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Recap / Community S1 E08: Home Economics

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Jeff is rendered homeless after being kicked out of his condo, and eventually moves into Abed's dorm room. Meanwhile Annie enjoys time with Troy but is forced to help him prepare for an upcoming date with Randi. And after being explicitly told by Britta not to talk to Vaughn, Pierce ends up being the keyboardist in his band.


The Community episode "Home Economics" provides examples of:

  • Aborted Declaration of Love: When Annie attempts to pour her heart out in front of Troy, she cannot bring herself to do it and ends up demanding her blanket back instead.
  • Abusive Parents: Jeff makes a throwaway reference to having a drunken and abusive dad when explaining how TV makes an excellent parent.
  • Accidental Unfortunate Gesture: Annie nervously mimes throwing some dice. She looks likes she's giving an imaginary handjob.
    Shirley: Shake them in your mind!
  • Actor Allusion:
    • When Pierce accuses Vaughn of trying to "Garfunkel" him, Pierce clearly sees himself as Paul Simon in that scenario. The music video for the latter's "You Can Call Me Al" featured Chevy Chase pretending to be Paul Simon, much to Simon's apparent bemusement.
    • Pierce's brief stint in Vaughn's band also parallels Chase's similarly short stint in what would later become Steely Dan; like Pierce with Vaughn, Chase was in Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's group, the Leather Canary, while all three of them were attending the same college.
  • Asleep in Class: ¡Buenos dias, Winger!
  • Bilingual Bonus: Abed says "Cześć kolega, to jest Britta", meaning "Hi friend, this is Britta" to Paweł.
  • Borrowed Catchphrase: Jeff borrows Abed's "Cool, cool, cool" after living in his room for awhile.
  • Broke Episode: For Jeff, who slumps into an underachieving slacker existence after he gets evicted from his condo and has to move in with Abed, to the point that the latter gets concerned.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Annie interrupts Troy and Randi's date and attempts to tell Troy the reason.
    Annie: NO! Before you two proceed, I have one thing to say.
    [Long pause]
    Troy: ...Did you... say it already?
  • Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs:
    Jeff: How are you so satisfied all the time, Abed? Don't you ever want anything more out of life than cereal?
    Abed: Sometimes I like to pour hot cocoa mix into cold milk and drink it like a cold hot chocolate. I call it "special drink."
    Jeff: And someday, you will know it by its true name: diabetes.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Pierce and Vaughn are arguing about song credits:
    Pierce: Your song? We wrote it together. Are you trying to Garfunkel me?
    Vaughn: Maybe. Assuming to "Garfunkel" someone is to keep putting up with them even though they're a fat, lazy cat who hogs the spotlight and eats all the lasagne.
  • Dance Party Ending: The closing scene of everyone dancing to Vaughn's "Pierce, you're a B" song.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Jeff:
    Jeff: The next person who offers me pity or charity will be mentioned — by name — in my suicide note.
  • Funny Background Event: Look at Shirley in the scene where Troy asks Annie to help him shopping.
  • Fanservice: After faking a medical emergency in an attempt to sabotage Troy's date, Annie ultimately ends up running onto the quad in a backless hospital gown. Toward the end of the episode, Shirley can be briefly seen trying to cover up her bare backside.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Troy's date is named Randi.
  • "The Hero Sucks" Song: "Gettin' Rid of Britta" and later "Pierce, You're a B".
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Vaughn. His usual method of revenge for people who piss him off is to write songs with rather passive-aggressively spiteful lyrics in which he denounces them as a "B". Unfortunately for him, he gets a response song written about him in The Tag, which he apparently did not anticipate.
    Vaughn: Uh-huh. Well played, Pierce. This isn't over. [Storms off]
  • I Am What I Am: Britta ends up encouraging Jeff towards this trope, telling him to embrace being the vain, shallow poser he really is.
  • Kick the Dog: Vaughn writes a humiliating song about Britta to humiliate her for breaking up with him.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Vaughn getting a nasty song written about him by Pierce is a fairly just comeuppance considering the trouble he causes in the episode by writing nasty songs about other people.
  • Lives in a Van: The study group find out that Jeff is living in his car.
  • Metaphorgotten: See the Spoof Aesop quote.
  • Mistaken for Gay: Troy thinks that this may have happened when Annie is shocked that he's dating a (girl named) Randi.
  • Playing Cyrano: Annie with Troy and Randi.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "Don't. Talk. To. Vaughn."
  • Schmuck Bait: Britta warns Pierce not to talk to Vaughn. Gets predictable results.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Sidetracked by the Analogy: Partially Averted. Abed's analogy asking Britta to take Jeff back. Averted when Britta ignores it.
    Abed: Do it, Britta, seduce him. Draw the tapeworm of Jeff's old self out of him with the bowl of milk that is your sexuality.
    Britta: No.
  • Spoof Aesop: Britta telling Jeff to reclaim his materialistic old ways:
    Britta: Maybe you're one of those rare people with nothing underneath the surface. Maybe if you put stain remover on a turd, you don't get a diamond — you just get a turd with less direction in life.
  • Sure, Let's Go with That: Pierce gets angry at Britta's ex boyfriend (whose band he recently joined) about not getting his share of the credit for a song they wrote (an insulting song about Britta regarding the events in "Social Psychology"). Britta watches their argument from a distance without hearing the words, leading to this exchange:
    Britta: Pierce, did you just defend my honor?
    Pierce: Uh ... yeah, totally.
  • Take That!:
    Jeff: TV's the best dad there is. TV never came home drunk. TV never forgot me at the zoo. TV never abused and insulted me...unless you count Cop Rock.
  • Tantrum Throwing: Vaughn throws a musical version of one, writing a snippy song about Britta.
  • The Thing That Would Not Leave: Averted with Jeff when he stays in Abed's dorm, since despite Jeff's slide into slovenliness, Abed is happy for the company. It's then zig-zagged when it turns out Abed does want Jeff to leave, not because he's annoying or an inconvenience, but because it's clearly not healthy for Jeff to be so directionless.
  • T-Word Euphemism: Vaughn's song about "Getting rid of Britta, I'm getting rid of the B..." [She's a G-D-B!]
    • Also, her name STARTS with a B.
    • He does the same in his follow-up "Pierce, You Are a B".
  • Word, Schmord!: Britta tells Jeff to move on with his life.
    Jeff: Move on with my life? Shmove shmon shmith shmy shfime.
  • You Must Be Cold: Annie prepares Troy for this scenario on his first date.
    "And you'll offer her your letter jacket after you notice this funny way she shakes when she gets cold."
  • You Need a Breath Mint: Troy and Pierce's rap to get back at Vaughn includes this hilarious line: "East side, west side, north side, south/Vaughn's breath is so bad, his butt's mad at his mouth".

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