Line #29 Recap/CommunityS1E19BeginnerPottery


1	[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beginner_pottery_6.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:330:Jeff violating the "zero-Ghost-tolerance" policy]]
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4	Jeff convinces Annie and Abed to enroll in a Pottery Class with him, but the plan for an easy A goes off the rails when Jeff becomes intensely envious of the talent of a fellow classmate. Meanwhile Pierce convinces the rest of the study group to join him in a week long sailing course taking place in the school parking lot.
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8	!!The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Beginner Pottery" provides examples of:
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10	* TheAce: Introducing Rich -- a doctor who hasn't lost a patient in five years and can make working bird fountains effortlessly in pottery class.
11	* AdrenalineMakeover: Shirley while acting as captain in the boating class, complete with hair pulled back in a ponytail and a hat.
12	* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Jeff has some character growth with this realization.
13	* BerserkButton:
14	** The pottery professor has long since had it with parodies of ''that'' scene from ''Film/Ghost1990'' in any permutation, and anyone singing the theme from the movie whilst in the class.
15	** The sailing professor seems to have a similar hot button over the "king of the world" scene from ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}''.
16	* BigNo: After Pierce gets "lost at sea".
17	* BrokenAce: Rich is hinted to be this with voiceover flashbacks of his mother at the end of the episode.
18	* CountryMatters: {{Averted\|Trope}} with Pierce telling Shirley, after she leaves him to fend for himself in the sea (parking lot) that now he knows what the C in "Captain" stands for -- crabapple.
19	* CosmicPlaything: Pierce.
20	* {{Determinator}}: Pierce, since birth. He got his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, both arms, and one ankle. The doctors even stopped delivering him. He's not going to let a little thing like drowning at sea in the middle of Colorado stop him.
21	-->'''Jeff:''' Good luck!\
22	'''Pierce:''' Don't need it! Never had it!
23	* DoomedMoralVictor: Invoked when Shirley becomes one of these when she captains her ship into a "storm" in order to save Pierce, stating she would rather be nice than strong. Her reward: Becoming an admiral in the eyes of the professor.
24	* EpicFail:
25	** Pierce's rowboat takes on water in a parking lot.
26	** Narrowly avoided by Jeff: he took on Pottery specifically because the class is incredibly easy and derives most of its credit just from people showing up. He still almost gets kicked out.
27	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Jeff, Abed, and Annie's attempts at making pottery sculptures. Annie actually manages to make a pretty decent bowl by the end, but the guys remain hopeless throughout.
28	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The pottery instructor spends a long moment describing the man-on-man versions of ''that'' scene from ''Film/Ghost1990'' he's seen students doing. Guess what nearly gets Jeff kicked out of the class around the episode's midpoint?
29	* HandsOnApproach: Banned in the pottery class, since it invariably turns into ''Ghost'' references.
30	* HarsherInHindsight: InUniverse, the defaced Creator/PatrickSwayze photo which was made before he died so it's not in bad taste.
31	* HehHehYouSaidX: The mark of a true seaman is not giggling at the word "[[FunWithHomophones seaman]]."
32	* HilariousOuttakes: Of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJb0AQOWSYk "Annie's vase" scene]]. After Danny and Alison both break, they use the opportunity to get a few double-entendres out of their system.
33	* InstantExpert: The source of Jeff's woes; he's naturally quite intelligent and therefore expects to always succeed on his first try. When he doesn't prove this and is badly lagging behind Rich, he goes a bit bananas.
34	* MundaneMadeAwesome: The sailing course becomes a parody of a high seas adventure.
35	* NauticalKnockout: This happens to Pierce in a boating class. Only since the college is nowhere near water, the boat is in the middle of the parking lot, yet the instructor insists that they act as if they were at sea, and Pierce is essentially left to die.
36	* TheNeedsOfTheMany: Why Shirley leaves Pierce to "drown" after he falls off the boat. {{Averted}} at the end, see ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight
37	* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: The pottery teacher has seen so many lame ''Film/Ghost1990'' reenactments that his single rule is no ''Film/Ghost1990'' reenactments on penalty of failure. It later turns out that the Boating teacher has the same problem with [[Film/Titanic1997 "I'm king of the world!"]]
38	* NoodleIncident: Chang come to class without a shirt on, saying he got robbed at the YMCA... again.
39	* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Shirley decides to save Pierce at the expense of her grade.
40	--> '''Shirley:''' Damn the storm; we're going after Pierce! Jump the halyard. Starburns, you get down there and you man the iron jenny[[note]]Nautical slang for any kind of mechanical engine. In this case, the motorized truck on which the boat was mounted.[[/note]]; there's a man overboard! ''That's an order!''\
41	'''Pierce:''' I'm gonna sink!\
42	'''Britta:''' I'm about to get the only A I will ever get, and Pierce isn't even dying.\
43	'''Pierce:''' bailing Save me!\
44	'''Britta:''' You don't have to do this.\
45	'''Shirley:''' I know, but I'd rather be kind and get stepped on once in a while than be a hardass and turn my back on a friend. Hoist the mains.\
46	''[[MundaneMadeAwesome They sail across the parking lot.]]''\
47	later\
48	'''Instructor:''' You just steered your boat into a storm. Any last words?\
49	'''Shirley:''' The sea may be cold and unforgiving, but I'm not. The ship may go down, but at least she'll go down with honor.
50	* SeriousBusiness: ''Everything'' that happens in the boating class. Especially Pierce "drowning" (twice).
51	* SomethingElseAlsoRises: When Jeff and Abed watch Annie [[http://qltyctrl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/chive3_wcbdr.gif form her penis-shaped sculpture]].
52	* StanfordPrisonExperiment: The sailing class becomes all too real when Pierce is abandoned to the high seas, while in the middle of the school's parking lot.
53	* StockShoutOuts: There's a reason for the zero-[[Film/Ghost1990 ghost]]-tolerance at pottery class.
54	* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: The pottery professor and the sailing instructor hate ''Film/Ghost1990'' and ''Film/Titanic1997'' which they believe mock their respective professions.
55	* TakeThat:
56	** Abed points out that Jeff is "Goldblum"-ing; cue Joel [=McHale=] doing an impressive rendition of Goldblum's neurotic over-acting.
57	** Abed refers to [[Series/ArrestedDevelopment voice-over]] as "kind of a crutch", shortly after ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' actor Tony Hale is introduced.
58	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: At the end of the episode, we get to hear Rich's inner voice. It's... dark.
59	* {{Troll}}: After getting kicked out of class, Jeff responds by singing the theme from ''Film/Ghost1990'', which had already been established as a BerserkButton of the teacher.
60	* WhatHaveIDone: Said by Troy ("What have we done?") when the group abandons Pierce in the parking lot.
61	* WorthyOpponent: The sailing teacher says this word for word as Shirley successfully captains the boat.
62	%%* YouSayTomato: Annie uses the "vaaz" pronunciation of "vase" (rather than "veis" or "veyz").
63	* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: Apparently, Rich's mother thinks that Rich should have been the one who died on that roller coaster ride instead of his brother.

Context Recap / CommunityS1E19BeginnerPottery