Contains spoilers for episode 406. Many fans noticed that Annie curled her hair down more than usual in the ep and loved it. Jeff has a history of noticing Annie with her hair down too, yet he was too focused on discrediting Changnesia this time – at least in the episode.
After Abed's documentary was over and Jeff was taken back by the group, he should have rushed out of Greendale for a long, quiet night alone. Yet all those plans whooshed out of his brain once he saw it.
It tended to make his mind go blank, more times than he cared to acknowledge. But this time it was doing it in a far different way. Longer and even more enticingly curled and down than usual.
Despite this gibberish from his inner voice, his outer voice was surprisingly coherent. "Annie, did you change your hair?"
Annie stopped in the middle of the quad before Jeff stopped with her. He then noticed that the rest of the group, the Dean and Kevin were gone. As far as Jeff knew, no one else saw him checking out Annie's hair – although he just alerted Annie to it.
But he was too far down the rabbit hole now, so he went with it as safely as he could. "I mean, that's the longest I've ever seen it go down. Did you do it yesterday or today or something?"
Jeff smiled to himself, confident that he sounded attentive without being creepy. But he began to think again when Annie frowned at him.
"Really? That's when you think I did it?" she asked, further confusing and worrying Jeff.
"Two days, then?" Jeff took a guess, figuring maybe she did it when the group shut him out.
"It's been like this for well over a week, Jeff. And you just noticed it now?" Annie wondered, with Jeff's silence answering for him.
"I guess you were pretty sneaky about it?" Jeff answered out loud anyway.
"Not really," Annie sighed. "I shouldn't be surprised. You're not an ideal forensics student all the time. This time you were too blinded by Changnesia to notice anything else around you, that's all. It's probably why you got that wrong too."
Now it was Jeff's turn to sigh. They just settled this argument, and she opened it up all over again. He always knew noticing Annie's hair would get him in trouble, but not like this.
"Well, maybe if someone else had my back, I wouldn't have gotten it that wrong," Jeff pointed out. "Why did you believe Kevin again? Oh right, because you liked having a lab partner. He could have been planning to kill you again, but it was okay because he's your study buddy now, right?"
"Chang tried to kill me, not Kevin," Annie reminded. "Even you finally saw the difference, so what does it matter?"
"They're still the same person!" Jeff groaned. "But you were as quick to forget that as they were. I expect them to forget that stuff, but you? You're a forensics genius now. You cracked a human trafficking scam without even trying. So why the hell didn't you question Changnesia for a second?"
"I didn't question Kevin," Annie stressed. "Kevin's a new person, and I believe in him."
"What a shock," Jeff rolled his eyes. "It's one thing to blindly believe Pierce can change. At least he never kidnapped someone for months when he wasn't sun-downing. But blindly giving Chang the benefit of the doubt, without any questions? You've never been that naïve before!"
"And I was still right. You admitted that in your apology. Are you taking it back anyway, Jeff?" Annie questioned in her full on investigator tone.
"I'm not taking it back! I just don't get why you never doubted him! Maybe if you were in my corner, like you should have been, you could have helped me be wrong without going crazy!" Jeff accused. "But your crazy, unquestioning belief that everyone can change, even him, was more important to you."
"For good reasons, Jeff," Annie frowned as her voice got low.
"Good reason to believe in a psychotic attempted murderer war lord without any doubt? Maybe I had too much doubt, but at least it came from a sane, logical place. What's your excuse?" Jeff zeroed in.
"Me, Jeff!" Annie briefly exploded.
"No, you Annie, last I checked," Jeff couldn't resist.
"Not like that, Winger," Annie amended. "You think it's impossible for a crazy person to become better. I don't because I did it already, in case you forgot! Which you probably did!"
"Annie, comparing yourself to Chang isn't making you saner right now," Jeff answered.
"Isn't it?" Annie shot back. "I didn't take over a school and almost kill someone. But I could have if I took more pills on a certain day. Or if I didn't get rehab afterwards. I was such a mess, it should have been impossible to become a brand new person after that. If you were around back then and didn't know me, you would have said the same thing. But I did it, so I'm not going to say Chang can't do it too. I just can't."
"Chang needed Changnesia to stop being crazy," Jeff groaned to himself. "You changed because you're a naturally better person."
"Only because I believed I could. I had no reason to back then, but I did," Annie remembered. "If the side effect is I have to believe anyone else can change, even Chang or Pierce or other friends, it could be worse. You think I don't know it could have gone the other way? Of course I did! That's why I have to believe harder!"
"Even when they make it that hard to believe in them?" Jeff asked with less zealotry.
"Even then. It's not being naïve or stupid, Jeff. It's just a choice. One I made the hardest way possible," Annie stated. "Look at me. By your logic with Chang, I should have stayed a pill popping, grade obsessed lunatic who could never make real friends. And by that logic, I should have stayed a boring health care major instead of doing something I actually love now. Even now, I'm still becoming new and hopefully better, so don't you dare tell me no one else can do it too! Not even him!"
Annie came down from her passionate argument and got more melancholy. "It's not like everyone sees that, though. Sometimes I still think people only see who I used to be, not who I am now. Kevin probably feels that too. It sucks that you can do everything possible to be better, and some people will just never notice."
"I notice. You make it hard not to, believe me," Jeff caught himself saying. Once Annie gave him a little look, he knew he should have backtracked. Instead, he added, "I know I didn't make the best case that I notice things a while back. But I can sometimes. At least the important, cool things."
If Jeff was a man capable of blushing and being embarrassed, he might have felt it a little bit. Yet even if he was – if – it would have faded once Annie gave a small smile and answered, "I know you do, Jeff."
Jeff still felt the need to defend himself, but not because he wanted to be right. He took a different approach and started, "You do understand why I couldn't just believe him, right? I mean, he is….was...Chang. Maybe I like being the lesser of two evils compared to him, but he was still evil."
This was nothing he hadn't said many times. Yet this time, he let out an additional argument before he knew it. "I mean, he tried to kill me. And he tried to kill the only people I've ever loved in my entire life! Did you really expect me to let that slide right away?'
Jeff couldn't help but notice Annie biting back a little smile before answering, "I guess I shouldn't have."
When he realized why she might be smiling, he briefly panicked inside. Yet he said the only people he'd ever loved, and he said the word loved in a generic way. So he was probably safe.
Yet he still added, "People can change, but they can't all be Annie Edison. No matter how much they should want to be."
Annie didn't even try to hide her smile that time. Nor should she have. To think there was once a time where people stopped her from smiling like that. It was appalling in a number of ways.
But here she was. Here she was, still getting called naïve and stupid for her beliefs by jackasses like Jeff, even now. Even after Thanksgiving.
"Maybe I'm so convinced people can't change because of me. Look at me. I finally took down my daddy issues once and for all, and I'm still a crazy jackass," Jeff reflected. "You'd think I wouldn't go crazy and kiss unwilling women in public forums again. But there I went."
Jeff nearly kicked himself for bringing that up in front of Annie – but then he'd have to wonder why. Fortunately, Annie only looked mildly annoyed, then added, "Well, your breakdowns could be more original. I'll give you that much."
Jeff was relieved she looked at it that way, if only to avoid arguing again. That was it. But despite his relief, the self-loathing returned on cue. "I should be above that stuff now, but I guess I'm not. If facing my dad didn't fix that, nothing can. So much for New Jeff, then."
"No," Annie said formidably. "Okay, maybe you're not the best case that people can completely change. But you're a good case for why not changing is a good thing too."
"Now you're talking gibberish. It's not your usual book gibberish or forensics gibberish, so now I'm really confused," Jeff said.
"Jeff, what did you do when you went too far? You realized you were wrong, re-examined your beliefs, said you were sorry and made things right. That's not change. It's what you've done over and over ever since I've known you," Annie reminded. "Being the same isn't always a bad thing. Not when it comes to the good parts, anyway."
"Annie, I didn't exactly use those 'good parts' before coming here. Trust me, some big changes were involved," Jeff claimed.
"Maybe before we met. But ever since then, you've always fixed your mistakes and made things better. That hasn't changed for years. And no matter how much we fight, I know deep down it never will," Annie assured.
Jeff felt an instinctive need to nitpick this – another thing of his that wouldn't quite change. Normally he'd nitpick with a joke, or by bragging about himself, or by ridiculing Annie for thinking he was that kind of good guy.
But the more he looked at Annie's trusting smile and thought back to all the times he had made things right, he remembered other things that proved her theory wrong. Some things that involved her.
"I haven't made everything right," he said without thinking. "There's some important wounds I haven't healed yet."
Acknowledging all those times he hurt Annie and never made up for it was one thing, even indirectly. Adding a "yet" to it was the kind of promise he couldn't get out of, even if he wanted to. Which he should, he supposed.
Of course, Jeff might have been cryptic enough that Annie wouldn't fully get it. Then again, with her forensics powers, that might be wishful thinking. As if it wasn't hard enough to keep things from her already.
Regardless, Annie smiled another little smile and responded, "You've healed more than enough of them. That makes me believe you'll fix the rest. Some people need total overhauls to change, like me, and I still believe in them. Some people don't need that much work anymore, and I believe in them even easier. With good reason."
For once, Jeff wasn't going to argue about how good that reason was. He'd had enough arguments about stuff like that lately – if not in the last few years.
Technically, he could have listened to Shirley's similar arguments days ago and gotten the same message, to say nothing of when Kevin repeated them. Yet somehow, it sounded more convincing to him coming from Annie.
Nevertheless, Jeff couldn't help but needle, "You do know I'll rub it in big time if I was right about Kevin all along. Just like I always do."
"And I'll still keep believing in people and how they can change anyway. Just like I always do," Annie echoed. "That one time I was right will always drown out all those times I was wrong." After another pause, she added, "Make that two times."
"That kind of faith is powerful," Jeff realized. "People who misuse it are pretty dangerous and stupid. People that reward it, even when they don't mean to….I guess it can do things to them. Make them think about things they never thought of before without throwing up. Or do things they never wanted to do, but couldn't have done without….that faith. Things like that."
Just before Jeff knew better than to keep talking like that, he finished, "I guess I hope Kevin's that kind of person in the end. I know he'd be all the better for it. I mean, it's not like he could be worse."
"Yeah, he did set the bar pretty low…." Annie got out while trying not to blush, or analyze Jeff's words that closely.
Once they sunk in for Jeff, he laughed nervously and mentally prepared to make his exit, as usual in situations like this. However, as he saw Annie smile at him and clearly saw her struggle not to get too swept away, it somehow inspired him to make another change.
"You know, you helped give Greendale a lot of grant money, changed your hair and brought down a human trafficking ring. That's more than I did this week. I'd say that's earned at least one cup of coffee on me," Jeff offered.
"Really?" Annie asked with more surprise than Jeff was happy with.
"Sure," Jeff answered, realizing that was a bit inadequate. He wondered if he had any more inspirational metaphors or hopefully cryptic words in the tank. He didn't mean to waste them all in a debate triggered by Annie's hair, of all things.
Oh right, that's what started this little scene. His habit of letting her hair do things to him.
Like walk forward and stroke the hair hanging over her shoulders. Like he was doing right now.
Jeff heard Annie squeak, but if he looked at her face and how red it was, he'd stop touching her hair. So he bought time by saying on autopilot, "Just want to make sure it's extra presentable. In case there are still oblivious morons out there."
That was just flattering enough to buy him a few extra seconds. Extra seconds to savor how Annie's cascading hair felt more luxurious and beautiful than it looked or even smelled, which really said something.
Chang was the sick one, yet Jeff didn't notice all this for over a week. Maybe he really was sicker than Kevin.
That was the thought that made Jeff think he'd gone too far. Once he remembered how it must look to do this, in public or otherwise, he was ready to be ashamed again.
Plus that line he said about helping other 'oblivious morons' notice Annie was unsettling. In a couple of unimportant ways.
"There, good enough," Jeff said somewhat evenly as he backed off. He only briefly glanced at Annie's red face, which should have told him to back off before making things worse.
However, he made a promise to have coffee with her and make things right for the week. And as Annie noted, Jeff always made things better, no matter how he kicked and screamed first. So he escorted her to the local coffee shop and vowed not to let his creepy….impulses change that pattern.
Or so he told himself they were creepy, like always. Even if that changed into sounding hollow over time.
Annie did notice that once they talked comfortably again, and she talked about how she used "Partner" Troy to expose the trout shop guy, Jeff looked more at ease. In fact, the look of admiration he often had around her kept popping up as she described her work. And even a B+ forensics student would have noticed Jeff discreetly checking out her hair when he thought she wasn't looking.
Perhaps if more things were to change in the future, Annie could use stuff like this as evidence if Jeff denied it. A good investigator could always catch lies like that – and Jeff had changed from one of the best to one of the worst liars Annie ever met.