[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/communitah_1083.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Pierce trying to creep everyone out on Halloween = the basic premise.]]

->''"I don't know. Maybe Pierce isn't doing so well after he lost his father and his inheritance in [[Recap/CommunityS3E20DigitalEstatePlanning a video game battle]] with Gilbert, [[LongLostRelative an illegitimate half-brother]] he never knew he had... [{{Beat}}] ...Guess I've never said it out loud."''
-->-- '''Annie'''

''Series/{{Community}}'s'' fourth annual HalloweenEpisode... Which first aired on St. Valentine's Day, due to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork season 4's premiere getting delayed until midseason]].

Before heading to Vicki's Halloween party, the study group reluctantly stops by Pierce's mansion in response to his call for help. He has accidentally locked himself in his panic room, forcing the study group to search his mansion for a red notebook that holds the code to unlock the door. The dark, mysterious and creepy house holds more than a few surprises, however.

Jeff teams up with Britta, but soon enough the two of them are more entangled in discussing Jeff's DaddyIssues and MirrorCharacter relation to Pierce than actually looking for the MacGuffin. Annie and Abed take off as a duo as well, but Abed soon disappears into the heart of the mansion, leaving Annie to experience a variety of scary movie references [[PopCulturalOsmosisFailure that she does not get]] by herself. Troy and Shirley investigate a part of the mansion Shirley'd hoped Troy would never be exposed to. Meanwhile, the house appears to be trying to get to them, but it's not just that they need to worry about...

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!!The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Paranormal Parentage" provides examples of:

* ActorAllusion: Troy wonders if there's a connection between Pierce installing a panic room and the release of ''Film/DoTheRightThing'' a day earlier, a film that starred Giancarlo Esposito (Gilbert).
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: The study group figured it was a fifty-fifty chance that Pierce was pranking them because they know him too well. When they finally unlock the panic room and see he faked another heart attack, they are amused when Pierce admits he put on the whole show. Jeff looks annoyed but unsurprised when Pierce explains how he pulled off every prank.
* AffectionateParody: To the horror genre and ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo.''
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: When Jeff runs away from Britta when she's trying to [[BuffySpeak therapize]] him.
-->'''Britta:''' Help me heal your heart hole!
* AlliterativeTitle
* AmbiguousSyntax: Annie mistook Jeff's request for her to dress as a [[PitGirls ring girl]] and instead went as the girl from ''Film/TheRing''.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Parodied.
-->'''Jeff''': Maybe Pierce needs a dad - I don't.\\
'''Britta''': Don't you?\\
'''Jeff''': [''agitated''] STOP THAT!!
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
-->'''Britta''': Oh my God, Pierce is dead!\\
'''Shirley''': Cornelius killed him!\\
'''Troy''': I BROKE THE REMOTE!
* BigFancyHouse: Pierce's house, which we get to see for the first time. Troy is presumably the only one who knows his way there, having lived with Pierce during season 2.
* BookcasePassage: Abed goes about tipping the books outward on the bookshelf attempting to invoke this. The bookcase doesn't flip until he tips the troll doll named [[MythologyGag Torg.]] Used as a gag in TheTag.
* BrickJoke: Troy complaining on how it took him forever to remember the date the panic room was purchased. Turns out the year is the panic room code.
* CallBack: Pierce's "secret gym" was first referenced in [[Recap/CommunityS2E20CompetitiveWineTasting Season 2's Competitive Wine Tasting.]]
** Vicki and Pierce have been on the outs since before [[Recap/CommunityS2E17IntroToPoliticalScience she stabbed him.]]
** Troy can't help but mention that [[Recap/CommunityS3E06AdvancedGay Jeff killed Pierce's dad]].
** [[Recap/CommunityS3E22IntroductionToFinality Jeff found his dad.]]
** Pierce's bookcase is decorated with [[Recap/CommunityS3E04RemedialChaosTheory creepy trolls]], one of which is missing.
*** [[WordOfGod In the commentary for]] Recap/CommunityS3E04RemedialChaosTheory, one of the writers mention that they named the doll Torg. But as it turns out the doll that Pierce [[AlternateTimeline (possibly)]] brought to Abed's and Troy's place was really Grot, because Torg is still on the bookcase.
** "Creator/LeVarBurton [[Recap/CommunityS2E16IntermediateDocumentaryFilmmaking was a]] [[Recap/CommunityS3E20DigitalEstatePlanning hard no.]]"
** [[Recap/CommunityS3E21TheFirstChangDynasty "Ghosts can't go through doors, stupid. They're not fire."]]
** It's not the first time [[Recap/CommunityS2E16IntermediateDocumentaryFilmmaking Pierce has resorted to playing mind games with his friends after feeling excluded.]]
** When the panic room monitor is turned on, it plays a few notes from the [[Recap/CommunityS3E20DigitalEstatePlanning Journey to the Centre of Hawkthorne]] game.
* ContinuityDrift: Britta, despite being the one who introduced Abed to ''JustForFun/InspectorSpacetime'', has never actually seen a full episode of it. A bit of wiggle-room does exist, however; in the episode in question Britta does mention that she's ''found'' a show Abed could watch, not that it's a show she's personally seen or knows of -- she could have simply googled it.
** Troy says the Inspector didn't know how to time travel in the first few episodes. But when Abed watched the first episode, the Inspector had clearly ended up in the prehistoric era. Could be attributed to Troy being forgetful or ditzy (or that the episode in question was merely the first episode Abed saw, not the actual first episode).
* ContinuitySnarl: The episode mentions numerous times that Pierce's father, Cornelius, lived with him in the Mansion. In [[Recap/CommunityS3E06AdvancedGay Advanced Gay]] Pierce states that his mother considered Cornelius dead to her meaning they are separated. If Pierce's parents were separated and Pierce lived with his mother then Cornelius didn't live with Pierce.
** One theory is that it was one of Cornelius' other mansions (Gilbert does say he has six of them) but that is impossible due to the fact that Troy knows the exact layout of the mansion thus making the same mansion that Troy, Pierce, and Pierce's mother all lived in.
** On the other hand, this episode shows that Pierce's mansion is so big that Gilbert could live in it for weeks without Pierce knowing he was there. Something similar may have been going on with the rest of the Hawthorne clan.
* DaddyIssues: Oh, Jeff. Oh, Pierce.
* DrivenByEnvy: Pierce rigs his house with ghost traps to teach the group a lesson for not taking him with them to Vicki's party, ignoring the obvious fact that Vicki simply did not invite Pierce.
* ExactWords: Annie dressed up as a "[[Film/TheRing ring]] girl" like Jeff asked.
* FanDisservice: The Dean dressed up as a ring girl.
* GroupCostumeFail: Jeff dressed up as a boxer and expected Annie to dress up as a ring girl. Annie misinterpreted this and dressed up as Samara from ''Literature/TheRing''.
* HalloweenEpisode: The fourth and final one of the series.
* HypocriticalHumor: When the group reluctantly agrees to go and check on Pierce, Jeff protests that he has no intention of derailing his plans on the whim of 'some lonely, ridiculous person.' [[InadvertentEntranceCue Cue the Dean, dressed as the 'ring girl' Annie was supposed to be dressed as]]. Cue Jeff derailing his plans.
* {{Hypocrite}}: For someone who believes Annie shouldn't be sexualized, Jeff really hoped she would dress up as a "ring girl" for Halloween.
* InMediasRes: The episode starts with Shirley in the midst of explaining her costume.
* InnocentInaccurate:
** Troy still isn't clear what Pierce's secret gym is ''really'' for and tries out the "indoor swing". Shirley however, does, and gets him out of there quickly.
--->'''Troy:''' Why does he have so many collars? [gasp] Secret dogs!
** Annie scoffs derisively at the ridiculousness of the 'indoor swing room' when Troy mentions it ... because "someone's gonna break a lamp."
--->'''Shirley:''' ''[Under her breath]'' Break ''something'' alright...
* JerkassHasAPoint: Jeff claiming that the entire scenario is Pierce's call for attention.
* LampshadeHanging:
-->'''Annie:''' I hate reference humor.
-->'''Abed:''' I remember when this show was about a community college.
* LargeHam: Britta is a ''literal'' one here. But her aggressive attempts to "therapize" Jeff into confronting his [[WellDoneSonGuy daddy issues]] definitely qualify in a figurative sense, too.
-->'''Britta:''' Let me heal your heart-hole!
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Abed's watching Jeff and Britta on the mansion's security system:
-->'''Abed:''' I remember when this show was about a community college.
* LetsSplitUpGang: In homage to Scooby-Doo.
* MacGuffin: The red notebook.
* MementoMacGuffin: The boxing gloves that Jeff carries around as part of his costume belonged to his father.
* MindScrew: In-Universe. Pierce tells the rest of the group to wish Vicki a happy Halloween, because it's to mess with her.
* MirrorCharacter: Jeff spends the episode aggressively denying Britta's suggestions that he is in any way similar to Pierce in relation to their DaddyIssues, pointing out that while Pierce's father was still around, Jeff's abandoned him. He ends up discovering that he has closer similarities than he's comfortable with to Gilbert, who ''was'' abandoned by his father.
* MirrorScare
* {{Montages}}:
-->''The group finds out that Pierce has been tricking them.''
-->'''Annie:''' Abed, where have you been?
-->'''Abed:''' I found Pierce's secret surveillance room. Did you guys know he was faking the haunted house?
-->'''Jeff:''' [[DeadpanSnarker This has been Abed Nadir with the late report.]]
-->'''Abed:''' Sorry. [[LampshadeHanging Good montages take time.]]
-->''Abed then takes out an in-universe montage of Pierce tricking the gang into believing that his mansion is haunted. He made it with the security camera footage.''
* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: Annie thinks she's being subjected to several horror movie references when Pierce's house attacks her and shouts (to no one in particular) that she wouldn't get any of the references since she doesn't watch scary movies.
* PosthumousCharacter: Cornelius Hawthrone obviously still holds a large presence in Pierce's life. The haunting was faked by Pierce, though.
* RaceAgainstTheClock: The group has to make it to Vicki's party in time.
* RacistGrandpa: Shirley assumes this is why Pierce told Troy never to use a certain room, which she thinks is the library. It turns out Pierce kept Troy from that room for ''different'' reasons.
** It takes Troy a few moments to realize that a panic room being installed in the Hawthorne mansion and the premiere of ''Film/DoTheRightThing'' the day before are connected.
* ReactiveContinuousScream: Parodied. After the LetsSplitUpGang mentioned above, the group reunites while running and screaming, and use the pitch and intonation to ''communicate'' with each other, purely through screams:
-->'''Jeff & Britta:''' [screaming]
-->'''Troy & Shirley & Annie:''' [screaming too]
-->'''J & B:''' [screaming with a rising pitch, as if asking, "Wait, does the direction you came from ''also'' have something frightening? We were heading that way."]
-->'''T & S & A:''' [screaming emphatically to say, "Yes, obviously. We're wasting time here!"]
* TheReveal: Gilbert was secretly living in Pierce's mansion and helping him out, having lost a sense of purpose in life.
** Jeff has had his dad's phone number for several weeks. At the end of the episode, he finally decides to call him.
* RunningGag: "No sweat, [[Franchise/StarWars Boba Fett]]."
* SelfDeprecation: "I hate reference humor."
* ShapedLikeItself: "Hmmm, calling for help. A classic call for help."
* ShipTease:
** Britta/Troy may be officially a thing, but Jeff refers to Abed as Britta's boyfriend's boyfriend.
** Jeff & Annie were going to Vicki's party in a joint costume, a boxer & his ring girl... Except Jeff never actually made it clear what he meant by "[[ExactWords Ring]] [[Film/TheRing Girl]]".
* ShoutOut:
** Abed and Troy are respectively dressed as ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes.
** Shirley is [[Franchise/StarWars Princess Leia]], and she says that Andre's dressed as Han Solo while her boys are going as a couple of Stormtroopers and an Ewok. Also the panic room's "impenetrable titanium carbonite door" and "No sweat, Boba Fett."
** Britta is wearing a ham hock costume, like [[Literature/ToKillAMockingbird Scout]].
** Annie is dressed as the girl from ''Film/TheRing''.
** The security footage of Pierce being watched while sleeping is evocative of ''Film/ParanormalActivity''.
** The hands and face emerging from the wall are reminiscent of a scene in Polanski's ''Film/{{Repulsion}}'', and Freddy looming over Nancy in ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984''.
** ''Film/DoTheRightThing''. Also an ActorAllusion, as guest star Giancarlo Esposito played Buggin' Out in that film.
** Abed still loves ''Series/CougarTown'' after its move to Creator/{{TBS}}.
* SinisterSilhouettes: One lurks in Pierce's house and is not part of Pierce's own setup. It's eventually revealed that it's Gilbert.
* SoapOpera
-->'''Annie:''' Maybe Pierce isn't doing so well since he lost his father and then his inheritance in a video game battle with Gilbert, an illegitimate half-brother he never knew he had. I guess I've never said it out loud.
* SpecialEditionTitle: Same as [[Recap/CommunityS3E05HorrorFictionInSevenSpookySteps last's season's Halloween episode]].
* StealthPun: As on previous years, Britta wears a bulky, unflattering costume because she refuses to cave in to the perceived social pressure for women to wear something skimpy and revealing on Halloween. This year, she appears to have added some irony by dressing up as a ''literal'' piece of meat.
* StringyHairedGhostGirl: Annie's costume.
* TakeThat: Jeff says that Pierce's decorating looks like Music/DavidLeeRoth threw up ''Series/MiamiVice''.
* TotemPoleTrench: In TheTag.
* TwistedEchoCut
-->'''Jeff:''' ''(reads "1989" in journal)'' Of course. Otherwise it wouldn't be pointless.
-->cut to
-->'''Annie:''' This is pointless. We have no Abed...
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Jeff's costume.
* WhamLine: Parodied.
-->'''Britta''': Oh my God, Pierce is dead! ([[FakingTheDead Not really, of course]])\\
'''Troy''': [''immediately after, completely panicked''] I BROKE THE REMOTE! Do you think it's expensive?!
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