Line #2 Recap/CommunityS2E08CooperativeCalligraphy


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cooperative_calligraphy.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Yeah, well, tell your disappointment to suck it. I'm doing a {{bottle episode}}!"''
4	-->-- '''Jeff'''
5
6	The study group has finished an assignment for their anthropology class and everyone is getting ready to go their separate ways. Jeff has a date, Britta has a photography project, and the rest are going to a puppy parade on the quad. Then, Annie notices that her pen is missing. HilarityEnsues as each member of the group is successively accused of having taken the pen and the group starts to turn on each other.
7
8	!!The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Cooperative Calligraphy" provides examples of:
9	* AirventPassageway: The duct used by Annie's Boobs is huge and well-lit.
10	* AllThereInTheManual: The DVD case for the first half of Season 2 is styled after Abed's notebook. Abed's notes can be read on the menstrual cycles to see exactly what he wrote without having to freeze-frame the episode.
11	* AngerMontage: Jeff becomes unhinged and starts ripping out the carpet, tipping over a bookshelf and [[TantrumThrowing throwing a tantrum]].
12	* {{Anvilicious}}: InUniverse, the Equality and Togetherness float at the puppy parade. The Dean, [[PoliticalOvercorrectness of all people]], lampshades it.
13	-->'''Dean:''' Okay, now this float feels a liiiiittle preachy. BOOOO! BOOOOOOO!
14	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: There's a fairly wide time period in any given woman's cycle when she could potentially ovulate, and that day can change from cycle to cycle. Unless Abed was tracking everyone’s temperature or even more personal things, he wouldn't be able to track anything except actual menstruation.
15	** Abed's claim that Shirley couldn't have gotten pregnant on Labor Day because she was ovulating on Halloween doesn't make sense even if he was able to track it. If Shirley was ovulating at the beginning of November, it's perfectly possible for her to have been ovulating at the beginning of October and the beginning of September as well, given that most women's menstrual cycles are a bit shorter than a full month. FridgeBrilliance hits when [[spoiler:Shirley gives birth to the baby and it turns out to be her husband's, not Chang's, proving that she ''did'' get pregnant on Labor Day and Abed was mistaken]].
16	* BornInAnElevator: Abed is of the mind that if someone is pregnant they should invoke this trope or not be pregnant at all.
17	* BottleEpisode: The entire episode takes place in the study room. This is lampshaded by both Abed and Jeff.
18	-->'''Abed:''' Are we going to the puppy parade or not? Because this is starting to feel like a bottle episode.
19	* BrickJoke: Britta tries and flubs one of the group's rhyming celebrity name jokes ("My oh my, Mike Ty... son"), which Pierce pulls off successfully ("Nice try, Creator/StephenFry") a minute later, to Britta's chagrin.
20	* CallBack:
21	** [[Recap/CommunityS1E21ContemporaryAmericanPoultry Annie's Boobs, Annie's backpack, the gum in the hair, and the stolen boyfriend.]] Doubles as {{Foreshadowing}}, since it brings Annie's Boobs back into the viewer's consciousness after a months-long absence.
22	** [[Recap/CommunityS1E17PhysicalEducation Jeff's stripey]] [[Recap/CommunityS1E23ModernWarfare Beetlejuice underpants.]]
23	** Abed points out that Shirley could have only conceived during [[Recap/CommunityS2E06Epidemiology Halloween]]. Troy also silently recalls the voicemail Chang sent him at the end of that episode.
24	* ChekhovsGunman: Annie's Boobs the monkey, introduced in Season 1, is the thief.
25	* CollectiveGroan: The group's response to [[SoapboxSadie Britta]]'s complaining about "invasion of civil liberties".
26	* ContinuityNod: The collection of items amassed by Annie's Boobs contains numerous nods to previous episodes.
27	* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Every member of the study group points out that if Annie hadn't made a big deal about the pen in the first place, then they wouldn't be stuck glaring daggers at each other.
28	* EasterEgg: The theft of Annie's pen during the drive-by deaning.
29	* EatTheEvidence: One of the suggestions.
30	-->'''Troy:''' Maybe nobody took it. Sometimes I think I lost something really important to me, and it turns out I already ate it.
31	* EveryoneHasStandards:
32	** Annie started the whole BottleEpisode by yelling at everyone to stay and throwing a temper tantrum. When Jeff starts actually trashing the place to find the pen, however, she has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone expression.
33	** When Annie starts stripping off her clothes when accused of hiding her own pen, Jeff (while still furious with her) tells her to relax and stop.
34	** Even the Dean, no stranger to PoliticalOvercorrectness, finds the "Equality and Togetherness" float with a puppy and a kitten a bit too much.
35	* EyeTake: When Abed remarks that Shirley could only have conceived on Halloween, Troy gets one, as he's the only one who knows that Chang and Shirley had sex on Halloween.
36	* {{Fanservice}}: Everybody (except Pierce) strips down to their underwear in order to find the pen.
37	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
38	** When removing Pierce's casts to find the pen, Abed expresses concern about their course of action, noting that "[[CreateYourOwnVillain this is how supervillains get created]]." Throughout the second half of the season, Pierce's increasingly erratic, {{Jerkass}} and cruel behaviour becomes an ongoing subplot, culminating in his revenge scheme in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E16IntermediateDocumentaryFilmmaking Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking]]"; essentially, he becomes the show's equivalent of a super-villain.
39	** At the beginning of the episode when Annie starts to get upset, Abed has a chocolate for her -- hinting at the reveal later in the episode about his tracking the women's menstrual cycles.
40	** While the Dean talks about the puppy parade, the pen can actually be seen being stolen. [[note]] It's a blink and miss it moment but after the Dean announces the puppy parade, when the scene cuts to Troy saying "Aw, I want to lick it", if one looks to a ball of crumpled paper near Abed's hand towards the back of the table. The pen is to the left of the paper and it is lifted off the table as "lick it" is said. [[/note]]
41	** Later, as Jeff and Troy trash the study room, the camera lingers on the vent where Annie's Boobs will later emerge.
42	** Britta sultrily comments that Jeff "usually" wears "stripey turquoise Film/{{Beetlejuice}}" boxers, implying that she regularly sees him in his underwear. Only Abed notices, setting up his realization in "[[Recap/CommunityS2E21ParadigmsOfHumanMemory Paradigms of Human Memory]]" that [[spoiler:they have been sleeping together]].
43	** At one point, it's suggested that Annie might be [[VictoriasSecretCompartment hiding the pen in her bra]]. [[spoiler:The pen was actually stolen by Troy's pet monkey--whose name is "Annie's Boobs"]].
44	** When discussing whether Abed could have taken Annie's pen, the group notes that he isn't as innocent as he often seems, and they list a few of the mischievous and/or nefarious things that he's done in the past. One of them is "setting Troy's pet monkey free". [[spoiler:Said monkey is living in the air vents--and he's the one who really took the pen]].
45	* FreezeFrameBonus: On the whiteboard, the phrase "If we evolved from monkeys, how come we still have monkeys?" with the second monkey crossed out and replaced with "Pierce?" can be seen.
46	** When the Dean comes into the room to tell the group about the puppy parade, a small hand can be seen next to Troy and Abed coming up from below the table and taking the pen while they're distracted looking at the puppy.
47	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the Dean's announcement about the cold weather affecting the puppies, [[{{Squick}} Pierce is trying to eat the Slim Jim.]][[invoked]]
48	* GhostlyGoals: Discussed by Jeff when he brings up the theory of the culprit being a "specter with unfinished, pen-related business".
49	* HeldGaze: Jeff and Annie have a very {{UST}}-y moment of holding each other's gaze as [[BelligerentSexualTension their anger ignites]] after Annie tries to calm down Jeff with the line: "It's just a pen!" The HeldGaze continues even as Britta butts in and Jeff keeps staring at Annie's chest. Once again, the HeldGaze is used to establish that Jeff and Annie's {{UST}} is off the charts!
50	* HypocriticalHumor:
51	** When Britta accuses Annie of hiding the pen:
52	--->'''Annie:''' I am ''not'' hiding my own pen, you paranoid weirdo! Everybody stay within each other's eyelines please, one of you is a monster.
53	** When the group discover Shirley's pregnancy test:
54	--->'''Annie:''' Guys, this is a terribly childish way to handle this kind of situation. [''Runs over to Shirley and hops up and down in excitement''] Does this mean you have a new boyfriend? Who, who, who?
55	** A downplayed example. Britta, when the group forces her to empty out her bag, angrily rants about how this is an unjust invasion of her privacy. Later, when the group is searching Abed's stuff, she immediately starts reading through one of his notebooks, despite there clearly being no pen, which leads to them finding out Abed's been charting the girls' menstrual cycles.
56	** The Dean, who is usually the orchestrator of PoliticalOvercorrectness, booing the "Equality and Togetherness" float.
57	** Lampshaded by Pierce, when the study group react with horror and disgust over the discovery that he's been using Slim Jims to scratch his legs, despite having only discovered this by ''forcibly removing his casts'':
58	--->'''Pierce:''' Have we not gotten to a place free from judgement yet?!
59	* ICanExplain: Abed, when the group discovers his charts of the female group members' menstrual cycles. Double-subverted in that while he didn't expect them to actually give him a chance to explain, he's prepared with an explanation when they do.
60	* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne: On his way out of the study room, Abed calls Dean Craig Pelton a "non-miraculous son of a bitch."
61	-->'''Craig:''' Non-miraculous?!
62	* LockedRoomMystery: The situation plays out like this, [[SeriousBusiness despite the mystery being over who has Annie's pen.]]
63	* MacGuffin: The pen.
64	* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Annie's Boobs takes the pen early on, during the Dean's visit. [[note]] It's a blink and miss it moment but after the Dean announces the puppy parade, when the scene cuts to Troy saying "Aw, I want to lick it", the pen is to the left of a crumpled paper and it is lifted off the table as "lick it" is said.[[/note]]
65	* MenstrualMenace: Which would explain Annie's attitude in this episode.
66	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Annie is horrified when she drives Jeff to trash the whole room to find the pen.
67	* OhCrap: Troy's face when he finds out that Shirley was ovulating on Halloween, [[Recap/CommunityS2E06Epidemiology when she had sex with Chang]]. Doubles as a CallBack.
68	* OpenMouthInsertFoot: Shirley calls Britta and Annie a pair of "anorexic Jezebels", which she regrets immediately.
69	* ParodyOfEvolution: Apparently man will evolve into a dragon monster with three legs. Or into woman, according to Britta.
70	** Pierce, who apparently made that paper mache statue, strongly implies that [[GagPenis that's not a leg]]. Yikes.
71	* PoliticalOvercorrectness: An InvokedTrope with one of the floats in the puppy parade features a puppy and a kitten with the caption, "Equality and Togetherness". [[HypocriticalHumor Even the Dean finds it sanctimonious.]]
72	* PrecisionFStrike: Downplayed when Abed calls the Dean a "son of a bitch."
73	* PreciousPuppies:
74	-->'''Dean Pelton:''' Attention, students! The puppy parade is starting on the quad! Better come quick -- [[LampshadeHanging with every passing moment, these puppies grow older and less deserving of our attention.]]
75	* {{Pun}}
76	-->'''Jeff:''' I have a date to catch, or, should I say, a catch to date.\
77	'''Britta:''' [[LamePunReaction Oof, I hope you just came up with that]].\
78	[''Later'']\
79	'''Dean Pelton:''' I expect to see you all at the puppy parade. Except you, Jeffrey -- I know you've got a catch to date.\
80	'''Jeff:''' [''off Britta's look''] Oh, like you're famous for your wit.
81	* RightForTheWrongReasons: Jeff eventually concludes that whoever took the pen was not trying to hurt the group and certainly not a member. We find out he's right; it's Annie's Boobs innocently taking whatever catches his eye. Jeff, however, agrees with Troy that a ghost took it.
82	* SassyBlackWoman: Shirley.
83	-->'''Shirley:''' Mother Hen? I think we're about the same age!\
84	'''Britta:''' Sure, unless time is linear.\
85	'''Shirley:''' I'll make your ''ass'' linear!\
86	'''Britta:''' That doesn't make any sense!\
87	'''Shirley:''' I'll make your ''ass'' sense.
88	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness:
89	-->'''Jeff:''' Whoever so insidiously and with great malice aforethought abducted Annie's pen, confess, repent, and relinquish, so we can leave.
90	* ShipTease: Jeff and Annie angrily doff their clothes while using another one of their customary {{Held Gaze}}s.
91	* ShoutOut: To Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's "Literature/TheMurdersInTheRueMorgue". Just like in that story, [[spoiler:the culprit turns out to be a monkey]].
92	* SkewedPriorities: This exchange regarding cutting into Pierce's casts:
93	-->'''Troy''': Dammit. Broke the scissors.\
94	'''Jeff''': Here. ''Be careful''. That's the last pair we have. [''As an afterthought''] Also, don't cut his legs.
95	* {{Squick}}: Britta dumps her bag at the group's insistence. [[invoked]]
96	-->'''Britta:''' There! Happy?\
97	'''Jeff:''' Not if that's a used Q-tip.
98	* SuddenPrincipledStand: Annie starts SuddenlyShouting and refuses to let anyone leave the room as this has been her ninth pen being stolen and she's finally fed up.
99	* TakeThat
100	** Jeff's would-be date is named Gwynnifer after a Twitter troll.
101	** [[AuthorTract Jeff]] thinks that the Patriot Act is pretty one-sided.
102	* TemptingFate: Right after Pierce brags about outbidding three hospitals for his motorized wheelchair and claiming it was worth every penny, it starts malfunctioning.
103	* TitleOnlyOpening: This is used for the only time in Season 2.
104	* VictoriasSecretCompartment: At one point, Annie is accused of hiding the pen in her bra. This leads to an ironic twist that "Annie's Boobs" ''did'' have the pen.
105	* AWizardDidIt: The group concludes that a ghost did it.
106	* WomensMysteries: The response of the women to their finding Abed's charts of their menstrual cycles.

Context Recap / CommunityS2E08CooperativeCalligraphy