Line #46 Recap/CommunityS4E08HerstoryOfDance


1	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
2
3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AbedTwodates_7565.jpg]]
4
5	->''"I can do the classic [[TwoTimerDate 'Two dates in one night']] sitcom trope! It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for hijinks! I can't pass it up."''
6	-->-- '''Abed'''
7
8	Britta accidentally creates a Sophie B. Hawkins dance (she meant "Susan B. Anthony," then wouldn't admit the mistake) to compete with the Dean's Sadie Hawkins sock hop. Annie and Shirley set Abed up with their choices of dates.
9
10	----
11	!! The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Herstory of Dance" provides examples of:
12
13	* AllJustADream: The season finale of [[TransatlanticEquivalent the American version]] of ''JustForFun/InspectorSpacetime''.
14	* TheBet: Rachel offers to let Abed pretend the romantic version, but he decides [[CharacterDevelopment he'd rather try a real relationship for a change.]]
15	* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler: Sophie B. Hawkins arrives as Britta is withering in front of the booing crowd.]]
16	* BreadAndCircuses: Jeff realizes that the Dean's dance is a distraction from the removal of the water fountains. Abed references the trope by name and claims that he has "been making a conscious effort to get away from filtering everything through TV", which is plausible because the TropeNamer is OlderThanFeudalism.
17	* BrickJoke:
18	** After Abed distracts Shirley by asking for her sweater, she next appears carrying it.
19	** Rachel repeats the "embarrassed dog" move after Abed makes his public confession.
20	* BrosBeforeHoes: Troy tries to convince Abed early in the episode that it would be more fun to plan Britta's dance together than for Abed to go on dates... it's less out of insecurity or fear of abandonment, though, than Troy worrying that without Abed it'll [[AllergicToRoutine just be really boring]].
21	* CallBack:
22	** Pierce is a fan of [[Recap/CommunityS4E03ConventionsOfSpaceAndTime the American version of]] ''Inspector Spacetime''.
23	** The Dean stands firm on his dance because he had already started [[Recap/CommunityS4E06AdvancedDocumentaryFilmmaking making]] [[Recap/CommunityS4E07EconomicsOfMarineBiology a banner]].
24	** A [[Recap/CommunityS4E07EconomicsOfMarineBiology Delta Cube]] Rush flyer can seen behind Jeff after he had taken down one of the Sophie B. Hawkins flyers.
25	** Troy reuses [[Recap/CommunityS3E21TheFirstChangDynasty his fake mustache]].
26	** Rachel "used to run the frozen yogurt machine before [[Recap/CommunityS3E11UrbanMatrimonyAndTheSandwichArts that old guy broke it]]."
27	** Britta again mentions [[Recap/CommunityS3E13DigitalExplorationOfInteriorDesign she was propositioned for sex by a Sheik from Dubai]].
28	** Pierce points out that Britta helped Jeff [[Recap/CommunityS4E05CooperativeEscapismInFamilialRelations reconcile with his dad]].
29	** The study group hums [[Recap/CommunityS3E05HorrorFictionInSevenSpookySteps "Daybreak"]] in TheTag. [[note]]In the original broadcast version of the episode only. [[/note]]
30	** Jeff mentions Britta used to own a cat named [[Recap/CommunityS1E22TheArtOfDiscourse Susan B.]].
31	** Pierce mentions that Hawthorne Wipes was the official supplier of moist towelettes to the Lilith Fair festival tour, another instance of their popularity in the [[Recap/CommunityS3E06AdvancedGay lesbian[=/=]gay community]].
32	* CelebrityStar: Sophie B Hawkins
33	* CharacterDevelopment: Abed is making a conscious effort to invoke this by moving away from his reliance on pop culture references and 'hijinks' based on them. He then finds himself unable to resist the allure of the TwoTimerDate when it's dangled in front of him.
34	%% * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Kat
35	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Kevin reads "You suck at this, get off the stage" as a song request.
36	* ConspicuousTrenchcoat: Rachel wears one while delivering a "telegram" to Abed.
37	%% * ConversationalTroping: Abed and Rachel, the whole time.
38	* CrashIntoHello: Abed and Rachel have the softer variant. It's one of the few dating tropes they don't deliberately set up.
39	* {{Deconstruction}}: Of Britta's ButtMonkey treatment; we get to see how far she'll go trying not to get humiliated, to the point even ''[[{{Jerkass}} Pierce]]'' thinks it isn't funny.
40	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The Dean's {{Housewife}} costume, with gray clothes and make-up to make him look straight out of TheFifties.
41	* TheDeterminator: No matter how inevitable the likelihood of her failing becomes, Britta doesn't back down from her dance. [[spoiler: Her determination -- and his disgust at Jeff's {{Jerkass}} behaviour towards her -- is one of the things that moves Pierce towards arranging for Sophie B. Hawkins to show up at the dance after all.]]
42	* EveryoneHasStandards: One of the reasons that Pierce [[spoiler: arranges for Sophie B. Hawkins to show up after all]] is that he doesn't appreciate Jeff's {{Jerkass}} behaviour towards Britta throughout the episode.
43	* EveryoneIsSatanInHell: Jessica's father apparently believes that ''Franchise/StarWars'' is the work of the Devil.
44	* ExactWords: After Abed accepts Kat's invite to the Sadie Hawkins dance, Shirley comes in to discuss Abed's date with Jessica, the girl from her church, but never specifies which dance she means. Abed, [[GenreSavvy naturally,]] runs with this and states that he'd love to go to ''Britta's'' dance with Jessica, setting up the dichotomy for his TwoTimerDate.
45	* EvenTheDogIsAshamed: Rachel references and gestures the {{Facepalm}} version.
46	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: When Shirley and Annie confront Abed, Troy walks behind them balancing a (very) high stack of plastic cups.
47	* HeldGaze: One happens between Abed and Rachel. Rachel makes sure to {{Lampshade}} it, noting that {{HeldGaze}}s often predicate TheBigDamnKiss in movies. Abed, however, ObliviousToLove, quickly breaks the moment and shuts her down.
48	* HypocriticalHumor: Annie and Shirley get very competitive over finding Abed a date for the dance while insisting that it's not a competition. Shirley suggests that they both find Abed a date and then let Abed choose "rather than turn it into a competition", which as Abed points out is the very definition of a competition.
49	-->'''Shirley:''' ''Only for the loser.''
50	* {{Jerkass}}: Jeff pretty much spends the entire episode smugly waiting for Britta to fail so he can rub it in her face, and takes every opportunity he can get to gloat and belittle her. Pierce calls him out on it, pointing out that she helped Jeff reconcile with his dad and deserves a bit more slack from him.
51	* JerkassHasAPoint: Jeff isn't exactly wrong that Britta's just making more trouble for herself through her stubbornness rather than admitting her mistake and moving on, but as Pierce points out the fact that he takes malicious pleasure in anticipating her inevitable failure doesn't reflect well on him. Pierce also belongs here, as he is just as right to point out that Jeff's often quite cruel and callous way of pointing out people's failings doesn't really help the situation either.
52	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Pierce was the one who called in Sophie B. Hawkins because he admired the way that, even in the face of absolute failure, Britta didn't back down.
53	* {{Malaproper}}: A malapropism kicks off the main plot of the episode as Britta says "Sophie B. Hawkins" when she meant "Susan B. Anthony" but is too stubborn to admit she misspoke.
54	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Kat is a parody of this trope. When introducing her, Annie references the trope and all but names it.
55	-->'''Annie''': She's like one of those quirky girls from the movies. I saw her in the cafeteria trying to pay for lunch with a song.
56	* TheNineties: According to the Dean, '90s nostalgia is something of a life-raft for much of the student body at Greendale.
57	-->'''Britta''' ''[nervously]'': I didn't know Sophie B. Hawkins was so big at Greendale.\
58	'''Dean Pelton''': Oh yeah. A ''large'' percentage of Greendale students sort of... ''gave up'' in the mid-Nineties, so for many of them Sophie B. Hawkins is the most recent music they're aware of. I mean, her coming here is going to be a huge boost to their spirits.\
59	'''Britta:''' [[BlatantLies Greaaat!]]\
60	'''Dean Pelton:''' Whereas her ''not'' showing up would be enough to push these people to such a dark place... [[DrivenToSuicide and really question whether life is worth living at all]]. ''[pauses as Britta looks stricken]'' [[MoodWhiplash Okay, buh-bye!]]
61	* ObliviousToLove: Abed misses that Rachel is falling for him.
62	* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Annie and Shirley both believe that they have won the date-picking competition. In a minor subversion, though, they quickly figure out that Abed's on two dates at the same time.
63	* OnTheNext: [[TheTag The first airing had a tag]] featuring the puppet versions of the group from [[Recap/CommunityS4E09IntroToFeltSurrogacy the following episode]].
64	* PersonAsVerb: In his WhatTheHellHero Speech one of the points Pierce makes to Jeff is that his constantly and gleefully using Britta's name as a synonym for failure and incompetence is a pretty crappy thing for a supposed friend to do. Jeff makes amends at the end by congratulating her for doing a great job, saying she "Britta'd the hell out of it."
65	* PromWrecker: Britta starts the Sophie B Hawkins dance as a protest against the Sadie Hawkins dance, which she feels encourages outdated gender roles.
66	* ShoutOut:
67	** Pierce mentions that an appearance by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheryl_Tiegs Cheryl Tiegs]] added some sex appeal to a recent episode of the [[TransatlanticEquivalent American]] ''Inspector Spacetime''.
68	** The Dean pops in on the study group dressed as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Reed Dean-a Reed]]".
69	** The episode's A plot centers on Britta planning a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_B._Hawkins Sophie B. Hawkins]] Dance.
70	** Troy is confused about witnessing two events that seem to contradict one another -- although he allows for the possibility that he could be living parallel lives like in ''Series/Awake2012''.
71	** Pierce mentions that Hawthorne Wipes was once the official moist towelette supplier for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith_Fair Lilith Fair]].
72	* SnowballLie: Britta's mistake in naming her dance threatens to escalate into a Brittastrophe.
73	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: The Dean is offended that Britta thinks a dance can just be thrown together.
74	* TakeThat:
75	-->'''Abed:''' That guy's like teflon. No matter how much awful stuff he does, he keeps getting another chance.\
76	'''Troy:''' Yeah, he's like the Colin Farrell of people.
77	** Jessica hasn't seen the ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies because she's been taught that pop culture is of the devil. Abed admits that this may be true at least of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''.
78	* ThisIsThePartWhere: ...we kiss, says Rachel.
79	* ThrowTheDogABone: [[spoiler:Pierce calls Sophie B. Hawkins, whom he knows from being a sponsor at Lilith Fair, to show up and save Britta from being humiliated. May also count as a PetTheDog moment for Pierce.]]
80	* TransatlanticEquivalent: Abed hates the American remake of ''JustForFun/InspectorSpacetime''.
81	* TwoTimerDate: Abed does this for no reason other than the fact that he wants to try his hand at this classic trope.
82	* WhatTheHellHero:
83	** Pierce calls Jeff out on his {{Jerkass}} behaviour towards Britta and the delight he is getting from watching her screw up, pointing out that, among other things, she helped Jeff reconcile with his father.
84	** Annie and Shirley call out Abed on the fact that he is lying to two perfectly nice women for the sole purpose of amusing himself.

Context Recap / CommunityS4E08HerstoryOfDance