History Recap / CommunityS2E20CompetitiveWineTasting

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
-->'''Annie:''' That's why the call me Irony-Free Annie.\\
'''Jeff:''' Trust me, that's not what they call you.
** Pierce has a "special gym" in his basement.

* ActorAllusion: At the bar, Jeff's exchange with Pierce ("I just hope she can satisfy me. I'm like an insatiable baboon in the bedroom." "Don't sell yourself short, you're a baboon everywhere.") echoes a similar StealthInsult that Chevy Chase had used on Ted Knight in ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}''. ("He's been club champion three years running and I'm no slouch myself." "Don't sell yourself short, you're a tremendous slouch.")

** Troy considers one of these for his stage name - Trevor St. [=McGoodbody=]. Or David.
** Mei's middle name, "Hong Long", means "red dragon".

** Potentially also referencing the re-imagining of the ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' into ''Theatre/TheWiz''; the original Broadway musical has been condensed into a black box theatre show called ''Fiddler, Please'' where Troy and the others perform some dances while he sings "It's hard to be Jewish in Russia/ YO/ It's hard to be Jewish in Russia/ YO".

* BreakTheHaughty: ''"CLASS DISMISSED!"''

** Pierce holds his engagement party at the same restaurant featured in the previous episode, "Critical Film Studies".

** Professor Garrity shows up in his actual role as professor of drama.
* ContinuityNod: As seen in the Kickpuncher movie in "Romantic Expressionism," Kickpuncher's name is David, or Troy's backup actor name.

* DramaticPause: The drama professor, naturally.
* DrivenToSuicide: After Abed proves Angela was the boss, they tease this as the professor opens a drawer to reveal a gun... [[SubvertedTrope and opens it further to reveal]] ''What Was Happening?: An Analysis of What's Happening''. See WhatCouldHaveBeen.
* {{Fauxreigner}}: Pierce's fiancee.

* FormulaForTheUnformulable: Abed conclusively proves that Angela was in fact the boss with equations. His formula covers an enormous board, and viewers get to see he used some organic chemistry in his calculations.

* GilliganCut: Troy is determined to defuse the situation with Britta. MatchCut to him in drama class expanding on his molestation story.

* GoldDigger: Jeff exposes Mei as one of these. However, oddly for this trope this actually makes ''Jeff'' the bad guy; as Pierce points out, he was using Mei just as much as she was using him, there was still the possibility of good feelings between them, and it's clear that Jeff's real motives in doing so were less out of concern for Pierce and more because his vanity was wounded by Mei turning him down for Pierce.
* GreenEyedMonster: Jeff's motivation for exposing Mei as a GoldDigger are not because he cares about Pierce's feelings, but because he's jealous and can't believe that a beautiful woman would choose Pierce over him without some underlying motive.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Jeff is soundly called out for this in the episode, as it's clear that his reasons for exposing Mei as a GoldDigger were out of selfishness, jealousy and vanity rather than genuine concern for Pierce's feelings.

* LargeHam: The drama prof again.

* MayDecemberRomance: Mei romantically pursues Pierce who gladly reciprocates. Mei is a hot thirty-something and she is significantly younger than Pierce who is in his sixties, prompting Jeff's disgust/jealousy.

* RuleOfCool + RuleOfFunny: Why would Abed need organic chemistry to prove Angela was the boss?
** [[FridgeBrilliance To prove the 'chemistry' between Angela and Tony.]]

-->'''Abed:''' The professor of this class is the author of this book!\\
'''Jeff:''' [[SarcasmMode Wow, we got him?]]\\
'''Abed:''' [[SarcasmBlind I know!]]

* ShipTease: Between Troy and Britta.

** The class Abed gets into is a media studies course based on a book analyzing ''Series/WhosTheBoss''

'''Mei:''' No, you are funny, and you are like Oprah. Heh, heh, heh.

* TheWoobie: Troy becomes this to Britta InUniverse after he lies about being molested as a child.

* YouNoTakeCandle: Pierce's fiance, but [[ElectiveBrokenLanguage it's an act]].

-->'''Mei:''' I couldn't be more touched you threw us an engagement party.\\

** Mei mentions that her dad will likely do bad ''Film/{{Borat}}'' impressions at her and Pierce's wedding.

** Wu Mei mentions that her dad will likely do bad ''Film/{{Borat}}'' impressions at her and Pierce's wedding.
** Wu Mei compares Shirley to [[TheOprahWinfreyShow Oprah.]]
-->'''Wu Mei:''' I couldn't be more touched you threw us an engagement party.\\

'''Wu Mei:''' Ha, ha, ha. She is funny. Like Oprah.\\

'''Wu Mei:''' No, you are funny, and you are like Oprah. Heh, heh, heh.
** After Jeff exposes Wu Mei as a corporate spy for a company trying to take over Hawthorne Wipes, Wu Mei sarcastically compares Jeff to Series/VeronicaMars.
-->'''Wu Mei:''' Very impressive, Veronica Mars. You learned how to use Google.

* ShoutOut: To ''Series/WhosTheBoss'', ''Series/VeronicaMars'', and ''Series/WhatsHappening''.

The gang picks their spring quarter electives. Jeff and Pierce sign up for Italian Wine Tasting, where they meet the lovely Wu Mei Hong Long. Troy and Britta take an acting class and are instructed to share painful emotions from their past, which proves difficult for Troy. Meanwhile, Abed takes "A Critical Analysis of ''WhosTheBoss''" taught by the person who wrote the book of the same name; however, Abed's theories about who the 'boss' was turn out to be surprisingly controversial..

* WroteTheBook: Abed's professor wrote the book on ''WhosTheBoss''. He tries to foist his opinion on Abed, but it turns out Abed knows more than he does.

[[quoteright:280:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/competitive_wine_tasting.jpg]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Community2x20_0205_5747.jpg]]

!The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Competitive Wine Tasting" provides examples of:

* BilingualBonus: The Italian on the bottle of wine Pierce gives to Jeff translates as "You become more attractive with each bottle."

* DrivenToSuicide: After Abed proves Angela was the boss, they tease this as the professor opens a drawer to reveal a gun... [[BaitAndSwitch and opens it further to reveal]] ''What Was Happening?: An Analysis of What's Happening''. See WhatCouldHaveBeen.

* MayDecemberRomance: Mei romantically pursues Pierce who gladly reciprocates. Mei is a hot twenty-something and she is significantly younger than Pierce who is in his sixties, prompting Jeff's disgust/jealousy.

'''Jeff:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Wow, we got him?]]\\

* WroteTheBook: Abed's professor wrote the book on ''WhosTheBoss''. He tries to foist his opinion on Abed, but it turns out Abed knows more then he does.

* MayDecemberRomance: Mei is significantly younger than Pierce, prompting Jeff's disgust/jealousy.

* YouNoTakeCandle: Pierce's fiance, but it's an act.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Jeff turns out to be right that Mei is a GoldDigger trying to manipulate Pierce, but in this case the 'Jerkass' part is emphasised, as Jeff's motives for exposing her were based on jealousy and vanity, and the fact that he was ultimately trying to prove that a beautiful

* GreenEyedMonster: Jeff's motivation for exposing Mei as a GoldDigger are not because he cares about Pierce's feelings, but because his vanity is wounded that Mei choose Pierce over him.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Jeff is soundly called out for this in the episode, as its clear that his reasons for exposing Mei as a GoldDigger were out of selfishness and vanity rather than genuine concern for Pierce.

The gang picks their spring quarter electives. Jeff and Pierce sign up for Italian Wine Tasting, where they meet the lovely Wu Mei Hong Long. Troy and Britta take an acting class and are instructed to share painful emotions from their past, which proves difficult for Troy. Meanwhile, Abed takes "A Critical Analysis of ''WhosTheBoss''" taught by the person who wrote the book of the same name; however, Abed's theories about who the 'boss' was turn out to be controversial..

** Potentially also referencing the re-imagining of the ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' into ''TheWiz''; the original Broadway musical has been condensed into a black box theatre show called ''Fiddler, Please'' where Troy and the others perform some dances while he sings "It's hard to be Jewish in Russia/ YO/ It's hard to be Jewish in Russia/ YO".

** Abed's excitement at the situation is also funny to the countless college students whose professors have required their students to read (i.e. BUY) their precious book, which is [[SarcasmMode oddly enough]] the textbook of the class, and tout their own work just a little too highly. More annoying in broader topics like History and Literature, less so in narrowed fields where less research and criticism is being done. The situation is made even funnier in that while the specific focus of the class (''WhosTheBoss'') probably counts as the latter, the professor's attitude towards his work -- and Abed's questioning of it -- [[SeriousBusiness is quite conclusively]] [[SmallNameBigEgo the former]].

* ShoutOut: To ''WhosTheBoss'', ''Series/VeronicaMars'', and ''WhatsHappening''.

* CallBack: Pierce holds his engagement party at the same restaurant featured in the previous episode, "Critical Film Studies".
-->'''Troy:''' Seems like just yesterday me and Abed dined and ditched here.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Harmon considered including a joke where after disproving Sheffield on who the boss was, Abed is shown walking across campus and hears [[DrivenToSuicide gunshots]], his only reaction being a momentary glance in the direction of the noise. [[ExecutiveMeddling NBC argued against it]], and upon consideration, Harmon decided that such a reaction would be too detached even for Abed.

* ActorAllusion: At the bar, Jeff's exchange with Pierce ("I just hope she can satisfy me. I'm like an insatiable baboon in the bedroom." "Don't sell yourself short, you're a baboon everywhere.") echoes a similar StealthInsult that Chevy Chase had used on Ted Knight in ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}''. ("He's been club champion three years running and I'm no slouch myself." "Don't sell yourself short, you're a tremendous slouch.")

* {{Fauxreigner}}: [[spoiler:Pierce's fiancee.]]

* TheMole: [[spoiler:Pierce's fiancee turns out to be a spy from a rival moist towelette company.]]

* TrueArtIsAngsty: The in-universe motivation behind the acting class, to the extent that it seems less like an acting class and more like a rather pretentious therapy session. This prompts Troy to make up his lie about being molested as a child. [[spoiler:When he confesses the truth at the end, Professor Garrity interprets it as 'the pain of having no pain'.]]
* [[spoiler: UnholyMatrimony: At the end of the episode, after having publicly spilled the beans about Mei's intentions, Jeff brings her back to see Pierce and declares that they might just be well-suited towards each other anyway. His reasoning reads like this trope.]]

* YouNoTakeCandle: Pierce's fiance. [[spoiler:It's an act.]]

* ActorAllusion: At the bar, Jeff's exchange with Pierce ("I just hope she can satisfy me. I'm like an insatiable baboon in the bedroom." "Don't sell yourself short, you're a baboon everywhere.") echoes a similar StealthInsult that Chevy Chase had used on Ted Knight in ''{{Caddyshack}}''. ("He's been club champion three years running and I'm no slouch myself." "Don't sell yourself short, you're a tremendous slouch.")

* AffectionateParody: At the end of the episode, Troy is cast in an all-black ''[[FiddlerOnTheRoof Fiddler on the Roof]]'' show. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny It's as funny as it sounds,]] and couples as a [[ShoutOut shout out]] to Patrick Stewart's all black show of ''Theatre/{{Othello}}''.

'''Abed:''' [[DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm I know!]]

* ShoutOut: To ''WhosTheBoss'', ''VeronicaMars'', and ''[[WhatsHappening What's Happening!!]]''.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Professor Sheffield's class on ''Who's the Boss?'' is apparently based on an increasingly in-depth exploration of what is actually meant by 'boss'. Unfortunately for him, Abed manages to conclusively and empirically prove that by any definition or context, the 'boss' was Angela.

* CreatorCareerSelfDeprecation: Jeff asks Troy how he got roped into an acting class, something Joel McHale would probably have to take to get into the career he's now. CaptainObvious