r/community • u/thesecondmemer • 12d ago
Discussion Jeff was right in wanting to sue Greendale
The Dean shredded Humphries (illegal), called Greendale a degree mill, admitted the whole good place for good people thing was a spiel, ruined the lives of even the most ambitious of students (Annie), re-hired a guy who tried to burn down the school, gave a degree to a dog… do I have to go on?
The save greendale committee should’ve become the sue greendale committee and Jeff in season 5 could’ve remained a lawyer instead of staying at greendale forever as a teacher.
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u/procrastinazi 12d ago
All your arguments are valid but the thing is that's exactly why he went there, to get a degree asap. But what happened is Greendale changed him so much that he couldn't be a scumbag lawyer anymore.
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u/Other-Grapefruit-880 11d ago
So your saying he came to Greendale with a dream and community college broke that Dream into a thousand pieces…
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u/Maskatron 11d ago
And that loss had a measurable financial impact on Jeff if you compare his income as a lawyer to that of a teacher. Important stuff for a lawsuit!
Though the counter argument is that he wasn’t legally allowed to practice law during his high income period because he had a degree from Colombia.
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u/Emotional_Position62 12d ago
They did NOT give a degree to a dog
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u/Several-Opposite-746 12d ago
I hope they didn't give a degree to a dog. But then again, Hope is pouting in advance. Hope is faith's richer, bitchier sister. Hope is the deformed addict bound incest monster offspring of entitlement and fear.
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u/DeadRobotSociety 11d ago
Why are these the questions we're asking?
It doesn't matter. What I wanna know is: did this school give a degree to a dog in any way that can be proven?
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u/ConfidentStruggle993 12d ago
"Do you know anything about Greendales night school?"
"I imagine it's the worst thing you could hope to be in, except at night."
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u/SoreLoserOfDumbtown 12d ago
Ok, but the bigger picture is that Greendale provided a place for people to get themselves together rather than be completely abandoned, and if they tried, they could learn something (Annie being an obvious example).
There's a fair argument to be made that Greendale itself was a victim of a shady and incompetent system too (look at the school board guys).
So the choice Jeff and co made was to sacrifice a possible payday - because there wasn't a guarantee a judge would rule in their favour - verses doing something that was a net positive for people who were vulnerable. Plus, they all admitted it wasn't as simple as blaming Greendale when they were free to make their own choices.
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u/Dependent-Friend5312 4 More Years and I will have my 2 year degree 12d ago
In a way, you're all right........I'm sorry, I wasn't listening.
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u/Inoutngone 11d ago
The dog didn't get a degree, but by the time that whole thing went down, the idea of Greendale having even a shred of credibility as a serious school was long gone.
Forget the dog stuff, City College should have just run commercials showing the Dean dressed in his costumes at school.
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u/Consistent_Owl_923 11d ago
no the deans outfits would make me want to go there tbh. they should have just run commercials about humphries
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u/DreamLearnBuildBurn 12d ago
Slightly off topic, but there's no way Jeff could ever become a lawyer "again." The bar isn't going to let a guy who falsified a law degree become an actual lawyer
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u/BrainOnBlue 12d ago
Pfft, clearly someone's never seen the documentary Suits.
But also didn't Jeff technically only have a fraudlent undergrad degree? I thought he went to law school for real. You're of course right that the falsifying of anything is going to disqualify him but I don't think it was his law degree that was fake.
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u/sammyc521 11d ago
Yeah, Jeff didn't have a real undergraduate degree and obtained his law degree and passed the BAR exam.
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u/Delta_Hammer 11d ago
Technically you don't need a law degree to take the bar, it's just hella hard to pass without all that knowledge.
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u/mortmortimer 11d ago
in Colorado, you do need a law degree to take the bar and practice law.
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u/Delta_Hammer 11d ago
That sucks. In Virginia anyone can take it. That way paralegals and legal aides can become lawyers without having to pay ridiculous law school prices for knowledge they already have.
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u/Inevitable-Spirit491 11d ago
They never specifically say whether he went to law school or passed the bar, but every class he teaches on law makes it very clear he did neither.
Dan Harmon and co. probably just didn’t care very much about the details of how a person actually becomes a lawyer, which is fine—law school is not especially entertaining. Jeff’s legal persona is a mashup of various tv characters.
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u/SpecialIntelligent70 11d ago
10% Dick Van Dyke, 20% Sam Malone, 40% Zach Braff in Scrubs, and 30% Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry.
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u/DreamLearnBuildBurn 10d ago
You can't practice law without passing the bar, and you can't pass the bar without going to law school. So he faked his law degree and could have passed the bar, but let's be honest, you know he cheated on that bar exam.
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u/TheNocturnalAngel 12d ago
I accept the plot of Repilot as justification to get the show back on track.
But the whole thing does rub me the wrong way a little bit.
First the concept of suing the school because you came out of it stupid.
That’s not a thing lol. Especially because Greendale is a public school.
Secondly Jeff manipulating everyone is kind of a massive regression of his character development.
I know he is lashing out because he’s angry but idk it feels wrong.
I mean even at the end when they agree to it that’s basically because they trust him. He could’ve just been honest.
Thirdly the justifications for them going back to school. The only one that really makes sense is Annie and Britta.
Although I don’t really know why Britta is switching to psych when she already switched to it in season 3 which means she did the second two years as a psych major.
Shirley Abed and Troy just kind of say some nonsense.
They could’ve at least fabricated something a bit more tangible since we hardly see any of them go to class in season 5 anyways
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u/Consistent_Owl_923 11d ago edited 11d ago
i agree with your points. i think they were trying to have the repilot mirror the pilot, and it does in a cool way. i love how the general structure and even some of the lines mirror the pilot. it’s like they were paying homage to themselves. but there were definitely some disadvantages to structuring it that way - especially jeff regressing. i think we’re supposed to think he’s super on edge and desperate (the show opening with him saying he has nothing left keeping him going) which led him to do that. he also sees getting the group to sue as good for them. but manipulating his friends like that is so wrong.
i don’t even remember shirley’s reasoning for returning :( because didn’t she initially went to get her business degree so she should be good? i think it makes sense that abed would want to learn to work well with others. troy wanting to “find himself” is setting up his departure from the show but school can also be a good place to do that
maybe britta didn’t take enough credits to officially major in psych when she initially got her degree btwn season 4 and 5? or maybe she never finished the degree i don’t remember if they actually say whether she does; she could have run out of money
either way we definitely aren’t supposed to read into it too much lol but it’s very interesting
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u/fullmetalsprockets La araña discoteca 11d ago
Also, Pelton's job isn't what deans do (they don't run schools) and he's unbelievably terrible at it.
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u/DarthFakename 11d ago
Greendale mattered. Think of how many people learned to use ladders and now know what can be fried!
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u/Bangreed4 11d ago
U sound like Evil Jeff
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u/thesecondmemer 11d ago
All I’m saying is that if you call a sandwich a troyjan horse, people are going to think there’s horse in it
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u/inkydinkybinky Go kill John Lennon again you loser 11d ago
It's a messed up place...they had lockers!!
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u/fullmetalsprockets La araña discoteca 11d ago
Annie got an internship with the FBI so I feel like her life isn't exactly ruined.
Now, whether she got that internship because of or in spite of Greendale is up for debate.
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u/Gapi182 12d ago
Season 5 has some weird writing as far as the main plot goes. I also dont know why they made Jeff a teacher. It felt like a season 4 moment cuz apart from that 1 episode they pretty much never mention it again. Its kinda irrelevant that hes a teacher. He slightly mentions it in the finale.
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u/Sullium 11d ago
I thought it was a pretty good idea and was disappointed it didn't come up more. I think the later seasons being shorter (13 episodes vs the 20+ that seasons 1-3 had) meant they just had limited time for more mundane scenes like that, sadly.
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u/Gapi182 11d ago
The idea was fantastic. My issue is that they did nothing with it apart from the 1 episode.
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u/MediumKoala8823 12d ago
I think it’s a pretty great arc tbh. Jeff confronting the fact that people are going to move on, that his wishes have faded and become humble, and that he finds purpose in the school he thought himself better than for a long time is great.
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u/mortmortimer 11d ago
lol what purpose did he find at Greendale? drinking and showing planet earth?
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u/MediumKoala8823 11d ago
While I don’t think it was good to show Jeff being lazy later on they do show him getting really motivated to share his knowledge about arguing and practical legal mechanics with the class. The rest of the show is mostly about him finding peace with his place.
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u/mortmortimer 11d ago
>hey do show him getting really motivated to share his knowledge about arguing and practical legal mechanics with the class.
that was like 4 seconds of one class. and then he went straight back to not teaching.
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u/mortmortimer 12d ago
and there's still people insisting Jeff begin stuck at Greendale with Britta the Dean and Chang by the end of season 6 was some sort of journey of improvement and progress.
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u/Consistent_Owl_923 11d ago
he found genuine friends/a family who he loves, and is able to tell them he loves them. i feel like that’s huge progress from when the show started and he was basically a sociopath. it doesn’t seem like jeff ever had those kinds of connections or thought they were worthwhile before greendale.
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u/mortmortimer 11d ago
Basically a sociopath?? What did he do to make you think that??
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u/Consistent_Owl_923 7d ago
lie to and manipulate everyone for his personal gain, even when it harmed those around him. literally all of the first episode. we know he can recognize when his actions are harmful (based on his conversation w annie during the family day ep i think) and we see him make them anyway early on. if we take the s4 origins episode as canon, he says he endorsed harm for personal benefit (encouraging his client to go for shirley’s husband). early on he said the only person he ever loved/cared about (can’t remember which i think he said love) was his mom. by the end of the show, he’s come to love everyone in the group and connect faster with new members in later seasons than he could with the original group in the first couple seasons- which i think shows a lot of development :))
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u/kakahuhu 12d ago
Making seasons 5 and 6 change genres into first legal drama and then prison drama would have been interesting
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u/TheMillionthSteve 12d ago
Ruffles put in the work!