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Community Season 3 Episode 21

The First Chang Dynasty

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AIRED: May 17, 2012

7.0

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Episode Summary

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The study group plans to rescue Dean Pelton with an elaborate heist during Chang's birthday party.

TV.com Episode Review

Community: Once, Twice, Three Times a Comedy

Community finished its third season by showing off what it does best, which is everything.

By Tim Surette, May 18, 2012

Fan Episode Reviews (4)

Elaborate heist? Elaborate heist? Elaborate heist?

10

By kmacciomei, Feb 07, 2013

this episode added another parody to the laundry list of spoofs community has portrayed in their own concept. As the group realize that they need to save the dean from Chang's Napoleon nation, they plan an "Elaborate heist" to put their idea into action. Filled with a structure pulled straight from Oceans 11, the continuing thought out proccess of getting through Greendale proves so crazy and ingenious that I was laughing the entire time. And with some of Chang's best moments to date, "The First Chang Dynasty" proves to be one for the memory.moreless
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Greendale Seven

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By sh811a, May 21, 2012

Heists I always find fun because it's pritty much similar with the princples of Chess, it's a matter of being several moves ahead of your opponent, anticipating every possible scenario and action within the scenario before it happens. The suspense isn't so much in hopping the team will do all the right things at the right times, along with the threat of being caught, but simply that they have the best plan.

This was just a great conclusion the Chang Dynisty arc, even though we don't see a lot we see enough to know that Chang has turned Greendale into a living hell, it's practically a totaltarian existance where students are being monitored 24.7 by the 12 year old army. Once again having a hard time believing grown men and women can't overcome an army of 12 year olds but then again theyr are all armed with stun sticks, and their odds help.

How the hell Chang could even hire so many 12 years olds for this work is anyones guess (don't they also have to go to school), let alone it's strange and kinda creepy.

I really liked seeing the Greendale Seven conducting their rescue operration, even liked the twists with their plan. Like the disguises both Britta and Jeff were in they were perfect because they really look like different people, Jeff rwas suppose to look the the "Mind Freak" like magician, really liked how Joal performed it. Britta on a side note really looks hot as a goth. And did like the twist with their plan, it's pritty much the plan within a plan motiff and the twists made sense. However what I really love is their reason for rescuing the dean, it's not so much to get back into Greendale (well it kinda is) but their doing it because they know their friend is in trouble and their responding like the good friends they are which is to help him.

It soon comes down to my favorate suspenseful moment, which is pritty much the usual hidden time bomb cleche at that point you know Chang has really gone off the deep end because not just is he going to torch the evidence against him but also the whole school alone with the people. Chang's plan of detination is simply to play his favorate instriment the Keytar. I couldn't help but laugh because to me in my opinion, it is the worst musical instriment invented those things just never really worked. If that's not a sign Chang is crazy I don't know what is, it's just hillarous seeing him play the "Beverly Hills Cop" soundtrack badly and everyone is dancing to it and enjoying the beat. But what's more funny is he could of won imediately if he just simplyfied his plan which is simply going a safe distance and simply push the button on a remote; but Chang's weakness has always been his egotism and like most villians/supervillians he surcomes to this weakness and wants to show of and stick it to them in public.

It was great seeing both the Dean and Greendale Seven foil Chang's scheme, there is an action sequence where they have to go though a hallway full of Chang's soilders, then the Dean executes one of his plans which I personally think are his better ones, he has the lights turned of and the hallways are glow in the dark neon which looked cool, the purpose of it was to hold parties though it'd also be cool to hold lazer tag tournaments. Anyway this is to the Greendale Seven's advantage because it give them the element of suprise and they get the drop on the soilders by stuffing them into lockers (an advantage to having lockers in a collage) not the nicest thing to do to 12 years olds but then again they weren't nice to the students beating them up and everything.

And we see them disarm the bomb which was stupidly simple, and there is one funny sequence which was a "Star Wars" joke (those jokes to that movie never get old) where Chang and Jeff both arm themselves with stun batons and say a bunch of ridiculous things to each other. This is where the only disapointment of the episode comes in, is both of them never get to fight let alone use the stun battons once. It probably wouldn't of been a long fight but all the same it would of been fun to see both get into a physical contest and Jeff overcome Chang in that fight, it would of been more satifying.

But Chang in the end loses his power but he'll be back, but for now victory went to the Greendale Seven they won because they were a team but most importantly friends.

It's always the acts of a sum of brave individuals that can topple great opposition.moreless
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Heist Plan

10

By seb1925, May 18, 2012

Extraordinary. They did what Community people do best: surprise, connect, impress, and leave the audience both wanting more and eager to re-watch the entire 70 episodes again (now 71 with the finale) now knowing what's going to be connected with what later on (e.g. the keytar, and the deceased twin).

Brill from beginning to end, and I'm glad it was not predictable (IMO) and ... there really are no words to describe how outstanding it was... I loved it.moreless
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Changtastic ending to the Greendale takeover story arc

10

By Gilda, May 18, 2012

Oh these episodes just got better and better tonight. So this is the 2nd of the three episodes they aired for Community's final. And once again it was really good.

Well if you havent watched Course Listing Unavailable or Curriculum Univailable you should go do that so you have the background knowledge of whats going on.

Anyways another great episode of Community. This one is an Ocean's Eleven/heist movie spoof which was really fun. There were some twists that I didnt see coming and it was fun to see the Greendale Seven working out a plan to save the Dean from Chang. The costumes in this episode were some of the best. Jeff and Britta undercover as a Rock n Roll Magician act and Troy and Abed as janitors were the best out of all of them.

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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Joel McHale	Jeff Winger
Ken Jeong	Ben Chang
Gillian Jacobs	Britta Perry
Danny Pudi	Abed Nadir
Yvette Nicole Brown	Shirley Bennett
Alison Brie	Annie Edison

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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J. P. Manoux

Faux-by / Fake Dean Pelton

Guest Star

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Episode Photos

Joel McHale and Jim Rash in Community fr...

© 2012 NBCUniversal, Inc.
Ken Jeong in Community from "The First C...

© 2012 NBCUniversal, Inc.
Chevy Chase, Joel McHale, and Jim Rash i...

© 2012 NBCUniversal, Inc.
Chevy Chase in Community from "The First...

© 2012 NBCUniversal, Inc.

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (0)
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QUOTES (1)
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- Pierce Hawthorne: (Saying goodbye to Troy) Never wear a rubber.
  
  Jeff Winger: Never listen to Pierce.
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NOTES (1)
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- Original International Air Dates:
  Canada: May 18, 2012 on Citytv
  Czech Republic: March 2, 2013 on SMICHOV
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ALLUSIONS (2)
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- When Jeff and Chang face off with stun batons, Chang's is red and double-sided, just like Darth Maul's lightsaber from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
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- The heist is planned out, executed and filmed like the 2001 movie Ocean's Eleven.
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