Greendale Community College could never be described as a place for particularly sane people, but this week the crazies took over the asylum – in one instance, literally, in Competitive Ecology. This, of course, allows the Greendale gang to beautifully spoof 40s noir movies, complete with inner monologue and just a hint of creepiness – it is Chang after all. And not only did we get a great spoofing, but we also got a rather large dose of the amazing Ken Jeong, keeping Chang just on the right side of horrific, and constantly hilarious. Rather than locking the loco security guard away for the good of the community, Dean Pelton promotes Chang to head of security, despite the fact that the Ex-Senor set fire to the building and defiled a mannequin. Admittedly, it’s mostly because the actual head of security quit, but it’s still a chilling prospect. Clearly, Dean Pelton is as mentally unhealthy as everyone else. But it does mean that Chang will be creeping out the student body for a while yet… Deciding who should work with whom, and who gets stuck with Todd fractures the group’s fragile dynamic, and the claws come out in spectacular ways – including not completing their assignment. Thank God that Prof Kane is literally the only person in a 10-mile radius who is immune to their crap – failing the entire group was a genius touch, as was Annie’s reaction. Could it be that Greendale finally has a half decent teacher? The addition of Todd (Funny Or Die’s David Neher) as a foil to the group’s repressed anger allowed them to broach subjects that ordinarily they wouldn’t dare touch. This was not only interesting, but also added a touch of reality to the proceedings – Shirley’s religion-based distrust of science would surely be an obstacle to passing the course, and Britta’s being dumb as a post just isn’t something that can be brought up in regular conversation. Although, maybe it should be – her future patients would thank them for it. Goodmanlessness aside, as is to be expected these days, Team Community have delivered the goods once again, albeit in a more traditionally Community way – film spoofs, squabbles, crazy little men, and Cry Baby referencing Iraq War vets are what this show does best. Long may it continue. Read our review of episode three, Geography Of Global Conflict, here. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
