"First Chang Dynasty"
◄   Season Three, Episode Twenty-One  ►
Air date	May 17, 2012 on
Written by	Matt Fusfeld and Alex Cuthbertson
Directed by	Jay Chandrasekhar

“	Thank you everyone for joining in my celebration. As many of you know I ate my twin sister in utero. So on my birthday I try to remember that I'm a winner. This one's for you Connie.	”
–Ben Chang

Summary: The study group mobilizes to take back Greendale now that Chang has taken over the school using an elaborate plan to infiltrate the campus during his birthday bash. Meanwhile, Troy enlists the help of the Air Conditioning Repair Annex to help but knows he may be selling his soul to the devil in the process.

Contents 1 Plot 2 End tag 3 Recurring themes 3.1 Continuity: 3.2 Running gags: 3.3 Pop culture references: 3.4 Meta references: 4 Quotes 5 Promotional photos 6 TV Line Behind the scenes video 7 Comments

PlotEdit

At Troy and Abed's apartment, the study group tries to convince Officer Cackowski that Chang has replaced Dean Pelton with a look-alike. However, the best proof they can present is a recent commercial for Greendale which features propaganda pushed by Chang as well as the imposter. Because the footage is shot at a distance, it's not conclusive. Due to their lack of actual evidence, he dismisses their claim, unable to buy such a ridiculous premise. When Annie offers to return to the school to find more proof, Cackowski issues them a warning: if they get within fifty yards of the campus, he'll have them arrested.

Back at Greendale, Chang and his lieutenant Joshua are going over plans for his lavish birthday extravaganza. Outside the school, Troy, Annie, and Britta are doing surveillance of the campus but are unable to get closer due to the heavy security. Troy contacts the A/C repair school to find out further information and meets up with Murray at Señor Kevin's. Troy learns the Dean is being held captive in the cafeteria basement and is provided details on Chang's security layout. Murray tells him that they'll need the A/C repair school's help which they will only provide if Troy finally agrees to join them. Troy returns to the study group with the information and Murray's offer. They all reject the A/C repair school's assistance and instead set out to plan an elaborate heist.

On the night of Chang's party, Chang greets Richie and Carl from the Greendale school board. Despite his warnings to his troops to be on high alert, Shirley sneaks into the school disguised as a baker who delivers the birthday cake. Inside the cake is Annie, dressed in a security guard uniform. Shirley then clogs up a toilet in the women's restroom. The resulting flood causes Chang's guards to call in plumbers who turn out to be Troy and Abed in disguise, as Barry and Rod. Their job is to break through the wall of the restroom and get to Chang's office which has the codes to unlock the door to the cafeteria basement. Meanwhile, Jeff cancels the magician scheduled while Britta gets Joshua to abandon his post by flirting with him on facebook.

Britta and Jeff disguise themselves as the entertainment for Chang's party, as Ricky Nightshade and his gothic assistant. They get Chang to participate in a magic trick, and manage to grab the key to the basement that was hung around his neck. Meanwhile, Troy breaks through the restroom walls into Chang's office and finds the codes to the first basement door. Via walkie-talkie he contacts Annie, who had taken over Joshua's sentry duties, and she unlocks the outer door with the codes. Britta then arrives with Chang's key for the second door. Back in the cafeteria, Jeff's performance is interrupted by Pierce wearing a swami outfit. Chang sees through his disguise and realizes a caper is taking place. He contacts his goon guarding the door to the basement and is told that the dean is missing.

Chang checks his surveillance camera and sees the Dean being escorted by Troy and Abed down a hallway. He and his troops converge on that area to stop their escape. When they get there, they discover it was a trick when all he finds is Faux-by. When Shirley first arrived in the cafeteria, she had hidden a message in the Dean's food for him to hide. Once the guard thought Pelton had escaped, he left his post, allowing Britta to use the key she acquired to retrieve the real Dean. At the same time, Troy and Abed tricked Faux-by into providing a distraction while all this was going down. The study group then reunites with the Dean and are basking in the success of their plan until they are unfortunately intercepted by Chang and his forces.

Chang and his troops escort the entire group back down to the cafeteria basement. Jeff questions how he plans on getting away with this. He tells them he has a plan for destroying all the proof of his misdeeds. Once he finishes performing on his keytar, the last note will trigger fireworks he placed in the records room. After they go off, any incriminating evidence will be gotten rid of. Annie tries to warn him that that will end up burning down the school, but Chang ignores her, claiming fire can't go through doors because it's not a ghost. He leaves to begin his solo as the group tries to figure a way out of the basement. As they brainstorm, Troy notices a surveillance camera. Knowing from footage that Murray showed him earlier that the A/C repair school is monitoring the situation, he looks directly at it and nods.

A giant fan at the end of the room stops rotating, allowing an escape route for the group. They make it to the hallway, but the path to the records room is blocked by six guards. The Dean suggests they use black lights he had installed for midnight raves at the school as a distraction. Jeff tells Troy and Abed to make a run for it while the rest of the group handles the guards. They reach the record room and manage to disarm the trigger just as Chang finishes his keytar solo. The rest of the study group joins Troy and Abed in the record room to celebrate. Chang shows up, furious that they stopped his plan and is about to get into a stun baton battle with Jeff when they are interrupted by the arrival of Richie and Carl.

The two men confront Chang with the imposter Dean he hired who they had run into having a slap fight with Pelton. Instead of explaining things Chang runs away leaving Carl and Richie worried. If word got out about what Chang had almost done under their watch, it could cost them their jobs. Pelton reassures them that he'll keep a lid on it as it's his job as Dean to do such things. Later at Troy and Abed's apartment, Troy is forced to say goodbye to the study group. Now enrolled in the A/C repair school, he has to move into their housing and can no longer see them. Murray then shows up to escort him and after a sad farewell to his friends he goes to the A/C school. Once Troy arrives, Vice Dean Laybourne is there to personally welcome him.

End tagEdit

Dean Pelton is participating in the midnight rave that he rents the school out for on the weekends.

Recurring themesEdit

Continuity:Edit

• And we're back: This episode continues the storyline from "Curriculum Unavailable".
• Familiar faces: Officer Cackowski appears and Faux-by returns.
• Returning students: Leonard makes an appearance in this episode.
• Returning faculty: Members from the Greendale school board Carl and Richie return. Vice Dean Robert Laybourne and Murray, his second-in-command of the Greendale Air Conditioning Repair School, return.
• School supplies: Chang's keytar makes an appearance. It was last seen in the Season Three episode "Regional Holiday Music". The Changlorious Basterds are all armed with stun batons.
• Histoy lesson: Chang reveals the name of the twin sister he ate in utero was "Connie"-Connie Chang.
• This must be the place: Troy and Abed's apartment, the cafeteria, Dean Pelton's office, Señor Kevin's, and the AC repair school annex all make an appearance.
• Discontinuity: Chang's fear of frogs was previously established in the Season One episode "The Science of Illusion". In this episode, Chang has his second-in-command Joshua book the Budweiser frogs . He appears to be looking forward to seeing them despite his ranidaphobia.

Running gags:Edit

• Nice outfit:
  • Sgt. Chang is dressed in a Napoleon Bonaparte outfit.
  • Shirley is dressed as a male chef complete with a beard and mustache.
  • Troy and Abed are dressed like plumbers with oversized mustaches.
  • Jeff is dressed like the Goth stage magician Criss Angel.
  • Britta is dressed in a similar Goth style as his assistant.
  • Annie is dressed in a Changlourious Basterd uniform.
  • Pierce is dressed as a swami similar to Johnny Carson's famous character "Carnac The Magnificent".
• Changuage: When asked what's going on by Richie and Carl, Chang tells them he can exchang.
• Rhyme time: Chang says everything is "Peachy keen, Avril Lavigne!"
• Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?: Abed suggests an elaborate heist twice. After the caper seems to be over, Jeff points to each of the study group members and asks "Done?" several times.
• Man crush: While in captivity, Dean Pelton constructed a makeshift doll he refers to as Jeff to ease his solitude.
• Fan Service: Jeff's open waistcoat shows off his torso, Annie wears a tight-fitting Changlourious Basterd outfit.
• Pansexual imp: When Richie and Carl worry that nobody will cover up a scandal this big, Dean Pelton responds, "I'll sit on it." He elaborates that he "made a pledge to swallow this school's failures and spit out degrees."
• Awww!: Annie and Shirley are touched by Dean Pelton's commitment to Greendale.

Pop culture references:Edit

• IMDB: Pierce mentions Ocean's Eleven when the study group is caught by Chang.
• Shout out: Avril Lavigne is mentioned by Chang.
• Product placement:
  • The Subway franchise is briefly shown again in the new Greendale commercial.
  • Murray shows Troy footage from the A/C school's surveillance cameras using what appears to be a Blackberry Playbook.
  • The Changlourious Basterds are using Razor Scooters and are equipped with electric Stun Batons.
  • Richie and Carl mention Skeeter's which had been mentioned in the previous episode "Digital Estate Planning".

Meta references:Edit

• Homage:
  • This episode is an homage to heist films and has many examples of typical actions found in that genre.
  • When Chang chases after and then catches up to the Dean/Faux-by, it mimics the final scene from the 1976 film Don't Look Now.
  • Troy's farewell to Abed is a reference to the final scene from the 2003 film Lost In Translation.
• Use your allusion: The scene in which Jeff and Chang are about to fight each other using stun batons is a reference to duels with lightsabers in Star Wars (also Chang's "double-edged" taser references Darth Maul's double-edged lightsaber from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace).

QuotesEdit

“The real Dean never would have expelled us. He loved us.”— Shirley

“Unfortunately, love is not admissible evidence. Ooh! [sings into recorder] Love is not admissible evidence! I'm working on a cop opera.”— Officer Cackowski

“COPERA!!!”— The study group minus Pierce

“Police-ical!”— Pierce

“How's it coming with the guard?”— Jeff

“Boys are pathetic. Two days of facebooking with this Joshua kid, and he's eating out of my hands. 'Got a new flavor of lip balm. Meet me at Chili's in ten minutes.' Sheep.”— Britta

“Um, I just want to reiterate that this should be the only time you seduce a child over the internet.”— Jeff

“Is that me in my swami disguise?”— Pierce

“No, Pierce. For the last time, you're in the getaway van because your swami act is notoriously horrible.”— Jeff

“A, that is racist. B, swamis can't drive. They're Indians.”— Pierce

Promotional photosEdit

TV Line Behind the scenes videoEdit

Season Three Episodes
1. "Biology 101" 2. "Geography of Global Conflict" 3. "Remedial Chaos Theory" 4. "Competitive Ecology" 5. "Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps" 6. "Advanced Gay" 7. "Studies in Modern Movement" 8. "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux" 9. "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism" 10. "Regional Holiday Music" 11. "Contemporary Impressionists"	12. "Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts" 13. "Digital Exploration of Interior Design 14. "Pillows and Blankets" 15. "Origins of Vampire Mythology" 16. "Virtual Systems Analysis" 17. "Basic Lupine Urology" 18. "Course Listing Unavailable" 19. "Curriculum Unavailable" 20. "Digital Estate Planning" 21. "First Chang Dynasty" 22. "Introduction to Finality"
Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four • Season Five

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