Line #84 Recap/CommunityS5E08AppDevelopmentAndCondiments


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nup_158846_1562_9580.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Five [=MeowMeowBeenz=].]]
3
4	Dean Pelton invites two designers to Greendale to beta-test their new social networking application, "[=MeowMeowBeenz=]". What starts as a fun social interaction of ranking classmates turns into an all-out class war as Greendale students compete for the highest score. Jeff and Shirley battle for supremacy, while Britta rails against the very concept.
5
6	----
7	!!The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "App Development and Condiments" provides examples of:
8
9	* AbsurdlyDividedSchool: The introduction of a FictionalSocialNetwork quickly causes vicious dystopic social stratification by their rating on said site, and a class war to ensue. The moral? SocialMediaIsBad!
10	* ActorAllusion: Jeff doing a stand-up set in the finale is an allusion to Creator/JoelMcHale being a successful stand-up comedian outside of his acting career.
11	* ActorISTheTitleCharacter: The narrator in the tag notes that "Mitchell D. Hurwitz IS Koogler".
12	* AerithAndBob: The bros with whom Jeff briefly curries favor:
13	-->'''Jeff:''' [[OrphanedPunchline So I'm like "That's two cups!" and she's like "What?" and I'm like "Two cups, balls back, tops OFF!"]]
14	-->'''Bros:''' [''Laughter'']
15	-->'''Jeff:''' All right ... [''High-fiving them each in turn''] Track, Mulch, [[OddNameOut Dave]], Herpee, Clutch, Dirtmouth, Rope, Tinkles, Catwoman, [[OddNameOut Steve]] ... Keep it floppy. Haul it, ball it, never call it. Girls are objects!
16	-->'''Bros:''' [[HeManWomanHater YEAH!!]]
17	** "[=MeowMeowBeenz=]" was created by two guys named David and Bixil.
18	* AesopAmnesia: Once more, Shirley has to learn that her competitive nature is hurtful to others. She obviously didn't learn from humiliating Jeff as a child or Troy in P.E.E. class.
19	* AffectionateParody: Of futuristic ScienceFiction movies like ''Film/ThingsToCome'' and those set in a {{Dystopia}} made in the 1970s like ''Film/LogansRun'', ''Film/TheApple'' and ''Film/{{Zardoz}}''.
20	** There's also some spoofing of ''Film/TheHungerGames'' going on, especially with the Fives' fashions, and the talent contest the Fives stage to give the Twos and Threes hope and help them "believe in the system."
21	** The trailer for "Koogler" in TheTag is a spoof of raunchy 1980s college comedies.
22	* {{Angrish}}: Hickey is reduced to this after the two developers introduce the app.
23	--> "You know...I could- I fought for this country. And I know you don't get to pick and choose the parts you fight for-- but I know--"
24	* AnythingButThat: Jordan Blum, the Three who juggled devil sticks at the talent show fails to impress Shirley and is voted down to a 1 which means banishment:
25	-->'''Jordan:''' No! Not the Outlands! Please!
26	** Before being taken away one of the guards tries to make a speech about how "The Fives have spoken" but fumbles the words which causes '''him''' to be downvoted to a One and banished as well:
27	-->"What?! No please! I'm just not good at public speaking!"
28	* BadReviewThreat: Due to how [=MeowMeowBeenz=] uses a weighted system where higher-ranked people have greater influence on ratings, students who have five out of five Beenz can easily coerce other students by threat of a low review, such as when [[DrunkWithPower Shirley]] knocks Vicky down to a one after [[DisproportionateRetribution she ranks Shirley a four.]]
29	* BaitAndSwitch: Britta expects that when Jeff throws other numbers under the bus for his comedy routine that he is gaining AcquiredSituationalNarcissism. Nope; as soon as he reaches the fives sanctuary, he throws himself and Shirley under the bus by revealing their equal hypocrisy, and judging by his expression he feels that it's WorthIt.
30	* BaldOfEvil: The Fives' security guards (which include Leonard) are all bald.
31	* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Britta spends much of the episode fighting against the ruthless corrupt Fives that are ruling the system. When the Fives are taken down, Britta promptly installs herself as a dictator far more brutal than the fives ever were, simply because she enjoys her power.
32	* BetaBitch: Annie becomes this for Shirley, when the college divides into groups she becomes the fives pet four/personal assistant.
33	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Shirley, who gets rated a Five by acting nice to people but then uses the status it brings her to manipulate, bully and punish people who displease her. Noted by Jeff:
34	-->'''Annie:''' Shirley's a five.
35	-->'''Jeff:''' [''Suspicious''] ''How?''
36	-->'''Annie:''' She's nice to people, Jeff. You know Shirley.
37	-->[''After Shirley manipulates everyone into reducing Vicki to a One'']
38	-->'''Jeff:''' Yeah. I ''do'' know Shirley.
39	* BlatantLies:
40	** Shirley claiming that she [[PassiveAggressiveCombat loves her Four rating]] from Vicki. In a very loud voice. Twice.
41	** Hicks claiming it was his birthday, eight days straight.
42	* BreadAndCircuses: The Fives hold a talent show for the Twos and Threes to "help them believe in the system."
43	* TheCameo: ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' creator Mitch Hurwitz as "Koogler".
44	** Steve Agee and Brian Posehn from ''Series/TheSarahSilvermanProgram'' as "David" and "Bixil", the designers of "[=MeowMeowBeenz=]".
45	** Creator/TimAndEric from ''Series/TimAndEricAwesomeShowGreatJob'' and Jen Kirkman from ''Series/ChelseaLately'' and ''Series/AfterLately'' are the Fours who harass Britta and later are the band that plays music at the Fives' "Fancy Future Dance".
46	* CampGay: The Four who thought that Jeff and Britta were in love.
47	* CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker: The Dean's announcements over the intercom gradually become creepy fascistic propaganda slogans.
48	-->'''The Dean:''' Tranquility is advancement. A happy Three is a future Four.
49	* ChekhovsGun: Jeff and Annie note early in the episode that they inexplicably take Britta more seriously when she's got mustard on her lip. Later, Britta takes advantage of this to get people to do whatever she says by having mustard on her lip at all times.
50	* ColorCodedCastes: Once the rating-based social system really takes root, members start dressing in outfits of specific colors according to their score: Ones live outside the school like outcasts, Twos dress in beige workclothes and do menial labor, Threes dress in black with grey stripes and serve as guards, Fours dress in varying bright colors such as blue, green and orange, and Fives dress in white robes.
51	* ComicallyMissingThePoint:
52	-->'''Abed''': [[SincerityMode I don't want to be a Five. I was happy as a Three. I'm miserable.]]
53	-->'''Shirley''': Ahhh, Abed. You're so humble.
54	-->[''Everyone gives him five [=MeowMeowBeenz=]'']
55	-->'''Abed''': ...You people are monsters.
56	** Also when Shirley tries to manipulate Chang into thinking Jeff's promotion was a mistake and fails.
57	--->'''Shirley''': I'm glad you don't think making Jeff a Five was a mistake like everybody else. I believe in taking risks.
58	--->'''Chang''': Yeah, Jeff's really cool.
59	* CommieLand: Britta's short-lived regime at the end. She's even made up to resemble UsefulNotes/CheGuevara.
60	* ControlFreak: Shirley and Jeff's conflict is essentially driven by the fact that they're both this.
61	** Britta briefly becomes one when she seizes power as the "Mother of Ones".
62	* CrapsaccharineWorld: Attempted, by the Fives, who want to give the lower numbers some entertainment and belief in the system, to prevent potential rebellions. It ultimately fails, however, when Britta inspires a "Review-lution" among them, replacing the Oligarchy of the Fives with a dictatorial autocratic regime, led by her.
63	* CrapsackWorld: Greendale becomes this after just eight days of the "[=MeowMeowBeenz=]" app beta test.
64	* CrowdChant: When Jeff makes a five in the talent show, the whole crowd chants "Re-view, re-view meow meow meow meow meow!"
65	* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: The "Fives" all wear white robes and decorated the study room with crystals.
66	* ADayInTheLimelight: This is the only Shirly-focused episode of season 5.
67	* DisproportionateRetribution: Shirley manipulates everyone to reduce Vicki to a One just because she gave Shirley a Four.
68	** The BaldOfEvil guard who's bad at public speaking gets voted down and dragged away.
69	* DrunkWithPower: Shirley starts to become this only a few days into the app beta test, using her Five rating to get others to low-rate people she's displeased with like Vicki. Becomes full-blown by day eight with her and the Fives running the campus. Britta becomes this after she leads the revolution against the Fives.
70	* DumbassHasAPoint: Mostly everybody realizes that Britta has a point about the [=MeowMeowBeenz=] system and follow her lead. But only when she has mustard on her face.
71	* EveryoneHasStandards:
72	** Jeff turns out to be really sincere about how the app is turning people into monsters. After he dethrones Shirley, he tells everyone that the developers used them and tore them apart for a test and are now selling the app, which has five stars.
73	** Abed at first goes along with the app because he can understand it. Even he, however, gets disturbed by how superficial and passive-aggressive the fives are and begs to be demoted.
74	* TheExile: People rated with just one "[=MeowMeowBeen=]" are banished to the "Outlands": outside the buildings on campus which has been strewn with trash and barb wire. Jeff and Shirley wind up there too.
75	* ExtremelyShortTimespan:
76	** Simultaneously inverted and played straight. It takes only eight days for the "[=MeowMeowBeenz=]" App to completely devolve Greendale into a pseudo-futuristic, dystopian wasteland, but students and faculty have a habit of taking trivial things and blowing them up to SeriousBusiness proportions. A couple of games of [[Recap/CommunityS1E23ModernWarfare Paintball]] [[Recap/CommunityS2E23AFistfulOfPaintballs Assassin]] and one game of [[Recap/CommunityS5E05GeothermalEscapism "The Floor Is Lava"]] have transformed Greendale into chaotic landscapes before, but within just a few hours.
77	** Played straight at the end, where Britta somehow manages to completely transform the school from the previous 1970s futuristic dystopia into a communist dictatorship with herself at the head in a matter of minutes:
78	--->'''Jeff:''' Oh, Great Mother of Ones, Mustard-Faced Savior, there is still a Five hiding among us that has not been cleansed.
79	--->'''Britta:''' [''Scoffing''] Impossible. All Fives were reduced to Ones in the Great Purge of About Two Minutes Ago.
80	* FanService: The four garb really does show off Jeff’s pecs and arms.
81	* FanDisservice: Let's face it, nobody needed to see Star-Burns dressed as Sean Connery in ''Zardoz''.
82	* FeedbackRule: When Jeff grabs the mike to do his stand-up routine, there's noticeable feedback coming from the speakers.
83	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
84	** Day one of the test demonstrated that the Fives had more power since their vote meant more. Day two showed that the Threes wore specific colors and that the Fives had control over the AC.
85	** Britta warned Jeff early on that he should know the real reason why he wanted to take down the system or he would fail before he started. Sure enough, his main goal wasn't to showcase the sham of the system but to take Shirley down and put himself at the top. This ended up with him and Shirley being demoted to Ones, but the system was left intact.
86	* FratBro:
87	** Koogler, played by Mitch Hurwitz.
88	** The students Jeff hangs out with to get a higher rating.
89	* FullCircleRevolution: Once she's led the "reviewlution", Britta turns out to be just as dictatorial as Shirley was, only where Shirley enforced a strict caste system that placed her and a select elite at the top, Britta enforces a [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny supposedly egalitarian communist-style system which still works to make her more equal than the others]]. She becomes quite distraught when she loses her seat of power.
90	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: The Britta posters show her with mustard on her face.
91	* FutureMusic: By day eight of the "[=MeowMeowBeenz=]" beta test there are ''Film/LogansRun''-type futuristic sounds heard on the soundtrack. After Jeff becomes one of the Fives, they do a "future dance" to SourceMusic played by a band playing futuristic music on futuristic instruments.
92	* FutureSlang: Jeff is referred to as "New Beenz" since he was recently upgraded to a Four.
93	* FutureSpandex: Male "Fours" wear spandex pants.
94	* HappinessIsMandatory: The Dean's announcement over the PA system: "Tranquility is advancement. A happy three is a future four."
95	* HitlerAteSugar: Britta tries a Hitler analogy on Annie but fails.
96	-->'''Britta:''' You know who else it made sense to?
97	-->'''Annie:''' Say Hitler one more time and I am giving you a two.
98	* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
99	** Shirley's ploy of using her influence as Five to decide who gets to join her clique of Fives backfires when another Five (Koogler, to be exact) raises Jeff's rating to a Five before she could make hers dramatized, Roman Emperor-esque decision, leading to everyone else following his lead.
100	** Shirley's attempt to turn the other Fives against Jeff backfires when he points out that he can hear exactly what she's doing, which leads to an argument between the two that leads the other Fives using Shirley's own methodology to remove her status as a Five.
101	** Britta, after finally getting into a position of power and influence by leading a revolt against the [=MeowMeowBeenz=] app and the Fives by reducing everyone's rating to One, swiftly loses her influence when Jeff points out that there's still one Five left -- the app itself. Everyone promptly deletes the app, and Britta loses her influence since her rebellion no longer has a reason to exist, having reached its natural conclusion.
102	* HollywoodMidLifeCrisis: Implied of Koogler, given his SuspiciouslySpecificDenial that he's "not that old!"
103	* IJustWantToBeNormal: Abed is thrilled by the app and about being a Three since he can now make small talk. When he joins the elite Five class, he's actually miserable. When he's downgraded to a One, he's ecstatic over being "like everyone else."
104	* {{Pun}}
105	-->'''Britta''': Long live the review-lution!
106	* [[UptownGirl Inter-Class Romance]]: Jeff (dressed as a "Four") and Britta (dressed as a "Two") are mistaken for this when caught alone in a room by a "Four". He laments:
107	-->"Y'know, I once loved a Two. Matthew. He was my everything, but numbers change. I'll keep your secret, new Beenz."
108	* JerkassHasAPoint: Both Jeff and Shirley, in their argument over whether Jeff should have invited Shirley to dinner; Jeff makes the point that he already knew Shirley wouldn't be able to attend anyway because of a regular commitment she had at that time so there was no point in asking her, and Shirley makes the point that it's still nice to be asked. He makes up for it by offering to bring takeout for her on a night where she's busy.
109	* JustIgnoreIt: Jeff points out that the [=MeowMeowBeenz=] app was controlling all the students, and that the only way to defeat was to delete it and never use it again.
110	* KarmaHoudini: The developers who introduced the app suffer no repercussions for creating a monster hierarchy. One can hope the students' mass deletion sends them a message.
111	* LameComeback:
112	-->'''Annie''': When you have mustard on your lip, I was more open to your opinion. Maybe it dilutes or distracts from your sense of intensity?
113	-->'''Britta''': Maybe it dilutes or distracts from your ''stupid butt''?
114	* LaResistance: Jeff and Britta's efforts to take down the gang of five's is portrayed as this.
115	* LaserGuidedKarma: The other Fives downvote Jeff and Shirley to Ones after their fight, seeing them banished to the Outlands. Moments later, Britta leads the "reviewlution" against ''them'', which gets them downgraded as well.
116	* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: The Monday after the whole rating system debacle is over Dean announces on the P.A. system:
117	-->"Attention, Greendale. I'd like to propose we forget everything that happened over the last few days, and I don't anticipate a lot of pushback on that. I think we're all pretty embarrassed."
118	* LosingHorns: A meowing form of this is heard when someone is given a rating of one.
119	* ManChild: Koogler's clearly at least in his fifth decade (Mitchell Hurwitz was 50 when the episode was filmed), but acts like he's a hard-partying FratBro in his teens/early twenties.
120	* {{Manipulative B\|astard}}itch: Jeff calls Shirley out on her tendency to guilt and manipulate people for her own ends twice -- first at the beginning, when she guilts everyone over not being invited to dinner by Jeff (who didn't invite her because he knew she was otherwise engaged), and second in their argument after Jeff is made a Five.
121	-->'''Jeff:''' When Shirley is available for dinner, we will have another dinner. Because it's just dinner. And there's no need to manipulate each other. And you know that's what you do. And you know that's what you're doing right now with that face.
122	-->'''Shirley:''' [[ManipulativeBastard You don't like my face?]]
123	-->[''Everyone turns on Jeff'']
124	* TheMole: Star-Burns serves the Fives, but also passes information about them to Britta to aid in the revolution.
125	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: The whole school walks around like this after Jeff convinces everyone to defeat the app. Most people are not speaking to each other, apart from Starburns being his usual self.
126	* NavelDeepNeckline: The tunics worn by male Fours have a plunging neckline.
127	* NotSoDifferentRemark: After spending most of the episode competing against each other, Jeff and Shirley end up acknowledging that they're both insecure {{Control Freak}}s who manipulate the people around them in order to feel liked.
128	* ObfuscatingDisability: Chang starts limping because his foot's fallen asleep, but he keeps it up because he gets more [=MeowMeowBeenz=] that way. In the Five Hive, he walks on crutches.
129	* OnlySaneMan: Ultimately subverted, as whilst Jeff and Britta fulfill this role, they ultimately wind up no better than anyone else.
130	** Jeff is the last one in the school to register for the app, recognizing it as an easily manipulated system based on popularity. However, he winds up manipulating the system himself just so he could be popular again and dethrone Shirley and falls back into this role after demoting himself and Shirley and Britta's reviewlution makes everyone equals.
131	** Britta, whilst the rest of the school simply begins taking the logic of the app's ranking as a system of social tiers, notices everyone else losing their self-identity and leads a rebellion against the new order. However, she winds up being no better than Shirley as she assumes a position of leadership in the school because of her popularity.
132	** Hickey, who realizes immediately the implications the app would have on the school, and decides to play the system quietly to his advantage for the rest of the episode instead of trying to fight it.
133	* OnscreenChapterTitles: Each new day of the experiment is announced with a title card.
134	* PassiveAggressiveCombat: Shirley's method for becoming the queen of [=MeowMeowBeenz=].
135	* RealTrailerFakeMovie: TheTag features a trailer for "''Koogler''", an '80s comedy set in Greendale about the antics of party animal Koogler.
136	* RememberTheNewGuy: Even though it's his first appearance, everybody seems to have already known Koogler.
137	-->'''Koogler:''' I know what you guys think of me, OK? Hey, it's Koogler! He's cool! He likes to get laid! He's not that old!
138	* RousingSpeech: Britta tries this twice.
139	** First in the beginning of the episode to convince people not to play along with the app - this gets her voted down to a one.
140	** Then when the campus has turned into a full-on dystopia, she tries to get the two's and three's in the cafeteria to rebel, but finds that no one listens to her. So she grabs Starburns' sandwich, smears some mustard on her face, and gets on the bench - this time sparking the reviewlution.
141	* RunningGag: In-universe example. Every instance we see of Jeff's comedy routine is of him joking about how much Twos love apples.
142	* SeriousBusiness: Someone decided it would be a good idea to trial a social app that allowed people to rank and rate other people around them there. Of ''course'' Greendale was going to turn into 1970s science-fiction {{dystopia}} as a result. What else would you expect?
143	* ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow: {{Inverted\|Trope}}. After Jeff deletes the app, he points out that it's Saturday and there was no reason for anyone to be in school.
144	* ShoutOut:
145	** The outfits worn by the "Fours" and the security guards are from ''Film/LogansRun''.
146	** Star-Burns is wearing the same {{Stripperific}} outfit Creator/SeanConnery wore in ''Film/{{Zardoz}}''
147	** The "fancy future dance" the Fives are doing is from ''Series/BuckRogersInTheTwentyFifthCentury'' as are the glowing balls they're wearing on top of their hands.
148	** The caste system that [=MeowMeowBeenz=] turns the school into is pretty much straight out of ''Literature/BraveNewWorld''.
149	** The room number of Jeff's office (D-503) is most likely a reference to the protagonist of Yevgeny Zamyatin's ''Literature/{{We}}''.
150	** The fake trailer for "Koogler" uses the theme song from the Greydon Clark movie ''{{Film/Joysticks}}'' to set its tone as an 80's teen comedy (since nothing in the trailer itself has anything to do with totally awesome videogames).
151	* SigilSpam: The "[=MeowMeowBeenz=]" logo appears everywhere on campus by the eighth day of the test, painted on the walls, floors and lockers.
152	* SlobsVsSnobs: The Ones and Twos are the slobs, the Fives the snobs. Unusually, this episode also features a middle group who are (mostly) content to remain so.
153	* SociallyScoredSociety: An app called [=MeowMeowBeenz=] lets Greendale students rate each other. The school immediately devolves into a dystopia (complete with '70s scifi outfits) where the tyrannical Fives live lives of luxury and are waited on by Twos and Threes, while Ones are societal outcasts. The main characters move up and down the scale as a class war eventually breaks out.
154	-->'''Dean Pelton:''' Fives have lives, fours have chores, threes have fleas, twos have blues, and ones don't get a rhyme because they're garbage.
155	* SocialMediaIsBad: The moral of the episode, though PlayedForLaughs. The development of new online social rating system [=MeowMeowBeenz=] first causes people scramble to get the highest ratings before the community college devolves into a Logan's Run-style dystopia with social classes tiered by the rankings.
156	* SoundEffectBleep: In a rarity for the show, Jeff's stand-up act apparently has a curse in it requiring it to be bleeped out with the familiar sinetone, which is likely parodying stand-up videos that frequently bleep their curses in highlights.
157	* SparkOfTheRebellion: Britta's speech in the cafeteria rallies everyone to march into Fives' sanctum.
158	* StatusQuoIsGod: At the end, Jeff points out both that the app's beta-period ended several days ago and it's now live on the App Store and that they're all in school on a Saturday for no reason, thus rendering Britta's "reviewlution" completely pointless.
159	* StealthInsult:
160	-->'''Garrett''': Can I get a picture? I want my future kids to know this happened!
161	-->'''Jeff''': I admire your optimism, Garrett.
162	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: The middle-aged party animal Koogler states that everyone thinks he's cool and "not ''that'' old."
163	* TakingYouWithMe: Jeff gets himself thrown out of The Fives area by pointing out that Shirley is being passive-aggressive and he can hear her insults. This is done while knowing that they would turn on him as well
164	* TallPoppySyndrome: The reason people with a rating of two or three wear only neutral grey. As Abed explains: "Looking like you want to move up can get you moved down."
165	* ThirdPersonPerson: Koogler mentions his own name in every other sentence he says.
166	-->"''Oh'', the Koog approves, that's a Five!"
167	* TimeSkip: The episode moves from "Day 2" of the beta test, when everybody was still using "[=MeowMeowBeenz=]" as just a social networking app to "Day 8" when it's turned Greendale into a caste-system {{Dystopia}}.
168	* ThisMeansWarPaint: After being annoyed that the only way anyone would be open to her opinion was if she had a little mustard on her face, Britta decides to smear a lot of mustard on her cheek and makes a RousingSpeech to get the Twos and Threes to revolt against the Fives.
169	* UrbanSegregation: Greendale becomes this within days of the "[=MeowMeowBeenz=]" app beta test with the people with a "five" rating living in privilege behind a gate, with twos and threes confined to their own areas.
170	* VillainousBreakdown: Britta gets pretty upset when the [=MeowMeowBeenz=] app is uninstalled and her regime becomes obsolete. She tries to get everyone to stay and puts more mustard on her face, but everyone ignores her.
171	* WhatTheHellHero:
172	** Shirley and the other members of the Save Greendale committee use this on Jeff when they learn he didn't invite Shirley to dinner and refuses to change it to another time.
173	** Jeff, in turn, uses this on Shirley over her tendency to guilt and manipulate people to get what she wants.
174	* WhiteDudeBlackDude: Jeff's stand-up routine is mostly comparing the way Twos, Threes, and Fours act.
175	* YankTheDogsChain: Abed says [=MeowMeowBeenz=] helps him see relationships in a clear new way and is elated to have social interactions with the Threes. However, he is roped into being a Five, and he's miserable. When he expresses displeasure at being a Five, the rest of the Fives just continue to upvote him for his honesty.
176	* [[YesMan Yes Woman]]: Annie becomes Shirley's by day two of the beta test, even imitating her "Mm-hmm!" to Jeff.
177	* YouMonster: Abed calls the "Fives" monsters after he complains that he was happier as a "Three" and they continue to give him high ratings.

Context Recap / CommunityS5E08AppDevelopmentAndCondiments