Community: Curriculum Unavailable

What Happened, Yo!:


-Two months after being expelled, the gang gathers at Troy, Abed's, and Annie's for the weekly potluck meal they've been having. But it is interrupted when Abed is brought to the apartment by a police officer, for sneaking around the Dean's property over at Greendale. Abed insists that the Dean has been replaced with an imposter He is forced to go to therapy, and the group accompanies him. They explain to the therapist, Dr. Heidi that Abed has been acting more weird than usual lately, and are forced to share examples of how this behaviour's been building up over the last few months. When the doctor seems concerned, they insist Abed is at least as normal as the rest of them, sharing examples of their own crazy behaviour, but Dr. Heidi says that someone like Abed needs a good support system and decides to commit him. The group objects to this and insists that if they're crazy, it's because Greendale made them so, sharing more examples. They also admit that Greendale has been in their corner a lot of times in spite of this, and share more examples, all of them involving the Dean helping them out. They realize what Abed's realized: that the Dean loves them and would never expel them, making them decide they have to get to the bottom of this and go back, but Dr. Heidi informs them that they can't go back because Greendale doesn't exist.

-He informs them that three years ago they were all committed to the Greendale Asylum, where they made a shared delusion of a community college that revolves around the seven of them. Their expulsion was actually a result of them being deemed fit to live in society. They're all shocked by this, but as they leave, they realize that there's no possible way that story could be true, as they have lots of evidence to prove otherwise. They catch Dr. Heidi trying to escape out the window, and after he tries another elaborate lie about Greendale being purgatory, he admits that Abed was right, and that Chang had replaced the Dean and hired him to throw them off the trail. They realize how crazy Chang is, but as they do so, Dr. Heidi escapes and informs Chang about what happened, causing him to launch phase 2 (Though he has no idea what that is.).


I Liked This: First of all, Paradigms of Human Memory was one of my favorite episodes of Community's second season. It was just a joy to watch, and really gave a peek into how big the world of Greendale was. But I wasn't sure a fake clip show could work twice. But Curriculum Unavailable (Which I had no idea was a second fake clip show) proved me wrong and was just enjoyable as the first. It also tied into the main plot, dealing with their expulsion from Greendale and Chang's takeover of the school. I enjoyed the way the central thrust of the episode kept shifting, going from a story about the group enabling Abed to the point that he may be mentally unstable to a story about how Greendale makes everyone crazy to a story about the group realizing that all the good about Greendale was because of the Dean, which leads to them uncovering Chang's conspiracy (but not before the story becomes about how they all might be crazy and the whole show could be a delusion before that is written off as insane). John Hodgeman was funny as Dr. Heidi, the fake therapist who served as the device for the characters to tell their stories and figure out that something was fishy. And what clips they were. While Paradigms showed off lots of crazy adventures we never saw, Curriculum showed us mostly simpler (Though still crazy) stuff. From classes like Ladders, Can I Fry That? and Advanced Breath Holding to things like Troy driving an ATV into the study room or thinking a second-hand Karate trophy meant he was an expert to the noir-themed third paintball adventure, there was lots of funny stuff here. And it all added to the main plot of trying to keep Abed from getting committed/figuring out the truth. And the entire scene with the whole gang in an asylum, being overseen by the Dean and a deeper-voiced Garrett was probably the best scene in the episode. Overall, this was a terrific episode that I'm bound to watch at least two more times before next week's final three episodes.

But...: Everything worked this week.

The Bottom Line: Curriculum Unavailable is another great episode of the show that makes use of the fake clip show format in a different way than before and sets things up well for next weeks season (Officially not series) finale.

Grade: 90% (Almost Perfect)


Memorable Moments


-Troy: "60 dollars? Hello? Rich people, Troy's joining you! Yes, I'll hold."

-Jeff: "Abed won't go to any kind of doctor on his own. We caught him last year trying to remove his own tonsils".

-Dr. Heidi addresses an important issue: "And you've attended Greendale for three years but don't most Community Colleges end after two?" Jeff: "Everyone keeps saying that. The average Community College student attends school 5-7 years. Many offer 4-year degrees!"

-More clips I really enjoyed included Annie pretending she was part of Troy and Abed in the morning, The Dean sneaking the study group free pizza and singing them a special song over the intercom for no real reason, and Chang using Garrett as a precog for no real reason.

-Another real Troy and Abed in the morning! And a good one too.