Community: Season 1, Episode 2 "Spanish 101" Review

 "I am a Spanish genius!"

-Señor Chang

"Spanish 101" picks up with Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) purposely running late for his Spanish study group to avoid all the small talk at the beginning of their meetings.  When he does arrive, Britta (Gillian Jacobs) calls him out for being late.  Jeff tries to smooth things over with her, like he's managed to do with the rest of the group, but doesn't really get anywhere.

In Spanish class, their instructor, Señor Chang (Ken Jeong) randomly assigns them partners and tells them that they need to practice a set of Spanish phrases and present them to the class the next day.  Abed (Danny Pudi) and Britta are paired together, but Jeff tires to bribe Abed into switching with him.  Abed agrees in exchange for Jeff's shirt.  However, Britta also switches and Jeff ends up partnered with Pierce (Chevy Chase).

When Britta brings up the Guatemalan government murdering journalists, it inspires Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) and Annie (Alison Brie) to protest the Guatemalan government.  Britta finds their protest tacky and lame due to their use of brownies and music.  Shirley and Annie call Britta out on not doing anything on her own to protest the Guatemalan government and she agrees to help them with their protest.

Pierce drags out putting together their presentation by trying to turn it into a multi-act epic instead of just the five phrases they need to say in front of the class.  Abed and Troy (Donald Glover) show up and put together their own presentation in about ten seconds before heading off to the protest.  Jeff, frustrated, lashes out at Pierce for trying too hard to become friends and Jeff leaves to the protest so he can try to impress Britta.  Pierce gets drunk and crashes the protest to call out Jeff for his behavior, but he accidentally lights himself on fire and has to jump into a nearby fountain.  The incident gets the protest in the newspaper.

In Spanish the next day, Britta reveals that Pierce bribed her to switch partners because he wanted to get close to Jeff because he thought it might get him more respect in the group and that Pierce is a very lonely man.  With Pierce no longer wanting to work with Jeff, Señor Chang offers Jeff a C and to let Pierce do the presentation on his own.  Jeff refuses and performs the epic alongside Pierce.  Since the presentation didn't have any of the required phrases, they both fail, though Britta is impressed that Jeff went through with it and Pierce and Jeff mend their friendship.

The episode ends with Troy and Abed performing a rap in Spanish.

What Works:

This is the episode that introduces us to Señor Chang.  I'm not a big fan of Ken Jeong.  I usually find him annoying in whatever role he's playing and I worked an event he was at in real life, where he was drunk and obnoxious.  That said, he's fantastic on Community and this episode is the perfect introduction to his insane character.  His opening monologue is wonderful and its a great setup for how this class is going to go.

The protest storyline is mostly just fine, but there is one moment that is very funny in a very dark way.  I love that Annie has a piñata of a journalist who was beaten to death by the Guatemalan government.  That's just perfect.

I love Jeff and Pierce's presentation.  It's just so goofy and absurd.  Alison Brie's face as she's bound and gagged in a pretend canoe paddled by Jeff and Pierce is one of the funniest visuals on the show.  I also love the camera work during the silly string fight.  It makes the moment feel weirdly epic thanks to the use of shaky cam and the music playing over it.  And the use of slow-mo as Jeff and Pierce light their sparklers is exactly how it needed to end.

Finally, the episode ends with the legendary Spanish rap.  The end tags of Community are always a highlight and it's incredible that the very first one is still one of the most iconic.

What Sucks:

Some of the humor in the episode doesn't really work for me.  It's just minor stuff here and there, nothing major.

Funniest Moment:

For me, the funniest moment of the episode is when Annie is tied up in Jeff and Pierce's canoe during their presentation.  The look on her face is just priceless.

Heavenly Human Being:

The Heavenly Human Being Award goes to the MVP of the episode.  For this episode, I'm giving the Award to both Annie and Shirley for putting together a protest that made it into the newspaper and for calling Britta out on not doing anything herself.  I couldn't think of a tie-breaker, so they both get the Award and it's the first time for both of them.

Verdict:

"Spanish 101" is a big improvement over the Pilot, with an excellent introduction to Señor Chang, an amazing presentation from Jeff and Pierce, a great piñata joke, and the legendary Spanish rap.  Not all of the humor lands, but this episode has absolutely got it going on.

 9/10: Great