Grifting 101

Last updated

"Grifting 101"
Community episode
Episode no.Season 6
Episode 9
Directed by Rob Schrab
Written byRyan Ridley
Production code609
Original air dateMay 5, 2015 (2015-05-05)
Running time28 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Intro to Recycled Cinema"		Next →
"Basic RV Repair and Palmistry"
Community season 6
List of episodes

"Grifting 101" is the ninth episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series Community . The episode was written by Ryan Ridley and directed by Rob Schrab. It premiered on Yahoo! Screen on May 5, 2015.

Contents

Plot

Annie (Alison Brie) notices an upcoming class on grifting and, despite Jeff's (Joel McHale) protestations that the class itself will be a grift, each member of the group but Jeff signs up. The teacher, Roger DeSalvo (Matt Berry), tells the students to divide into pairs and practice repeatedly swapping briefcases over, the briefcases being "regulation briefcases" which he sold to them for $150 apiece. The group ask Jeff for help but he declines, smug that he was correct about the class.

Professor DeSalvo moves in to share an office with Jeff and begins to annoy him by telling Jeff that his faking a Juris Doctor degree makes him simply a liar, not a grifter. Jeff agrees to help the group plan a grift on DeSalvo. Their first attempt is the "African telegram", where Elroy (Keith David) pretends that he will give DeSalvo part of his new-found inheritance in exchange for loaning him money; their second is a fake winning lottery ticket. DeSalvo sees through both attempts easily.

Jeff admits to the group that he has no long-term grift and, demoralised, they watch The Sting . Afterwards, DeSalvo interrupts to mock them and Britta (Gillian Jacobs) punches him in the face. DeSalvo runs away, but slips on a recently mopped floor and falls down a flight of stairs. Now in a wheelchair with a leg cast and arm sling, DeSalvo is given $50,000 in cash as compensation by the Dean (Jim Rash) and Frankie (Paget Brewster). Britta meets with DeSalvo, the pair having planned DeSalvo to fake an injury as a grift, and kisses him while the group switch his briefcase of money for an empty one.

After DeSalvo attempts to find his briefcase, unamused by Leonard (Richard Erdman) spilling a tray of briefcases over him and a "briefcase parade" in which he can easily identify the one with money inside, he finds the group conversing with a police officer. The group tell him that he must either admit that he was grifted, or owes the school $50,000 for claiming compensation for fake injuries. DeSalvo concedes and is fired by the Dean.

Production

Roger DeSalvo is played by Matt Berry; creator Dan Harmon was a fan of Berry's works including Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and Snuff Box . The episode is an homage to the 1973 film The Sting ; [1] it incorporates a ragtime score and iris shots. [2] Harmon described the difference between homage and parody, as he saw it, as "a matter of love"; a homage merges examples of a genre together, rather than making specific references or recreating scenes exactly. [1]

Critical reception

Joshua Alston of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B rating, finding it a "solidly funny" episode. Alston praised Leonard and Chang's acting, but would have preferred a thematic title card to match the piano theme music. Alston found it similar to but lower quality than the season 2 episode "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design". [3] Joe Matar of Den of Geek rated the episode two stars out of five, criticising that it is "goofy" and "one-note". Matar additionally compared it to "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design", due to its contrived twists and absurdity, and viewed it as a trend of high-concept episodes in season 6 being poor. [2]

In a three star review, Collider 's Evan Valentine praised Berry's "dry wit and delivery" and found each member of the group well-used, but believed that the episode would have been improved with a shorter runtime and that the group's initial grifts could have been funnier. [4] Eric Goldman of IGN rated it 7.3 out of 10, finding the pacing slow at first and the dialogue referencing The Sting repetitive, but appreciating some moments as humorous and approving of the storyline's payoff. [5]

Related Research Articles

"Spanish 101" is the second episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Community. It aired in the United States on NBC on September 24, 2009. The episode features Jeff and Pierce working on a Spanish project as Annie and Shirley organize a protest. Receiving 5.39 million viewers upon its premiere, the episode was met with mostly positive critical reception. The end tag—the first of the series—shows Troy and Abed performing a nonsense rap in Spanish, an early interaction between the pair which was praised by reviewers.

"Modern Warfare" is the twenty-third episode of the first season of Community and originally premiered on May 6, 2010, on NBC. In the episode, after the Dean announces the prize for a friendly game of paintball, Greendale sinks into a state of all-out paintball war, with every student battling for supremacy. During the chaos, Jeff's study group teams up in order to last longer in the game. Meanwhile, Jeff and Britta confront their unresolved sexual tension.

"Anthropology 101" is the second season premiere of the American television series Community. It was originally broadcast on September 23, 2010 on NBC.

"Critical Film Studies" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of Community. It was originally aired on March 24, 2011 on NBC.

"Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations" is the 5th episode of the fourth season and 76th overall episode of Community, which originally aired on March 7, 2013 on NBC. Set at Thanksgiving, the episode shows Jeff meeting his father for the first time while other members of the group attend Shirley's Thanksgiving dinner with her family, in a parody of The Shawshank Redemption. The former storyline received mixed critical reception, whilst the latter was mostly criticized. The episode was watched by an estimated 3.29 million viewers upon its premiere.

"Repilot" is the first episode of the fifth season of Community, and the 85th episode overall in the series. It originally aired on January 2, 2014 on NBC; and was written by series creator Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna and directed by Tristram Shapeero. This is the final episode of the series to feature Chevy Chase as Pierce Hawthorne, making a cameo appearance following his departure in season 4.

"Advanced Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of Community, and the 94th episode overall in the series. It originally aired on March 20, 2014 on NBC. The episode was written by Matt Roller, and directed by Joe Russo. The episode marked the series writing debut of Roller and the final episode directed by Russo.

"G.I. Jeff" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of Community, and the 95th episode overall in the series. It originally aired on April 3, 2014 on NBC. The episode was written by Dino Stamatopoulos, and directed by Rob Schrab. The episode was completed in the animation style of the popular 1980s children's television animated series, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.

"Lawnmower Maintenance and Postnatal Care" is the 2nd episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series Community, and the 99th episode of the series overall. It was released on Yahoo! Screen in the United States on March 17, 2015, along with the previous episode, "Ladders". The episode introduces Elroy Patashnik as a main character, when the Dean purchases an outdated virtual reality system for the school, whilst Britta's parents are introduced as secret benefactors who have been paying money to her friends so they can loan her money.

"Advanced Safety Features" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series Community, and the 104th episode of the series overall. It was released on Yahoo! Screen in the United States on April 21, 2015. The episode also features product placement by Honda throughout the episode.

"Intro to Recycled Cinema" is the eighth episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series Community, and the 105th episode of the series overall. It was released on Yahoo! Screen in the United States on April 28, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television</span> 13th episode of the 6th season of Community

"Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television" is the series finale of the sitcom Community, serving as the thirteenth episode of its sixth season. It was written by series creator Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna, and directed by Rob Schrab. It is the 110th episode overall and was initially released on Yahoo! Screen in the United States on June 2, 2015.

"Modern Espionage" is the eleventh episode of the sixth season of the television sitcom Community. It was written by Mark Stegemann, and directed by Rob Schrab. It is the 108th episode overall and was first released on Yahoo! Screen in the United States on May 19, 2015. The episode is the third "paintball episode" of the series after "Modern Warfare" and the two-part "A Fistful of Paintballs" / "For a Few Paintballs More".

"Basic Crisis Room Decorum" is the 3rd episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series Community, and the 100th episode overall. The episode was written by Monica Padrick and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. It premiered on Yahoo! Screen on March 24, 2015.

"Queer Studies and Advanced Waxing" is the 4th episode of the sixth season and 101st overall episode of the American comedy television series Community. The episode was written by Matt Lawton and directed by Jim Rash and Nat Faxon. It premiered on Yahoo! Screen on March 31, 2015.

"Laws of Robotics and Party Rights" is the fifth episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series Community. The episode was written by Dean Young and directed by Rob Schrab. It premiered on Yahoo! Screen on April 7, 2015.

"Basic Email Security" is the sixth episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series Community and the 103rd episode overall. It was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, who also makes a guest appearance in the episode, and was written by Matt Roller. The episode was released on Yahoo! Screen in the United States on April 14, 2015.

"Wedding Videography" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series Community and the 109th episode overall. It was written by Briggs Hatton and directed by Adam Davidson. The episode was released on Yahoo! Screen in the United States on May 26, 2015.

"Paranormal Parentage" is the 2nd episode of the fourth season and 73rd overall episode of Community. The episode was written by Megan Ganz and directed by Tristram Shapeero. Though a Halloween-themed episode—the fourth for the series—it premiered on February 14, 2013 on NBC. It shows the group searching Pierce's mansion for the code to his panic room, after he locks himself in there. It makes homage to Scooby-Doo. The episode was watched by 2.76 million viewers on its premiere and met with mixed critical reception.

"Conventions of Space and Time" is the 3rd episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series Community and the 74th episode overall. It was written by Maggie Bandur and directed by Michael Patrick Jann. It originally aired in the United States on NBC on February 21, 2013.

References

  1. 1 2 Chan, Robert (May 6, 2015). "'Community' Postmortem: Dan Harmon on 'Grifting 101'". Yahoo! . Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Matar, Joe (May 5, 2015). "Community: Grifting 101 Review". Den of Geek . Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  3. ↑ Alston, Joshua (May 5, 2015). "Community: "Grifting 101"". The A.V. Club . Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  4. ↑ Valentine, Evan (May 5, 2015). "Community Recap: "Grifting 101"". Collider . Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  5. ↑ Goldman, Eric (May 5, 2015). "Community: "Grifting 101" Review". IGN . Retrieved November 7, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.