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Recap / Community S1 E07: Introduction to Statistics

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Annie is putting together a Dia de Los Muertos party to earn extra credit. To ensure her party is a success she needs everyone in the study group to attend. This however conflicts with Jeff's attempts to get together with his statistics professor. Jeff eventually promises to attend the party, but only after his advances are turned down.

At Annie's party, events spin out of control: Jeff leaves with Chang to try again with Slater; Pierce suffers side effects from the drugs Star-burns gave him; and Shirley projects her feelings about her failed marriage onto Britta's misgivings over Jeff and Slater.


The Community episode "Introduction to Statistics" contains examples of:

  • Acquired Poison Immunity: Jeff invokes this as the reason Annie's crying would no longer work on him. It (the immunity) does not work.
  • Bathos: The last scene of Abed using lip balm after delivering his dramatic Batman speech.
  • Becoming the Costume: Abed
    Abed: I am Batman.
  • Big Damn Heroes: The climax in which Abed (as Batman) drags Jeff and Pierce out of the Collapsing Lair made out of desks.
  • Birds of a Feather: Jeff and Slater.
  • Call-Back: Annie tries to convince Jeff to come to her party by being "assertive and making eye contact"; when he doesn't buy it, Annie mentions that it worked on Pierce; Jeff's response seems like a call back and a Brick Joke to Pierce's ear-noculars:
    Jeff: Infomercials work on Pierce.
  • Collapsing Lair: Pierce's Desk Fort collapses at the end.
  • Comic Sutra: "Mexican Halloween", a sexual position according to Chang, knowing nods from Troy and Jeff.
  • Dem Bones:
    Pierce: Those floating Mexican skeletons are right! My life is over!
    Jeff: Well, when we go to floating skeletons with our problems, we get what we pay for, don't we?
  • Die for Our Ship: Invoked in-universe by Shirley. She obviously ships Britta/Jeff and doesn't like Slater getting in between them and proceeds to wreck Slater's car and office.
    "You're stealing Jeff from a good woman!"
    • She comes to her senses eventually, however, and realizes a lot of it was taking out her own internal issues.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Shirley channels her personal problems into unjustly punishing Professor Slater.
  • Do You Want to Copulate?: Jeff takes Chang's advice and approaches Slater directly about his intentions. It seems to work, if only for Pity Sex.
    Jeff: I haven't slept with anyone in a very long time, and you're so good-looking. Please do me the favor of having sex with me.
  • Dramatic High Perching: The last scene of Abed/Batman standing on a wall watching things from above in good old Batman fashion.
  • Facecam: Used for Pierce's Mushroom Samba moment.
  • Fake Static: Pierce attempts this when he is unable to turn his phone off.
  • Fanservice: Annie shows up at the Dia de Los Muertos party wearing a skeleton costume with a cape—which seems pretty innocent until she takes off her cape, revealing that the costume is skintight underneath it. There's a pretty deliberate shot of her from behind as she takes off her cape and walks away.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the scene where Annie invites Jeff to the party, an Asian couple walk past them. Same couple re-enters the shot a few moments later.
  • Girlfriend in Canada: As revealed during his accidental phone call, Pierce told his mother that he has one.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: Annie has a breakdown if everyone doesn't show up to her party.
  • Gratuitous Spanish: At the party, Annie keeps peppering her speech with unnecessary Spanish phrases, prompting Chang to shout "You don't need to keep doing that!"
  • Halloween Episode: Subverted: the episode takes place around Halloween, but actually revolves around a Dia de Los Muertos party (Dia de Los Muertos is traditionally celebrated on November 1st, one day after Halloween). Double subverted when Jeff bails on Annie's party to go to the faculty party, which is a more traditional Halloween celebration (Jack-o-Lanterns can be seen in the background).
  • Hot Teacher: Prof. Slater.
  • I Always Wanted to Say That: Troy has some questions he has wanted to ask Batman. Roughly three minutes' worth of questions on the DVD gag reel.
  • I Need to Iron My Dog: The last time Annie threw a party, everyone left, claiming that they couldn't miss the news. When someone attempts to leave her Dia de los Muertos party with the same excuse, she nearly has a conniption fit.
  • Instantly Proven Wrong: When Jeff tries to win over Slater, everything he claims about himself is torpedoed by his friends.
    Jeff: I have no friends.
    (Cue Britta telling him to come back to Annie's party)
    Jeff: What's great about community college is that a lot of the students are as mature as the teachers.
    (Cue Abed in his Batman costume arriving and Troy mentioning Pierce tripping balls)
  • Insult Backfire: When Chang mocks Jeff for striking out with Professor Slater, Jeff retorts that Chang wasn't any more successful with her. Chang laughs it off, pointing out that he's, well, Chang, and Jeff by definition should be able to do better than him.
  • I Taste Delicious: One of Troy's greatest fears is that he'd wake up one morning as a donut and eat himself without even questioning it.
  • Little Known Facts: Jeff's first pick up line.
  • Marijuana Is LSD: The pill Star-Burns gives Pierce has him acting like he's rolling on ecstasy... then it interacts with his prescription medication, and he starts having terrifying hallucinations.
  • Montage Out: Abed's epic Batman speech over a tracking shot of people at the party.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Britta defies this trope by wearing the least sexualized-possible costumes for Halloween. Annie, meanwhile, plays it straight.
    Britta: I hate it when women use Halloween as an excuse to dress up like sluts.
    Annie: Yeah. (takes off her cape revealing her skintight skeleton costume)
  • Mushroom Samba: Pierce descends into one.
  • The Only One: Due to the Mushroom Samba.
    Troy: Jeff! Pierce is freaking out... you're the only one that can help!
    Jeff: What makes you think that?
    Pierce: [offscreen] Is Jeff out there? He's the only one that can help!
  • Pity Sex: Played with. Professor Slater first agreed to sleep with Jeff because he made himself seem pathetic, begging and pleading enough until she finally said yes. It doesn't happen though when Jeff has to save a tripping Pierce.
  • Popcultural Osmosis Failure: Thanks to the age gap, nobody gets Pierce's The Beastmaster costume. Though it turns out Pierce hasn't seen the movie either and just wanted to be viewed as cool.
  • Shout-Out:
  • A Storm Is Coming: Abed points this out during his arrival at the party.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: After Abed and Troy's conversation in the tag about the possibility of eating yourself if you woke up to discover you were a donut.
    Troy: It's cool to know other people think about this stuff too.
  • Teacher/Student Romance: A rare example where the student (Jeff) is older than the teacher (Slater).
  • Virtual Assistant Blunder: Pierce's line "It's like my mother" prompts his smartphone to call his mother. Hilarity Ensues.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: When Jeff finally snaps and tells his friends to get lost and leave him to seduce Slater, they — and Slater — are quick to point out what they think of this (although Troy subverts it):
    Britta: Way to go!
    Abed: I know I'm not Batman; you could try not being a jerk.
    Troy: She's pretty hot.
    Jeff: [Slinking back over to Slater] Well, where were we little doggy?
    Slater: [Unimpressed] Unseemly. [Walks off]
    Jeff: [Deflated] Yeah... crap.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Jeff gives Pierce a pep talk along these lines in the climax.

 
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