Community: Season 6, Episode 9: Grifting 101
Fun! Pure fun! That’s all I can say about this show. Always willing to hit us with the shenanigans, I can’t help but continue to love it. The weird thing was how similar this episode was to the Season Two episode: Conspiracy Theories and interior design. Of course the premise and set up were different and the episode does well standing on its own, but I couldn’t help but think about that previous episode while watching this one. Jeff was challenged by a professor at Greendale for the title of best cheater and his ego couldn’t let him decline.
Jeff Winger always wants everyone to think he doesn’t care about anything, when in reality he usually cares about everything. Even in situations where he doesn’t care, something usually changes his selfish mind. In this case, he’s glad the group was wrong and they all had to eat the words they were rubbing in his face, but this new professor whose name is never truly revealed insults him. Things go both downhill and uphill from there as the group (can they still be called the study group?) does their best to grift the grifter.
The moment where Elroy attempts to recall the group’s origin is hilarious. It illustrates that he really just isn’t there for most of the stories told to him. As I have said before, he is a very suitable replacement for both Pierce Hawthorne and Buzz Hickey. He’s both grumpy and crazy and that puts him in a fine position. He’s also the black guy in the group, which works only because people like Chang have no problem pointing it out in hilarious ways.
The other new cast member Franky plays really true to character in this episode. She’s so straight laced that she doesn’t even know what a grift is. She’s also possibly the farthest thing from gullible in the entire cast so grifts don’t really work on her. She joins in on the plan, but most likely only because Greendale’s financial future is her responsibility. That’s probably also how the Dean got involved, even though it’s more likely that he just wanted to be included.
Of course Annie wants to be good at everything and has a dark streak, so she was there from the beginning and Abed was just excited to be a part of something so potentially cinematic. Having not looked to fully into the matter, his random fourth wall break actually reminded me of how much season we have left. Chang, being the last of the group of course, couldn’t be told the plan. He probably would’ve tried to find a way to steal the $50k involved for himself if he could have. It’s okay though, he knows he can’t be trusted.
Even though there are only four “weekisodes” left to this wonderful resurrection of a fantastic show, I hope to see much more. Even when shows seem like rehashes of old ones they still come off as brilliant and entertaining. Usually the show even points out the connections, which makes it even better. Self awareness is something that’s sorely lacking in television these days. Keep ’em coming Yahoo Screen and I’ll keep tuning in.
Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.
