By Galen Simmons
COMMUNITY OVERLOAD. Last night was one of the most exciting nights of television I’ve witnessed since last year’s finale week… funny how that works. As per usual, Community came out swinging with three, count ‘em, three new episodes.
The first episode seemed a little out of place in the community timeline since the Greendale study group waskicked out of school two weeks ago, yet by the end of the episode, Troy and Abed clearly found their way back to the study room. Ignoring that, however, “Digital Estate Planning” made excellent use of thevideo game motif, wherein the study group had to help Pierce win part of his inheritance by beating a video game designed by his father.
The next episode, “The First Chang Dynasty,” saw the collapse of Chang’s reign over Greendale, through a very cleverly-designed heist put together by the study group. Near the end of the episode, the heist went wrong and the study group landed in Chang’s prison, necessitating that Troy forfeit himself to the Air Conditioning Repair Annex to allow for the study group’s release.
In the final chapter of Community for the night and for the season, “Introduction to Finality,” Shirley and Pierce fight over ownership of their soon-to-be established sandwich kiosk (Subway left for some reason), while Vice Dean Leybourne tries to get Troy excited about attending the Air Conditioning Repair Annex, and Britta tries to help Abed come to terms with losing Troy. Long story short, Jeff struggles to decide between defending Shirley in “Greendale Summer Fun Court” or keeping his job at his old law firm, Abed loses his mind and body to “Bad Abed,” and Troy solves the murder of Leybourne and becomes the Truest Repairman. Never fear though, everything we love about Community was restored at the end of the episode thanks to a heart-warming Winger speech about having a sense of Community, which moved Pierce to drop his case against Shirley and prevented Abed from trying to cut off Jeff’s head with a bone saw. Oh yeah, and Troy, in his new capacity as the Truest Repairman, was able to turn the Air Conditioning Repair Annex back into a regular school so he can hang out with his friends again.
With all that in mind, here are five things I learned from last night’s episodes, “Digital Estate Planning,” “The First Chang Dynasty,” and “Introduction to Finality.”
1) I think Pierce’s father has been designing video games from beyond the grave. Either that, or Pierce was hanging around the study room at Greendale long before he ever met the rest of the study group. I suppose that second option makes more sense. The only reason I mention this is because the video game Pierce’s father designed started off in the study room at Greendale. Since Pierce’s father died early on in season two (Oct. 7, 2010 according to the episode guide), it means that he would have designed the video game with Pierce’s new friends in mind, which seems out of character for someone who seemingly didn’t care about his son.
2) Abed’s soul mate resides in a memory stick. I always knew Abed wasn’t fit for love in the real world, yet finding love in the virtual world makes much more sense. Although I’m not 100 percent on his child-raising techniques (thankfully the children were also virtual), I wish Abed and the Blacksmith’s daughter the very best.
3) Chang is the first person who’s Napoleon Complex manifested itself physically… other than Napoleon of course. Personally, I thought Chang made a very effective dictator. He’s bat-shit crazy, he had the command of an elite fighting force, and he’s way too full of himself. Maybe when the dust settles on the Greendale front there might be an opening in Libya, Iraq, or North Korea he can apply for.
4) Dean Pelton turns Greendale into a rave-night club every night. It really makes you wonder if the guy ever sleeps. Drugs will do that to a person, I guess.
5) For some reason Abed has this strange misconception that facial hair is an indicator of whether or not someone is evil. And I’m not just saying that because I have a beard. Or maybe I am, I don’t know. Either way, I’m not a bad person, so facial hair can’t be a precursor to evilness… can it? I think I might go shave just in case, I don’t want to start going after people with bone saws.
P.S. Starburns isn’t dead, and for anyone who caught it at the end of “Introduction to Finality,” six seasons and movie sounds fine to me.
