History Recap / CommunityS2E17IntroToPoliticalScience

* CatchPhrase: Magnitude is given many opportunities to use his throughout the debate scenes.

* AmbiguousDisorder: One of the things that helps a bond develop between them is that Special Agent Vohlers appears to have the same non-specified disorder as Abed.
-->'''Vohlers:''' Mind if I ask you a few questions, Mr. Nadir? Is there a specific reason you had to repeat the first grade?\\
'''Abed:''' Well, from what I've been told I didn't know how to use scissors, I sat in the middle of the see-saw, and I always found the distinction between [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_duck_goose duck and goose]] to be very arbitrary.\\
'''Vohlers:''' Couldn't you just pick the sixth kid every time? That's what I ... [[SayingTooMuch would have done.]]

* BewareTheQuietOnes: Vicki doesn't say much, and leaves the elections before she can. Pierce drops out to harangue her more about not lending him a pencil. She delivers it to him -- straight through the cheek.

* FriendshipStrainingCompetition: Jeff and Annie run against each other in an election for class president. After Jeff attacks Annie's idealism at several turns, she retaliates by showing everyone an embarrassing video Jeff made a long time ago. He drops out of the election as a result and she follows suit out of guilt. They patch things up afterwards.

* RunningAwayToCry: Annie says that Jeff did this when the video of his Real World audition was screened. Jeff does do this.

'''Pierce''': Yeah, well, Vicki finally lent me her pencil. [''[[[MortalWoundReveal Turns to reveal a pencil stabbed through his cheek.]]'']

* ThingOMeter: When selecting candidates for the presidential elections, the Dean elects to act as a human "applause-o-meter" to let how much applause each candidate receives decide whether they make it through to the debate process. Since every candidate receives a smattering of polite applause, he ends up letting them all in -- and then [[WhatAnIdiot begins to wonder why so many people seem to be getting nominated.]][[invoked]] Then, Britta takes the stage with her [[StrawCharacter anarchist views]] on the situation:

* AntiClimax: At the end of the episode, the winner of the election is ... no one. Well, ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', but it's ineligible.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: The GCTV ticker informs us that Greendale's mascot may be offensive to animals.

* AbsenteeActor: Creator/KenJeong (Chang) does not appear in this episode.

* NoodleIncident: The Ass-Crack Bandit.
* ObligatoryEarpieceTouch: Troy touches his ear repeatedly in the scenes where he plays a commentator.

* DarkHorseVictory: Out of eight potential candidates, a write-in vote, ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' (not any of the characters or anything, ''the TV show itself''), ended up winning in the end.

* EveryoneHasStandards: [[Recap/CommunityS1E15RomanticExpressionism Abed will watch bad movies to mock them.]] Even he thinks ''The Last Airbender'' was just too terrible.
* TheFaceless: All we see of Vice President Biden is the back of his head and his voice ("I had a dream that I was a regular president").

* DarkHorseVictory: Out of eight potential candidates, a write-in vote, ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', ended up winning in the end.

* HilariousInHindsight: Vice President Biden waking up from a dream where "he was a real president" becomes this after he won the 2020 Presidential election.

* RussianReversal: Lampshaded by Jeff who notes that the audience loves him switching phrases around.

** Starburns retires from his political career because he believed it would [[InsultToRocks "shine a negative light on" his drug dealing]].

* ThingOMeter: When selecting candidates for the presidential elections, the Dean elects to act as a human "applause-o-meter" to let how much applause each candidate receives decide whether they make it through to the debate process. Since every candidate receives a smattering of polite applause, he ends up letting them all in -- and then [[WhatAnIdiot begins to wonder why so many people seem to be getting nominated.]][[invoked]] Then, Britta takes the stage with her anarchist views on the situation:

* EightiesHair: More like [[NinetiesHair 1993 hair]], but there it is.
* AbsenteeActor: Ken Jeong (Chang) does not appear in this episode.

* AntiClimax: At the end of the episode, the winner of the election is ... [[spoiler: no one. Well, ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', but it's ineligible.]]

--> '''Abed:''' The Vice President is coming? That explains the people I've noticed covertly surveilling the campus this week. Must be Secret Service.\\

* CatchPhrase: Magnitude is given copious opportunity to use his throughout the debate scenes.

** In [[Recap/CommunityS1E10ComparativeReligion "Comparative Religion"]], Jeff mentioned he "keeps his guitar in its case". We see him playing guitar in his ''Real World'' audition tape.

* DarkHorseVictory: Out of eight potential candidates, a write-in vote, WesternAnimation/SouthPark, ended up winning in the end.

* JerkassBall: Jeff grabs it when mocking Annie about how her becoming president won't actually change anything. Later, Annie grabs it when Jeff manages to sway the crowd with only a few choice words.

** In "[[Recap/CommunityS3E08DocumentaryFilmmakingRedux Documentary Filmmaking Redux"]], we learn that this is actually a slogan from the 1990s Greendale commercial.

-->'''Pierce''': When we seek to destroy others, we often hurt ourself. Because it is the ''self'' that ''wants'' to be destroyed.\\

'''Pierce''': Yeah, well, Vicki finally lent me her pencil. [''[[[MortalWoundReveal Turns to reveal a pencil stabbed through his cheek.]]]''
* ScandalGate: The title of Troy and Abed's show is ''[=DecisionGate=]: Gateway to Election Road''.

* SmokingBarrelBlowout: Annie does a shooting and blow-out gesture with her remote when the OldShame video of Jeff is playing.

* StumbledIntoThePlot: Garrett ends up as one of the candidates for Student Council President because [[JustHereForTheFreeSnacks he thought he was getting in line for ice cream]].

** Starburns retires from his political career because he believes it would "shine a negative light on" his drug dealing.

* VisualPun: Vicky--[[http://www.toasto.com/wp-content/themes/rich-corp_1-0/scripts/timthumb.php?src=http://www.toasto.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/sharp-pencil-point.jpg&w=608 yellow shirt, hat]]--wouldn't lend Pierce her pencil.

* AntiClimax: At the end of the episode, the winner of the election is ... spoiler:no one. Well, ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', but it's ineligible.

Dean Pelton announces that as part of a national tour of community colleges, Vice President Joe Biden will be visiting Greendale Community College, and will be greeted by the dean and the president of the student council. One problem; Greendale has no student council.

** And Jeff's campaign fails when the school sees his ''Real World: UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}'' audition tape from 1997. Joel [=McHale=], who portrays Jeff, grew up in Greater Seattle.

* AntiClimax: At the end of the episode, the winner of the election is... [[spoiler:no one. Well, ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.]]

* BewareTheQuietOnes: Vicki doesn't say much, and leaves the elections before she can. Pierce drops out to harangue her more about not lending him a pencil. She delivers it to him-- straight through the cheek.

--> '''Vohlers:''' You smell like nice soap. I have to go. I'm sorry you weren't a more obvious potential threat to the country.

'''Jeff:''' ''[Patronising]'' Oh, Abed. Will your reality ever come out on Blu-Ray so ''we'' can enjoy it?\\
'''Undercover Secret Service Agent:''' ''[Unnoticed outside the room, sotto voice]'' We've been made.

-->'''Magnitude''': I think you know, Dean! ''[in unison with audience]'' '''''"Pop Pop"!!'''''
-->'''Dean Pelton''': ''[chuckling affectionately]'' Ahhh... I set him up.

* ContinuityNod: This episode, like 2.07 before it, contains a couple FreezeFrameBonus hints at future plots, such as the western theme of the next paintball episodes.

** The Air Vent Monster in the news crawl for Troy and Abed in the Morning is Troy's monkey, Annie's Boobs.
** A bit of a stretch, but Annie wants to make Greendale the best community college in the western 3/4 of the county. In "[[Recap/CommunityS2E04BasicRocketScience Basic Rocket Science]]", when we see the graphic of City College's expanding parking lot, Greendale is indeed to the west of City College, acknowledging their rival.
** Pierce's age is listed as [[Recap/CommunityS2E14AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons "66, dick"]]
** [[Recap/CommunityS1E21ContemporaryAmericanPoultry Chicken finger shortage continues]] says the ticker underneath Troy and Abed's political programme.
** In Comparative Religion, Jeff mentioned he "keeps his guitar in its case". We see him playing guitar in his Real World audition tape
* {{Crawl}}: Troy and Abed's election coverage has a cable news style ticker on the bottom of the screen with items like "Human being mascot: Offensive to animals?" and "No paintball this spring claims Dean."
** The last one is [[LampshadeHanging "Tickers: Do we watch them?]]

* DarkHorseVictory: Out of 8 potential candidates, a write-in vote, WesternAnimation/SouthPark, ended up winning in the end.

* ExactWords: Jeff did hang all of Annie's campaign fliers up.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Abed will watch bad movies to mock them. Even he thinks ''The Last Airbender'' was terrible.
* TheFaceless: All we see of Vice President Biden is the back of his head and his voice ("I had a dream that I was a regular president.")
* FlatCharacter: Vicky is so nondescript that Troy and Abed can't think of a single thing to say about her. Possibly averted at the end, when we learn that she's got at least one definite character trait: she responds quite forcefully to people harrassing her over pencils.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The {{Crawl}}: 'Dean announces end-of-year picnic, implies "Western Theme"''
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: But only after you rewind; the agent that says "we've been made" after Abed makes his comment about the campus being watched was there at least since the dean walked in, wiping the same pane of glass over and over and over.

* HopelessAuditionees: Britta during the debate nominations, Jeff in his Real World audition.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: In the ShowWithinAShow when Abed is watching ''Kickpuncher'' in [[TheTag the tag]]:
-->'''''grateful citizen''':'' ''You've done so much for our city, Kickpuncher; is there anything we can give you?''
-->'''''Kickpuncher''':'' ''Don't call me Kickpuncher... call me... [[FirstNameBasis David]].''
* IgnoredEpiphany: Pierce notices that the rest of the group is awkward around him for his cruel pranks from the previous episode. His mind is also clearer from going to rehab. He decides the best course of action is to hassle someone from outside the group since they aren't friends. Vicki reveals she's not a pushover and stabs him in the cheek with a pencil.
* ImStandingRightHere: In the debate, Annie states that she'll balance the schools' budget by "eliminating administrative redundancies."

* IRegretNothing: Used as Jeff's quote in his political profile.
* JerkassBall: Jeff grabs it when mocking Annie about how she's not going to actually change anything by becoming president. Annie eventually grabs it when Jeff manages to sway the crowd with only a few choice words.

* KillItWithFire
--> '''Annie:''' I have so many ideas for improving the school.\\

* LastSecondWordSwap: Agent Robin Vohlers is able to correct herself in time before revealing embarrassing details from her childhood.
-->"Couldn't you just pick the sixth kid every time? That's what I... {{Beat}} would have done."

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Annie is clearly left feeling rather ashamed of herself when her exposure of Jeff's ''Real World'' audition tape causes him to storm off upset.

** In "[[Recap/CommunityS3E08DocumentaryFilmmakingRedux Documentary Filmmaking Redux"]] we learn that this is actually a slogan from the 1990s Greendale commercial.

* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Jeff and Annie slash out at each other on stage while keeping up a StepfordSmiler facade, just like real polititians do.

* RansackedRoom: TheMenInBlack mess up Abed's room pretty good.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Parodied with Vicki, the only student entering the election who we've never seen or heard from before this episode. We learn ''absolutely nothing'' about her except for the fact that she's wearing a yellow shirt and once refused to lend Pierce a pencil.
* RunningAwayToCry: Annie says that Jeff did this when the video of his Real World audition was screened. Jeff does do this.

'''Pierce''': Yeah, well, Vicki finally lent me her pencil. ''[[[MortalWoundReveal turns to reveal a pencil stabbed through his cheek]]]''.

* StalkerWithACrush: Abed acquires one. She's a Secret Service agent. [[BirdsOfAFeather Not that he minds]].

* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: Along with five other people, both Troy and Abed vote for ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' as School Council President.

--> '''Secret Service Agent:''' ''[After searching Abed's bag]'' He's clean. Although I could issue a warning for this bootleg of ''Film/TheLastAirbender''.\\

* TechnicolorEyes: Magnitude ([[RunningGag POP POP!]]) purportedly has ultraviolet eyes.
* ThingOMeter: When selecting candidates for the presidential elections, the Dean elects to act as a human 'applause-o-meter' to let how much applause each candidate receives decide whether they make it through to the debate process. Since every candidate receives a smattering of polite applause, he ends up letting them all in -- and then [[WhatAnIdiot begins to wonder why so many people seem to be getting nominated.]] Then, Britta takes the stage with her anarchist views on the situation:

''[No applause whatsoever]''\\
'''Britta:''' ''[petulantly]'' I don't care.\\

* VicePresidentWho: Joe Biden makes an appearance ([[TheFaceless sort of]]) while on a Vice Presidential Tour that was going to stop at Greendale. This trope is referenced when he wakes up from a nap and says he had a dream about being a REAL President.
* VisualPun: Vicky--[[http://www.toasto.com/wp-content/themes/rich-corp_1-0/scripts/timthumb.php?src=http://www.toasto.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/sharp-pencil-point.jpg&w=608 yellow shirt, hat]]-- wouldn't lend Pierce her pencil.