History Recap / CommunityS5E11GIJeff

* RealityEnsues:
** Once Wingman starts killing characters in the ''G.I Joe'' universe, Cobra is forced to slash the pay of its operatives as insurance premiums go up, meaning that the health plan changes. The disgruntled Cobra operatives in turn begin demanding hazard pay.
** Wingman is court martialed for killing Destro while he's parachuting from his downed aircraft. While it's done as part of the ThouShaltNotKill aspect of the setting, killing an enemy combatant ejecting from their downed aircraft is a war crime.
** Jeff, in a fit of an existential crisis and being drunk, combined shady pills from Koreatown with potent scotch. The combination lands him in a coma.

** Wingman is court marshaled for killing Destro while he's parachuting from his downed aircraft. While it's done as part of the ThouShaltNotKill aspect of the setting, killing an enemy combatant ejecting from their downed aircraft is a war crime.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Three Kids is in decidedly better shape than the real Britta, but then again she ''is'' [[JustifiedTrope a member of a military force.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[MsFanservice Tight Ship]], [[TheLeader Wingman]], [[ActionMom Three Kids]], [[StraightMan Buzzkill]], and [[MetaGuy Fourth Wall]].]]

* JerkWithAHeartofGold: It's implied that Hickey found an unconscious Jeff, as well as the pills, since Jeff finds the pills and scotch on the animated version of his desk. He also is there when Jeff wakes up; while he refuses to be part of a group hug, you can tell he cares.

*** A member of the group suffers a nervous breakdown in the form of an animation with some significance to that character, rather than deal with a harsh truth.

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: The original ''[[WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero G.I. Joe]]'' cartoon was forbidden from airing commercials for ''Franchise/GIJoe'' toys by FCC regulations. Obviously RuleOfFunny trumps realism in this case. It also helps that the entire episode is Jeff experiencing a fever-dream, not an actual broadcasted episode, which naturally blurs the lines of reality on this one.

* AdventuresInComaLand: It's heavily implied, and then outright stated, that Jeff is in a coma. He got there because he'd been lying about his age, and decided to drink some scotch and some anti-aging pills he got from a shady source on his birthday.

* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: The actual phrase is said in the PSA [[TheTag tag]], which is a [[ParodiedTrope parody]] of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPSy6EOY2QM&noredirect=1 this]].

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Both G.I. Joe and Cobra are depicted as being aware of their existence as cartoon characters, as well as deliberately not killing each other for this very reason. [[invoked]]
** Cobra Commander is depicted as being an [[ArmoredClosetGay Armored Closet Bisexual]].

** Abed's series-long [[VagueAge Vague Age]] is lampshaded at the end of the episode, with him claiming to be 38, before immediately revealing that he's kidding. May double as a [[CallBack Call Back]] to "[[Recap/CommunityS1E05AdvancedCriminalLaw Advanced Criminal Law]]", where Abed had trouble understanding the concept of messing with people, although a background character in the flashback scenes of "[[Recap/CommunityS3E09FoosballAndNocturnalVigilantism Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism]]" may imply that he's not kidding as much as he claims...

* ActionMom: Three Kids has three kids.

* RealityEnsues: Once Wingman starts killing characters in the ''G.I Joe'' universe, Cobra is forced to slash the pay of its operatives as insurance premiums go up, meaning that the health plan changes. The disgruntled Cobra operatives in turn begin demanding hazard pay.

* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: Once Jeff becomes aware that the cartoon reality is actually a coma delusion, he believes that he has these and can become a RealityWarp like "Neo in the third act of ''Film/TheMatrix''". He is quickly proven wrong when a TapOnTheHead by a mook knocks the wind out of him.

-->'''Cobra Commander''': Cobra! Avenge [[BiTheWay my totally platonic friend]]!

'''Jeff:''' You guys are not helping. Duke, Flint, Scarlet, yes, it's true. I killed Destro and I promise not to do it again, but is it really a crime? Is Cobra not a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world? And if we never kill them, are we not basically on their side? And won't this war therefore last forever unless we finish killing Cobra or start killing ourselves?

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: The original Franchise/GIJoe cartoon was forbidden from airing commercials for Franchise/GIJoe toys by FCC regulations. Obviously RuleOfFunny trumps realism in this case. It also helps that the entire episode is Jeff experiencing a fever-dream, not an actual broadcasted episode, which naturally blurs the lines of reality on this one.
* AccidentalMurder: Wingman's suppressive fire ends up killing everyone on sight, including [[GIJoe Lifeline]].

* AffectionateParody: Of ''GIJoe''. This episode unabashedly pokes fun at the various animation deficiencies of the old cartoons, and the NobodyCanDie attitude of a quasi-military force fighting a terrorist organization. Still it was clearly made out of love.

** The ThouShallNotKill BloodlessCarnage of ''GIJoe'' is lampshaded when Wingman kills Destro and is given a court martial for killing an enemy combatant.

* RoleReprisal: Creator/MichaelBell and Bill Ratner respectively return to voice Duke and Flint in the episode.

* DeconReconSwitch: The episode flies pretty wildly between ripping the tropes and clichés associated with ''G.I. Joe'' and cartoons like it and also showing why those same tropes and clichés are [[TropesAreTools vital]]. For example; the episode pokes holes in the idea of neither G.I. Joe or Cobra ever killing each other, but at the same time shows that things would go ''very'' badly if a Joe just one day decided to actually seriously hurt or kill a Cobra.

* MsFanservice: Tight Ship, Annie's ''Franchise/GIJoe'' counterpart, is very curvy and wearing a shirt that invokes AbsoluteCleavage and BareYourMidriff, and a tight pair of [[WhoWearsShortShorts hot pants]].

* EnemyMine: G.I. Joe and Cobra team up to form the organisation "Jo-Bra" upon realizing that Wingman is the biggest threat to them since he keeps killing people.

* NeverSayDie: Parodied/deconstructed; both the Joes and Cobras are stunned and horrified that Jeff actually hurts or kills people, since as cartoon characters they understand that they're not supposed to. This means that Jeff and his Mutineers are able to kill them easily (even by accident) at first because the Joes and Cobras are so used to ATeamFiring and letting each other ride off into the sunset at the end of each episode. However it's then reconstructed, as the fact that the Mutineers are actually killing people [[EnemyMine causes G.I. Joe and Cobra to team up]] since they realize that it makes Jeff and the Mutineers a far bigger threat to both of them.

* TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar: Even if GIJoe didn't operate on a "ThouShaltNotKill" policy, Wingman would probably have been in trouble for killing a guy ejecting from his aircraft. It's a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

* TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar: Even if GIJoe didn't operate on a "ThouShaltNotKill" policy, Wingman would probably have been in trouble for killing a guy ejecting from his aircraft.