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| 14 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 15 | |
| 16 | ! FridgeBrilliance [[note]] '''Examples are organized in order of the episode in which they can first be detected.'''[[/note]] |
| 17 | [[folder: '''Season 1''']] |
| 18 | * [[Recap/CommunityS1E01Pilot Pilot]]: |
| 19 | ** Why does Pierce repeatedly mispronounce Abed's name as "Ay-bed" throughout the series? Because when Pierce "introduces" everyone and gets their name wrong (either mispronouncing it as in Abed's case, mangling it in the case of Troy and Britta or offering the wrong name entirely in Annie's case), Abed is the only one not to correct him. Knowing Pierce, he probably thinks everyone else is wrong. |
| 20 | ** Troy mishears "Asperger's" as "ass burgers". At first, it just looks like Troy is immature (and he is), but the comment takes on another level when you realize Troy has a thing for "butt stuff". |
| 21 | ** Britta's personality in this episode seems very different from in the rest of the series, with her actually being the OnlySaneMan of the study group rather than the hypocritical, self-hating idiot she would later become. However, upon careful examination, this isn't the case. Note how she freely admits, without any sense of guilt or irony, that she lied to Jeff to get him to do what she wanted, despite claiming the whole episode that she valued honesty above all else. She was ''always'' hypocritical, but the other characters (and the audience) just didn't know her well enough to see through her StraightMan act yet. |
| 22 | ** Whenever Duncan contacts Jeff about the test answers, much to Jeff's exasperation he shows up in a ConspicuousTrenchcoat acting in a manner that practically screams "I am sneakily doing something very ethically questionable!" In hindsight, since Duncan ends up screwing Jeff over with the test answers anyway, it's more than likely that this was all just ObfuscatingStupidity to lull Jeff into a false sense of superiority and over-confidence so that he wouldn't suspect that someone apparently so bad at subterfuge was planning to stitch him up until it was too late. |
| 23 | ** The reason why Annie doesn't appear in the beginning is because she does not fit any of the criteria that the Dean mentioned being a teen who was going to be valedictorian in high school. She is not a remedial teen, a 20 something year old drop out, a middle aged divorcee or old. Similarly, while Jeff and Abed aren't mentioned in any of the criteria, they do fit one of them to a degree. Jeff is in his mid 30s, and could be a dropout because of not having a bachelor's degree and Abed could be seen as remedial because of having Asperger's. |
| 24 | * [[Recap/CommunityS1E02Spanish101 Spanish 101]]: |
| 25 | ** Chang's speech: |
| 26 | *** Senor Chang introduces himself by giving a lengthy, insanely defensive speech about how he is a "Spanish genius" and needn't conform to Asian stereotypes. Much later, in "[[Recap/CommunityS1E24EnglishAsASecondLanguage English As A Second Language]]" [[spoiler: we learn that Chang was never credentialed or trained as a Spanish teacher]]. On learning this, the Dean implies that [[spoiler: he didn't ask for Chang's credentials]] because he didn't want to appear racist. [[spoiler: The speech Chang gives to the class is likely the same InsaneTrollLogic he used to con the Dean into hiring him without checking his background!]] |
| 27 | *** Furthermore, when people ask him "why do you teach Spanish?", [[spoiler: this later revelation suggests that they're not asking "why do you teach Spanish because you're Asian?" but "why do you teach Spanish ''when you clearly know little to nothing about it''?"]] |
| 28 | *** Chang [[spoiler: not knowing Spanish]] also explains why everyone at Greendale calls him "Senior Chang" instead of "Señor Chang," but no one is ever corrected. It seems strange that he would ignore the mispronunciation until you realize he likely TAUGHT it. |
| 29 | ** Chang's immediate failing of Jeff's and Pierce's project--which Jeff mentions is "surprisingly critical of Israel"--makes a lot of sense when you find out that his brother is a rabbi. |
| 30 | * "[[Recap/CommunityS1E03IntroductionToFilm Introduction to Film]]": |
| 31 | ** Jeff was all up in Britta's face about not getting involved in each other's personal lives. Jeff eventually did get involved however, which led to solving the conflict between Britta, Abed, and Abed's father. Eventually Britta kissed Jeff then said, "[[FakeOutMakeOut Now we're even]]," as Jeff's Creator/RobinWilliams [[Film/DeadPoetsSociety wannabe]] professor witnessed and exclaimed that [[ItMakesSenseInContext he passed because of the kiss]]. He then said "I know a life changing kiss when I see one." To some this may seem like a one off joke, but it can actually be read as true: Jeff got involved and helped his two new friends, Abed and Britta. This was the first episode that Jeff did something to help without trying to get into Britta's pants. And Britta in turn helped Jeff as a friend, and her action did not result in them getting together like Jeff expected. In layman's terms: this is the first episode that the [[TrueCompanions True Companionship]] is firmly established. |
| 32 | ** The tag involves Jeff coming across Abed and Troy krumping in the study room and deciding to join them... something he almost certainly wouldn't have done before taking Whitman's class, since it involves him dropping his aloof, above it all persona and joining his friends in dancing for the sheer pleasure of it. He's learning to seize the day after all. |
| 33 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS1E04SocialPsychology Social Psychology]]", contrary to what Professor Duncan ends up thinking the Duncan Principle works perfectly; unfortunately for Duncan, he thought he was controlling the experiment and ended up being the subject. |
| 34 | * [[Recap/CommunityS1E05AdvancedCriminalLaw Advanced Criminal Law]]: |
| 35 | ** The study group are discussing who could be responsible for cheating in the Spanish test. The chain of accusation goes from Jeff, to Annie, to Troy, to Pierce, before ending on Britta. While the others offer a defense of themselves before turning the accusation to someone else, notice how when it gets to Britta rather than continuing the chain, she changes the subject. [[spoiler: Britta is the actual cheat.]] |
| 36 | ** Cheerleader: |
| 37 | *** It may seem out-of-character for Annie, who was an unpopular, unattractive nerd in high school, to have been a high-school cheerleader. It makes even less sense in the context of her cluelessness about what slogan to bring to the football rally in "[[Recap/CommunityS1E06FootballFeminismAndYou Football, Feminism, and You]]". Then you remember that she had a huge crush on the school's star quarterback, Troy. Since all she cared about was getting close to Troy, of course she never worked out anything else about cheerleading...which may be part of why the other cheerleaders "left [her] behind at a Taco Bell" at one point. And this, in turn, explains part of why she goes out of her way to take out the cheerleaders in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E23AFistfulOfPaintballs A Fistful of Paintballs]]." |
| 38 | *** As well as this, she's also clearly established as an obsessive over-achiever who would take any chance to gain extra credit or extracurricular activities -- hence why she'd sign up for the cheerleader team despite having little-to-no interest or enthusiasm for cheerleading or football; it looks good on a college application. |
| 39 | ** During their PassiveAggressiveKombat Chang snidely suggests that Professor Duncan only has his position because he "look[s] like [[Franchise/HarryPotter Ron Weasley]]". [[WrongInsultOffence Chang clearly doesn't know what he's talking about]], since of the main characters of the ''Harry Potter'' books, it's clearly not Ron that Duncan [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/duncan_potter_7746.jpg most closely resembles]]. |
| 40 | * [[Recap/CommunityS1E07IntroductionToStatistics Introduction to Statistics]]: |
| 41 | ** Of course Jeff was leaving the Dia de Muertos party: Annie was to begin the dance with ''Las Golondrinas'' ("The Swallows"), the quintessential Mexican song to say goodbye. |
| 42 | ** Abed attends the costume party as Batman. In "Debate 109", we discover that Abed can predict the behavior of the study group based on their personalities. What is the trope for a plan which is based on how you expect those involved to react? A BatmanGambit. |
| 43 | * [[Recap/CommunityS1E09Debate109 Debate 109]]: |
| 44 | ** The ninth episode of season 1 is called "Debate 109." |
| 45 | ** In the actual debate, the Greendale team is arguing that people are inherently evil, while the City College team is arguing that people are inherently good. Each side, however, has at least one member who arguably reflects the opposite position; the star debater for the City College team, Simmons, presents himself as an idealistic, sensitive, and thoughtful person, but is actually just a snide, arrogant bully, while Jeff constantly presents himself as an aloof, cynical and above-it-all {{Jerkass}} but deep down possesses a genuine [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold heart of gold]] [[BullyHunter (as witnessed in the way he stands up for Annie when Simmons is mocking her)]]. |
| 46 | ** When watching Abed's movie, Troy asks if he's crying because he listens to Come Sail Away again. What song plays [[spoiler: in his last episode]] again? |
| 47 | * [[Recap/CommunityS1E11ThePoliticsOfHumanSexuality The Politics of Human Sexuality]]: in an earlier episode Troy mentions that Dean Pelton looks like Music/{{Moby}}. Annie needs to see the Dean's statue's [[Literature/MobyDick white dick]]. What does Shirley say when she sees it? |
| 48 | -->'''Shirley:''' "Thar she blows!" |
| 49 | * [[Recap/CommunityS1E12ComparativeReligion Comparative Religion]]: |
| 50 | ** Who's the villain in the episode? A former nerd with abandonment issues, especially [[Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation during the holidays]]. In other words, a grownup [[Film/NationalLampoonsVacation Rusty Griswold]]. And his [[Creator/ChevyChase father]] is right there, never speaking a word to him. Dan Harmon, you casting genius. |
| 51 | ** Troy and Jeff trying and failing to finish the word "fiiiiiigh…ting" any other way becomes doubly funny when you realize it's the end of the semester and Jeff has spent half the episode worried about his Spanish ''fi''nal. |
| 52 | ** Why is Annie the first to admit she and Shirley practice different religions? Well, Shirley is the study group member Annie relates to the most and is friendliest with at this point of the show, so she thought Shirley would at least accept their different faiths. She just didn't anticipate that the other study group members were from different religions as well. |
| 53 | ** Given how little effort Jeff puts into anything he does, it makes perfect sense that he's agnostic. He also put little effort into exploring his religious beliefs. |
| 54 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS1E15RomanticExpressionism Romantic Expressionism]]," Jeff convinced Britta to help him sabotage Annie's relationship with Vaughn by explaining that Vaughn is a "gateway douchebag" and will make Annie more likely to date other douchebags down the line. Later in that same episode, Starburns sees Jeff from across the classroom and remarks, "See that guy over there? He's a douchebag." [[spoiler: Cut to the SeasonFinale....]] |
| 55 | * [[Recap/CommunityS1E20TheScienceOfIllusion The Science of Illusion]]: |
| 56 | ** Britta's ill-fated prank, at which Jeff scoffed early on, would have become a more mainstream joke had it been completed. Rather than a benign animal costume "prank," it would likely have created mayhem in the Spanish class at Senor Chang's expense, given the "crippling fear of frogs" that Chang is revealed to have (not to mention his penchant for over-reacting). Either way, Britta's prank would have backfired from her point-of-view. |
| 57 | ** When Pierce, Shirley, Annie, Troy and Britta are having their tearful group hug at the end, Pierce insists that they "never let Jeff divide us again!" It seems just like Pierce being Pierce -- except that Jeff kind of ''is'' responsible for their hurt feelings by that point, at least in part. It's because he leads the taunts that Britta's a 'buzzkill' that she feels insecure enough to try the prank that causes all the trouble as a means of fitting in, and because he callously intended to rat her out for his own self-involved reasons that she framed him for the prank -- both which in turn exacerbated Shirley and Annie's conflict over their GoodCopBadCop routine, which was itself fuelled by their insecurities. And he was the mastermind behind the mean prank to exploit Pierce's beliefs to dress him up as the Cookie Crisp Wizard, which Troy only went along with because he was insecure about how Jeff perceived him. So Pierce isn't entirely wrong to lay the blame on Jeff. |
| 58 | * In [[Recap/CommunityS1E01Pilot the pilot]] it is Abed that invites 3 out of the 7 students to the original study group. In "[[Recap/CommunityS1E22TheArtOfDiscourse The Art Of Discourse]]" we discover that on the top of his "quintessential college experiences" list is "bond with a group of lovable misfits." Since Abed processes reality through television it is very likely that Abed picked these individuals from Spanish class because he recognized the roles they would fill in an ensemble cast: sassy black single mom (Shirley), lummox (Pierce), and dunce (Troy). He probably already recognized Jeff and Britta as hero and love interest. Troy, Britta, Shirley, and Pierce were also obliquely referenced by the Dean in the opening scene. Annie, though almost certainly the most logical person to invite to a real study group, finds out about it on accident. |
| 59 | * In the tag of [[Recap/CommunityS1E14InterpretiveDance Interpretive Dance,]] Troy and Abed do a crossword in which seemingly every answer is a member of the study group. (Water filter? Britta. Helen of? Troy.) They then get to "Bridges brother, four letters," at which point Jeff gets frustrated with how long it takes them to get to the answer - Beau, obviously. This is not just a random tag - it actually make perfect sense that the study group members are the basis of the crossword, since Annie edits the crossword of the school paper as of "Investigative Journalism." |
| 60 | ** Also, if the answer is supposed to be Jeff, it's doubly brilliant that Annie would go with "Beau", since she likes Jeff now and wants him to be her ''beau''... |
| 61 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS1E16CommunicationStudies Communication Studies]]", Shirley and Annie play a prank on Senor Chang where they claim he's been asked to teach at Princeton. However, he sees right through it and immediately realizes it's a prank. Later, "[[Recap/CommunityS1E24EnglishAsASecondLanguage English As A Second Language]]" reveals that [[spoiler: Senor Chang doesn't actually have any teaching credentials.]] So, he knows that Princeton wouldn't be asking him to teach there. |
| 62 | * During [[Recap/CommunityS1E18BasicGenealogy Basic Genealogy]], Senor Chang's brother Rabbi Chang tells him that being called "Senor Chang" sounds ridiculous. This seems like HypocriticalHumor - in fact, Rabbi Chang might be referring to the fact that he knows his brother doesn't speak Spanish. |
| 63 | * [[Recap/CommunityS1E19BeginnerPottery Beginner Pottery]]: |
| 64 | ** Rich: |
| 65 | *** Why does Jeff hate Rich so much? He's basically Jeff's opposite in every way. Whereas Jeff puts up a front of not caring & explicitly states he became a lawyer because he admired their ability to not care, but when you dig deeper, you find he's actually a JerkWithAHeartOfGold with an inferiority complex & more often than not does the right thing; Rich, on the other hand, comes off as a perfectly likable guy, until you start to look beyond his first impression - He takes Beginner Pottery despite being a more advanced level and he enrolls for Anthropology 102 despite (In Annie's words) already knowing a lot about the subject, meaning he gets lots of praise for his skills despite being a "beginner". Subsequently, this twists his work for the community & his skills as a doctor (Remember that Rich has never lost a patient) as not being because Rich is simply ''that'' good, but into all being one big ego boost. Simply put, Rich comes off as a NiceGuy, but is ultimately a self-centred egomaniac - The opposite of Jeff. |
| 66 | *** This also explains why Rich never shows up in Anthropology after his initial class - He figured out that class was a giant blow-off & Duncan was giving everyone top grades. To paraphrase [[Franchise/TheIncredibles Syndrome]]: If everyone is special, then no-one is. |
| 67 | *** It also fits his behavior in Epidemiology in which Rich hides [[spoiler: the fact that he was bitten]]. |
| 68 | * During the tag of [[Recap/CommunityS1E20TheScienceOfIllusion The Science of Illusion,]] Jeff angrily storms out of his guest spot on "Troy and Abed in the Morning" upon realizing they're not filming. However, the people holding signs in the background stay, and re-appear in future TAITM spots - in other words, there is a large group of Greendale students who show up at 6 AM to hold signs against windows in the study group room despite knowing they're showing them to no one. |
| 69 | ** As of season 3, episode 19, (in a moment that may count as a BrickJoke payoff to this earlier scene) we see that on some occasions, TAITM may actually be filmed. Annie is wistfully creating her own TAITM moment when they walk in on her. She denies she's up to anything, and they want to know why there are cameras there (while looking down the barrel of the fourth wall). |
| 70 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS1E21ContemporaryAmericanPoultry Contemporary American Poultry]]", Troy acquires a monkey, which he names Annie's Boobs to annoy Annie. He takes every opportunity to use Annie's Boobs' name, to the point where Shirley irritably lampshades what an OverlyLongGag it's become ("Alright, we ''get'' it; the monkey's name is Annie's Boobs.") When the monkey reappears in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E21ParadigmsOfHumanMemory Paradigms of Human Memory]]", it appears that Troy has taken this on board (or the scriptwriters have at least); in this episode, the monkey is never referred to by name. (He refers to the monkey as "Annie's Boobs" again in the Season 3 Premiere, but this is ''after'' "Paradigms of Human Memory" -- by which point, the joke hasn't been done for a while, so it's okay to start doing it again.) |
| 71 | * At the end of "[[Recap/CommunityS1E22TheArtOfDiscourse The Art of Discourse]]", We're told that Mark had his medical license revoked and his whereabouts are "currently unknown", implying that despite his desire to avoid ending up like Jeff (losing a professional license and forced to go back to community college to get the relevant degree), he ends up doing just that. |
| 72 | * [[Recap/CommunityS1E23ModernWarfare Modern Warfare]]: |
| 73 | ** Abed says that Jeff's and Britta's bickering is reminiscent of Ross and Rachel, which ironically means they can't be ''Series/{{Friends}}''. His statement takes on an extra meaning following the rest of the episode. ''Friends'' was a multi-camera sitcom and would have much difficulty pulling off an action packed episode like "Modern Warfare". |
| 74 | ** The study group members are eliminated in the following order: Troy Barnes, Annie Edison, Pierce Hawthorne, Shirley Bennett, Abed Nadir, and Britta Perry with Jeff Winger being the last one standing. If you look at their last names, you can see they were eliminated in alphabetical order. Notice that Shirley is out of sequence? Two possible explanations: either her maiden name falls between H and N or her elimination wasn't counted because she received the prize. |
| 75 | * Señor Chang, as a teacher, will often make gender mistakes in Spanish. For example in "Modern Warfare," he says "Buenas dÃas chicos," when it should be "buenos" because "dÃa" is actually a masculine noun. Then in "[[Recap/CommunityS1E24EnglishAsASecondLanguage English As A Second Language]]" [[spoiler: we find out that Chang isn't a licensed teacher and learned Spanish from watching Sesame Street.]] |
| 76 | * [[Recap/CommunityS1E25PascalsTriangleRevisited Pascal's Triangle Revisited]]: |
| 77 | ** One of the early scenes in the season 1 pilot is Jeff Winger asking Professor Ian Duncan for help cheating in his classes. One of the early scenes in the last episode of season 1 is Ben Chang asking Professor Ian Duncan for help cheating in his classes. Both occur less than 5 minutes into the episode. |
| 78 | ** Duncan suggests Britta embrace her nomination for Tranny Queen in order to deal with her childhood fears of being used like a blow-up doll. Britta would embrace her nomination, however, it is mainly due to her attraction to Jeff and her competition with Prof. Slater. Duncan also mentions a young Britta's situation at a birthday party between her and a man dressed in a dinosaur costume ([[http://web.archive.org/web/20140704001110/http://www.greendalecommunitycollege.com/campus-connect/britta-perry.shtml here]]). It seems Britta would take Duncan's advice to embrace her fears in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E06Epidemiology Epidemiology]]" when she comes to the party dressed as a "T-Rex" (or Dragon-Turtle). |
| 79 | * It's been pointed out that despite [[WordOfGod Dan Harmon]] asserting that "Annie's pretty young, we try not to sexualize her," the show still does that fairly often, more so than it does Britta. But remember that Jeff ''also'' says this word for word to Buddy, who was sat next to Annie at the time; and Annie asserts that she doesn't want to be treated like a little girl in "[[Recap/CommunityS1E20TheScienceOfIllusion The Science of Illusion]]" - The Study Group may try not to sexualize Annie, but that's not going to stop her from doing it herself. |
| 80 | * Possibly unintentional, but Duncan's comment about how 'and American 8 is a British 10' is actually accurate in the context of women's clothing sizes. |
| 81 | [[/folder]] |
| 82 | |
| 83 | [[folder: '''Season 2''']] |
| 84 | |
| 85 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E01Anthropology101 Anthropology 101]]: |
| 86 | ** We also see Jeff working out in striped underwear. Later in the season Britta mentions that he is usually seen in stripy "Beetlejuice" underwear. |
| 87 | ** Pierce comparing himself and Troy to Batman and Shaft seems racist at first. But in Pierce's mind this is because he views Troy as an equal and not a sidekick (ie. Robin.) |
| 88 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E03ThePsychologyofLettingGo The Psychology of Letting Go]]: |
| 89 | ** Baby: |
| 90 | *** Remember when Abed delivered a baby in the background? At the end of the sex education fair episode in season one, right after Abed told everyone not to wear condoms while having sex that night, you can see a guy throwing away a condom while getting cozy with a girl in the background behind Jeff. This is probably not the same couple who got pregnant in season 2, but it's probably a very subtle BrickJoke. |
| 91 | *** The episode was also the second filmed for Season Two, and if it had shown in this order, it would have been screened in September... roughly nine months after "Politics of Human Sexuality". (WordOfGod is that the timing was a [[http://www.reddit.com/r/community/comments/qnyj2/dont_know_if_this_was_intentional_but_i_noticed/c3z2cbk brilliant accident.]]) |
| 92 | ** Oil Spill plotline: |
| 93 | *** Britta is shown as overtly political, but brash and confrontational (to an at-times unnecessary degree -- as one person points out, her overt anger is completely unnecessary if no one is actually disagreeing with her), while Annie is shown as more compassionate, yet naive and overtly sexual. Shirley repeatedly attempts to join in, but is either ignored or forgotten about. In the end, Annie and Britta end up coming to blows over comparatively minor differences, while Shirley becomes bitter and washes her hands of the two of them. Which is, very broadly speaking, a pretty decent analogy/parody of the split between the Second and Third Waves of Feminism: |
| 94 | *** ''Very basically'' (so please don't kill me) the split occurred as the Third Wave rejected (and then rebelled against) the Second Wave's confrontational (and often overtly Socialist) style and fixed notions of gender. The Second Wave repeatedly attacked the Third Wave as being "feminism lite" and too concerned with the petty details of everyday life (see: The Spice Girls/Ally McBeal/Sex And The City). Meanwhile, Black Feminism grew tired of being ignored in favour of the petty infighting and accused both the Second and Third Waves of being too centered on white, middle class, college educated women, and ''sort of'' broke away into the related, but separate, Womanism. |
| 95 | *** It also works on the level of a satirical critique; to add to this, at the end the lesson that Annie and Britta come to learn is that their bickering just meant that the guys, who got to leer over their oil-slick cat-fight, ended up winning. To once again simplify things, a frequent critique of this in-fighting between the different waves and movements of feminism is that [[WeAreStrugglingTogether while feminists are devoting themselves to internal dogmatic battles over at-times relatively petty and minor ideological differences with each other]], they're losing the 'war' by letting hard-fought for battles and victories erode away and allowing traditional patriarchy to reassert itself. |
| 96 | *** When talking about parodies / critiques of feminism, consider also that Britta and Annie's conflict revolves primarily around sexuality. Britta objects to what she sees as Annie using her sexuality in order to attract the support of men to their cause, thus pandering to them and undermining what she feels are the political objectives of what they're doing. Annie, meanwhile, is offended by what ''she'' views as Britta's judgemental and moralistic attitude to her behaviour and the ways she tries to bully, lecture and police Annie into modifying the way she acts (particularly around men) simply because she doesn't conform to Britta's own preferences and viewpoints. This also works as a rough parody of the debates around "sex-positive" feminism: to again (over-)simplify, one side (Britta) views many forms of female sexuality and sexual expression as merely pandering to men and continuing male privilege and oppression, while the other (Annie) views them as a necessary part of female liberation and the first side as, in its way, just as oppressive, puritanical and controlling of female sexuality as those they initially started fighting against. |
| 97 | *** If we accept the premise that there's a critique of feminism going on, it also arguably critiques the different approaches these different waves have, and how dividing these lines in the sand between feminists only ends up hurting themselves and the issues they care about. Annie's approach to the issue, while agreeable and likeable, is a bit superficial in that it doesn't necessarily address the underlying problems, and she's a bit more keen on being liked than solving the problem. This has the result that while on the surface she's getting guys to support the cause, it's only because they're trying to get into her pants rather than because they care about solving the problem, meaning that they're unlikely to stick around and help. Britta, meanwhile, is all about addressing and combatting the underlying issues, but her approach is unnecessarily confrontational ("You don't have to yell at us! No one is on the other side of this issue!"), and she repeatedly hurts her own cause by antagonising and offending potential[=/=]actual allies because she's unyieldingly dogmatic and self-righteously moralistic towards those who don't share her values 100%. This has the result that she ultimately spends more energy attacking people who already are or might be persuaded to be on her side for not being ideologically 'pure' than attacking the actual problem. Essentially, feminists would benefit from striking more of a friendly balance between the two sides, wherein they are focussed on the actual problems and confrontational where necessary, but still welcoming and inclusive enough to welcome those with different opinions and flexible enough to pick and choose their battles carefully. |
| 98 | *** Shirley's approach (or Womanism) isn't entirely free from critique either; while she's justified in feeling ignored and upset at being excluded, in practice she just ends up sitting at the sidelines sulking, complaining about being left out and making snide comments about what others are doing to try and solve the problem (however imperfectly or incompletely) instead of actually doing anything to help address the issue. In essence, while her concerns are valid her approach just leads to further fragmentation, inaction and bitterness based on wounded pride rather than a unified front which actually helps solve the problem. |
| 99 | *** The sudden oil wrestling match is strangely reminiscent of Buddy's third flashback from "Investigative Journalism". (The one where Britta and Annie mud wrestle in cheerleader uniforms, which Buddy says might have been a dream.) |
| 100 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E04BasicRocketScience Basic Rocket Science]]: |
| 101 | ** There is a lot of discussion about Greendale's new school logo. Jeff says "...and I told him it was a butt. He kept not seeing it. It was driving me crazy." Is it possible this is the show's staff being frustrated that nobody saw the obscene joke in the [[https://i.imgur.com/3IZfYDp.png original Greendale logo]]? |
| 102 | ** The study group gets into trouble after Jeff explains it was a butt. Now what [[DontExplainTheJoke rule of comedy]] did Jeff just violate? |
| 103 | ** At one point, Troy [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Comically Misses The Point]] of a suggestion and concludes an appropriate course of action is ''killing Annie''. [[Recap/CommunityS3E05HorrorFictionInSevenSpookySteps One season later,]] Troy will get tested and be a confirmed homicidal maniac. |
| 104 | * In [[Recap/CommunityS2E06Epidemiology Epidemiology]], Troy is the one to save the group... using air conditioning. |
| 105 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E08CooperativeCalligraphy Cooperative Caligraphy]]: |
| 106 | ** Annie asks Abed if he took her pen. Abed replies he's strictly mechanical pencil these days, and Pierce quips, "More relatable?" thought the joke was just that Abed is mechanical. While on the surface this comments appears to just refer to Abed's mechanical nature, it also works as a call back to the ''[[Recap/CommunityS1E01Pilot Pilot]]'', the Winger speech makes a point about humans being able to relate to a pencil by simply giving it a name. |
| 107 | ** Jeff's speech at the end about how the pen is more likely to have been stolen by a ghost than by someone in the study group isn't just showing how they are TrueCompanions, it's also subtly LeaningOnTheFourthWall. Jeff's attitude towards the idea is reflective of the audience's attitude towards realism in fiction-we will accept paranormal phenomena like ghosts as part of the universe of a work, but still expect characters not to break from their characterization without explanation, even though in reality the latter is far more likely than the former. |
| 108 | ** Pierce accuses Abed of taking the pen in an attempt to make life more like [[Series/TheBennyHillShow Benny Hill.]] At first it just seems like a joke based off the study group's GenerationGap. But don't Troy and Abed's antics in [[TheTag The Tags]] seem reminiscent of a sketch comedy show? |
| 109 | ** Abed says "I'm worried we've gone too far. This is how super-villains are created." while they are cutting the casts off of Pierce's legs. Pierce becomes a clear super-villain during the "[[Recap/CommunityS2E14AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons Advanced Dungeons and Dragons]]" and "[[Recap/CommunityS2E16IntermediateDocumentaryFilmmaking Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking]]" episodes, and even vamps about the events that led to his dark turn. |
| 110 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E09ConspiracyTheoriesAndInteriorDesign Conspiracy Theories And Interior Design]]: |
| 111 | ** Although the multi-Aesop pile-up is obviously played for laughs, the aesops involved are all things that the characters really could stand to learn: |
| 112 | *** Jeff needs to learn that he can't just dishonestly coast his way out of his studies, and that whenever he tries to do so chaos and trouble inevitably results. |
| 113 | *** Annie needs to learn that you can't just force someone to change to make them 'better' if 'better' only means 'more suitable / agreeable to you'. |
| 114 | *** The Dean needs to learn that you don't make friends by constantly sneaking around behind people's backs and plotting against them. |
| 115 | *** Everyone apparently needs to learn that [[SpoofAesop prop guns actually aren't toys]] and can be just as dangerous as real guns if they're not used carefully with proper precautions. |
| 116 | ** Annie is pretty convincing behind her reasons for having a [[spoiler: gun]]. Cut to [[Recap/CommunityS3E04RemedialChaosTheory Remedial Chaos Theory]], where she actually does have one. |
| 117 | ** Jeff says, "We should grab lunch. I just saw Fat Neil heading to the cafeteria with that look in his eye." Then, in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E14AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]", [[spoiler: Jeff is revealed to be the one who first called Neil "Fat Neil".]] |
| 118 | * In [[Recap/CommunityS2E10MixologyCertification Mixology Certification]], we discover that Shirley "had a few bad years." It's never stated that this was before she found Jesus, but that would explain her constant attempts to foist her religion on the rest of the group: There is no worshiper more evangelical than the new convert. |
| 119 | ** She also becomes much less overtly Jesusy once [[spoiler:she gets back with her husband]], which would suggest that both her drinking and her religiousness were attempts to deal with, or at least distract herself from, the problems in her life. |
| 120 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E11AbedsUncontrollableChristmas Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas]]: |
| 121 | ** At first, it doesn't seem to make sense that everyone can see the events in Abed's imagination let alone play along with them. But when you listen to the dialogues, you'll realize that Abed tells everyone every event that is happening; "I'm on the roof of the train!" and "I'm going to the front car!". In fact, EVERYONE in the episode states what they were doing; Annie tells Abed that she's unhinging the train cars, Duncan tells that he's teleporting, etc. |
| 122 | ** Why does Pierce stay to the bitter end with Abed? He's having his first Christmas without his mother too. |
| 123 | ** This episode reveals the reason for some of the strange claims about British culture and language made by Prof. Duncan in the series. Like an American 8 is a British 10 and using terms such as "Gravedigger's biscuits" and "Italian fanny" and claiming that "Everything in Britain means 'vagina'". For a British viewer like myself, this just seems like another random joke at Britain's expense, but in the "Cave of Frozen Memories" scene we discover that Duncan moved to the US with his grandmother when he was very young, meaning that his experience of British culture is actually very limited. |
| 124 | ** Related to Professor Duncan - he's definitely not moral, what with exploiting Abed for his own personal gain, but, judging from his reactions to Jeff and Chang asking him to help them cheat (in the Pilot and the S1 finale, respectively), he has a real problem with cheating. It becomes obvious why in the "Cave of Frozen Memories": it's heavily implied that his father cheated on his mother and ran out on them both. |
| 125 | ** Abed goes into Santa's workshop looking for an answer to his questions, and instead finds a DVD of ''Series/{{Lost}}'', which he interprets as a metaphor for lack of payoff. He later realizes that the true meaning of Christmas lies in his relationship with the other characters. The general consensus among ''Lost'' watchers is that those who were more interested in getting answers were disappointed, while those who were more interested in the characters were satisfied. |
| 126 | ** Abed comments that the other members of the study group "should move around more; not much point in being stop-motion animated if you don't." When they're in the 'real' world, the stop-motion figures of the study group hardly move throughout the entire episode, spending most of the time seated and stationary. Of course, from their point of view they're not stop-motion animated, so there's no ''reason'' for them to move about any more. |
| 127 | ** When the group passes through the Valley of Christmas Songs, Pierce asks if going through there will be expensive. Abed explains that the songs are all public domain. Pierce's question gets a little more meta when you remember that the Music/{{Abba}} songs in "Epidemiology" completely wiped out the second season's music budget. |
| 128 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E12AsianPopulationStudies Asian Population Studies]]: |
| 129 | ** When everyone is trying to find out who Annie's dating, both Pierce and Abed suggest [[{{Franchise/Transformers}} Bluestreak and Optimus Prime.]] Why would Pierce know anything about Transformers? Because his "Buddhist" cult runs on ''Energon''. |
| 130 | ** How does Jeff know [[spoiler:where Rich lives]]? From stalking and researching him in "[[Recap/CommunityS1E19BeginnerPottery Beginner Pottery]]", of course! |
| 131 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E13CelebrityPharmacology Celebrity Pharmacology]]: |
| 132 | ** We find out that [[spoiler: Pierce had issues with his father, which caused him to be a bit unstable.]] [[http://twitter.com/danharmon/status/31195416749936641 A fan pointed out on Twitter]] that he resembles another character that had caused Pierce to be unstable. |
| 133 | ** Ben Chang asks "are you ignoring me because I'm Korean?" Shirley corrects him "You're Chinese." To which he replies "Oh, there's a difference!" Ken Jeong is a Korean actor playing a Chinese character. |
| 134 | ** Pierce ruins everything by making drugs look cool... but he is the only one in the show on drugs. Then in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E15Early21stCenturyRomanticism Early 21st Century Romanticism]]," we see just Pierce passed out on a park bleach alone. The star of the anti-drug play is the one with a drug problem, and he was the one that needed to hear it the most. Why was Pierce so determined to do this? Because otherwise he would have heard some things about himself and his drug use he didn't want to hear. One of the classic symptoms of drug abuse is denial. |
| 135 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E14AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons Advanced Dungeons and Dragons]]: |
| 136 | ** Jeff and Fat Neil: |
| 137 | *** Jeff's insecurity over how nobody would like him if he was fat has probably been around for a long time. But it was probably fueled even more after helping out Neil, someone who was disliked because he was overweight. |
| 138 | *** More so because [[spoiler: Jeff was (inadvertently) responsible for coining the cruel, fat-baiting nickname that took such a toll on Neil in the first place.]] |
| 139 | *** It also explains why Jeff seemed so upset when Abed and Troy were making fun of him about Jeff's egg comment in one of the flashbacks in "Paradigms of Human Memory." |
| 140 | ** The narrator says this is the game that decides the fate of good and Pierce. This episode was a MoralEventHorizon for Pierce: he TookALevelInJerkAss because of his addiction for drugs, which had taken a firm hold and led to him OD-ing in the next episode. |
| 141 | ** Jeff holds a campaign to cheer up Neil and get Neil's sword back as he was bullied as a kid. |
| 142 | ** Jeff was the one who coined the term "Fat Neil" in the first place, so this is just a bully victim turned bully making up to the victim. |
| 143 | ** Annie is shocked to discover her game character is named "Hector, the Well-Endowed." Abed explains that he didn't realize they were going to grab the character sheets at random and made that one for Troy. Shirley responds "Yeah, I just bet you did." While her tone suggests a comment on the HoYay between Troy and Abed, she might have a point. Abed previously displayed an ability to predict the actions of the study group based on their personalities ("Debate 109"), so he might have predicted the order they grabbed the sheets. Further evidence: Britta, the ardent feminist of the group, is the only one whose character has a decidedly feminine name (Lavernica) and the name of Troy's character (Bing Bong) was part of his politically conservative fight song from "Football, Feminism, and You". (Also, Jeff's character is named "Marrrrrrr" which he uttered after being turned into a zombie in "Epidemiology", [[LaserGuidedAmnesia but that just raises further questions.]]) |
| 144 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E15Early21stCenturyRomanticism Early 21st Century Romanticism]]: |
| 145 | ** Star-Burns shaves his sideburns into heart shapes, thus making him... "Heart-Burns". |
| 146 | ** While the study group argues over whether or not to help Pierce with his painkiller addiction, Jeff says he can handle it because "He's a baby boomer. They invented drugs." Britta counters "Yeah, they also invented TV. Have you seen him control one of those?" When you think about it, Britta's counter-argument doesn't hold up. Televisions have advanced in technology over the years, adding color and remote control among other things. By comparison, how much have pharmaceuticals advanced? |
| 147 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E16IntermediateDocumentaryFilmmaking Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking]]: |
| 148 | ** Britta and Jeff are the first ones at the hospital, with the others just coming in. This is because they are both Pierce's emergency contacts, as shown in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E05MessianicMythsAndAncientPeoples Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples]]". |
| 149 | ** Pierce's 'punishments' towards his friends in this episode, while frequently condemned as being over-the-top cruelty, in fact act as a somewhat warped reflection of how he views the recipient's general relationship with and treatment of him: |
| 150 | *** Annie is generally nice to him, or at least is more patient with him than the others, and is also a fellow addict who showed noticeable concern about his addiction where the others were less interested; she gets a genuine gift. |
| 151 | *** Abed's "gift" of getting to direct the documentary can be seen one of two ways: One one hand, he generally acts as a neutral observer; he receives no gift, but is permitted to record and observe. Alternately, his gift is just as malicious and mind screwy as the others. Pierce put Abed in the position of being an "impartial" observer, just a director making a movie. But that makes him a shitty friend to the rest of the group. Abed knows that Pierce is screwing with everyone, but he doesn't say anything to them. Pierce's "gift" was to further make Abed an "outsider." |
| 152 | *** Troy, Shirley and Britta usually more or less get on with him (although there's spikiness on both sides) -- as such, they get gifts that, while intended maliciously as a MindScrew, can also be viewed as a kind of warped kindness ([[spoiler:Troy's getting to meet his hero, Shirley's getting validation of the group's regard for her, Britta's getting $10000 to do with as she pleases.]]). |
| 153 | *** And Jeff? Pierce clearly wants to be a father figure to Jeff, but Jeff not only repeatedly shoots him down, but is often openly and unrepentantly dismissive and snide towards him, so Jeff not only gets a completely malicious gift, but one which reflects how Jeff's father rejected him just as Jeff rejects Pierce. |
| 154 | *** Jeff is also the only one -- apart from Abed, who as mentioned above is just an observer -- who receives nothing tangible from Pierce. Pierce is also noticeably flustered and thrown off guard when Jeff actually agrees to see his dad, which is a little surprising given the intricate nature of the mind games he plays on the others; given the lengths he goes to, he could have easily hired an actor to play Jeff's dad or something. So it's likely that given how Jeff is usually the most savvy of the group, while Pierce definitely intended to mess with him he probably expected Jeff to ultimately see through it and miscalculated just how messed up Jeff is about his dad. |
| 155 | ** When Britta visits Pierce, the exchange is 'Knock knock,' 'Is that you, Death?' 'It's Britta.' 'Oh...' This is reminiscent of in The Science of Illusion when Britta laments as to being a buzzkill: 'Knock knock. Who's there? Cancer. Oh good, come on in, I thought it was Britta.' |
| 156 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E17IntroToPoliticalScience Intro To Political Science]]: |
| 157 | ** Troy and Abed comment at the election polling is spilt 48%-48% between Jeff and Annie, with a 2% margin of error -- before admitting that they don't even know how to do margins of error and got the polls simply by "talking to two guys at a vending machine". It only sinks in later that Troy and Abed are broadcasting from the vending machines -- the clear implication is that they ''are'' the two guys at the vending machines... |
| 158 | ** Annie Edison's campaign flyers read "EDISON [drawing of a lightbulb] SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA!" Blindly missing the obvious "bright idea" pun. |
| 159 | ** When Troy and Abed are introducing the candidates with a slide for each one giving some basic information: Pierce's slide has the line "Age: 66, dick" which at first seems to imply Abed and Troy think Pierce is a dick.. unless you remember ''this'' conversation from [[Recap/CommunityS2E14AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons the D&D episode.]] |
| 160 | -->'''Abed''': As you watch the goblins retreat, you notice a 67-year old naked man with no weapons lying in the wet grass shivering. His name is.. |
| 161 | -->'''Pierce''': ''Pierce Hawthorne'', and I'm 66, dick. |
| 162 | ** The episode contains another example of Jeff and Pierce being {{Mirror Character}}s. Both of them enter the election to antagonize one of the female candidates. Jeff enters to attack Annie for her idealism. Pierce enters to attack Vicki for [[DisproportionateRetribution not lending him a pencil]]. |
| 163 | ** Pierce's obsession with torturing Vicky for not lending him a pencil stops being DisproportionateRetribution when you remember "Cooperative Calligraphy". Writing utensils are SeriousBusiness for members of the study group. |
| 164 | ** It's clear that noone's really inspired by Britta's anarchist statements, but Jeff seems the most annoyed. Why? Because it threatens his position as leader of the study group if someone in the study group doesn't believe in leaders. |
| 165 | ** Robin and Abed: |
| 166 | *** Agent Robin Vohlers could easily justify picking Abed for the Secret Service's "random" spot-check because he was Arab; she then tells him "I'm sorry you weren't a more obvious potential threat to the country" saying perhaps he was ''somewhat'' of a potential threat because of his ethnicity. |
| 167 | *** More on this: on the surface, it looks like Abed's the focus of the Secret Service investigation because of his ethnicity. Except there's a better reason for the Secret Service to focus on Abed: he was the one who figured out that there were undercover agents at Greendale. (The window washer, for example.) |
| 168 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E19CriticalFilmStudies Critical Film Studies]]: |
| 169 | ** Jeff's overtly macho Halloween costumes appear at first to just be another joke, but make perfect sense after we learn that he was once forced to wear an Indian princess costume for Halloween, which caused some big psychological scars as he was just happy to be told he was pretty by the end of the night. Not just overtly macho, but in "Introduction to Statistics" he was a cowboy, almost as though he's trying to murder the memory of the little Indian girl. |
| 170 | ** The episode looks like it's setting up an AffectionateParody spoof of ''Film/PulpFiction'', but actually ends up becoming a WholePlotReference to [[spoiler: ''Film/MyDinnerWithAndre'']] and ignores ''Film/PulpFiction'' entirely. Or does it? For one of the hallmarks of ''Film/PulpFiction'', like most of Tarantino's work, is a series of {{Seinfeldian Conversation}}s between two people, often in restaurants, which seem to be completely irrelevant to the plot but which end up taking on greater significance once we're aware of the bigger picture. So it could be said that as well as [[spoiler: ''Film/MyDinnerWithAndre'']] the episode actually ''was'' spoofing Tarantino and ''Film/PulpFiction'' -- just not the bits everyone was ''expecting'' it to spoof. Jeff was expecting a night full of ''Film/PulpFiction'' references, just like the audience after they saw the [[TrailersAlwaysLie Misleading Promo]] NBC aired. And, like the audience, Jeff got a completely different night than he expected. |
| 171 | ** There is also a meta-example for us tropers. While ''Series/{{Community}}'' is probably one of the most blatantly {{Troperiffic}} series ever made, [[spoiler: ''Film/MyDinnerWithAndre'']] is about as close to JustForFun/TheTropelessTale as you can get. |
| 172 | ** Abed reveals he chose [[spoiler: ''Film/MyDinnerWithAndre'']] because "It's about a guy who has an unexpectedly enjoyable evening with a weird friend he's been avoiding lately." Jeff assumes that in this scenario he's the guy who's been doing the avoiding (as he all but admits to at the beginning) and Abed's the 'weird friend'. However, if you think about it the example also works the other way around; in [[Recap/CommunityS2E18CustodyLawAndEasternEuropeanDiplomacy "Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy"]] Troy and Abed admit they've been avoiding Jeff (partly because of the things Britta has told them about him based on their sexual encounter), and Jeff -- while certainly 'normal' compared to Abed, on least on the surface -- is himself ultimately a rather messed-up and 'weird' person, as his story about the Indian girl costume demonstrates. Could be that instead of / in addition to feeling that Jeff had been putting some distance between them, Abed felt guilty about his part in avoiding Jeff and wanted to bridge the gap, but couldn't figure out how without referencing a movie. It also explains Abed's non-committal response when Jeff asks if Abed feels that Jeff's been avoiding him: "We did hang out more last year." |
| 173 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E20CompetitiveWineTasting Competitive Wine Tasting]]: |
| 174 | ** Why does Abed's ''Series/WhosTheBoss'' class sound like a LaughTrack when they laugh? Because it is a class based around a multi-camera sitcom. |
| 175 | ** Troy and Britta kiss, and in the preview for "[[Recap/CommunityS2E24ForaFewPaintballsMore For a Few Paintballs More]]", [[spoiler: Abed and Annie make out as well.]] The librarian from "[[Recap/CommunityS2E15Early21stCenturyRomanticism Early 21st Century Romatanticsm]]" that Abed and Troy "fight" over is what would happen if you combined Annie and Britta into a single person. ([[http://fuckyeahcommunitysecrets.tumblr.com/post/3316001105 This picture sums it up best]]) |
| 176 | ** Why is Troy's acting name between "Trevor St. [=McGoodbody=] or David"? What's the last line in [[Recap/CommunityS1E15RomanticExpressionism Kickpuncher]]? "Don't call me Kickpuncher. Call me... David." |
| 177 | ** Britta develops a thing for Troy after he relays his false story of being molested by his uncle as a child. This could just be [[WeaknessTurnsHerOn Britta's thing for damaged goods expressing itself]] -- however, according to [[http://www.greendalecommunitycollege.com/campus-connect/britta-perry.shtml this]] among other hints around the place, Britta's own backstory is also implied to contain at least one instance of molestation which could, in Britta's mind, have made them kindred spirits. |
| 178 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E21ParadigmsOfHumanMemory Paradigms of Human Memory]]: |
| 179 | ** The tiny sombrero that they find in the monkey's pile of mementos is the same one worn by Pierce in the "Two Conquistadors" skit from [[Recap/CommunityS1E02Spanish101 Spanish 101]]. |
| 180 | ** At the beginning of "[[Recap/CommunityS2E07AerodynamicsOfGender Aerodynamics of Gender]]", Pierce announces his radio-controlled hovering spycam by saying "Hey, remember last week when you were racing those radio-controlled cars and you thought you were cool? Well, turns out you're not!" We never saw the car episode, but during the Dean Pelton costume flashback montage here, one clip shows Jeff sitting with a neat-looking radio-controlled car. |
| 181 | ** Robot: |
| 182 | *** In one of the flashbacks in the mock Jeff / Annie montage, Jeff saves Annie, who has frozen up in fear from a rampaging robot while everyone else is running. Remember that in Annie's backstory, upon becoming hooked on Adderall she had a breakdown in which she started to see people as robots, which explains why she's frozen -- she's not sure whether she's hallucinating again or not. |
| 183 | *** The robot's name is Boob-a-Tron 6000. Troy and Abed created Boob-a-Tron 4000 in season 1 episode "The Art of Discourse." Abed was hoping that when someone spilled bong water on Boob-a-Tron it would come to life. |
| 184 | *** On the robot's chest is the same panel that Chang rewires in season 2 episode "Basic Rocket Science." |
| 185 | *** It appears that the Boob-a-Tron robot may have been after Annie's boobs. Annie's Boobs is also the name of Troy's monkey that re-appeared earlier in the episode. |
| 186 | ** A series of flashbacks showed Abed displaying love of the short-lived show ''Series/TheCape'' by wearing a cape. In some of the other flashbacks, he can be seen wearing a shirt that says "Save The Cape", probably in response to its cancellation. |
| 187 | ** There is a flashback to the group in the study room during the events of Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas. All of the characters are wearing the EXACT clothes that their claymation counterparts were wearing in the special. |
| 188 | ** In almost every flashback, Shirley can be seen clutching her "comedically oversized purse." |
| 189 | ** There is a series of memories of everyone fighting to get all the fighting. In [[Recap/CommunityS1E01Pilot The Pilot]], what is one of the first things Jeff advises, with bad intentions however, the study group? To air everything out and put it all out in the open because [[BlatantLies he's been in other groups that were destroyed by unresolved tension.]] And it works; but not for the reasons they suspect. The members arguing that they should keep arguing commonly cite that it's better to get everything out in the open because "they'll stop fighting (forever)". This, obviously, doesn't happen (and indeed would ''never'' happen), which gives them cause to believe that they are merely dysfunctional people incapable of getting along -- but what it actually means that they are in fact ''very'' comfortable and open with each other, since they are more willing to confront and challenge each other whenever they feel one (or more) of them has crossed the line, rather than bottling it up to unleash it in a more potentially destructive and irreparable fashion later -- which ultimately helps them resolve the matter they're currently facing quickly and constructively. And the episode reflects this; If we ignore the flashbacks, what's left is the group discovering an issue, arguing about it quite heatedly but then hashing it out and resolving it very quickly (their argument in total probably takes up no more than ten minutes if we take out the flashbacks, and then by the time everyone simmered down they'd realized they were making a big deal over something comparatively little) and making sure they remain friends in the process. Jeff's final speech, of which we only saw a brief excerpt, probably pointed all this out, but we didn't hear it because we actually saw it in action all the other times he'd made a speech to help resolve the issues that had risen amongst them. ShowDontTell in action. |
| 190 | ** Flashbacks and tags: |
| 191 | *** When you watch all of the flashbacks, you can see that almost all of them link together in some way to give us a sense of what happened in the 'episode' that we didn't see, or which at least suggest a plot which we didn't see. Almost all of them, that is, except for the short scene of Troy and Abed mocking Jeff behind his back by wearing his jacket and playing with his phone, which occurs outside of any context and seems to have no link to any of the other scenes. In fact, it seems very similar in both subject and length to the end-of-episode 'tags' that Troy and Abed star in at the end of every episode -- and if there are entire episodes we didn't see, it stands to reason that there are also episode ''tags'' we didn't see... |
| 192 | *** Annie and Britta also get a short 'tag'-like moment (when Britta takes Annie's lip balm without asking, uses it and then uncaringly throws it away), which underscores this point but also adds another one; just because the only people we usually see in the tags are Troy and Abed doesn't mean the others don't get tags we don't see either... |
| 193 | ** The haunted house segment seems to show Pierce and the gang meeting a ghostly Civil War-era ancestor of Pierce's. Then you notice that Jeff's speech excerpt seems to be about the ''absence'' of any real ghosts, and that only Pierce acknowledges the apparition, suggesting that it's one of his pill-induced hallucinations. Moreover, the ghost resembles both Colonel Sanders and Pierce's abusive father. |
| 194 | ** At the end, Chang sits down with Annie's Boobs and mentions "We've had some times, huh?". While this just leads into another shipping video parody, both Ken Jeong and Crystal (the monkey) appeared in ''Film/TheHangoverPartII''. |
| 195 | ** Abed has a sex video (likely unknown to him) of Jeff and Britta. In "[[Recap/CommunityS2E21ParadigmsOfHumanMemory Paradigms of Human Memory]]" it was revealed that Britta and Jeff got very frisky in Abed's dorm room on St. Patrick's Day. In [[Recap/CommunityS2E18CustodyLawAndEasternEuropeanDiplomacy "Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy"]] Abed reveals to Britta he had a security camera installed in his dorm room for the purpose of making autobiograghical documentaries. Abed is going to be in for shock when he goes to edit it. |
| 196 | ** There were quite a few subtle hints throughout the season that Jeff and Britta were sleeping together. In "[[Recap/CommunityS2E08CooperativeCalligraphy Cooperative Calligraphy]]" Britta says that Jeff "usually" wears a specific pattern of underwear (implying she's seen him naked on a regular basis; note that Abed reacted to this one), when they were drunk in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E10MixologyCertification Mixology Certification]]" they immediately started making out when they thought they were alone (they forgot Abed was sitting right there), and in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E18CustodyLawAndEasternEuropeanDiplomacy Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy]]" it's mentioned that Britta apparently gossiped to Troy and Abed about some annoying things Jeff does during sex (which implies that they've had sex more than once, as it's pretty hard for things to get annoying after just one time). |
| 197 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS2E22AppliedAnthropologyAndCulinaryArts Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts]]", when questioned on whether students giving birth in classrooms is a common occurrence, the Dean blurts out that "a lot more are ''conceived''." No doubt, the [[Recap/CommunityS1E11ThePoliticsOfHumanSexuality the STD fair]] alone saw a lot of students get frisky in the empty classrooms with faulty condoms... |
| 198 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E23AFistfulOfPaintBalls A Fistful Of Paint Balls]]: |
| 199 | ** It's revealed that Annie is the only hold-out in the vote to remove Pierce from the group. Why? Because unlike the other members of the group, she can most relate to Pierce and why he does the things he does; like Pierce, she has first-hand experience of what it's like to be excluded by people who you want to be accepted by and how painful that can be, like Pierce she has first-hand experience with drug addiction and how that can potentially ruin your life and drastically affect your behavior and outlook, and like Pierce she has an over-competitive ruthless streak that she struggles (rather more successfully than he does) to keep in check and from destroying her relationships with the people around her. Where the others just look at Pierce and mostly see an insufferable JerkAss, Annie sees both a reflection of how she could end up and someone who, like her, could be redeemed with help from the people around him. Which makes the gun duel between the two of them all the more heartbreaking, as it demonstrates that Annie has finally lost all faith in the possibility of redeeming Pierce. |
| 200 | ** From the first five or so minutes, it's subtly established that the group has made a decision that excludes Pierce, and Annie is the only dissent. The Greendale Seven (minus Pierce) are introduced in this episode via title cards with a playing card motif. Annie is the first of the seven that we meet, and is the only one with a red card (the ace of hearts at that). |
| 201 | ** Annie and Jeff argue over Pierce's behavior. Annie argues that Pierce is a jerk because they exclude him while Jeff argues that they exclude him because he's a jerk. So, who's right? Well, most of Pierce's "jerk" behavior was a result of his addiction to painkillers, which he started taking because he broke his legs in a trampoline accident, which occurred because he tried to play with the trampoline "better" than Troy and Jeff, which he most likely did because they excluded him from playing on it. |
| 202 | * [[Recap/CommunityS2E24ForAFewPaintballsMore For A Few Paintballs More]]: |
| 203 | ** At the end, Britta suggested that they take Anthro 201 next semester, and Abed said it was too risky because 'sequels are always disappointing'. This can both be a reference to the Star Wars franchise, and the episode itself, which was a Sequel Episode. |
| 204 | ** The episode was obviously filled with callbacks and references, too many for any one person to be able to catch them all. One such aspect of the episode that can be seen as being rather poignant was Leonard's little arc. Leonard as a character has been portrayed as an old man who acts like a teenage brat, swearing and acting up constantly. In the episode he reveals to Britta that he's been in several real life wars; the reason he acts like a rebellious teenager in his later years is that he spent his actual teenage years fighting in one of the most humourless periods in recent human history. |
| 205 | ** Abed's role-playing: |
| 206 | *** The [[spoiler:Abed/Annie romance only lasting while Abed is in character.]] Every Annie/Abed moment so far has happened while one or both of them are in character- Annie's reaction to [[Series/MadMen Don Draper!Abed]], the kiss in [[Recap/CommunityS2E11AbedsUncontrollableChristmas Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas]] while Annie was pretending to be in Abed's hallucination, and the fake sex scene in [[Recap/CommunityS2E14AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] while role-playing. |
| 207 | *** Each of these times Abed is pretending to be a particular character type - a charming, suave, emotionally closed off manipulator. Who else fits that description? Jeff. Annie definitely has a type. Also, Annie had a thing for Troy in high school and pines for him through much of the first season. What was Troy like before he embraced his innate nerdiness? [[JerkJock A charming, suave, emotionally closed off manipulator.]] |
| 208 | ** During the planning session, the Greendale students are gathered around a picture perfect diorama of the campus that they seem to have just quickly put together. Of course, they'd be good at this by now, seeing as they've made twenty of them for Anthropology class. Guess it came in useful after all... |
| 209 | ** Shirley's role in the plan is to pull the fire alarm and activate the library's paint-filled sprinklers. She runs out into the hall to pull a fire alarm over there, despite a fire alarm being in very clear view in the study room. Why not just pull that one? Well, as TheTag from [[Recap/CommunityS2E22AppliedAnthropologyAndCulinaryArts Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts]] demonstrates, not all the fire alarms actually work. |
| 210 | ** There seems to be a pattern in the first and the second season finale; both had Annie making out with someone who then promptly left her, and both had a problem that has two obvious solutions, but ended with a third solution; in [[Recap/CommunityS2E24ForAFewPaintballsMore For A Few Paintballs More]], either the group takes back Pierce and he rejoins the group, or the group kicks him out. [[spoiler:The group decides to take him back, but he decided to quit]]. In [[Recap/CommunityS1E25PascalsTriangleRevisited Pascal's Triangle Revisited]], Jeff wil either end up with Britta or Slater. [[spoiler:He made out with Annie at the end]]. Then, CliffHanger... |
| 211 | ** It appears Pierce has gone over to the City College team, and as part of this is feeding Dean Spreck information about Jeff -- which turns out to be a whole load of stuff about how gay Jeff is. On one hand, this is Pierce being Pierce and thus deluded / spiteful about Jeff. On the other, it's possible foreshadowing about which way Pierce's loyalties really lie, since he's knowingly feeding Spreck inaccurate, useless information of no worth to distract and hinder him from dealing with the study group. |
| 212 | ** Just after Magnitude speaks up at the briefing, we hear briefly from a British student known as Paradox. This is a rather appropriate name because Paradox is played by an American actor. Magnitude, an American character, is played by a British actor. |
| 213 | ** Why does [[spoiler:Magnitude throw himself on the paintbomb? Because he's a one-man party, and as he says, a one-man party can't be part of an alliance. His HeroicSacrifice means the alliance can proceed.]] |
| 214 | ** If you subscribe to the theory that the show is shown from Abed's point of view (see the General folder), that explains why Dan Byrd and Creator/BusyPhilipps appear in the celebration after the battle. At this point, ''Series/CougarTown'' is Abed's favorite show and he'd want two of the cast members (or maybe Travis and Laurie themselves) there to celebrate Greendale's biggest victory ever. |
| 215 | ** Pierce [[spoiler:wins the game and donates the prize money to Greendale]]. But unlike every other Greendale player in this episode, he wasn't there when the alliance was formed. So he made the decision to [[spoiler:donate the money to Greendale]] completely independently, without anybody pressuring or even suggesting it to him. Turns out [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold he really does care]], after all. |
| 216 | [[/folder]] |
| 217 | |
| 218 | [[folder: '''Season 3''']] |
| 219 | |
| 220 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E01Biology101 Biology 101]]: |
| 221 | ** The musical number that opens the episode works on multiple levels: |
| 222 | *** One: It's a lazy daydream by Jeff (specifically, about how great things will be since Pierce is no longer in the group -- he's the only person not participating and how the lyrics can all be applied to what Jeff feels is Pierce's negative effect on the group). |
| 223 | *** Two: There's the meta-commentary / spoof of the show's surreal brand of humour and its effect on potential mainstream appeal. |
| 224 | *** Three: It's also a TakeThat directed at their [[DuelingShows hated rival]] Series/{{Glee}}, basically saying "That show is like us without all the bits that make us good." |
| 225 | *** Not just at Glee, but at anyone who criticised the show's zaniness and off-the-wall approach. The lyrics say "We're gonna seem like a mainstream dream / And be appealing to all mankind", but they're delivered in an ''extremely'' wacky and not-remotely "far away from the borderline" manner. |
| 226 | *** Four: Jeff's gone through some really weird situations in the past two years, and is [[CharacterDevelopment slowly changing as a person]]. The idle daydream might be his way of wishing that [[IJustWantToBeNormal everything would go back to normal]]... except that [[OnlySaneMan he doesn't really have a reference]] for what [[WorldGoneMad "normal"]] ''is'' anymore. So the lyrics claim normalcy, while the presentation obviously does not. |
| 227 | *** Five: It's a daydream kicked off by the question he was asked just beforehand, which is 'What are we gunna do without Pierce in the group this year?'. |
| 228 | *** Six: While the sequence means all these things, Jeff clearly isn't thinking about it that much in depth -- he's just having a daydream. The creators, meanwhile, probably only created the sequence with one or two of these levels in mind, while we find so many more. |
| 229 | *** Seven: Because as we learn in "[[Recap/CommunityS3E10RegionalHolidayMusic Regional Holiday Music]]" the Study Group filled in for the Glee club before. Jeff is remembering that too. |
| 230 | *** Eight: It also acts as ironic {{Foreshadowing}} for the rest of the season, which has in general been one of the most difficult so far for the study group in general and Jeff in particular (who has been subject to an ongoing process of {{Deconstruction}} revealing his numerous issues and neuroses). In between such things as Troy and Abed falling out and causing a school-wide pillow war, Shirley and Pierce's sandwich shop dreams getting stolen and sold to Subway by the school, everyone in general having numerous issues, problems and difficulties [[spoiler: and even getting expelled towards the end of the season]], this year has been anything but 'finally fine' for the study group. |
| 231 | ** Why does Pierce [[spoiler: help Jeff out even though he was the member who was the most antagonistic to him? It's cause Pierce saw Jeff and himself as {{Mirror Character}}s. Up until Annie tells Jeff that they are no longer friends. Even during all of Pierce's antics, Annie always stuck by him. Jeff was basically losing the one positive thing Pierce had last season, so he took pity on the guy]]. To go even further with this: [[spoiler: Pierce's lowest point in the last season was arguably when even Annie got fed up with his antics and turned on him in "A Fistful of Paintballs". They really are alike-- but the group was willing to give Pierce another chance, so Pierce pays it forward with Jeff.]] |
| 232 | ** How important is the Air-Conditioning Repair Annex to Greendale? It's mentioned in Pierce's school song from season one. |
| 233 | --->'''Pierce:''' Dancing in your underwear, taking air conditioner repair. So you can get a job. |
| 234 | ** Not just that, but it is heavily hinted that the air conditioner repair course is the only viable education that Greendale has to offer. Keep in mind that Greendale gets most of its money from alumni donations and that most of those donations go straight to the Air-Conditioning Repair Annex. |
| 235 | ** After Abed discovers that ''Series/CougarTown'' has been pushed back to mid-season, Britta finds the British sitcom it was based on to fill the void, Cougarton Abbey. The title appears to be a {{Portmanteau}} of ''Series/CougarTown'' and ''Series/DowntonAbbey''. One episode of ''Cougar Town'' had the cul-de-sac crew play a game where they'd combine the names of two movies in such a manner. |
| 236 | ** Abed becomes upset when the sixth episode of Cougarton Abbey ends with the characters killing themselves and the series ending. Britta then explains that they only made six episodes. This is an obvious example of BritishBrevity, but it was also around the sixth episode of ''Cougar Town'' that the show abandoned the "Jules seeks younger men" premise and started to come into its own. |
| 237 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E04RemedialChaosTheory Remedial Chaos Theory]]: |
| 238 | ** It can be interpreted that what happens in each timeline is a rough summation of what would happen if the group lost the member getting the pizza. This concept of removal from the group works with the third season's Biology motifs. It's like a food chain/web/thing. The removal of one element has all kinds of ramifications on the other elements. To briefly sum up the many interpretations floating around for each member: |
| 239 | *** Losing '''Annie''' makes things more relaxed, cool and 'indie' -- at first glance. However, while nothing particularly bad happens, nothing particularly ''good'' happens either. While Annie's neuroses might increase the tension, things become stale and less exciting without her drive and ambition to motivate everyone. There's also an element of danger without her (the gun is found and brandished around) and the group is lacking a distinct nurturing, healing presence (there's no one to tend Jeff's head injury and she's "a pretty good nurse"). |
| 240 | *** Losing '''Shirley''' makes everyone behave meaner and be a bit more inclined to be selfish. Without her nagging, prodding and {{Team Mom}}ming them, they're inclined to forget their responsibilities and to not do what they should, even if they don't want to (taking her pies out of the oven). In season 6, when Shirley is gone, there's more selfishness and the show feels like it's lost a warm, motherly feeling and a sense of direction. |
| 241 | *** Losing '''Pierce''' apparently makes everyone happier (temporarily, at least) and leads to ship teases. However, notice that Jeff is a lot more openly condescending and dismissive of Shirley's baking in this timeline; without Pierce around as a convenient target for the other members of the group, they start targeting and excluding others. This is further reinforced by the eventual absence of [[HateSink Pierce]] in the "darkest timeline" -- without him around, the group are freer to indulge in their darker impulses and turn "evil". This is displayed in Seasons 5 and 6 with Pierce gone; we got ship teases between Troy & Britta and Jeff & Annie, but the group noticeably starts targeting each other more often. |
| 242 | *** Losing '''Britta''' loses the sardonic bent and increases the wackiness. However, it also makes the group a bit less warm, inviting and comforting; no one comforts Pierce when he has his meltdown or tries to make things better. While she might not always succeed or do so most effectively, Britta does try and make everyone feel better. In addition, without the group to rein in her impulsiveness, Britta makes worse decisions. |
| 243 | *** Losing '''Troy''' leads to chaos, madness and death. Things go to hell quickly. Furthermore, while other timelines may see everyone unhappy and at each other’s throats, this one ends up with everyone actively turning ‘evil’ in some way — more than anything else, this suggests either that Troy is the true [[TheHeart heart]] of the group or (particularly if we take the interpretation that this is merely how Abed is visualising the timeline) reinforcing how co-dependent Abed is with Troy, since he can't see Troy's absence leading to anything other than chaos and doom. This also foreshadows events around Troy's absence later in the series, when things are noticeably more chaotic and unstable. An alternative, less flattering interpretation is that Troy in fact ''causes'' all the chaos and disaster -- after all, it is his careless actions which directly lead to the disaster which befalls the group |
| 244 | *** Losing '''Abed''' causes the group to become too dramatic and self destruct. Although it seems like everyone is a bit more emotionally open without him, they end up taking it too far; he regulates the emotional pressure of the group. |
| 245 | *** Losing '''Jeff''' makes many of the conflicts go away. Everyone's a lot more relaxed, happy and willing to let their hair down and have fun without him [[StopHavingFunGuy shooting them down before they start.]] Fitting for the TeamDad. |
| 246 | ** A more favourable AlternativeCharacterInterpretation of Jeff's absence in the final timeline is that, without Jeff's presence, the underlying causes behind many of these conflicts remain buried, where they may do more damage. However, it is noteworthy that many of them only became conflicts in the first place due to his actions, whether through his callous and snide personality (mocking Troy), his attempts to police the group's behaviour to be more "normal" (shooting down Britta's attempts to sing, which leads her to get high instead) or the fact that, while he may try to solve the problem, he usually tries to do so in a lazy and half-assed way which often only exacerbates things (his organised opposition to Shirley's baking, which ends up hurting her feelings and making her storm out). And at least one problem (Annie's living situation) is resolved without his input at all, whereas in the other timelines where it was raised his response was to dismissively brush it aside. Even if Jeff does expose the fundamental problems at the heart of the group, he may nevertheless be doing more harm than good. |
| 247 | ** Looking at his approach to Shirley's problems a bit closer, Jeff's solution to Shirley's over-baking is to secretly collude with everyone to refuse to eat her pies because she's "not allowed to have an identity around baking." Shirley eventually confesses to Britta that she bakes too much because she feels excluded by everyone in the group. Jeff's approach to the problem essentially validates Shirley's insecurities; that everyone in the group is ganging up to exclude her. |
| 248 | ** Throughout each timeline, whenever someone approaches Jeff with a problem or raises a question he's not comfortable addressing, his response is to disinterestedly shut down the conversation by declaring that he's going to get a drink. Obviously a demonstration of his difficulty in / lack of interest in addressing the problems of the group, which as mentioned above only brings harm -- but note that immediately after he does so, he stands up and hits his head on the fan. Jeff's maintaining a distance from the group and his problems isn't just harmful to them, it's harmful to himself as well. This was also the starting point for the season's {{Deconstruction}} of Jeff and his negative impact on the group, ultimately leading to [[spoiler: his HeelRealization and the completion of his HeelFaceTurn in the final episode.]] |
| 249 | ** Jeff's policing of everyone else's behavior also seems like a CallBack to his daydream musical number at the beginning of the season: he thinks that everyone will be "sunny and shiny and fine" if they're "more calm and normal," so him doing things like trying to get Shirley to stop baking all the time, get Abed and Troy to "grow up," and get Britta to not sing "Roxanne" are extremely misguided signs of love just as much as their signs of him being kind of a {{Jerkass}}. Of course, he's completely wrong. Which might also make it a {{Tearjerker}}? |
| 250 | ** Jeff stifles Annie's emotional growth. She's too busy doing what he tells her to do to tend to her own needs. Jeff tells her to get out of her bad neighborhood but when he's not there, it's Abed who offers an actual solution. ("You should live here.") |
| 251 | ** Look again at TheTag, which shows the darkest timeline. All (present) study group members are clad in black... except Jeff and Troy. Jeff is wearing purple, the colour of royalty and power, to re-estabilish him as the group's most dominant member, alongside black. Troy on the other hand is apparently the only one ''not'' fully taken over by darkness - he wears a light blue shirt, representing his position as TheHeart (which his timeline in the episode further elaborated on). Furthermore, Annie, in the mental ward, would likely be wearing white hospital robes - representing both her underlying insanity and inherent pureness. |
| 252 | ** You could argue that Pierce died in the darkest timeline because turning Pierce, who was already some sort of inherently evil, into Evil!Pierce would be sort of impossible. [[Recap/CommunityS4E13AdvancedIntroductionToFinality Advanced Introduction to Finality]] suggests that (at least [[spoiler: in Jeff's mind]]) Evil!Pierce would basically just be Pierce. |
| 253 | ** Britta tells us that Jeff keeps his bathroom toiletries locked up in a safe. The most likely time for her to have seen this is sometime in Season 2. And a very strong motivation for Jeff to do this in Season 2 is that during a significant part of the year, Chang was living in Jeff's apartment. |
| 254 | ** There is a mild example in Timeline 5. [[spoiler: When all Hell breaks loose, Jeff tries to put the fire out with a shirt. We see the shirt catch on fire and slowly start crawling up it, closer to Jeff's arm. Suddenly, it becomes a lot clearer how he lost his arm in the fire.]] |
| 255 | ** The reason Jeff has to roll a die to determine who gets the pizza is because "Nose Goes" fails when everyone does it at the exact same time. In [[Recap/CommunityS2E07AerodynamicsofGender Aerodynamics of Gender]] they play "Nose Goes" to determine who has to make sure Pierce doesn't overdose on painkillers. Jeff loses, and asks when they started doing that. Apparently, they do it so often that everyone has become incredibly good at it to the point where they all win. |
| 256 | ** At the end, everyone is singing and dancing happily... [[MirrorCharacter except Jeff and Pierce]]. However, while it's a pretty clearly aligning them moment, it also has a few indicators of how Jeff has undergone CharacterDevelopment which has to some degree distanced him from his implied fate of ending up like Pierce; while Pierce is preoccupied with getting rid of his cruel housewarming gift to Troy so he doesn't get in trouble, Jeff is happily watching his friends enjoy themselves. While he might not yet be ready to take the step of actually joining in, Jeff has still bonded with them sufficiently to take simple pleasure in their happiness, however silly he might think it. |
| 257 | ** The two characters most shipped with Annie are Jeff and Abed. In the timeline where Abed leaves, Jeff and Annie kiss. In the timeline where Jeff leaves, Abed asks Annie to move in with him and Troy. |
| 258 | ** Scenarios: |
| 259 | *** An alternate interpretation of the different timelines, as discussed on the Recap page, is they were all scenarios ran in Abed's head in the time it took Jeff to roll the dice - being a student of the group's character he can assume everything that would transpire if each of them left the room, as well as all the per-existing elements such as Annie's Gun, and Pierce's Troll. |
| 260 | *** Additionally, this eventually affects Abed's character development throughout the entire season: The "Dark Timeline" scared him so much (as he is a control freak, and the scenario was far beyond his control) that it stuck with him, he continued playing it subconciously, and haunted him, as hinted by his ability to "sense" the aftermath of the fire and Evil!Abed's plotting in the tag. |
| 261 | *** Evil!Abed being a figment of his imagination is furthered by the fact that he connects with him via the Dreamatorium, and represents Abed's control freak nature. Abed drifts closer to the dark timeline when things feel like they're slipping from his control. Evil Abed's plot revolves around trying to control the prime timeline to make it "the darkest." At the end of [[Recap/CommunityS3E12ContemporaryImpressionists Contemporary Impressionists]] when Evil!Abed first makes contact - Abed is alone, and has just confronted his control freakiness with Troy calling him out. Evil!Abed's second appearance is when Abed is alone, Troy had left for the annex, and Abed is feeling abandoned - Troy's leaving was something he could not control, and so once again he drifts into something he can. It's Annie teaching him sympathy in [[Recap/CommunityS3E16VirtualSystemsAnalysis Virtual Systems Analysis]], combined with Jeff's friendship speech in [[Recap/CommunityS3E22IntroductionToFinality Introduction to Finality]] that help him to snap out of play-acting Evil!Abed by helping him to accept the things beyond his control. |
| 262 | ** A Fridge Pun, if you will. It works with the above, if he's constantly running scenarios like those in Remedial Chaos Theory in his head, but Abed '''Nadir'''[[note]]a word meaning "the lowest or worst point in a situation"[[/note]] dwelling on the darkest timeline fits together quite nicely. |
| 263 | ** In "[[Recap/CommunityS2E20CompetitiveWineTasting Competitive Wine Tasting]]", it was established that Britta has questionable taste in men. This is further supported by her timeline. Annie even makes a joke about how her romantic tastes after she talks about a guy who got so high he was able to survive a fall. Given the boyfriends she's hooked up with, it would explain why she [[DoesNotLikeMen she's often making insulting remarks about men.]] |
| 264 | ** On Website/ThisVeryWiki, mentions of Britta dying a streak of her hair blue is usually [[PotHole PotHoled]] to ArsonMurderAndJaywalking. But didn't arson (burning the apartment) and murder (Pierce's death) actually occur (albeit accidentally)? |
| 265 | ** "Roxanne" by Music/ThePolice playing in six out of seven timelines may just seem like a random song that Britta just happened to have on her playlist, but the subject matter actually relates perfectly to the role Jeff fills in this episode. In the song, the narrator seemingly acts like he's trying to support the titular Roxanne by asking her to be with him in lieu of giving up her job of prostitution, but in truth is condescending and selfish because he wants Roxanne to act the way he wants her to be. In all the timelines where Jeff doesn't get the pizza, he attempts to make everyone in the group act normal by mocking their personalities or interests, thus making them feel miserable while he feels good about himself. Conversely, when Jeff leaves to get the pizza, everyone gets to be able to act out and have fun because Jeff isn't there to put them down, while Jeff himself is mildly annoyed that he wasn't able to stop it before it started. |
| 266 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E03CompetitiveEcology Competitive Ecology]]: |
| 267 | ** Professor Kane's questions about Franchise/{{Lego}}: he asks why now all Lego is in sets around various themes and pop culture tie-ins, rather than just being piles of bricks. The whole point of Lego is to build things, but you can only construct things out of the Lego sets he mentions if you first [[{{Deconstruction}} de-construct]] what they were intended to be. |
| 268 | ** Jeff's main contributions are the preferred partner list which made the group's problem worse and to blame Todd for their issues rather than actually addressing them. Jeff may very be doing more harm than good this point. |
| 269 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E05HorrorFictionInSevenSpookySteps Horror Fiction In Seven Spooky Steps]]: |
| 270 | ** Annie's story had her teaching Vampire Jeff how to read, which got them romantically closer to each other, [[spoiler:or she thought so, at least]]. This is exactly how she treated Troy in the beginning of season 1, where she tried getting romantically closer to him by tutoring him. |
| 271 | ** Abed's sanity: |
| 272 | *** It was revealed that Abed was the most sane person in the group. This makes sense, because his story is the only one with no wacky or insane situations. Possible reasons he came out sane: |
| 273 | *** Because of his shamanistic knowledge of human behavior, he filled out his test so that he would come out as a sane person. |
| 274 | *** Abed is the only member of the study group who is actually sane. In universe he comes off as being unbalanced and delusional for acting like life is a TV show, but his life is actually a TV show. He can recognize genre shifts, and plot points, and can even tell when the camera is going to cut away. |
| 275 | *** Abed doesn't have a personality disorder, he has a developmental disorder. It's clear Abed is non-neurotypical, but not in a way that would show up on a test for psychopathy or sociopathy. |
| 276 | *** In his implied extensive experience with psychological tests, he may have learned to "fake" sane, at least on standardised tests. Which while they are often designed to detect deception, can be done with a sufficiently canny patient (course, by the time they're that canny they're usually functional anyway, but that's a whole other thing). |
| 277 | ** When lightning strikes and the group scatters and all draw improvised weapons, Britta is the only one with an actual weapon, (a switchblade), possibly pointing to her being a murderous psychopath. |
| 278 | ** How did Annie know Britta [[spoiler: had put the tests in the wrong way up]]? She had taken one when she was in rehab for her adderall addiction. Also, who would know more about scantron forms than the girl obsessed with grades? |
| 279 | ** In the final test results, Pierce's test form is the only one with a warning stamp on both the top and bottom of the page; so [[spoiler:his form was the one that caused Britta to search for the "only" sociapath in the group]]. |
| 280 | ** Why were Abed and Troy dressed as JustForFun/InspectorSpacetime and Constable Reggie before Britta even called them to come to her Halloween Party? They'd probably been playing in the Dreamatorium, which would be first introduced two episodes later. |
| 281 | ** Why does the weirdness at Greendale snowball out of all control during and following season 3? Well, (in addition to the gas leak [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19FMU3M7Jtk the group accidentally summons Beetlejuice]]. |
| 282 | ** Every study group member's story ends with something horrible happening to another member of the group, with the exceptions of Abed and Jeff. This is {{Foreshadowing}} that [[spoiler:Abed and possibly Jeff are the only two sane people in the group.]] |
| 283 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E06AdvancedGay Advanced Gay]]: |
| 284 | ** With the reveal of the Secret Cabal of Air Conditioning, Greendale's ridiculous standards start to make sense. Think about the nature of the AC Repair Annex. They pride themselves on secrecy. What better way to stay hidden than to have a campus's reputation marred by incompetent staff, ridiculous public events (paintball riot, decrepit promotional KFC van press conference), and substandard curriculum? This explains overall the school's reputation and staffing choices. The more ridiculous Greendale is, the easier the AC Annex is to hide. This has the side effect in "Curriculum Unavailable" of supporting the psychiatrist's claim that [[spoiler:Greendale is actually an insane asylum.]] He even brings up the points of how ridiculous a college it is. |
| 285 | ** Why was Pierce so hostile to the Col. Sanders AI in "Basic Rocket Science"? We find out here that [[spoiler:he looks like Pierce's father]]. Makes even more sense if you hear what Pierce is saying as he smashes the Sanders TV [[spoiler:"Get off my mommy, I'm her man!]] |
| 286 | ** After Cornelius makes a comment about his ivory toupee, Britta says "I can excuse racism, but I draw the line at animal cruelty." Maybe she can excuse racism because she's known Pierce for two years at this point. |
| 287 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E07StudiesInModernMovement Studies In Modern Movement]]: |
| 288 | ** The hitchhiker sings that he loves marijuana during the Kiss from a rose montage, while Britta and Shirley's facial expressions turns to horror as he claims he likes 'drinking human blood', per his [[NapoleonDelusion Jesus Delusion]] it actually isn't as disturbing as one would initially imagine as Transubstantiation ie symbolically eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ is the way one receives salvation. |
| 289 | ** When the hitchhiker begins to sing his song about interracial marriage entitled "Don't You Do It", both Shirley and Britta scream at him to get out of the car. In Britta's case, while she's obviously someone who isn't racist (or at least values not being seen as racist), there's another reason she might take particular exception to this; after all, a significant subplot over the season has been her developing crush on Troy. |
| 290 | * In the Dean's confession scene in [[Recap/CommunityS3E08DocumentaryFilmmakingRedux Documentary Filmmaking: Redux]], we see him burning his diploma, from Appomattox University. Appomattox is a small town in Virginia that doesn't have a university in it. Were the writers (and/or set designers) just going for something that sounds like a last-tier university? Perhaps. But a re-watch of [[Recap/CommunityS2E04BasicRocketScience Basic Rocket Science]] will find the Dean telling Jeff that "if you don't get back here in time for the launch, City College wins, and Greendale becomes just another school on my résumé that no one can call, because it doesn't exist". Who knows how he actually got that diploma. |
| 291 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E09FoosballAndNocturnalVigilantism Foosball And Nocturnal Vigilantism]]: |
| 292 | ** We get confirmation that Abed is very powerful. When Troy finds out that Annie has broke Abed's DVD, he has a panic attack, sputtering in a fearful voice, "He knows everything." He realizes, as shown in [[Recap/CommunityS3E04RemedialChaosTheory Remedial Chaos Theory]], that if Abed was properly traumatized, he could become a full-blown villainous mastermind. (While Troy might not know about the timeline, he knows Abed well enough to know he could be evil, and this is consistent with the alternate timeline.) |
| 293 | ** Throughout the series, almost despite himself Jeff Winger has a thing for [[BullyHunter challenging bullies]]. This becomes a lot easier to understand when we learn that he himself was bullied as a child. |
| 294 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E10RegionalHolidayMusic Regional Holiday Music]]: |
| 295 | ** Why was Britta the last hold-out to be 'converted' to the Glee Club? Because she was the only one Mr. Rad didn't actually want around. Why was she converted anyway, despite having the 'vital' role of a mute tree? Because even Mr. Rad has to accept that with the study group, even when brainwashed [[TrueCompanions you include all of them or have none of them]]. While the other group members were actively sought out, Britta was converted only because she bumped into Jeff. |
| 296 | ** The best way to get Pierce to join the glee club? Prey on his fears of irrelevance. During their second song Troy and Abed do homages to music from every decade, starting in the 40s and ending in the mid-90s when Pierce (singing as Baby Boomer Santa) jumps in with "You're Welcome!" He jumps in at that moment because that's roughly the point where he'd have been too old to understand the references to any popular music. It also preys on his fears of aging and mortality -- Baby Boomer Santa is "never gonna die!" |
| 297 | ** All of the members are suckered in through key aspects of their personality and / or insecurities being exploited: Abed through his desire to have a happy Christmas time with his friends/family, Troy through his codependence with Abed and desire not to get left out from anything Abed's doing, coupled with his desire to celebrate Christmas (and secret agent fantasies), Pierce as discussed above, Annie through her bossy insistence on confronting authority figures when things don't go her way, Jeff through his conflicted feelings towards Annie and Shirley through her religious beliefs and conviction that the religious aspects of the holiday are being marginalized. Britta would seem to be an exception, but [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/regional-holiday-music,66270/ this article]] suggests that she's only going along with things because everyone else is and she doesn't want to be left out or make them unhappy. |
| 298 | ** The Glee-corrupted study group members immediately try to corrupt the member that they are closest to, or have been in the past. Abed corrupts Troy, Troy corrupts Pierce (seems odd until you remember that Pierce let Troy stay in his mansion in Season 2), Pierce corrupts Shirley (who he was obviously attracted to early in Season 1), Troy and Abed (roommates) corrupts Annie, Annie corrupts Jeff, and Jeff corrupts Britta (he had a thing for her in Season 1, remember?). |
| 299 | ** Of course Pierce had no intention of singing; he knows no one takes him seriously. |
| 300 | ** When the study group first comes into their remodeled study room, there is a piano guy (spoofing the piano guy on ''Glee'' that nobody ever acknowledges). Pierce then asks "Who's that guy? You guys all see him too, right?" Why he asks this? Remember, in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E21ParadigmsOfHumanMemory Paradigms of Human Memory]]", the haunted house segment seems to show Pierce and the gang meeting a ghostly Civil War-era ancestor of Pierce's and Pierce is the only one who can see him. Moreover Jeff was speeching about how there were no ghosts there. Pierce was checking if he was seeing ghosts again. |
| 301 | ** When Annie is assimilated into the Glee club, Troy appears from behind a door to sing at her, apparently having been hiding there for no reason at all. Except there is a reason -- Troy is celebrating Christmas as an 'undercover Jehovah's Witness', so in his mind he's spying on Abed and Mr. Rad's Christmas plans. |
| 302 | ** Autism: |
| 303 | *** In the number with Abed and Mr. Rad, Abed sings that he'll "understand every scene because they'll sing what they mean instead of making a face". If Abed is face-blind like he implies in [[Recap/CommunityS3E03CompetitiveEcology Competive Ecology]], then he'd have difficulty reading facial expressions. |
| 304 | *** It's also possible that it's another nod to the idea that Abed is on the autism spectrum and thus has trouble reading facial expressions and body language. He says something similar in Cooperative Calligraphy ("I hate bottle episodes. They're nothing but emotional nuance and wall-to-wall facial expression. I might as well sit in the corner with a bucket over my head"). |
| 305 | *** The same idea is also given a nod in Troy and Abed's rap with the line "On the spectrum? None of your business." The line "thoughts too fast to comprehend" immediately after may also be a nod if it's referring to the hypothesis that characteristic autistic behaviour stems from autistic individuals processing more information too quickly to filter it properly. |
| 306 | ** There were two very strange moments where it seemed that WordOfGod broke two of their old time rules. 1. Abed might have broken the 4th wall with his comment on "spinning cameras", and they semi-sexualized Annie in a santa outfit. Yet this makes a lot more sense when you remember that they've been Glee-ified, meaning they're not acting like themselves in the show as the writers originally envisioned. |
| 307 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E11UrbanMatrimonyAndTheSandwichArts Urban Matrimony And The Sandwich Arts]]: Britta's over-the-top StrawFeminism is no surprise, but her intense nagging of Shirley to forget planning her wedding and start a business might have been further amplified with [[Recap/CommunityS3E13DigitalExplorationOfInteriorDesign the revelation that she has been taking a Pre-Menopausal Post-Feministic Experimental Marketing Class]]. |
| 308 | ** Her intense nagging might also be motivated by [[GreenEyedMonster jealousy]] which she's expressing through intense reaffirmation of her feminism-inspired negative views towards marriage -- she does, after all, have a ''very'' sour look on her face during Andre's romantic wedding proposal, and her whole subplot with being good at wedding arrangement kind of suggests a woman who deeply wants a 'perfect wedding', on ''some'' level at least, but has managed to convince herself she hates the institution and everything it stands for. |
| 309 | * It seems a little strange that Chang is so accurate with his tranquilizer gun in "Contemporary Impressionists" until you remember that he spent much of Season 1 playing Paintball as a hobby, as mentioned in "Modern Warfare". |
| 310 | * In [[Recap/CommunityS3E13DigitalExplorationOfInteriorDesign Digital Exploration of Interior Design]], of ''course'' Healthy Food (Subway) hooks up with Filtered Water (Britta). |
| 311 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E14PillowsAndBlankets Pillows And Blankets]]: |
| 312 | ** The Dean tries so hard for the two forts to come to an agreement so that Greendale can hold the world record for biggest pillow or blanket fort, but failed. The irony is that they could have held the world record for biggest pillow fight. |
| 313 | ** The Chang-glourious Basterds, a parody of Inglourious Basterds, were all recruited at a Bar-Mitzvah. The real Inglourious Basterds were all Jewish-Americans. |
| 314 | ** Why is there a crazed pillow fight raging in the background of every still shot of Jeff texting on his phone? Because he's been going around delivering rabble-rousing speeches to all the armies; each one is a pillow fight he's just incited. It even matches the MO he displays in the one speech we see him deliver, where he's fired up and passionate while giving the speech only to immediately switch to disinterest and start playing with his phone once he's gotten everyone's blood up. |
| 315 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E15OriginsOfVampireMythology Origins of Vampire Mythology]]: |
| 316 | ** Aside from a subplot where Troy and Abed are trying to watch ''Film/{{Blade}}'' without interruption, there's not actually much to do with vampires in this episode... until you remember that the classic vampire subtext is of a mysterious man who has a powerful and all-consuming allure to women (usually metaphorically standing in for sex) despite being bad news for them, and who will, if they are allowed to sate their desires with him, ultimately lead them to ruin -- i.e. Blade. And Jeff spends the entire episode trying to figure out where this allure is somehow coming from. Hence '''origins''' of a '''vampire's''' (Blade's) '''mythology''' (sex appeal). |
| 317 | ** Britta spends the episode acting like a vampire/werewolf. It wouldn't be the first time an unwilling vampire with an uncontrollable thirst for blood (or for Blade) has locked themselves in a room, asking their closest friends to never let them out until the hunger (for Blade) is over (when his carnival leaves). She even tries the often used trick of betraying friends trust to get out of the room or get what wants. |
| 318 | ** Troy seems notably disinterested and reluctant to help Britta with her problems throughout the episode and would rather watch ''Film/{{Blade}}'', which makes him seem a bit callous and uncaring. Except, it's clearly established that Troy at the very least has a bit of a crush on Britta, Britta's problems in the episode centre around an old boyfriend who she finds irresistible despite herself, and there are few things worse than having to put up with someone you're romantically interested in continually going on about someone else... |
| 319 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E16VirtualSystemsAnalysis Virtual Systems Analysis]]: |
| 320 | ** Abed's freak-out consists of him screaming and rubbing his head, and then collapsing on the floor in a fetal position. He's processing the idea of "empathy" in his simulations, deciding that no one would want him there, and finally locking himself in a locker. |
| 321 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E17BasicLupineUrology Basic Lupine Urology]]: |
| 322 | ** The ''Series/LawAndOrder''-based episode has the Latin name for wolf in the title. Urology is the study of, among other things, part of the male anatomy. The creator of the ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' franchise? Dick Wolf. |
| 323 | *** Urology is also the study of the urinary system--they're "[[StealthPun taking the piss]]" (i.e. imitatingly mocking) out of a Wolf (or at least the show he created). |
| 324 | ** One has to wonder why [[TooDumbToLive Star-Burns would build a meth lab in his trunk of all places]]. Then you remember that he was kicked out of introductory biology at the beginning of the year, and therefore has limited knowledge of how to actually make meth. Which also justifies in how it was so unstable, all it took was a rear end for a drastic explosion. As we see in the season finale, [[spoiler: he probably did it intentionally to make it easier to fake his death.]] |
| 325 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E18CourseListingUnavailable Course Listing Unavailable]]: |
| 326 | ** Annie urges the group to discuss "this really serious thing that happened". Pierce immediately retorts "Is it always about the Holocaust with you people?" It would seem cruel - even for Pierce - to lash out against the single person in the group who is most benevolent towards him with such an insensitive comment, unless you remember that when [[Recap/CommunityS2E16IntermediateDocumentaryFilmmaking Pierce gave Annie a tiara because she was his favorite,]] she offended him by assuming it contained "Holocaust diamonds". |
| 327 | ** Darkest timeline: |
| 328 | *** At the end, Troy lifts everyone's spirits when they're depressively musing that this could be 'the worst timeline' by pointing out that [[spoiler: despite having been expelled from Greendale]] "We're all alive and we're all fine!" Compare to the ''actual'' worst timeline from "[[Recap/CommunityS3E04RemedialChaosTheory Remedial Chaos Theory]]", where one of the members was dead, one had gone insane, two of them suffered serious and crippling injuries, one had succumbed to alcoholism and one had... [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking dyed a blue streak into her hair]]. |
| 329 | *** Adding to that, the worst timeline happened because he wasn't there to prevent the chaos that erupted while getting the pizza. Him being there after [[spoiler: the expulsion]] prevented another chaotic timeline. |
| 330 | *** It also goes to show why exactly the Troy-absent timeline was the darkest one. It wasn't just any tragedy that made it bad. It was the fact that the group was broken apart, by Pierce's death and Annie's absence. But as long as the group stayed together, their happiness would still be salvageable. |
| 331 | ** It's been pointed out that the group essentially goes through the five stages of grief -- only over their lost Biology 101 credit and it's repercussions, not their lost classmate: |
| 332 | *** Denial: The news that they're going to have to repeat Biology over summer causes Jeff to scream a BigNo. |
| 333 | *** Anger: The study group, upon delivering their eulogies, become consumed with anger and each instead delivers a rant about [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech how terrible Greendale is]], prompting a riot. |
| 334 | *** Bargaining: The group attempt to get out of trouble for the former by making a deal with the Dean to blame the whole thing on Chang. |
| 335 | *** Depression: [[spoiler: After Greendale expels them]], everyone glumly sits around the table at Troy, Abed and Annie's apartment, Annie and Shirley look like they're about to [[DrowningMySorrows start drowning their sorrows]], Britta and Jeff acknowledge they're the worst and Britta, when she goes to get the pizzas, looks like she's about to succumb to the charms of the creepy pizza guy. |
| 336 | *** Acceptance: After Troy and Abed deliver a speech about how, while things are bad, they're not nearly as bad as they could be, everyone cheers up a bit and begins eating the pizza companionably. |
| 337 | ** Why was Chang so chummy with the members of the Greendale College Board? In "[[Recap/CommunityS3E08DocumentaryFilmmakingRedux Documentary Filmmaking: Redux]]", upon viewing the Dean's commercial at least one of them was quite taken with him -- "he pops!" |
| 338 | ** Why did Starburns choose Abed to do his memorial video? Well apart from being Greendale's most well known filmmaker the two must've gotten along well during [[Recap/CommunityWebisodes The Spanish Video Assignment]] they did together. Also, Starburns served as editor of Abed's film in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E05MessianicMythsAndAncientPeoples Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples]]". |
| 339 | ** The video tribute to Starburns in the closing credit tag features a rocking song stating "He will never die." At first, this could be interpreted as him living on in people's memories, but it later proves to be subtle foreshadowing that [[spoiler: Starburns faked his death.]] |
| 340 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E19CurriculumUnavailable Curriculum Unavailable]]: |
| 341 | ** In the 'Greendale asylum' sections, Annie is pretty much dressed in the 'psychiatric hospital' equivalent of what she is usually seen to wear anyway -- a cardigan and a dress. |
| 342 | ** There are more [[CallBack Call Backs]] to the first ClipShow than one might think. First off, one clip in the first one shows the group in [[{{Foreshadowing}} an asylum]]. Two, Jeff notes that he thinks the universe is making them into a super-group. By "Curriculum Unavailable", [[TrueCompanions they are one]]. |
| 343 | ** When the group are attempting to convince Dr. Heidi that Abed is perfectly sane, Jeff suggests that Abed is the most sane one of the study group, which prompts the other members of the group to backtrack a little bit. Not only is this a CallBack to "Horror Fiction In Seven Spooky Steps!" -- where according to the psych tests Abed was the most sane member of the group -- but over the course of Season 3 both Abed and Jeff have been gradually deconstructed with regards to the various issues that they face; psych test aside, Abed's clearly not the sanest member of the group, and Jeff clearly isn't the best judge of who's sane and who isn't. |
| 344 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E20DigitalEstatePlanning Digital Estate Planning]]: |
| 345 | ** Cornelius designed the video game after Pierce suggested that they invest in video games, citing that while moist towelettes are still being sold in stores, "arcade after arcade closes!" At first, this just looks like Cornelius being [[ItWillNeverCatchOn stubborn and set in his ways]] in light of video games now being a multi-billion dollar industry -- however, Pierce made his initial suggestion in the early 1980s, right before UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 completely decimated the industry in North America. In this at least Cornelius [[JerkassHasAPoint had a point]] -- if they'd made the switch then Hawthorne Industries would have probably been completely wiped out in the fallout. |
| 346 | ** The game was designed by an obvious racist, and Troy, out of all the players, has the best jump ability and uses it in lieu of walking. "Some people are just natural jumpers." |
| 347 | ** Each of the in-game avatars of the characters generated from their photographs has a subtly different skin colour, even those members who have more-or-less similar skin tones in real life ... as is fitting for a game designed on the orders and specifications of a man so obsessively racist he micro-categorises the groups of people he's racist towards. |
| 348 | ** Cornelius' racism may have affected the players on a subliminal level. Gilbert's first action in the game is to craft a spear and chuck it at the study group and the entire fracas in the blacksmith's shop occurs because [[AllJewsAreCheapskates Annie finds the weapons too expensive and tries to get one for free.]] |
| 349 | ** The game was designed for competition instead of cooperation, so of course there's no hug button. |
| 350 | ** When Gilbert encounters the study group in the village, he reveals he's been level grinding while the others weren't looking. Essentially, he's been following LetsPlay standard practice. |
| 351 | ** Abed helps take down Cornelius Hawthorne using the babies he produces with his in-game, white, wife. In other words, he helps defeat a racist by engaging in what the racist considers to be miscegenation. |
| 352 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E22IntroductionToFinality Introduction to Finality]]: |
| 353 | ** Chang's rise to BigBad and Star Burns' death were all omens of Evil Abed's appearance, as the timeline grew darker. Why was Star Burns seen alive at the very end of the season finale? Because the timeline had been un-darkened when Jeff's speech defeated Evil Abed. |
| 354 | ** Ted [[spoiler:supposedly dying from a shark attack]] actually makes sense--swimming with a hole in your hand puts you at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to speed. |
| 355 | ** Troy is prophesied by his air conditioning repair school to be one who will not only repair air conditioners, [[MessianicArchetype but also the people around them]]. And this is exactly what he does with the study group. It is repeatedly demonstrated that without his influence, the group falls apart. [[spoiler: And he does the same thing with the air conditioning repair school itself. Discovering the murder of the vice dean, and making them stop being so nutty and actually just call the police and turn it into a normal school.]] |
| 356 | ** Either knowingly or not, Evil!Abed is targeting the other members of the study group in order of how affected they are by Troy's absence or when they are otherwise at a point vulnerable to being replaced by their 'dark' selves. He takes over Abed first because Abed has been reduced to such a low point by Troy's absence that he hasn't left the apartment since Troy moved out and is, for the first time ever, beginning to be genuinely afraid that there is something wrong with him and that he needs some kind of therapy. After Abed himself, Britta [[ShipTease for numerous reasons]] is clearly the most visibly affected by Troy's absence and is the one who is vocally missing him the most; she is also Evil!Abed's first target. He then goes to target Jeff with the bone-saw at exactly the moment where Jeff has been confronted with his moral dilemma of either sacrificing his job to help Shirley or sacrificing his friendship with Shirley (and the others) by stabbing her in the back to save his job, thus putting him to the brink of despair either way; it's only because [[Funny/{{Community}} the bone-saw cord isn't long enough]] and Shirley at that moment tells him that it's okay for him to put his job first that Jeff is pulled back from the brink, has his epiphany that he values his friends more than his old life, and is able to recover. |
| 357 | ** Aside from the 'Darkest Timeline' stuff, Evil!Abed is essentially the manifestation of Abed's fear of actually recognising and addressing his issues and maturing to a point to where he is less reliant on pop culture and more reliant on other people. Notice how, in "Introduction to Finality", his dismissal of Britta's therapy is not based on her qualifications or skill as a therapist (a more reasonable point of dismissal) but because she doesn't know who the X-Men are. |
| 358 | * Season Three In General: |
| 359 | ** Greendale: |
| 360 | *** A common complaint about season 3 is that there's not enough Greendale in the episodes and not enough shown of the Biology class. But when you think about what Harmon has described the characters' journey as. During Spanish, they're beginning to understand each other and grow as a group. During Anthropology, they've cemented their trust as a friends and as a study group moreover that (notice that Pierce is on the dangling end of the former, but his place in the group wasn't challenged until the finale). During Biology, well, they're studying life. They're each discovering their lives out of Greendale, Abed moves out of the dorm, Shirley starts her business, Britta chooses her major, they do get kicked out in an unfortunate example, but in the end they aren't ready to let go of Greendale and vice versa. Also notice how they still are together even 2 months after they got kicked out. They're more than a study group, they truly are a community. In season 4, they'll finally come full circle and be able to let Greendale go and head back to their normal lives, having changed. |
| 361 | *** There's also another reason. In the first two years, the study group's classes were conducted by a psychotic power-crazed bully and an incompetent drunk respectively, neither of whom knew the first thing about what they were supposed to be teaching. In other words, ample opportunity for wacky hijinks. The third year, however, saw them being taught by a sensible, knowledgable and intelligent man who looked dimly upon any hint of wacky hijinks... meaning that the classes were probably carefully planned and run. Meaning that, for a sitcom, there probably wasn't a lot to see anyway. Meaning that the characters -- and audience -- would have to look elsewhere for wacky hijinks anyway. |
| 362 | ** Abed keeps making Science Fiction references to solve problems like with the U.N competition or the Alternate Timelines this season when he hadn't before is because he started watching JustForFun/InspectorSpacetime. |
| 363 | ** Vice-Dean Laybourne has something of a mini-character arc throughout the third season as represented by his hair. At the beginning of the series, he is all-powerful, dominant and arrogant, striding over Greendale like a colossus and effortlessly acquiring what he wants through dominating the Dean -- as represented by his clean-shaven, short-haired appearance. Then, he encounters Troy, who is not only a greater repairman than he will ever be but who rejects his authority and overtures. Cue something of a [[HollywoodMidLifeCrisis life crisis]] as his authority and belief in himself as the greatest repairman is threatened, as represented by numerous attempts to cajole, bully or manipulate Troy into joining the AC Repair School -- and by his growing a beard and an ill-advised ponytail in the middle of the series. Then, once Troy joins the school, Laybourne has what he wants, but realizes that it doesn't matter that he's not the greatest repairman, as he can instead mentor Troy into embracing his destiny. As represented not only by his seemingly more mellow and calm attitude in the final episode, but by the fact that he's cut off the ponytail and shaved away the beard, but has kept a moustache. |
| 364 | [[/folder]] |
| 365 | |
| 366 | [[folder: '''Season 4''']] |
| 367 | * [[Recap/CommunityS4E01History101 History 101]]: |
| 368 | ** Britta suggests that Abed envision a babbling brook as his 'happy place', but when we see it, it's a multi-camera sitcom. Abed informs her that he started with the babbling brook but overlaid it with elements from his own life. The babbling brook is still there in some small way, however -- it's become the sitcom's laugh track. |
| 369 | ** At the end, we discover Chang suffering from amnesia and going by the name Kevin. [[Recap/CommunityS2E06Epidemiology "Epidemiology"]] had the entire cast get amnesia and ended with an answering machine message for guys named Kevin. |
| 370 | ** The Dean moving into a new apartment (that [[BlatantLies coincidentally]] is next to Jeff's). In "The First Chang Dynasty", he asks if anyone has been paying his rent while he was Chang's prisoner... and that clearly wasn't the case, so he was evicted. |
| 371 | ** Abed's happy place being a sitcom version of reality combines his control freak nature with the lessons he learned and development from season 3. Where by the end of Season 3 Annie had taught him sympathy, and Jeff's friendship speech both played rolls in helping him realize that he can't control the people around him, his happy place is a world he can control; when the world around him is changing, he retreats to where it hasn't changed. He develops further when [[spoiler:the changes start to seep into his happy place after all, and he makes up Jeff's speech in his head to save himself from retreating further and to get used to his changes.]] |
| 372 | ** There is also another aspect. Happy place Jeff is starting his speech exactly when Jeff in reality is about to come to the others to help them snap Abed out of it, giving up his chance to get a spot in the history course. Abed is still aware of what his happening around him while he is in his happy place. Seeing Jeff do this, reminded Abed that while the situation around him might change, his friends are still the same, so Abed reacts to this by envisioning a speech Jeff would make. |
| 373 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS4E03ConventionsOfSpaceAndTime Conventions of Space and Time]]," Abed tells Toby about how Inspectors need their Constables and how the combination of both can make the world better. Part of this is Abed giving a short "Winger Speech." While obviously, a reference to Abed and Troy/The Study Group's relationship, it also parallels the relationship between Jeff and the study group. Jeff, a selfish individual who sees himself as better than everyone else, has been developing beyond that characterization due to his relationship with the group. |
| 374 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS4E04AlternativeHistoryOfTheGermanInvasion Alternative History Of The German Invasion]]," the group gets called out for it's selfishness in hogging the study room, similarly to how other characters have expressed resentment for how they tend to make everything about themselves in previous episodes. The mob scene bothered me, though, because it implies that the whole school sees them as terrible people, overlooking all the ways that the group actually helped the school. Everyone enjoyed Troy and Abed's blanket/pillow forts (at least until the war), Pierce saved the school during the second paintball fight, Jeff and Annie got the victory for the school back in the season one debate, and even Shirley's pregnancy seems to have saved the class from having their easy A taken in Anthropology. Then, it occurred to me: All of the other students feel like they're the stars of their own shows. Of course they're jealous and upset with the study group seeming to put themselves above everyone else. In the minds of the other students, the protagonists of this show aren't protagonists. They're rivals. |
| 375 | ** Evidence of this can be seen in "Recap/CommunityS2E22AppliedAnthropologyAndCulinaryArts": |
| 376 | --->'''Fat Neil''': "We came so close to having one class that wasn't all about them." |
| 377 | ** Some have pointed out that Neil is among the protesters despite the study group going to great lengths to convince him not to commit suicide. But look back at "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons". It wasn't the group's intervention that convinced him not to do it. It was Pierce lashing out at the group for excluding him and Neil realizing he wasn't alone in being excluded. He's joined the protesters to protest their treatment of Pierce. |
| 378 | * When Jeff reveals the scar on his side in "[[Recap/CommunityS4E05CooperativeEscapismInFamilialRelations Cooperative Escapism In Familial Relations]]" and claims it's from a self- injury to fake an appendectomy, it's the injury Britta treated in "[[Recap/CommunityS1E23ModernWarfare Modern Warfare]]" right before they had sex on the table. |
| 379 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS4E08HerstoryOfDance Herstory of Dance]]," it's strange that, after "leaving" the dance(s), Rachel would just show back up at the end. How would Abed find her because, presumably, she'd have left campus? Well, while she might've been genuinely hurt, she was still being "meta." She was helping Abed fulfill the public declaration of love trope mentioned earlier in the episode. So, she couldn't leave without subverting it. |
| 380 | * There's been some issues over over Annie's secret in [[Recap/CommunityS4E09IntroToFeltSurrogacy Intro to Felt Surrogacy]], mostly because of the dishonesty of it. It's more understandable when you take into context Annie's desire to forget morals in order to get an A. She nearly screwed Todd over in Basic Lupine Urology, not to mention resorting to Adderall in high school. |
| 381 | * “[[Recap/CommunityS4E11BasicHumanAnatomy Basic Human Anatomy]], but it relates to the show as a whole. It seems unlikely that Jeff would be the person following Abed!Troy, even with his justification of trying to get the assignment done. Jeff and Troy's story arc together has focused largely on Troy looking for acceptance from Jeff. Earlier, this seemed to be about Jeff being this [[BigBrotherWorship Cool Big Brother]] type of character. But, even then, Jeff was a Bad Man, (at least in Troy's mind) teaching Troy how to grow up from being a boy. Throughout the show, though, Jeff has become much better. He's still bad, in many ways, but it's almost as though it's only because that's what's most comfortable for him. But he's been steadily working towards being a Good Man, despite himself. Troy, meanwhile, has pretty much always been recognized as a Good Boy, but has struggled with maturity in varying ways. He needs help and wants to become a Man. And, as exhibited in this episode, Jeff is still showing him what that means, maturing both into better people. Their interactions in this episode exemplify how Jeff has accepted his mentoring role towards Troy. |
| 382 | * [[Recap/CommunityS4E13AdvancedIntroductionToFinality Advanced Introduction to Finality]]: |
| 383 | ** Why was Jeff so hung up about graduating? He ''[[OpeningShoutOut counted seven reasons he should stay]]''. |
| 384 | ** The Darkest Timeline and the Evil Study Group as they appear are notably different in several ways to how they appeared in season three of the show. This, of course, is because this time Jeff is imagining / conjuring up the Darkest Timeline instead of Abed; he's heard the basic details before from when Abed has talked about it in the past, but is piecing together the details he doesn't know from his own understanding of his friends and what Abed's talked about. |
| 385 | ** Similarly, why's Evil!Jeff the leader now instead of Evil!Abed, when last time we saw him Evil!Jeff was openly dismissive of the whole concept of evil timelines? Because Jeff is still the guy who thinks he should be in charge of the group; he can't conceive a scenario where Abed is the leader instead of him. |
| 386 | ** It's also because Evil!Abed is much like Mirror!Spock from ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]''. The Darkest Timeline is obviously riffing on the Star Trek concept of the Mirror Universe, right down to the goatees, and as Abed is TheSpock of the study group, Evil!Abed is the Mirror!Spock of the evil study group. As revealed on [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]], Mirror!Spock eventually [[spoiler:underwent a HeelFaceTurn and attempted to set the Mirror Universe to rights]], which is also what happened to Evil!Abed. |
| 387 | ** And why is [[spoiler: Darkest Timeline Pierce]] alive when [[spoiler: his death caused the darkest timeline]] to be? Because this version is taking place in Jeff's mind and Jeff thinks [[spoiler:Pierce faking his death]] is the sort of thing he'd do. |
| 388 | ** The season finale is called "Advanced Introduction to Finality" - Compare the prior season's finale being titled "Introduction to Finality" & merely provided closure to the season's events, "Advanced..." sees the Study Group starting to reach the end of their time at Greendale with Jeff [[spoiler:and Pierce]] graduating. |
| 389 | ** In "[[Recap/CommunityS4E01History101 History 101]]" it's stated that 'History of Ice Cream' is the only history class that Greendale is offering, and the Dean only adds an actual history class after it's made clear that he has to have one on his curriculum. Since Cornwallis had to be hired specifically to teach the class & he doesn't teach his first class until after Halloween, that's over two months of class time lost and subsequently explains why the class doesn't conclude until after Christmas, when most '101' classes taken in the Fall Semester would end. |
| 390 | ** Why do Abed and Britta raise their hands over who will miss Jeff most? Their majors. Jeff is a psychologist's goldmine and Britta could easily base her thesis on Jeff's narcissism. As for Abed, if he still does his show ''The Community College Chronicles'', he just lost his protagonist, making it harder to write. |
| 391 | ** The "Good" Study Group makes short work of their Darkest Timeline counterparts. This is more understandable when you remember that this is taking place in Jeff's mind and think back to his story in "Horror Fiction In Seven Spooky Steps". There, Jeff's story immediately cut to the conclusion with Jeff easily talking Chang out of killing them and he applied a similarly easy resolution here. |
| 392 | [[/folder]] |
| 393 | |
| 394 | [[folder: '''Season 5''']] |
| 395 | * [[Recap/CommunityS5E01Repilot Repilot]]: |
| 396 | ** Shirley's Sandwiches: |
| 397 | *** At first, it seems like Shirley's Sandwiches failed because Shirley wasn't business savvy enough due to Greendale's poor education. Even though in Season 3, she actually did show competence at running a business. This could simply be because of the economy or that her self-acquired business knowledge had its limits. OR it could be that Pierce left and she lost her business partner. Perhaps he was more important to the business' survival than people realized. |
| 398 | *** OR it could be that, due to the "Gas Leak Year" of Season 4, she wasn't actually paying very much attention to her business. OR, the shop was always failing, but Pierce's bottomless pockets would've kept it afloat and, with him gone, Shirley (as stated) had to pump her own family's money into the failing business, which would be just as devastating as using all of the family's income to fuel her previous alcoholism. |
| 399 | ** The season premiere mirrored the pilot in several ways. Jeff came to Greendale in both episodes because his law career was ruined. In the pilot, Jeff (unintentionally) united the group (after Abed invited them all) under the false pretense of a study group when he was actually just trying to hook up with Britta. This time, he (unintentionally) reunited the group (after Abed invited them all) under the false pretense that they were saving Greendale when he was actually meaning to sue it. Lampshaded by Abed as he pointed out that Jeff brought them together and Jeff replied that he did it with lies. But Abed then pointed out that what he did was above lying, it was showing them the right truth. And just like how in the pilot they became an actual study group, the gang actually did try to save Greendale (Jeff told the Dean to get his crap together, he became a professor and the gang created a teacher-student union in order to improve the school). |
| 400 | ** Troy: |
| 401 | *** In a funny way, it makes sense that Troy would be the first to agree to help Jeff sue Greendale since his plan for the future was to sue Abed when he got rich. |
| 402 | *** Both this and his line about being "much sadder than the rest of you ... I'll figure out why, later" foreshadow/lampshade his leaving the show this season. |
| 403 | *** Same reasoning goes behind his outburst upon hearing Zack Braff left the ReTool season of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''. |
| 404 | ** Troy being the only member of the group whose life hasn't fallen apart makes sense. He's from the AC Repair school, the only part of Greendale that actually teaches students skills and has a high job placement rate |
| 405 | ** Abed's genre savviness comes into play very often with him able to predict what's going to happen based on the tropes he sees developing. So, what happens when he consciously [[DefiedTrope defies]] one? (Specifically, Jeff's FiveFiveFive number.) He ends up causing disaster (tanking Jeff's independent law office). |
| 406 | * [[Recap/CommunityS5E03BasicInterglutealNumismatics Basic Intergluteal Numismatics]]: |
| 407 | ** The episode has been criticised for having [[spoiler:Pierce]]'s death come out of nowhere towards the end of the episode, due to it's abruptness - that was the point. Death ''is'' abrupt. |
| 408 | ** The episode is also filmed in such a way to provoke a moody, grim atmosphere, similar to a serial killer movie -- which is at odds with the decidedly low-key exploits of the Ass-Crack Bandit. It seems like just another ''Community'' trick of taking something relatively small and blowing it up to SeriousBusiness levels... until the characters receive news of death. And then you realise that the dark atmosphere the show was creating was ''never'' about the Ass-Crack Bandit; it was ultimately building to the news of the death of someone the characters loved. The Ass-Crack Bandit was just a misdirection all along. |
| 409 | ** Jeff & Hickey are the only two who realise the lunacy of treating the Ass Crack Bandit like a serial killer. Jeff's formerly an AmoralAttorney who defended people for far worse crimes than putting a coin down someone's crack, and Hickey's a former forensic investigator who dealt with ''actual'' serial killers, so naturally they would be only ones to realise how dumb the situation is. Also note that Jeff only gets involved after Troy falls victim to the Bandit - once again, he's spurred into action by someone targeting a member of the Study Group, and the idea that it might be a teacher behind the crimes. |
| 410 | ** Professor Duncan returning to Greendale after being absent for two years provides a subtle explanation for Britta's incompetence as a psych major - Whilst Duncan's not exactly the most competent psychologist himself, it's not exactly out of character for Greendale to just put a random teacher in charge of his classes, much like Duncan himself being made the Anthropology professor despite admittedly knowing nothing on the subject. |
| 411 | * [[Recap/CommunityS5E04CooperativePolygraphy Cooperative Polygraphy]]: |
| 412 | ** When we learn that Pierce's mother wanted a girl, this explains why his middle name is Anastasia. |
| 413 | ** Way back in Season 2's "[[Recap/CommunityS2E12AsianPopulationStudies Asian Population Studies]]", Pierce meets Shirley's ex-husband Andre for the first time. He, being the old-school racist he is, assumes that he's a busboy and says "I'm finished." Andre says, "No, I think you've got about two good years left." Fast forward to "[[Recap/CommunityS5E04CooperativePolygraphy Cooperative Polygraphy]]" in Season 5 and he's only off by about a few months. |
| 414 | ** Pierce cheating on his worldwide quest by staying at a nearby island the whole year explains how he was [[Recap/CommunityS1E19BeginnerPottery absolutely clueless when he took a sailing class]]. Also, his regret on not finishing the quest also helps explain why he was the first one to sign up for the class. |
| 415 | ** The season opener had a hologram of [[spoiler: Pierce]] in an TheObiWannabe moment. Makes a lot more sense now that he's revealed to be dead. |
| 416 | ** Everyone but Jeff and Abed got a heartwarming compliment at the end, but those two were insulted instead. Jeff and Pierce butted heads all the time, so it makes sense that Pierce wouldn't have anything nice to say to Jeff even at his friendliest. As for Abed, he was so unaffected by other people's opinions on him that he wasn't put off by Pierce's insensitivity. Not only would Pierce have realized that Abed did not have any use for his reassurance, but delivering one last blunt remark to be matter-of-factly accepted was arguably the best way to celebrate their friendship. Given their more antagonistic interactions, it's also likely that Pierce found that to be the best way of showing his affection for Jeff. Notably, despite twisting the gift into one last gay joke, Pierce does leave him a very nice bottle of Scotch, something that would be right in Jeff's wheelhouse. |
| 417 | * [[Recap/CommunityS5E05GeothermalEscapism Geothermal Escapism]]: |
| 418 | ** ''Buzz'' Hickey is "killed" by Britta when she pushes him into the "lava". In earlier episodes, Britta is referred to as a "buzzkill". |
| 419 | ** Hickey referring to ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' by name might seem odd at first, but considering he has a son "getting gay married," it's more than likely that he either took his son to see it when it was first released or his son had it on VHS. |
| 420 | ** Troy asks if he's better in bed than Jeff and Britta answers that she's yet to meet anyone worse. This makes total sense, since Jeff is narcissistic and self centered. In the previous episode he admits he'd rather see himself naked than the women he sleeps with, so he'd probably make the sex all about him. Troy, on the other hand, has a much more open personality, and he claims (or at least Abed as him claims, and we can be fairly trusting on his knowledge of Troy.) that he's more turned on by women in pajamas than in lingerie because he wants to know they're comfortable. Troy logically would make the sex about the girl, and thus would be a much better lover than Jeff. |
| 421 | ** Britta's comment "You have gods?" takes on another level when you remember she's an atheist. |
| 422 | * The end of Chang's storyline in [[Recap/CommunityS5E07BondageAndBetaMaleSexuality Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality]] calls into question whether or not Chang actually went to the play that night. However, if you think back on it, it's obvious he ''couldn't'' go, as he's supposed to still be under house arrest. |
| 423 | * In [[Recap/CommunityS5E08AppDevelopmentAndCondiments App Development And Condiments]], Koogler seems like an example of RememberTheNewGuy, but his first appearance is after the 6-day {{Timeskip}}. Most likely, everyone acts like they know him because they learned who he was offscreen. |
| 424 | * At the end of "[[Recap/CommunityS5E10AdvancedAdvancedDungeonsAndDragons Advanced Advanced Dungeons And Dragons]]", the study group viciously turns on each other when their two parties are reunited. Why does this happen? Because Shirley was asked to leave the game after her character was killed. The group lost their moral compass. |
| 425 | * [[Recap/CommunityS5E11GIJeff G.I. Jeff]]: |
| 426 | ** Chang's character was named "Overkill" which was the name of an actual Franchise/GIJoe character. At first, it seems like a minor case of RedundantParody on the part of the writers, until you remember that the G.I. Joe character Overkill was introduced in 1992. This provides both an in-universe and out-of-universe explanation for the name. Out-of-universe, the character was featured in the Dic cartoon while the episode focuses on the Sunbow cartoon. In-universe, the entire fantasy is [[spoiler: a coma dream of Jeff's based on his affection for the G.I. Joe toys he used to play with and Overkill was introduced after he outgrew them.]] |
| 427 | ** The episode constantly poked fun of the G.I. Joe cartoon. But it was more than just being an AffectionateParody. It was to show how as much as Jeff wanted to regress to his inner child, he was simply too grown up to belong in such a universe. As an adult, he saw all the things wrong in this childlike universe. Which partly lead to him abandoning it (although the real deal breaker was the fact that there was no nudity or alcohol in that universe either). |
| 428 | ** Jeff's G.I.Joe code name is "Wingman" which seems to be based on his actual last name, Winger. Given that the other characters have code names based on their personalities, this seems out of place until you realize that Jeff puts as little effort as possible into everything. So, he didn't put a lot of effort into his code name either. |
| 429 | ** Why is shooting down a parachuting Destro the specific thing that gets Wingman into trouble and thus starting the events of the episode? Because that action is illegal both in the cartoon and the real world, which helps Jeff begin the bridge the gap between the two and finally wake up. |
| 430 | * [[Recap/CommunityS5E13BasicSandwich Basic Sandwich]]: Abed is even more meta than usual in this episode, but as he says, when things start change, people seek refuge in what's safe. He's talking about Jeff and Britta's ridiculous plan to [[spoiler:get married]], but he of course turns to meta commentary and tv. |
| 431 | [[/folder]] |
| 432 | |
| 433 | [[folder: '''Season 6''']] |
| 434 | * A bit of Fridge-Tearjerker. During this season, Jeff appears to be growing out his beard, whilst in previous seasons he always had it trimmed. If one recalls [[Recap/CommunituS4E07EconomicsofMarineBiology Economics of Marine Biology]] when Pierce took Jeff to an old fashioned barber, then it would be well remembered that it was one of the times that Jeff and Pierce most closely bonded and at the time Jeff was introduced to the barber's practice of shaving his customer's beards for them, and Jeff calls himself a fool for doing it himself for so long. Maybe Jeff has decided to grow his beard out because not only does he prefer having someone do it for him now, but because in doing so it would remind him of the late Pierce. Whilst the two may have been at odds for a long time, there's no denying the two saw each other as friends. |
| 435 | * Probably debatable, but the fact that in "[[Recap/CommunityS6E01Ladders Ladders]]", the group of fake cops Frankie brings over to bust the speakeasy happens to include one guy dressed as a carrot (because "the costume shop ran out") can be construed as some sort of [[Characters/DiscworldCityWatch stealth reference]]. That's how this troper chooses to read it, anyway. |
| 436 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS6E04QueerStudiesandAdvancedWaxing Queer Studies and Advanced Waxing]]", The reason Abed's so invested in keeping the bird nest where it is is because the mother won't come back. We see in Season 2 just how much Abed's mother meant to him. |
| 437 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS6E07AdvancedSafetyFeatures Advanced Safety Features]]," it's stated that the Dean is a "Level-7 Susceptible" because of his susceptibility to buying virtually anything he sees. Britta realizes that she's one too when it comes to Rick (and maybe some other guys, like Blade). But, while the show never actually states it, it does imply that Rick is one, too. His addiction is towards selling stuff and shilling for corporations, which, as he claimed, gives him a massive rush of feeling. |
| 438 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS6E08IntroToRecycledCinema Intro to Recycled Cinema]]," Jeff claims Creator/ChrisPratt is now the guy he's most jealous of. In ''Film/TheFiveYearEngagement'', Chris Pratt's character had sex with the female lead's sister, played by Creator/AlisonBrie. |
| 439 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS6E11ModernEspionage Modern Espionage]]", they all use Batman code names. Britta is Clooney, who is often considered the worst Batman. |
| 440 | * [[Recap/CommunityS6E13EmotionalConsequencesOfBroadcastTelevision Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television]]: |
| 441 | ** Annie's SuspiciouslySpecificDenial implies that she was the Ass-Crack Bandit. There were a few hints of this in "[[Recap/CommunityS5E03BasicInterglutealNumismatics Basic Intergluteal Numismatics]]:" |
| 442 | *** Annie is the one who receives the warning from the Ass-Crack Bandit. Not only is the warning conveniently included in her crime-class project, but there's really no reason to send the warning to her instead of the Dean. |
| 443 | *** Duncan gets attacked shortly after trolling Annie by implying he's the bandit. Annie has been shown to have a vengeful side. |
| 444 | *** The entire plan--utilizing a voice recorder bounced through Greendale's network so it's impossible to trace--is overly complicated, exactly the kind of thing Annie likes. Her forensic classes would also teach her how to avoid leaving behind any evidence. |
| 445 | *** What's the end result of the Bandit's rampage? [[ShipTease Annie gets to spend a lot of time with Jeff]]. Note that this was the episode where the Dean pointed out that they're using the campus events to spend time with each other. |
| 446 | ** Jeff has often been presented as the TeamDad of the Greendale Seven throughout the show's run, and on a few of those occasions, Britta has additionally been portrayed as a TeamMom. In the finale, they end up as the only original members of the group still at Greendale. If one looks at the school as the group's home, this makes the two of them platonic empty nesters. |
| 447 | *** This actually brings things back [[BookEnds full circle]] considering how the study group was formed, as Jeff initially started it to get closer to Britta. |
| 448 | ** This is the GrandFinale and the tag shows a commercial for a board game based on the show being played by a family. The son presents a special item, the script for the very commercial they're in. The father then berates the son for proving they don't actually exist. Since this is the final episode, it could be inferred that the "stupid child" [[note]] father's words [[/note]] just unraveled the fabric of the show's universe. |
| 449 | ** Every time someone makes a pitch, a heavily truncated version of the intro plays. Which part of the lyrics are sung in this intro? "I can't count the reasons I should stay." Britta's pitch also include the lyrics "One by one, they all just fade away." Wholly appropriate, since the pitches are the cast's way of coping with their "final season." |
| 450 | [[/folder]] |
| 451 | |
| 452 | [[folder: '''General''']] |
| 453 | * The study group are stereotypes / [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructions]] of characters from different sitcoms. |
| 454 | ** Jeff is from a work-com like ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'' but his Jim-like mischievous behavior and the stuff that makes him seem cool in the workplace just doesn't work in the real world, and just makes him look like an uncaring {{Jerkass}}. |
| 455 | ** Britta is from chick sitcoms. Women from those shows are idealized as knowing all the answers but in the real world these assumptions are arrogant and misplaced. |
| 456 | ** Annie is the overachiever from high school sitcoms but her loyalty to her school doesn't pay off and it makes her bitter. Her obsessive overachiever nature also ends with a drug addiction that spirals out of control and ruins her ambitions. |
| 457 | ** Troy & Abed are what would happen to the heroes of Disney or Nickelodeon kid sitcoms if they grow up. |
| 458 | ** Shirley would fit great in a family sitcom except her self-righteous, religious, prejudiced TeamMom behavior is often negative in this diverse group. |
| 459 | ** Pierce is from a sitcom from the past that everyone liked but his humor is either outdated or prejudiced by today's standards. |
| 460 | ** It's perhaps for this reason Abed could predict their actions even when the group was just starting out. He can run through the scenarios because he's seen these scenarios, or is at least familiar enough with the archetypes to apply them to different situations. |
| 461 | * Shirley shares several similarities with ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' character Laverne, namely the fact that they're both devout Christians & a larger black woman. It's a fantastically meta StealthPun ShoutOut to both ''Scrubs'' & ''Series/LaverneAndShirley''. |
| 462 | * The paintball episodes are won by the main character of the season (Jeff, Pierce and [[spoiler:Abed]]). |
| 463 | * The class the study group takes each year represents the overall theme of the season it takes place in. |
| 464 | ** In season one, they take Spanish 101. At this point, they're all getting to know each other and learning how to exist within a loving, supportive group setting, something that was a foreign concept to them previously. They don't end up learning any Spanish, of course, but they learn the "language" of friendship nonetheless. |
| 465 | ** Season two = Anthropology, the study of human beings. This season involves the group learning more about each other, and about how their actions impact the other members of the group as well as the school at large. Many plots are driven by detailed character studies. Some examples: Pierce's descent into drug addiction and severe antisocial behavior as a result of the group excluding him, Abed's temporary psychosis when faced with spending Christmas alone and being reminded of his parents' callousness, and multiple episodes where trivial events bring much more serious issues within the group to the surface and the group is forced to confront them. |
| 466 | ** Season three was Biology, the study of life. Much of this season occurs outside of GCC, with many episodes following the group as they confront the "real world" outside of Greendale, which had by this point become their safe-haven. While the season barely involves biology as a subject at all, it does give the group a chance to learn about life in general, especially life after Greendale. |
| 467 | ** In season four, they take a history class. Much of the season (thus far at least) has been devoted to callbacks to previous episodes/jokes, making it somewhat of a study in the history of Community itself. |
| 468 | ** Season five sees a minor Main/{{Retool}} of the series after a less-than-well received fourth season that did not have Dan Harmon as showrunner. Dan Harmon came back on for season five and within the show the group joins once more, not as a Study Group, but as the Save Greendale Committee. As the characters are trying to redeem Greendale and prevent it from closing, the cast and crew are trying to save the show and prevent it from being cancelled. |
| 469 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityWebisodes Community Airing Someday]]", Annie identifies herself as "viewer & occasional co-host" of ''Troy & Abed in the Morning'', but ''Troy & Abed & Annie in the Morning'' was just her playing around by herself. But considering that in the third season, she lives with the two of them & we also see Troy & Abed "filming" the show in the apartment a number of times in the season, it's not unlikely that they've let her join in as a co-host from time to time or that she's taken part often enough that she's no longer a "guest" on the show. |
| 470 | * The significance of Jeff Winger's name. He's the guy who's always ''winging it''. |
| 471 | * Most of the caring and sensitive pieces of Jeff's personality are brought about by interactions with the female members of the group. Now remember that by his own admission, the only person he ever loved was his mother, and he was raised by her and her alone considering he had a [[DisappearedDad deadbeat father]]. Him being more emotionally comfortable with women stems from the fact that as a youth, the only person he could be emotionally comfortable with was female. |
| 472 | * Britta's feminism is actually quite sad, as from her actions and her own confessions, she is a person who possesses extreme amounts of self-loathing, dates scumbags because that's all she thinks she deserves, and is willing to demean herself for a man's approval. She is trapped by every psychological block feminism wishes to free women from. Her rocky relationship with other women might be more than their jealousy that she 'got boobs first', but rather her jealousy towards other women that have more self-confidence and are better feminists. Britta being a terrible example of everything she believes in or fights for is basically Britta in a nutshell. This might qualify as FridgeHorror... |
| 473 | * Creator/ChevyChase, [[Series/TheSoup Joel McHale]], Creator/AlisonBrie, [[Film/TheHangover Ken Jeong]], and [[Music/ChildishGambino Donald Glover]] are all somewhat famous individuals (and Gillian Jacobs, Jim Rash, and Yvette Nicole-Brown have had careers before 2009 too), and yet the extremely pop-culture savvy Abed [[CelebrityParadox not recognizing them]] seems like a bit of FridgeLogic. However, this can be explained if you understand the series as being from the point of view of Abed. Annie doesn't look exactly like Alison Brie, but Abed has psychologically cast Alison Brie as Annie. His entire world is a pastiche of actors from other works. Jeff Winger is a snarky bastard who may have a passing physical resemblance to Joel [=McHale=] so that's who he sees. As far as why he views himself as the relatively unknown Danny Pudi? Perhaps it's because there's not that many skinny half-Polish actors around and he saw the resemblance. |
| 474 | ** There's a much simpler explanation: Abed is established as being face blind, so of course he wouldn't recognize the resemblance. |
| 475 | * The show's IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming. Each episode is named like a college course, but while some are actual courses, others are simply something relevant to the episode with words like "Advanced" or "Intro to" added. This makes sense when you consider that the show is set in a college that lets you get degrees in things like "Advanced Breath Holding" or "Theoretical Phys Ed", so it's entirely possible that many of the latter are actual courses at Greendale. |
| 476 | ** As shown in Season 6, there are courses called Ladders and Magic Wands, so yes, pretty much anything goes. It also explains why Jeff was so easily able to make up the Conspiracy Theories course and initially get away with it. He likely would have got away with the fake course, if the Dean didn't have a special interest in the Study Group, and especially in Jeff. |
| 477 | * It's revealed in "Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism" that Jeff and Shirley are close to the same age, which makes them much older than the rest of the group barring Pierce. It helps to explain their somewhat odd friendship of, among other things, sharing gossip and spying on Britta's ex-boyfriends. They can relate to each other as part of the same peer group. |
| 478 | [[/folder]] |
| 479 | |
| 480 | [[WMG:FridgeHorror]] |
| 481 | |
| 482 | * In "[[Recap/CommunityS1E17PhysicalEducation Physical Education]]," Pierce makes the one-off joke that white!Abed is "like Abed, but employable!" Typical RacistGrandpa humor... until you realize that Pierce is a CEO who has probably hired (and not hired) a lot of people. How many Abeds has he turned away due to race? Technically that could be his father talking also, for all we know he never hired anyone. |
| 483 | * The current Glee club's reaction to cease and desist seems like nothing more than an over the top reaction, right? [[spoiler: Then we find out how Mr. Rad runs his glee club and what happened to that last bunch of members...]] |
| 484 | * Jeff's plan in [[Recap/CommunityS2E06Epidemiology Epidemiology]] was to leave everyone but him, Abed and Troy in the school. That means that Abed and Troy and the Dean (If he wasn't arrested for endangering the populace) would be the only survivors. |
| 485 | * [[Recap/CommunityS3E17BasicLupineUrology Basic Lupine Urology]]: [[spoiler: Starburns' faked death. He was building a meth-lab in the trunk of his car which exploded and "killed" him. Starburns turned out not to have died, but it's stated that it exploded when he was rear-ended -- which suggests that there was someone else driving behind him who was may have been actually caught in the blast and possibly killed.]] |
| 486 | * Just the sheer bits of emotional truths woven between dialogues that really show that the Study Group members are [[StepfordSnarker a lot more messed up than they seem to act most of the time]]. Make you really wonder why these people don't just break down crying already. |
| 487 | ** Jeff's father was an abusive alcoholic who eventually left the family, leaving Jeff with a lot of emotional scars. Additionally, he has seriously deep self-esteem, vanity and body image problems amongst other things. |
| 488 | ** Britta was taken advantage of at a young age, with no one, not even her controlling father standing up for her. Adding to the many insults and put-downs thrown out by the study group, other students, and even a priest. [[AllThereInTheManual "And on my eleventh birthday, an eager-handed man in a dinosaur costume whose side my father took when I told the owner of the restaurant."]] |
| 489 | ** Abed's father is cold, controlling, and distant towards him since his parents' divorce, blaming it on his son. He has a hard time to try and connect with other people, feeling alone and stuck in a metaphorical locker. He is so withdrawn he cannot allow himself to exist in his ''own ideal universe,'' and he constantly feels the need to scheme and change himself so that his friends won't abandon him. |
| 490 | ** Shirley used to be a happy, married mother, never thought about going to college and starting a business, until her husband left her, causing her to try and turn her life around while being a single mother and college student for the most of the series. She also used to have what seems to be a drinking problem. |
| 491 | ** Annie was driven by the pressure and stress to succeed that she ended up taking Adderall. Went to rehab against her parent's wishes (but ultimately for the better of her own health), and is currently estranged from her family. |
| 492 | ** Troy's parents overprotected him from the ideas and concepts of the adult world, despite him being out of high school. They left him unprepared, overly innocent, and naive. Furthermore, his parents are divorced and his father has pushed him out of the house because it is uncomfortable to have Troy there with his new girlfriend - who is Troy's age. |
| 493 | ** Pierce has spent his whole life trying to get any hint of appreciation, approval or affection from his prejudiced father, who has constantly emotionally abused him. Even to his dad's grave, he has never once gained any of that. |
| 494 | * The video game in [[Recap/CommunityS3E20DigitalEstatePlanning Digital Estate Planning]] was designed with the intention of bringing together Pierce and his seven closest friends, and getting them to turn on each other to fight for Pierce's inheritance. Given how clearly inept Pierce is at playing the game, he's ''very'' lucky the friends he ended up making and bringing along were as scrupulous and decent as the study group are. |
| 495 | * In [[Recap/CommunityS3E22IntroductionToFinality Introduction to Finality]], if Evil Abed is trying to turn the cast into their dark timeline counterparts, this means ''that at some point he would have tried to kill Pierce.'' Even worse, he would have orchestrated it where Annie would be the one to do it and thus go crazy from the guilt. Pretty much all of his efforts to turn them into their evil counterparts counts as this, considering how dark the 'worst timeline' ended up being. |
| 496 | * An offhand comment in "Digital Estate Planning" one way or another suggests some rather unhappy things about Abed's childhood: |
| 497 | -->'''Abed:''' Each baby has custom code, which means you can write a code which makes one baby tell another baby what to do; much like real children in a playground.\ |
| 498 | '''Annie:''' Oh, Abed, but --\ |
| 499 | '''Jeff:''' Annie, let's find the Tin Man's heart later. |
| 500 | * In "Cooperative Polygraphy", one of Annie's secrets that is revealed is that she secretly doped the other members of the study group in order to help them pass an anthropology final. Since Shirley was pregnant for much of this year, this leads to the unavoidable conclusion that Annie unwittingly or, worse, knowingly drugged a pregnant woman. Even worse, Annie's compulsive over-achieving aside, it would have been apparent that Duncan was not even trying to teach the class, and as such learning things would be unlikely to affect their grade. So she drugged the others ''for almost certainly no gain whatsoever''. |
| 501 | ** Almost assuredly knowingly, given that she did it in preparation for their final. |
| 502 | * In "Celebrity Pharmacology", when Pierce comments on the "rapist" in Annie's apartment building, Annie assures Pierce that "If he wanted to rape you, you'd be raped" with complete certainty. Annie... are you OK? |
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