, Spanish 101, in which the study group is enrolled and is possibly the most ridiculous television character NBC's ever seen (debatable, yes, but I literally cannot stand the man). Anyway, Jeff is still on his quest to pursue Britta, who couldn't care less about a relationship with him and continues to turn him down. However, when Chang mentions they'll be partnering up for a Spanish project, Jeff sees this as the perfect opportunity to get to her and bribes Abed, who is her assigned partner, with his shirt to switch partners with him. Until, uh oh, the sneaky bitch. Britta switched cards too, assuming Jeff would do so, and now Jeff is actually paired with Pierce. Ha. Fooled you!

Meanwhile, Shirley and Annie are bothered by a comment Britta makes in study group about how Guatemala is killing those who oppose the government and throw a protest in the middle of campus, complete with picketers, rap music, and brownies. So not the right way to protest. =P Britta is irritated by this, but joins in anyway because she realizes she doesn't do anything to help her causes anyway. They decide to have a silent protest, complete with duct tape over their mouths, which Jeff crashes later when he finally breaks away from Pierce's stronghold. Pierce comes in, drunk as a skunk, and accuses Jeff of abandoning him, but catches his arm on fire and has to dive into the fountain to put himself out. Ah, the doddering old fool...

The next day is the morning of their presentations and, though Chang offers Jeff a C and tells Pierce to do their presentation solo, Britta makes Jeff feel awful for everything he did (she's really getting good at that...) and Jeff decides to be a good person and do the presentation. It is not without hilarity- there are costumes, silly string, sparklers, robotic deaths, waving flags while wearing butterfly wings, and something in a fake canoe that involves Annie in captivity. In the end, they both fail, but Britta's impressed by Jeff's selfless act and tells him, "No woman in that room can look at you as a sexually viable candidate ever again." At first he's disappointed by this but then "she looks back." The ultimate pinnacle of hope. =P

And then there's the greatest ending tag in TV history- La Biblioteca Rap. Troy and Abed make a 30-second rap, in Spanish, about the most hilariously random things. When translated to English, it makes zero sense. In Spanish, it rhymes, but still makes zero sense. But it's absolute perfection.

What Was Great

~ La Biblioteca Rap = Donde esta la biblioteca? Me llamo T-Bone, la arana discoteca. Discoteca, muneca, la biblioteca. Es un bigote grande, perro, manteca. Manteca, bigote, gigante, pequeno. Cabeza es nieve, cerveza es bueno. Buenos dias, me gusta papas frias. El bigote de la cabra es Cameron Diazzzz!! Yea boi. Boi. Word. It's 2009.

~ Jeff and Pierce's Spanish presentation in dramatic slow motion with a sad-ish song in the background. Awesome.

~ Shirley and Annie's Chacata Panecos pinata. "You guys realize he was beaten to death, right?" "That's where we got the idea from. Poignant."

~ Pierce's toast during his and Jeff's presentation planning time. "To the empowerage of words!" "... To the irony of that sentence."

What Wasn't So Great

~ Chang. I cannot stand him. I do not think he's funny. I do not think he's entertaining. I just don't like him.

Rating

I would give this episode a solid six out of ten as well. Pierce isn't the most entertaining character and I dislike anything with Chang, but everything else was fabulous.

 

1x03- Introduction to Film

Episode Rundown- Intro to Film is the third episode of the first season and this, I thought, is where the show really started to get good. It starts off with Jeff sitting in Accounting which ends up becoming his standard "blow-off" class. It's taught by Professor Whitman who believes in "carpe diem" and says it an innumerous amount of times. When Jeff suggests the class to the rest of the group, everyone's on board except for Britta, who opposes anything Jeff likes, and Abed, who says his father will only pay for classes that will help him run the family falafel business. Britta's disgusted by this and offers to pay for a film class for him, since it's Abed's dream to become a filmmaker, and Jeff pokes fun at her for getting involved in everyone's personal lives. Oh yeah, Troy sneezes like a girl ("And how about I pound you like a boy? ... That didn't come out right.") and Pierce later helps him find a manlier sneeze.

Later on in Accounting, Shirley gets an A for expressing the real reason why she's at Greendale (and it isn't to get a degree in business so she can sell her baked goods and whatnot on the internet) and Annie stands on a desk. Professor Whitman tells Jeff that he'll fail if doesn't start seizing his days for real and Britta gets into an argument with Abed's father over what's right for Abed. It ends with Gobi Nadir saying that Jeff and Britta can raise Abed because he's out. This leaves Britta to have to calculate Abed's expenses while Jeff takes no part in the fatherly role and instead tries very hard to seize a day, with no avail. The next morning, he runs through campus with a kite and plays double dutch with a bunch of teenage girls, which Whitman calls "sloppy." Then at study group, Jeff and Britta confess their concerns about Abed's movie and both end up storming out, with Abed saying, "Perfect, that's a wrap!"

The next scene is Abed, making the final cuts and edits on his movie while Jeff tries to bring peace between Britta and Gobi (Yes, I looked up this guy's name and yes, it's Gobi. Odd). They argue for a while, with Jeff shouting over them unhelpfully, when Abed finally shouts, "I'm finished!" and makes them watch his movie. It's a story of his life from the very beginning and though Jeff and Britta don't really get it, it makes his father cry. He agrees to let Abed continue to study film, "with falafel as a fallback," and Britta says she made this all happen. Yeah. Okay. Anyway, Britta tells Abed that doing all of those awful things to her on purpose isn't a very nice way to treat friends, but he says that it isn't called "friend business, it's called show business." Poignant, Mr. Nadir. When Jeff and Britta leave the library, she says she owes him and tells him to kiss her, which he does without hesitation. He thinks she meant it romantically, but when they pull away, Whitman shouts, "DAY SEIZED!" with Britta saying, "We're even." and walking away. Ha. Sneaky bitch is at it again!

The ending tag for this episode was classic Troy and Abed. Troy is at the study room table with Abed trying to "krump" to this ridiculous music. He finally gets fed up, shouts "THIS is krumping!" and breaks it down ridiculously with Abed trying to copy him. Jeff comes in, Troy explains they're krumping, and he says, "No you're not. HIT IT!" And off they go!

What Was Great

~ Abed's movie. It was funny, sad, and important to the storyline all in one. We got to see part of Abed's family history and it was a little heartbreaking. But it was still funny, because it's Jeff and Britta playing his parents and then, of course, the Cool Abed! films thing at the end was great.

~ Gobi and Britta's fight on the quad. Love Jeff's line at the beginning: "Holy... war." And then the whole thing with "dreams are for sleeping, it's clinically proven," "so's polio!" "you lost me!"  And of course her warrior stance. Hilarious.

~ Pierce's array of sneezes. So, so funny.

~ Whitman's "possibility" of death: "You could die in your sleep. You could get hit by a bus. You- that mole is raised and dark. It's not a good combo." I laughed so hard.

~ Jeff and Britta's kiss under false pretenses. Take that, shippers.

~ No Chang. 'Nuff said.

What Wasn't So Great

~ The tag just didn't do it for me. The bloopers were funnier!

~ That kid Jeff talks to in Accounting at the beginning of the episode. He just stared into space the whole time Jeff was speaking. Space cadet.

Rating

I would give this episode a solid seven and a half stars out of ten. Hilarious and a good start to what promises to be a great season. ;)

Check back soon. I plan on continuing this rewatch nightly. =D