This week's episode of Community saw a couple of characters fall back on old habits with mixed results. Annie discovers she has an "evil twin" named Annie Kim. She is as obsessed with her classwork as our Annie. Annie pretends to want to be friends with her until she discovers that Evil Annie (as she will be referred to from now on) steals her idea to start a model U.N. at Greendale. With Jeff by her side, Annie disrupts the first meeting of the model U.N. and claims to have been the originator. Evil Annie concedes that she may have come up with the idea but she had the initiative to present it to Professor Cligoris (Party Down's Martin Starr). Jeff and Annie threaten to start ther own model U.N. and Cligoris decides the only way to settle this is a model U.N. head-to-head competition.
Meanwhile Britta, trying to embrace her decision to become a psychology major, has an activist relapse when she finds out that one of her former protesting friends has been arrested and has a Facebook fan page. She reverts back into the Britta we all know and hate, blindly grasping at socially conscious straws. Britta decides to lash out at "the man" who, in this instance, is newly christened security guard Chang. Their clashes give Britta someone to rebel against and Chang something to give his job meaning.
At the model U.N. competition, both teams are fighting neck and neck to achieve world peace. It was great to have everyone, sans Britta who locked herself in a cage with a globe and paint (don't ask), bouncing off one another. Being a geek, I loved Abed's problems grasping the concept of there being two United Nations which would mean there were two parallel universes and two Earths. Troy's deicision to speak in a southern accent while representing the country Georgia (he knew the difference) was also pretty amusing. Annie's team looks poised to win until someone lets out a silent but deadly fart. Annie's model U.N. can no longer focus and she freaks out because she wants to win. Jeff tells her that she is "acting like a schoolgirl and not in the hot way" and she runs off embarrassed. Realizing how creepy that sounds, Jeff runs off too before he could explain himself.
While in the lounge, Jeff and Annie apologize to one another, her for being ultra-competitive and him for treating her like a child to keep her at a distance. It appears that all the sexual tension would finally culminate in another kiss but they both get freaked out. They head back to the competition separately. Despite her outbursts, her team is still there and want to help. They each claim responsibility for the disruptive fart (although it appears Jeff was the actual culprit) and Abed has come up with a plan to win. Embracing Abed's parallel universe theory, Annie's Earth One U.N. uses her planet's technological advances and global cooperation to transport to evil Annie's Earth Two. Earth One offers to concede the competition and unite with Earth Two to create one "united United Nations". Evil Annie, more concerned with winning the competition than achieving model world peace, declines. Professor Cligoris declares Annie's team the winner citing that Evil Annie's refusal "flies in the very face of the United Nations itself, a fundamentally symbolic organization founded on the principles of high-minded rhetoric and empty gestures"
Suddenly, activist Annie disrupts the model U.N. and is happily shocked by Chang's taser and taken away. Everybody wins.
Crib Sheet:
- The ratings for the season premiere were dismal (about 3.9 million viewers). Will this be our last semester at Greendale?
- I hope this isn't the last time we see Martin Starr. I loved his little "We did it" as Annie made her offer to evil Annie.
- I'm going to have nightmares of Garrett (Erik Charles Nielsen) yelling "CRISIS ALERT!"
- While I'm glad the show acknowledge the age difference between Jeff and Annie and how them getting together might be a little creepy, I think they need to make a decision. I don't want another 'Will they or won't they" season like they had in the first season with Jeff and Britta.
- Yvette Nicole Brown hasn't had a lot to do in these first two episode. Hopefully we are going to get a Shirley-centric episode soon.
- Having Chang and Britta's confrontations scored to Lionel Ricthie's "Hello" was funny the first time and get less funny as the episode went on
- "I'm sorry I don't understand your relationship here. Is he your father or your lover?" -- Annie Kim about Annie and Jeff
- "Wow, Annie. How progressive of you to have a multicultural evil twin?" -- Jeff
- "Looks like someone woke up on the regular side of bed." -- Troy about Britta
- "She reminds me of a younger me."
"You mean the younger you that took so much Adderall she tried to straighten the lines of the football field in the middle of the game?" -- Annie and Troy about Evil Annie
- "Guys, this is important to Annie so whoever actually died a few months ago, fess up so we can put a stake through your heart." -- Jeff regarding the fart