[rating=7.00]
Riding on last week’s high, Community was back in the saddle with “Intro to Recycled Cinema.” Following in the footsteps of Troy and Shirley moving on to bigger, better things, it appeared that we lost an original character to an acting career; Chang has made it.
The episode opens with a ham commercial focusing on benefits of food that are so ridiculous it can only exist within the Community universe. The commercial comes to an end, and zooms in on the lead’s window. Chang pops up, admiring the food product with a sassy, “Haaam Girl!” The commercial is actually being shown on an entertainment show similar to Extra. It’s revealed that Chang is being pursued by Steven Spielberg for the color “Blue” in the upcoming Play-Doh movie. Chang asserts that he got to where he is by working hard and keeping his head down, friendless, and alone. Cut to the gang watching the footage of Chang on Abed’s laptop.
Bitter, stuck in a community college, and weirded out that Chang is, so far, the most successful of the group, they pout. Jeff calls for Abed to turn it off, and after a moment of silence, the Dean declares, “It’s been a week I’m having his car towed.” A throw away joke that lets us know this development has literally taken place in the time from one episode to the next. Welcome back Community.
In an effort to cover their own unsuccessful butts, it’s revealed that Chang and Abed were working on a cop drama together before he made it big. Frankie points out that they can use the footage of Chang (because of Abed’s release form) and make a whole bunch of money off of his now famous image. Abed asserts that there isn’t enough filmed to make it work, which is confirmed when he premieres his footage at the apartment. Frankie, eager to get the show on the road, brings in her friend who is a “legitimate film producer” (Steve Gutenberg[!!!!!]). He assures them that if they can create an 81 minute movie from the footage of Chang positioning him as the hero of the film, he’ll be able to distribute it. Abed objects at first, but finally agrees as long as the movie doesn’t suck.
It’s good seeing the Community gang back in a grove. At first the episode was a little confusing, but it sorts itself out as the storyline plays out. The droning sequences we’ve seen so far in the season has felt like a bitter bit of chocolate. Teasing us with something awesome, and once consumed, becoming a hateful disappointment. The continued use of celebrity cameos keeps the cast refreshed, and serves as a reminder that there’s a lot of backing behind the series.
We’re drawn into the new film Abed is creating by the one line Chang uttered during the initial cop footage, “Who am I? What’s my motivation?” A line born out of Chang’s own words, searching for motivation for his cop character. In an interesting move on the part of the director, we pan back and forth in between the actual footage that is being shot on screen, and the gang fighting with Abed over what kind of quality the film needs to attain. At one point Jeff pulls Abed aside, convincing him that he’ll never get anywhere if all he does is perfect his work. He needs to show his art, as Jeff explains that he does the same with his “artfully sculpted” body. The film looks like a low rent Dr. Who/Star Wars parody, CGI-ing Chang into each scene using the Dean as a body double and as little dialogue from Chang as possible. Everyone lends a hand to the project, and Frankie even brings back her new found steel drum skills for a Star Wars cantina-like sequence.
During the filming/immersion into the film, we cut back to the library where Gutenberg is watching the footage on Abed’s laptop. He’s incredibly invested in the characters, even crying when Chang’s character is killed off. They’ve done it. The film is 87 minutes long though, so he tells them to cut out an extra six minutes and he’ll get it premiered and cut the school a check. All is well. The gang begins to argue over what material should be cut. “Obviously Jeff’s death scene,” is suggested. We rewind back and watch a bit of the dramatic monologue. Jeff protests, asserting the importance of his death to the film and the Chang storyline. He counters with a “Let’s cut Frankie’s steel drum solo,” which everyone vehemently denies, as apparently she’s gotten really good at jammin’. Jeff distracts the group, and runs away with the computer. Playing off of this, Annie asks if he’s doing a bit, and they wait. He’s not.
Blurring the lines between what’s happening in reality versus what’s previously been shot is a great tactic in this series. It’s reminiscent of the paintball wars, solid episodes that kept a hand in reality while playing up the ridiculous fiction. The use of Chang’s image throughout the episode is funny, and plays back to an earlier episode in the season where he complained about being underutilized. Bringing back the steel drum bit this early after it was established seems risky, it may get over played, but it’s worth it to see uptight Frankie in raver girl fake dreads in the filming process.
Jeff has locked himself in the Frisbee room. It’s supposed to be a storage room, but after the opening scene of the season with the great Frisbee avalanche it’s presumed they had to go somewhere. During filming it worked perfectly as the “trash room” playing off the Star Wars compactor scene (even bringing in a creepy little Fraggle-snake hybrid as a trash monster). Jeff watches an editing tutorial, attempting to edit the movie himself. Abed sneaks in, creeping through the Frisbee’s while Jeff attempts to edit as fast as his fingers will move him. Abed sneak attacks, and the two go at it, Jeff literally almost killing Abed over this crappy movie. The truth comes out; Jeff fears he’ll be the only one stuck at Greendale. Shirley and Troy got out, Annie will probably be president and “even Pierce got to die”. Abed reminds Jeff that nothing is planned, “Life is a big dumb pointless movie, with no story and an abrupt ending where the hero gets shot by Dracula.” A perfect view on what life is. Jeff agrees the edit the film as originally proposed.
They show their work in the school cafeteria. Gutenberg is pleased; it looks like they’ll be getting their big check. At the height of their celebration, he receives a phone call. It sounds like the company he works for went bankrupt, bad news for the gang. Fortunately, Chang being the mess he is, immediately blows his newfound fame. As he’s dismissed out of a small door through the back of the recording studio where he was working on Play-Doh. He’s immediately replaced by Randall Park (The Interview, Fresh Off the Boat). Chang crawls back to the gang, and after a few tense moments, everything goes back to normal. Well, as normal as things get at Greendale.
This episode marks the first time things are really clicking for Community. We’ve seen this storyline before with Jeff afraid of getting stuck at Greendale, but it didn’t feel redundant. We don’t have to deal with the relationship building of the gang trying to get comfortable with one another, enough has happened for them to just accept their close quartered friendship. Established characters are starting to act like themselves, while also growing into what will likely be the final season of their careers at Greendale. It’s refreshing to see Community making that shift from “do exactly what we think the fans want” to simply allowing the characters to grow naturally. With all the charm of and weirdness that occur at the college, of course.
