Line #5 Recap/CommunityS1E10EnvironmentalScience


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1x10-fievel_8140.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[SquirrelsInMyPants And this was BEFORE it got in his pants, people]].]]
3
4	In the aftermath of his wife leaving him, Chang becomes increasingly petty and spiteful towards his students, culminating in a twenty-page essay written entirely in Spanish. The study group persuades Jeff to approach Chang and persuade him to back-off a bit, but he's soon tempted to put personal gain over the good of the majority. On top of this Troy and Abed are having difficulties training their lab rat thanks to Troy's fear of rats, and Shirley is nervous about an upcoming presentation, which leads her in desperation to consult Pierce's advice.
5	----
6	!!The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Environmental Science" provides examples of:
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8	* ActorAllusion: Jeff and Chang laughing about Cherry Daiquiri -- which was the name of Creator/GillianJacobs' character in TheFilmOfTheBook of ''Literature/{{Choke}}''.
9	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Played straight in practice when Jeff asks Chang if his wife has left him. Although Chang's immediate emotional breakdown parodies the trope.
10	* BackhandedCompliment: And Chang doesn't catch it.
11	-->'''Chang:''' You make no mistake about this, Winger; I pleasured that woman greatly.
12	-->'''Jeff:''' Yeah. You look like you would have to. I'm not surprised you said that.
13	* ClueEvidenceAndASmokingGun
14	-->'''Jeff:''' Can I ask you a personal question, Señor Chang?
15	-->'''Chang:''' [''Laughs''] Okay, Freud. Sure! You try to penetrate my psychological armor, and you--
16	-->'''Jeff:''' Did your wife leave you?
17	-->'''Chang:''' Holy-! ...how did you know?
18	-->'''Jeff:''' Well, when you pick juries, you learn to read the little stuff. Same shirt twice in one week. Teaching us the word [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/esposa esposa]] means 'liar'. [''Gestures''] [[RuleOfThree A picture of you with a woman, with a post-it note dialog balloon above her head that says "enjoy it while it lasts."]]
19	* DisproportionateRetribution SerialEscalation: Annie fails to hear Chang quietly mutter that the test is finished. This leads to the following, and increasingly disproportionate, chain of events:
20	-->[''Chang drags Annie out of the classroom using her desk and slams the door shut behind him. To the rest of the class:'']
21	-->'''Chang:''' I want you ''all'' to write a one-page essay, in ''Espanyol'', entitled "Annie's Mistake."
22	-->'''Pierce:''' ... Why doesn't ''Annie'' have to write it?
23	-->'''Chang:''' Okay, ''two pages'', on "The Consequences of Questioning Authority."
24	-->'''Shirley:''' Uh, this is Spanish 101. I know how to say "hello", "tomorrow" and that tables are female. That's the only Spanish you taught us.
25	-->'''Chang:''' Oh! ''[[NeverMyFault Six pages on "IGNORANCE"!]]''
26	-->[''The class begins to protest and raise their hands'']
27	-->'''Britta:''' Guys, [[OnlySaneMan put your hands down!]] Señor Chang, please continue. We respect your authority.
28	-->'''Chang:''' Thank you, Britta. ''TWENTY PAGES'' on ''ASSKISSING!'' Due on Monday.
29	-->'''Annie:''' [''From the outside window''] ''This'' Monday?!
30	* [[invoked]]DudeNotFunny: In Spanish, Chang calls Pierce "old"; Abed "ugly"; and Shirley and Troy [[EverythingIsRacist "dirty."]]
31	-->'''Troy''': DUDE.
32	* DumbassHasAPoint: For a change, Pierce actually has some effective public-speaking tips for Shirley.
33	* [[EekAMouse Eek, a Rat]]: Apparently, Troy is afraid of rats.
34	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Dean watching buff men dressed as Dalmatians on the internet. [[Recap/CommunityS1E25PascalsTriangleRevisited "This better not awaken anything in me."]]
35	* GreenAesop: Parodied; the Dean decides to celebrate Green Week and announces that he's changed the name of the college to Envirodale, only to be told the school is already named '''Green'''dale. The Dean then orders the 5,000 leaflets he's had printed with "Envirodale" on them destroyed, and another 5,000 printed up with Greendale in them.
36	* {{Homage}}:
37	** In TheTag, Pierce behaves like Michael Corleone in the restaurant scene from ''Film/TheGodfather'', shooting Troy and Abed in the face with a water pistol filled with pepper water, then dropping the gun as he leaves.
38	** Abed and Troy's mouse is named after Fievel Mousekewitz, one of the characters in ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', in which he sings "Somewhere Out There", the song Abed and Troy sing to lure their mouse out.
39	* HypocriticalHumor: To celebrate Green Week, the Dean prints out 5,000 posters changing the name of the school to Envirodale. When it's pointed out that they're already named '''Green'''dale, he orders all 5,000 posters to be reprinted with Greendale. This is of course a huge waste of paper, defeating the point of Green Week's GreenAesop.
40	* IntersceneDiegetic: Abed starts one by singing "Somewhere Out There", and it continues through two other scenes.
41	* JerkassHasAPoint: It's Starburns who points out the needlessness of changing the name "Greendale" to "Envirodale."
42	* LaserGuidedKarma: Jeff takes advantage of Chang's vulnerability and gets himself out of the homework assignment by playing along with Chang's attempts at making friends, betraying his friends in the process. Then, feeling guilty, Jeff arranges for Chang to get back with his wife. This prompts Chang to call off the homework assignment ... for everyone except Jeff, having by this point clocked what Jeff was originally up to and not appreciating it.
43	* MoralMyopia: Jeff is asked to approach Señor Chang on behalf of the group and get him to call off some of the ridiculously harsh amounts of homework he's been setting. Chang, bonding with Jeff over his recent separation from his wife, agrees to call it off -- but only for Jeff. Jeff goes along with this, and when the other members of the group learn this and angrily call him out over it Jeff initially acts as if ''he's'' the one who's being wronged.
44	* ItMakesSenseInContext: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSNwmqY9cCU This clip]] is one of the show's most popular on Website/YouTube, if not ''the'' most popular outside the Troy-Abed tag scenes at the end of each episode. In it, Troy and Abed sing [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail "Somewhere Out There"]] at Fievel in a vent; Chang does an Irish tango kind of thing, screams, and starts making out with his wife as Jeff silently watches; and Shirley talks very slowly about OrgasmicallyDelicious brownies in front of a mesmerized class (and briefly impersonates Creator/JackNicholson from ''Film/TheShining''), while Pierce waves a sandwich in the air.
45	* NeverSuicide: Jeff reminds the group not to believe the suicide note tagged to his body if his talk with Chang turned bad.
46	* OrgasmicallyDelicious: In her public speaking assignment, Shirley calls out this trope by name.
47	* SadistTeacher: Chang is shown to be especially petty and vindictive when dealing with his students. Particularly since he spitefully takes out his personal problems on them.
48	* SherlockScan: Jeff uses one to deduce Chang's wife left him ([[ClueEvidenceAndASmokingGun Chang wore the same shirt twice in a week, said that the Spanish word for "wife" meant "liar" in class, and has a Post-It note saying "Enjoy it while it lasts" on his office's framed photo of him and his wife]]). Jeff explains he used to read juries like this as an attorney, to figure out the best angles to use in court.
49	* SquirrelsInMyPants: Fievel ends up in Troy's pants.
50	* StrangeMindsThinkAlike:
51	-->'''Pierce''': You know if Señor Chang gets any more crazy, he's going to win one of those Grammy Awards.
52	-->'''Jeff''': If that guy goes any more nuts, he's going to win a Grammy.
53	* UglyGuyHotWife: While Ken Jeong certainly isn't hideous, Ben Chang's ''personality'' is pretty ugly. And, in any event, Andrea de Olivera ("Señora Chang") is far easier on the eyes.
54	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Troy and rats, with Troy even referencing the trope namer. Also Chang and frogs, apparently.

Context Recap / CommunityS1E10EnvironmentalScience