(S01E21) Tonight, on a "very special episode" of 'Community,' Abed learns that there is a right way to being accepted and embraced by your fellow students, and then there's the quick way.
With Abed on narration, this week's episode felt like a whole slew of familiar movies, without triggering specific memories of any particular ones (save the obvious and directly mentioned one). I say that as a non-movie buff, so if you caught hundreds of more specific references, please share with the class.

It's been a while since I've been in school, and it's even been a few years since my time in the corporate world. It's amazing how the most inane things can take on a grand importance when you're entrenched in those types of institutions. Food is always one of the great common denominators, and for Greendale Community College, that food was the Chicken Finger.

I don't know where they get their food, but it looks way better than the swill we got when I was in college, and that was a four-year university! Looking at those heaping piles of breaded chicken made me salivate, while at the same time the arteries around my heart went into spasms. Food can be a powerful tool to a captive audience. Starburns used and abused that power, so the gang decided to usurp the power for themselves.

But once Abed was in place as the new fry cook, he found that he got corrupted by power as well. The elaborate method in which the gang went about distributing the chicken, to ensure their own elevated importance at Greendale, was brilliant -- and brilliantly narrated by Abed. Pierce got the popularity he always sought with an entourage of his own. Shirley got the guy, Annie got a sweet backpack, and Troy got Annie's Boobs.

I'm not too snooty to admit that the Annie's Boobs jokes were funny throughout the entire episode; I wish we could have had a lot more of Troy talking about his monkey. The potential for juvenile humor and immature giggles is sometimes too tempting to overcome, and I'm glad 'Community' realizes that just because something is immature doesn't mean it can't be funny, too.

Jeff showed his own immaturity when he was willing to sabotage the fryer to take away Abed's power. He didn't care about what it was doing to Abed or to the group; he only cared about what it had already done to his position as the top dog. That's where the "very special episode" aspect came in, as he found Abed there trying to find the next big food to maintain his power and popularity.

The narration was so brilliant throughout the episode, I was prepared to just take it at face value. It wasn't necessary to explain what was happening; but somehow knowing that the whole story was a response to the Dean asking Abed if he had any idea who might have stolen hair nets from the cafeteria made it that much better. It's one thing to picture Abed thinking these thoughts out loud, but quite another to imagine him telling that whole story to someone else.

Thank god Abed has no filter between his brain and his mouth. I hope he never changes. Bonus points for the weird image of Abed feeding Shirley's dreadlocked boy toy Chicken Fingers as part of his "showing them" plot.

[Create your own monologue over clips and full episodes of 'Community' at SlashControl.]