WMG / Community

Meta

Dan Harmon reads the WMG page and adjusts the show accordingly.

Think about it. Almost every WMG on this page has been put into the show.

• Dan, could you please give the Darkest timeline its own spin-off show? Pretty please?

The episode Documentary Filmmaking: Redux was written by one of the staff writers annoyed with Dan Harmon's behaviour. The devolvement of the Greendale ad due to the Dean's creative meltdown is an analogy for the behind scenes trouble of Community's 3rd season.

• The Dean's problem arguably starts when he believes himself to better than the school and everyone else who works there, like Harmon's escalating arrogance.
• Jeff is forced to impersonate the Dean, much like how Joel McHale was allegedly thrust into a leadership role and moral compass on set.
• Pierce just acts like a dick immediately, refusing to get out of his trailer until he got a trailer. This reflects Chevy Chase's widely discussed juvenile and destructive behaviour when unsatisfied with the script.
• Annie decides that the Dean is a genius, and refuses to hear ill spoken of him. Maybe she represents some who worked on the show, (and many of the fandom), who believed that Harmon's creative results made up for, and even justified, his faults.
• Britta and Troy are pressured into a lukewarm relationship, which becomes more forced and awkward as the Dean tries to escalate it. This seems to foreshadow the criticisms with their relationship in Season 4.
• And finally the executives are shown to have painfully low standards. In the end, all they really wanted was something that got ratings/enrollments. They were only prepared to accept creative dysfunctionality if it got them results.

The whole suspension of Community from TV has been a giant Batman Gambit for NBC to raise awareness of the show's popularity.

Although I hope that this is not true, as this is a terrible prank to pull o loyal fans at the expense of gaining more, the continuing announcement of new guest stars and inclusion in NBC promotional materials, in addition to a return date still to be announced, the network has certainly raised awareness of the show to the public. The recent announcement of guest stars and the fact that a character is going to die in the show, still not revealed is the return date, coupled with social media buzz has created such an aura around the show that upon its return, new viewers will have heard so much about this show that ratings are sure to be much higher. This break has also allowed for die-hard fans of the show to convince their friends and family to become fans of the show through DVDs, DVR, and online viewings, as well as other people finding their way to the show through similar means. Thus NBC has used this ploy as a way of drawing more viewers. The old adage of "you want what you can't have" in relation to the show is going to draw in more people, including those who knew nothing of the show. While watching all of the episodes in the break, viewers will want more, and will thus be more inclined to watch the show as soon as they can. Therefore, NBC has purposefully undertaken this strategy for said means.

• And now, the same could be said for the delay to the fourth season. It may be just a delay, and therefore not too much of a big deal, but the way that a new release date hasn't been announced is enough to just get people the tiniest bit worried...
• The final season of 30 Rock is only thirteen episodes. By my calculations, if they air two episodes in one week (which they've done before), 30 Rock will end in December. Therefore, it's possible that Community could take 30 Rock's place as a midseason replacement, which would get it back on Thursdays and out of the Friday Night Death Slot.

If we shout #SIXSEASONSANDAMOVIE enough, they'll eventually do it. But have you thought about how the movie will turn out?

• There's three ways the movie can ever work.

1. It's like a normal episode, but extra long, It'll feel awkward and Hollywood will try to add in their own stuff, completely ruin it. There won't be anything new, and if there is, it'll be bad. We can not allow this to happen. Standard stuff.

2. It occurs after the 6th season. It wraps up everything that's happened, it's well done. Then everybody dies at the end. Hollywood does this because they want to give the fans some closure, something really amazing and interesting, because they know that there will never be any episodes to the show because they're even now struggling to keep it on air, and killing the bastards will get them to stop asking for more. So it goes out with an emotional bang. Ask yourself if you want this.

3. It's a prequel. It appeals to Hollywood bastards because it introduces the show to everybody who hasn't seen it before. It shows Jeff being a successful lawyer, then losing his job. Britta doing whatever she's done, being an anarchist and travelling the world (naturally they can't say the A word in Hollywood, unless she's a bomb wielding psycho), Annie is a good little high school girl, gets addicted to pills, kicked out on the street. Andre screws a stripper, Shirley fights with him. Troy secretly and unsuccesfully looks for a homosexual partner and loses his scholarship to Riverside high injuring hemself on purpose. Abed's mother leaves and he tries to cope. Pierce is at Greendale, trying unsuccesfully to make friends and meaning in his life. None of them interact yet, but that's alright. It shows how they got so emotionally damaged in the first place. This won't ruin the show, it'll make it better. If they add things in, it might not even be ruined. Their can be things so traumatic and strange they become unspeakable during the series.Jeff could have a fiancée that he leaves, becoming emotionally damaged and addicted to meaningless sex and sarcasm to cope, trying his hardest to view women as having no identity so he doesn't fall in love. Pierce could get married and divorced because he's crazy and manipulative, but he's still a human being with emotions. Shirley could be shown resorting to Jesus as a coping mechanism. Annie could hallucinate and see things in her subconscious she can never ever explain or talk about. Britta could be politically active because of some reason, I don't know.

4. I could just watch Abed watch TV for a whole movie, but he could... have tons of girls hitting on them, but none of them really understand him so he tries his hardest to make how he works clear to people and not stigmatised. Well that'll never happen in Hollywood, but still.

5. The movie will begin like a normal episode, but Abed will want everyone to get involved in some plot that is out of the ordinary for an episode but normal for a movie. He will go as far as trying to make a "Save Greendale" movie plot in reference to Recess: School's Out. The school will need to raise money in order to be saved, but Troy solves the problem quickly by donating some of his money. A 22-minute episode-esque problem will be solved and then Abed will go insane, saying that he wants a movie so that it does not have to end so soon. He will collapse and then go into a comatose state. His friends will realize that the only way to wake him up is to engage in a movie-esque adventure. They will do many outlandish things, including a road trip, and they will be carrying Abed's body along with them (possibly as a reference to Weekend at Bernie's). Even after doing all of this, he will still be in a coma. The audience will then see what is going on in Abed's head. He will see Pierce in a vision and say, "It wouldn't have been a movie event without you." Pierce will then respond, "You must be gay if you're dreaming about me." Abed will reveal that he does not want to get out of the coma because it would end the movie, which would end all of Community. Pierce will then give him a speech about how he has to let go and make Abed realize that there are reruns for a reason. Abed will awaken from his comatose state and apologize to his friends. As they await the end of the movie, Abed will discover that beneath his hospital bed is a broken container that had Pierce's life vapor within it, causing him to wonder whether Pierce's religious beliefs were right. The credits will contain bloopers and there will be a post-credit scene of some sort. (Feel free to use this, whoever makes the Community movie.)

The idea for the Greendale Human Being's face came from Uboa

• Possibly a practical joke by one of the students.
• And if you'd like to compare them, go ahead and check Uboa's face out

All fans of Star Trek named Kevin have George Takei's Funny Answering Machine message from Epidemiology on their phones

• It seemed pretty obvious but it will get out of hand soon.

The Darkest Timeline is actually about Abed's fears of abandonment and of being the one responsible for destroying his family.

• Pierce is dead, which is plausible given that he's the oldest.
• Shirley is miserable and too drunk to participate in reality — also plausible, given her past.
• Annie is a mental hospital, which could either be played straight or symbolism for when she graduates and goes to work in hospital administration. Of them all, she's the least likely to come hang around Greendale or have anything to do with the study group afterwards.
• Jeff is even more cynical and heartless than when he started out, and has nothing but impatience and scorn for his friends.
• Britta has become even more shallow and detached, and has lost the empathy and compassion that used to be some of her defining traits.
• Troy stumped me for a while, but I think his electronic voice is a sign he's becoming more Blogon than Constable.
  • It's "Blorgon", with an "r". "Blogon" means "thank you" in Blorgon.
• Abed himself is almost exactly the same, except he's Evil — he's unfeeling, manipulative, and destroys things, exactly as he feared he was when his parents divorced. He made his parents unhappy and drove his mother away, and now Evil Abed is doing it again to his new family.

We live in the same universe Community takes place in.

Think about it, in the real world, Community is a tv show, as is Cougartown. Inspector Spacetime isn't, and Dani Pudi is an actor who plays the character Abed on said TV show.

In the world of Community, Inspector Spacetime is a tv show, as is Cougartown, and Abed made a guest appearance on Cougartown.

In our world, we can watch Inspector Spacetime, and someone who looked like Abed, but was not credited as Dani Pudi appeared in an episode of Cougartown. We live in the same universe Community takes place in! Doesn't life often feel like a tv show? Doesn't it feel like we live by TV tropes? Doesn't seem like people are really odd or crazy? Do you find broad and humorous concepts quickly undercut when reality ensues, leading to a sort of deconstruction? We've crossed over some how.

The $40,000 from Advanced Documentary Filmmaking is an obscure Hitchcock reference.

The grant is from the MacGuffin Institute. The grant is a MacGuffin, not much meta-humor there. BUT! Look deeper. The grant isn't for a childishly simplistic number (e.g. $10,000 or $100,000). It's for the oddly specific amount of $40,000. $40,000 just so happens to be the amount of money stolen at the beginning of Psycho, arguably the most famous movie of the man who invented the MacGuffin, Alfred Hitchcock.

• This reference especially makes sense when you consider Kevin/Chang's situation in this episode.
  • Another possible reference is the part where Kevin explains how he knew Jeff was a lawyer, which is an inverted reference to Norman Bates being a bad liar when he's being interrogated.

The Fourth season was actually the first of a show created by Abed based on his experiences at GCC.

From which Abed was fired as producer roughly halfway trough, after he refused to give in to Executive Meddling.That's why they got things wrong, like the exact nature of Troy's faked injury (the shoulders in season one, the knee in season four).

Everything on tvtropes.org is written by Abed.

Think about it: Have you ever seen anyone edit or add on to this website? For all we know, everything is written by Abed and not by multiple people!-Abed

If there is no season 6, it will be because an asteroid wiped out humanity.

And that's canon.

• Since NBC has canceled the show, this may be confirmed.

Alternatively, an asteroid will wipe out humanity in real life.

Thus preventing season 6 from being made.

• Jossed. We are still alive.
  • And the show has been renewed for season six. So humanity is saved.

Future Plot

What Jeff's old lawyer buddy said about being the head of Jeff's old firm was a lie.

• The third season finale sees the return of Jeff's old co-lawyer, Alan, who ratted Jeff out to the state bar and cost him his lawyer job. He says that he is now the top dog at Jeff's old firm, even though Jeff helped the guy reach a partnership position by praising him to the head of firm, Ted (played by Drew Carey) in the second season.
• My thesis is that Alan's claim that Ted was eaten by sharks and thus no longer in charge of the firm was a lie. After all, Jeff would have been smart enough to—metaphorically—keep his ear to the ground and would have heard this news. But Alan couldn't just return to the law firm with his tail between his legs because he couldn't even beat Jeff Winger in mock court, so he concocted the story on the fly to convince Jeff to throw the case by appealing to his previous narcissism.
  • But wouldn't Jeff, if he'd been keeping his ear to the ground, know this was a lie anyway?

S 5 E 08 will be an American Idol homage.

• Musical episodes have been S 2 E 11, S 3 E 10 and S 4 E 09. S 1 E 12, while not a musical episode, was the first one to feature Shirley singing. S 5 E 08 being another musical would be just perfect.
• Jeff as Ryan Seacrest, Magnitude as Randy Jackson ('pop pop' instead of 'dog'), Britta as Paula Abdul, Duncan as Simon Cowell, Pierce's ex-step-daughter (Katharine Mc Phee) as a Katharine Mc Phee spoof, Abed as Bruce Gowers, Shirley as another contestant (the episode could be about her, being promoted as a Christian mother of three who's back in school, etc.) and Annie as either Kara Dio Guardi or another contestant or a voice coach. Instead of 'America voted', you get 'Greendale voted'.
• Amusingly it was about popularity based voting, but not singing.

Jeff and Britta are back together in Season 5.

• At the end of Season 4 they're in a bar and we don't see any of the others, which suggests they could've been hanging out alone and/or on a date.

Britta will get an iPod Nano in Season 5, as predicted by S 1 E 22

• Confirmed

Instead of paintball, Season 5 will have a game of "The Floor Is Lava"

• In the trailer, Britta mentions a group of "chairwalkers." Why would people be walking on chairs except to avoid stepping on the floor? Just like with paintball, the game will spiral out of control, leaving every student for themselves.
  • Confirmed

Robert Laybourne will be the Big Bad of Season 3, with Chang as his Dragon.

• Season 3 will end with Jeff graduating, recovering his law degree, and tricking Laybourne into readjusting the Greendale Charter to reinclude the A/C Repair Annex, putting the Dean back in charge.
  • Alternately, Laybourne will conspire with City College's dean to completely oust Pelton.
  • Jossed in S3 finale.

Alternate theory: There will be a showdown between Dean Laybourne and Troy, and Chang will be a Spanner in the Works

As a Manipulative Bastard and the true master of Greendale, Dean Laybourne will try every trick in the book, including trying to create a "spark" that will lead to that moment in the trailer where the greendale 7 are expelled from the school. (temporarily) However, in a fit of psychotic control, Chang will somehow louse it up due to his desire to become the true master of Greendale. With his Child Soldier army, he will wage a private war against the Air conditioning for control over the puppeteer, leading to him destroying the Annex's power, bringing back the Greendale 7 and setting up season four with CHANG as Big Bad, in a Who's Laughing Now? situation as Greendale Dictator.

Possible Third Season Homages:

• A The Big Bang Theory parody. Like Glee they are their competitors for the same timeslot on different channels.
  • Or more likely, a parody of three camera sitcoms in general.
    • This will include a group of people who laugh at things that no one else finds funny, to the characters confusion and annoyance
• An ep about rebooting horror story characters and a fight of preboot vs reboot characters.
• An ep about the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic phenomenon and the Animation Age Ghetto

Britta will be the jerk of this season, like Pierce in season 2

• Maybe not the jerk, but there have been some hints that she may be the "friend-we-have-to-save-from-themselves'' of season 3. In "Geography of Global Conflict" we see her conflicted between her new goal of becoming a psychologist and her old desire to be a rabble-rouser, and in "Remedial Chaos Theory" we see that she's begun smoking pot. When these signs are combined with the personality traits Britta routinely exhibits (strident, insecure, well-meaning but usually blowing her execution), we have ingredients for a major meltdown before season's end.
  • Begun smoking pot? We don't know that this is new for her, just that she's worse at hiding it.
  • I think that's not what happened. She just inhaled some of the smoke... from the pizza delivery guy. That's why they get married in another timelines.
    • I think we can Joss this

Jeff will be the jerk of this season, like Pierce in season 2

• In "Biology 101" Jeff is excluded from the study group and undergoes a condensed rapid-fire version of Pierce's villainous character arc in season 2, with several moments throughout displaying how they weren't so different. Since then, almost all the episodes have focused, either overtly or subtly, on how Jeff is in several ways a less-than-positive influence on the group, culminating in the ending of "Remedial Chaos Theory", where the timeline where he is absent from the room is ultimately the one that ends the happiest for all the members of the group. This suggests that Jeff is going to be the outsider of the group just as Pierce was the previous year — or at the very least, he's in for a serious deconstruction over the course of the season.

Jeff will not go back to being a lawyer after he graduates.

Or, at least, not the same kind as before. Greendale has grown on him and, in turn, has made him grow a heart. Once he tries to go back to his firm he'll realize that he can't defend any of their morally ambiguous clients anymore— not without it weighing heavy on his newly-developed conscience. If he does return to law, he'll end up fighting against injustices instead of for them.

• Confirmed. He tried to be a Hero At Law, failed and became a teacher

Britta will have a relationship of some kind with Starburns.

I mean, come on, the pizza dude looks uncannily like him. That can't be coincidental. And with some of the relationships we've already gotten, or even the ones that have only been hinted, this one seems kinda tame, in comparison.

• Jossed/Confirmed He's dead, as of the Law & Order parody episode, but Britta's poorly-planned impersonation of Starburns to help the group deal with their grief in the following episode involves her accidental admission that she had made out with him while under the influence of alcohol.
  • Starburns is not dead, he's faking it.

Abed will be the villain in the final season

Let's say maybe for the fourth season as everyone graduates (possibly). As a Meta Guy he will think of the show ending as sort of an apocalypse that he will deal with by living out every insane idea he has. He may even attempt to Jump the Shark as a personal sacrifice.

There will be a paintball episode in Season 3.

• And it will be Greendale Vs. The Air Conditioning Repair School.
  • Alternately, Greendale invades City College as revenge, in an episode based on spy fiction tropes. Annie as a Bond Girl, anyone?
• Jossed. Season Three's fake clip show, "Curriculum Unavailable", includes a black-and-white scene from a Prohibition Era Gangsters style paintball episode. After the flashback, the group agrees that they should "never do another paintball."

Senor Chang is going to join Jeff's Study Group.

Well, he's spent the last season becoming the breakout character. He doesn't even know that much spanish. It would seem he needs some friends. Just a guess.

• Confirmed in the second season premiere.
  • Though, half way through the season, Chang's still not in the group.
    • And Jeff seemed to have changed his mind after finding out about Chang's use of his name to make bad puns.
    • Finally in Season 5, Chang is a member of the Save Greendale Committee, the Spiritual Successor to the Study Group

Evil!Troy and Evil!Abed will come back to Reality Prime...

...and gather up Annie Kim, Todd, and three other people who have been wronged by members of the group to create an evil study group. Since Jim Rash is in the principal cast now, Dean Laybourne might get in on the act. They will proceed to have an ultimate showdown in the most high-stakes paintball finale yet.

• Crazier sub-theory: Evil!Troy and Evil!Abed will reach reality prime with the help of Inspector Spacetime and the DARSIT.
• Bleaker sub-theory: Evil!Troy and Evil!Abed will secretly "supplant" the prime versions. And we only find out in the stinger of the finale.
• The head of the Air Conditioner annex could use the evil study group as his way to get rid of Dean Pelton (to combine with a theory below) by pitting his team against the "prime group" in a paintball match. An added thing could be that it then changes from paintballs to Nerf weapons or other such toys from both Abeds trying to one-up each other in their battle of wits.
• As of Contemporary Impressionists, Evil Abed found a way to cross back to the Prime Timeline.
• Crazy theory as of Course Listing Unavailable: Abed mentions being given Starburns' video will and urn by a "one-armed lawyer" and seems to make a point of the fact that this lawyer was missing his right arm. Has Evil!Jeff somehow found a way to the Prime timeline?

Pierce will end up dating someone's mom.

Maybe Jeff's. Cue hilarious You're Not My Father arguments.

The season 3 finale will not involve paintball.

Dean Pelton has ample reason to head that off at the pass this year. So he'll try to have some kind of year-end competition that will (obstensibly) cause less property damage. (This troper thinks that Nerf or boffer/foam weapons would be interesting.)

• Danny Pudi (Abed's actor) is in Knights of Badassdom. Of course, there's always the possibility that there Won't Be No Rule about wet-paint spells/props...
• OR the Dean will attempt to have another event, but it just turns to paintball anyway.
• This is pretty much confirmed by Curriculum Unavailable, where we are shown a brief clip of an (unseen) paintball battle that took place some time is Season 3, this time themed around mafia movies. In that same episode, Abed says that they should never play paintball again and the group agrees.

Shirley eventually is going to be chased by a werewolf.

• We did see one briefly when Jeff is playing pool against Coach Bogner in "Physical Education."
  • In the commentary for "Physical Education," Dan Harmon said that the particularly hirsute character in the background was purely coincidental, and that he only wished he could have planned such a development. Although he could be lying.

There will be a power struggle between Jeff and Chang once Chang joins the group.

Let's face it, Chang loves being in control and using that control to make people pissed. No way he's going to lay back and let Jeff call the shots.

• He may attempt a coup but everyone would immediately back Jeff.
• Jossed.

Troy is going to become the Team Dad.

While he's not the most Book Smart member of the group, he's one of the more level headed and responsible. He gets major maturity points in his birthday episode. While a lot of his humor is childish, he has a sense of right and wrong and seems to be fairly dependable. In contrast, Jeff ends up being a victim of his vices a lot, and is a little more self-concerned.

• If not necessarily the Team Dad, he's at least becoming the Hero. Along with the birthday episode, he led the group's space mission, and saved them all from becoming zombies.

Jeff and Troy are slowly switching roles.

• Think about this. At the beginning of the series, Troy was uncaring, cold, and kind of a jerk jock. Jeff, while still manipulative, also did care about the group and worked to keep them together. Also, initially Jeff and Abed were pretty good friends, as well as Jeff going after Britta, while Troy was closer with Annie. Over time, the group has relied on Troy more and Jeff less, and with Jeff being closer to Annie and Troy dating Britta, they've switched roles.

The Air conditioning School has a particle accelerator.

And that is how Evil Abed will make a timeline crossing british phone booth to conquer the prime line's group... with paint ball.

Vicki and Fat Neil are going to get married.

• They will have the Study Group help plan their wedding since the Study Group helped Neil to come out of his shell.

Troy and Abed will actually start dating.

• At this point, every single scene of theirs together seems to be leading up to it and the group regularly refers to them as More Than Friends. It's also mentioned during the Community Comic Con panel that Troy and Abed get a Relationship Upgrade.

The group will all work at Greendale after they graduate

• With Jeff teaching law, Abed teaching a film class, Troy as the football coach or alternately a plumber, Britta teaching a psych class, Shirley teaching religion, and Pierce as guidance councilor.
  • Pierce as guidance counsellor. Think about what you just wrote. There are human rights laws against that.
  • Partially confirmed, Jeff is indeed a law teacher

Troy is the chosen one who will unite air-conditioner repairmen and plumbers, and forge a new age of brotherhood between all maintenance workers.

• It's made obvious in the end of Advanced Gay that he is some sort of line walker with the powers of both groups, which is a good start if you're going to be a messiah.
  • Partially Confirmed: As of Introduction to Finality, he has become the True Repairman, who will Repair Man.

Jeff's father will be a plot line

• Specifically, it will be revealed that his father died in an accident barely a year after he left Jeff and his mom.
  • As of the season 3 finale, this is pretty much confirmed.

There will be at least one other episode based on something from "Paradigms of Human Memory"

• "Regional Holiday Music" has much of its plot derived from the Glee joke in that episode. A third iteration of the Boob-A-Tron, perhaps?

The Grand Finale of Community will be a Distant Finale.

• The production team and NBC mentioned that the rest of season 3 will be aired eventually. Thus, as a final offset to the uncertainty, the production team's last episode will be at a Greendale reunion where all the students and teachers of Greendale get back together to reveal what they all ended up doing with their lives. If desired, include potential gags from said episode below.
• To be honest, the only way I would be satisfied with a grand finale is if the study group is sitting around the table, someone suggests they go to lunch, Jeff says he needs to do something, and he cancels his table for one that he mentioned early in the show.

The show will use another fake Clip Show similiar to "Paradigm of Human Memory" to cover events that took place during the extended hiatus in Season 3.

• Yup.

If there's a fourth season, the study group will be working together for a History class.

• Since the existing seasons each had a central theme built around the class, as mentioned on the main page, I figure that the fourth one- which will likely be the final one before the characters graduate- will deal with them coming to terms with their past histories and development, not only during the series but before it as well.
  • Seemingly confirmed as the first episode of season four will be called "History 101".

Robert Laybourne has been replaced with his evil counterpart

• We know that the Evil Universe Study Group is trying to break into the real world. Evil!Troy and Evil!Abed teamed up with Evil!Laybourne (who has a beard and ponytail and is going through some stuff right now), built a machine that could teleport people between worlds using Evil!Troy's super AC skills (the machine needs to be really, really cold), and sent Evil!Laybourne to replace himself and recruit Troy to the AC Repair School, where he will either be replaced with Evil!Troy outright, or tricked into helping build another teleporter that would allow all the Evil Study Group members to be invade en masse. The season finale will involve Abed using his One of Us powers to realise Troy has been replaced and investigate the AC Repair School.

Troy and Abed will switch roles at some point (metaphorically speaking).

In the second half of season three, one of the undercurrents of tension between Troy and Abed is that Abed tends to be the one who leads and Troy is the one who follows, as represented by the fact that in their Inspector Spacetime role-play Abed is always the Inspector and Troy is always Constable Reggie. It would seem that a natural way to resolve this tension and demonstrate development between them and their friendship would be to present some circumstance whether they either had to or Abed was willing to surrender the role of the Inspector to Troy and to himself take on the role of the Constable.

Season 4 will end with Pierce suffering a heart attack or otherwise being hospitalized, with it being up in the air as to whether he will survive or not.

Some spoilers (albeit rather hazy and ill-defined ones) have implied that the Season 4 finale ends on a cliffhanger note for several characters — and in particular, one that will provide an easy opportunity to explain away Pierce's absence in future episodes, in light of Chevy Chase quitting the show towards the end of the season. A logical way to do this would have Pierce be stricken with a potentially fatal illness or medical condition (such as a heart attack) with the possibility of him dying as a consequence, and the other characters looking on anxiously.

Season 4 will include an episode along the lines of "Advanced Documentary and ___"

...where ___ is something either related to the A-plot (if Abed's documentary is the frame), the B-plot (if Abed's documentary is the A-plot), or graduation/nostalgia (if the episode is the finale, a Distant Finale, or especially if it's the revelation that the entire show has been Abed's pet project of documenting his time at Greendale).

The entire show will be revealed as Abed's post-school pet project or end-of-school final project.

See above. Sub-guesses include things like this being his University post-graduate thesis and he's not quite who he seems to be (which would probably make me sad), or that it's a Distant Finale.

• Also, there are security cameras set all around the school... As shown in History 101 when the Dean walks by one. Abed also had a camera in his old dorm room. He could be filming everyone without their knowledge.

The series finale (or Season 4 finale, if the currect showrunners go with Dan Harmon's plan of Jeff finishing his degree in Season 4 but letting the show continue, including his continuing part in the group) will be one of the few episode titles to break the "Class Title" (or, considering "Curriculum Unavailable", "Something You Might Get When Searching Greendale's Curriculum Database"), and will simply be called "Graduation".

Or something like that. "Graduation", "Reunion", "Degree Presentation", you get the idea.

Pierce is going to die in season four.

What with Chevy Chase leaving the show and all.

• He'll have a heart attack and not be faking this time. Like father, like son.
• With the reappearance of the Darkest Timeline in Intro to Knots, which showed both Jeff and Annie being on board for Evil!Abed's plan, Pierce may end up being killed by Evil!Annie offscreen.
  • Joss-firmed. He didn't in Season 4, but is killed offscreen in Season 5

Pierce's disappearance will be quietly ignored.

We've seen sitcoms do the "never seen or heard from again" thing all the time. It'll be a better way to get Chevy Chase off the show than having him leave the group or die.

• Or better yet, do the disappearance thing, let it sit dormant for a few episodes, then have the study group reveal that they witnessed it, and have them discuss that in clip show format.
  • Spoof Rashomon! Have each character tell a different story about why he's gone. Then have Jeff tie it all up with a commentary on who Pierce was and how he'll be missed. And end with some indication of what the real story was.
  • Jossed. Pierce was mentioned in episodes 1, 3 and 4 of season 5, and killed ofscreen

Chang has some connection to the Darkest Timeline

Intro to Knots has Chang calling his mysterious colleague as well as a peek at the Darkest Timeline. It makes one wonder why they brought it up in the same episode.

• Semi-Jossed; our Chang isn't working for them, but Emperor Chang is still ruling Greendale in the Darkest Timeline, and the evil study group supports him.

Chang is working alone.

Just because he keeps talking to his phone, it doesn't mean there's anyone on the other end. He IS pretty crazy, after all.

• Jossed. It's confirmed he's talking to Dean Spreck. Nothing comes of it, however.

Jeff will return in season 5 as a teacher at Greendale.

He did graduate with a major in education at the end of season 4...

• Confirmed.

Harmon will make season 4 All Just a Dream

Given that the final shot of season 3 was Abed disappearing into the tiny dreamatorium this will be very easy to do. They will account for Chevy Chase's absence by saying that he died in the brief time Abed was in the dreamatorium.

• Jossed. It's described by the characters as the "gas leak year."

Troy will be written out in the third episode of Season 5

With Donald Glover only appearing in 5 episodes in the season, there are two options - Troy only turns up every so often & they keep coming up with lame excuses to explain his absence; or Troy leaves early on in the season. However, rather than use all 5 of his appearances up straight away, one would likely be saved for the season finale in the event it wound up being the series finale. The remaining episode would occur around the halfway point of the season, and largely focus on Abed applying Put on a Bus logic to reality with the issue being resolved with Troy coming back to remind his friend that just because people leave & never come back in TV, doesn't mean it happens in real life.

• Jossed.

"Beyond the darkest timeline" in the season 5 trailer refers to Troy's departure.

The darkest timeline was the one where Troy went to go get the pizza, and in his absence all hell broke loose. What will happen when he leaves the show entirely after Donald Glover's five episodes? Something worse than the darkest timeline.

Pierce's sperm will be used.

For impregnation and possibly to be drunken by Jeff accidentally.

Based on the plot summary for episode 9...

Annie and Abed are going to compete for who should be their next roommate. Theory: Abed's choice will be Rachel, who he'll be trying to use as a replacement for Troy. Annie's choice is more wide open. Any guesses?

• Um... does this answer your question?
  • Yeeeaaah I posted that WMG when all I had was the Zap It mini-summary, not long later they revealed it was her brother. Jumped the gun on that one.

In the season 5 finale, Abed faked the treasure map

.Abed wanted there to be a big story and a quest to save Greendale. He was the one who first proposed saving the school by finding buried treasure. He was also the one to notice that the picture of the first dean had something hidden behind it. In reality, Abed didn't predict or find anything. Either consciously, or after a psychotic break, he created the treasure map on his own and hid it in the dean's office. If consciously, he's hoping it will motivate the rest of the committee to help him save the day. If he's having another episode, he doesn't even remember that he did it, and really believes they're on a mission to find buried treasure.

Troy and Abed will reunite and say...

"TROY AND ABED REUNIIIITED!"

Le Var Burton will invite Troy and the study group to a party.

And it will include other cast members from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Community will parody The Maze Runner.

City College builds a maze and all of the Greendale students put in it are called "Greenies."

There will be an episode that feels like fanfiction.

It will have unlikely pairings, typos written in certain places, and people mispronouncing words because the words have been misspelled by the writer(s). Abed will acknowledge that the episode feels like a fanfiction story.

The season 6 premiere will be set on Saint Patrick's Day.

It's the day when it premiers, and it wouldn't be the first time that they have done such an episode.

There's an even worse timeline out there: Where the study group joins City College, and are far worse than the Darkest Timeline.

Troy and/or Pierce will appear somehow in episode 613.

This seems to have been hinted at by the pie chart at the end of episode 612.

Each episode of season 6 has had a clue about what will happen in the season finale.

Also hinted by the aforementioned pie chart.

The Movie will about saving Troy and Levar Burton from pirates.

Pierce won't be in The Movie.

But Chevy Chase will. Only Abed will notice the resemblance.

The Movie will have an Actor Allusion for each one of the main cast that also had a role in Rick and Morty.

At some point, we'll get throwaway lines or jokes that reveal Britta has gotten into superhero movies (Supernova), Elroy is a local politician (President Curtis), Annie has become more conscious of the environment (Planetina), etc.

Past Plot

Pierce got Levar Burton to appear by...

• contacting him on Twitter. Pierce saw Troy's tweets of what he was saying before he knew it was him "I'm Stuff Old White Man Says!?". After Levar spends all that time with Troy, it adds further meaning to where he says he's giving up on Twitter in his cameo on BBT.

Daybreak was "composed" (in universe) by Chang at some point in Season 2.

• Abed kept making films as part of his studies; Chang sometimes helped him in Season 2 (e.g., on the Jesus movie) and he was "two credits into a music major". At some point, Abed may have commissioned Chang to write some incidental music, prompting Chang to plagiarise Daybreak. S 3 E 03 reveals he plays (or thinks he plays) the sax.
  • I'll do you one better: Chang only took the first few bars of the song and looped them, as that's all that's broadcast or covered on the show. Abed realised it wasn't an original creation, but he let it slip as it was very Greendale (remember Pierce's school song?) and could relate to the repetitiveness of it (the original song only has that melody for the first few seconds, then moves on).

Abed lied about the results of his algorithm.

The expression on his face when Jeff wants to see them is a dead give away. He lucked out that Britta wanted to help him.

In her timeline in "Remedial Chaos Theory", Britta got high with the pizza guy

• Probably more of an obvious implication than a real WMG, but it would explain why she decides to marry him and why he bugs out at Abed's mention of "other timelines."
  • Either this, or they were both already high — it's implied that Britta's a little high even before she goes into the bathroom, and everyone comments on how weird the pizza guy is — and they bonded over how high they both were.

The entire episode "Competitive Ecology" takes place not in the prime timeline but in alternate timeline 6 from "Remedial Chaos Theory".

Three pieces evidence for this.

• The prime timeline is the only timeline that Pierce is shown to not reveal during the housewarming party he had sex with Eartha Kitt in an airport once.
  • In "Competitive Ecology" Pierce uses telling the group this as an example of their closeness for Professor Kane.
• Timeline 6 is the only timeline where Britta admits she is high to Shirley. Shirely appears to be genuinely unaware of Britta's drug usage before this.
  • In "Competitive Ecology" when Britta burns the ballots Shirley identifies the source of ignition as Britta's "marijuana lighter".
• In "Remedial Chaos Theory", timeline 6 ends with Pierce and Troy, Shirley and Britta, Annie and Jeff all in argument. This fresh tension may explain the level of dysfunction, read unwillingness for some pairs to work together, seen in "Competitive Ecology".

Jossed by Dan Harmon himself, he ain't that evil.

The music in "Regional Holiday Music" is all (or at least partly) in their heads.

It's part of the weird brainwashing-madness thing that seems to go down before people join the glee club; those who are not in the club can't hear anything, which is why the performance by the second glee club at the beginning had no soundtrack despite their elaborate song-and-dance routines (it was in their heads, but since our viewpoint characters weren't yet in the club, we couldn't hear them). When Abed is being conditioned, he is initially self-aware enough to question why he can hear a piano playing when there's clearly no one playing it, but is soon sucked in and forgets all about it. The other times we hear music are when someone conditioned into the club is conditioning someone else into it, so in reality there's either no music at all or we're hearing what the conditioned characters are hearing rather than what everyone else is hearing; for example, when Troy and Abed are singing "Baby Boomer Santa", they think the song sounds great, but since they're clearly not playing their instruments correctly there's either no sound at all or what sound there is sounds basically like a horrible, ill-played cacophony (explaining why the others look so horrified by what's happening). It's also partly why the music abruptly stopped when Britta came on stage in the pageant to do her routine — everyone was so stunned by what was happening the effect was broken.

The revealed results of the psychological evaluations in "Horror Fiction In Seven Spooky Steps" should not be taken at face value.

Basing a diagnosis on a single self-report survey is most like going to be error prone, and the results the various study group members may all be false positives.

• Jeff's results are the easiest to explain he flat out admits to filling out the questionnaire randomly. He may exhibit signs of narcissism and possibly even sociopathy but his results on the evaluation can't really be used.
  • He also does seem to have HUGE father issues, and he can get pretty violent (remember when Pierce bequeathed him his "father"?), but he remarks multiple times that he and Abed are the only sane ones.
  • Jeff is also clearly established in a later episode to be in therapy, suggesting some issues at least. And let's face it, we can hardly rely on his own self-reporting when it comes to how 'sane' he is; he's far from being an honest person anyway, and given how much he values normalcy his pride alone means he's not exactly going to come out and admit to it.
• Britta's results can be explained by her unknowingly messing up answering the questionnaire (i.e. she Britta'd it like always). She may have skipped a question or filled it a question twice getting the rest of her results out of order.
• Shirley's results can be explained by a simple social desirability bias. She answered the questionnaire as she believed an upright Christian fundamentalist is expected to behave and not on her own behavior.
  • She also has thinly veiled rage issues, as demonstrated in many episodes. While she may have a bias, she's pretty violent when you really look at it.
• Annie's results can also be explained by a simple social desirability bias. She answered the questionnaire as she believed an ambitious studious go-getter is expected to behave and not on her own behavior. Annie, due to her drug addiction and rehab, has likely also filled out similar questionnaire and may have influenced how she answered.
• Pierce's results can be explained by him misinterpreting the purpose of the questionnaire. Pierce's competitiveness and need to feel relevant may mean he filled in the response that he thought would make him 'win'. Pierce, due to his drug addiction and rehab, has likely also filled out similar questionnaire and may have influenced how he answered.
• Abed's results are also of questionable validity. Abed has been shown to have the uncanny ability to analyze a situation and anticipate the outcome. He could easily have filled in the results he recognized would give the needed outcome.
• Troy's results are the hardest to explain away by character quirks. It is possible he filled in the answers based on which he thought would be the funnest (he has previously said he wanted multiple personality disorder based on wanting to avoid boredom).
  • Alternatively, he simply used the lozenges to draw funny patterns (he drew boobs one time), which distorted the results.

^While the above is certainly plausible in the case of the test itself, it's regardless quite clear from the rest of the series that we're hardly dealing with the most psychologically well-adjusted bunch of people here. The tests might not exactly be 100% accurate or foolproof, but they probably shouldn't be dismissed out-of-hand either since they are, at the very least, confirming what we should already know; that these people are frigging nuts — not necessarily psychotically violent, of course, but still not exactly what you'd call 'entirely sane' either. Especially since a few of the above explanations still hint at some rather irrational (and at times unsettling) personality issues...

The alternate timelines in "Remedial Chaos Theory" all took place in Abed's head.

"Virtual Systems Analysis" showed us that he spends an inordinate amount of time running scenarios for potential situations the group might face. This time, he ran through six of them at a near-impossible speed and decided that none were an acceptable outcome, or at least that none were worth the risk of creating the Darkest Timeline.

• Abed's role never changes. He's merely the observer in every timeline.
• When Abed leaves, everything goes to hell because of emotional complications that he is as physically absent from as he is usually emotionally absent.
• When Troy leaves, everything descends into cartoonish absurdity because his presence is the most influential factor in Abed's ability to stay a little bit grounded.
• Lending some credence to this theory is the Season 3 finale: In short, Prime!Abed wears a felt evil moustache and displays knowledge of the evil timeline. Realistically, though, all this can be explained simply by Abed suffering from a mental breakdown caused by Troy's departure.
• Lastly, following the alternate timeline logic, only a random decision (like a die roll) can cause the creation of alternate timelines. But Abed catching the die is not a random decision, i.e. either the six alternate timelines exist or the Prime one does (which we know is the truth, because, well, the show is set in it), but not both.
  • Actually, any decision creates an alternate timeline. Abed's sticking-point, by my analysis, was that it would create six new timelines, all at once, each darker than the last (presumably).

Jeff is a vampire.

In "Origins of Vampire Mythology", Jeff spends the evening trying to figure out Blade's mysterious appeal. Some time after Shirley leaves, Blade offers to tell him, and his answer is not shown. In the next scene, Jeff arrives with a medically flimsy story about a rogue bolt "destroying the part of [Blade's] brain that processes shame". More importantly, his collar is concealing the part of his neck where vampire bites would be (Until they healed over next episode).

Star-Burns's one-armed lawyer is Evil Jeff.

In "Course Listing Unavailable", Abed describes Star-Burns's lawyer as a one-armed man with a scarred face, missing his right arm. Jeff is a former lawyer, and he loses his right arm in the darkest timeline of "Remedial Chaos Theory". Abed should be smart enough to recognize Jeff, even with considerable facial scarring... unless he has been replaced by Evil Abed.

Professor Duncan played a hand in the race kerfuffle of "Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts"

He seemed relatively drunk at the beginning of the episode and he can very rowdy very quickly. Also he is not seen at all after the opening credits. Coincidence, I think not.

Vice-Dean Laybourne remembered the events of "Epidemiology".

Season 3 shows us how much power the AC school has in Greendale, so it's not unreasonable to think he may have had security cameras on their own power generator still working during the events of the party. And it would explain why he was so convinced that Troy was the Truest Repairman - he had already used the air conditioning to repair man.

The events of Remedial Chaos Theory aren't about what would happen if somebody leaves the group, but rather about what would happen if somebody leads the group (and it's probably all taking place in Abed's mind and is modified by his biases and preconceptions). Getting the pizza represents doing what it takes for the group. The groups definition of leadership oftentimes seems to boil down to "They do what nobody else wants to".

• Annie becoming the leader would lead to a world that's pretty normal and regular. Nothing interesting really happens because in many ways Annie is the most competent and intelligent member of the group who's the most severe on cutting down tomfoolery.
• Shirley becoming the leader results in people feeling bad and Shirley running away. Guilt is Shirley's hallmark weapon and though she has the most real world responsibilities (being a mother and such) her philosophy of mothering has basically never worked for the group. And Shirley, already feeling out of place and isolated would leave.
• Pierce becoming the leader would let people open up and get emotionally closer because for all of his bad traits, Pierce is still emotionally laid-back and not very uptight. Also the romantic interests being promoted makes sense because Pierce is a Dirty Old Man. Pierce leaving usually ends with people fighting each other, not people embracing each other.
• Britta becoming the leader leads to Troy being terrorized and Jeff and Annie working out for the same reason, though Britta is kind and caring, she's also useless at enacting actual change and still makes terrible life decisions (hence the engagement). Britta is supportive but incompetent, and while the group would be emotionally open there would also be chaos.
• Troy becoming the leader ends in disaster because Troy is the dumbest and least mature (overall) member of the group. And more darkly, if this is from Abed's perspective, it could represent that Abed thinks Troy should not and could not ascend past being Abed's sidekick.
• The strongest evidence for this representing leadership as opposed to exile is thus. People oftentimes say in defense of the exile theory that Abed is supposed to represent the groups emotional pressure valve but that's a trait he's never demonstrated. Abed is good at predicting behavior but he's always had a problem interacting with and perceiving human emotions (see 'Contemporary American Poultry') or when he talks about how he hates long conversations because they're all about facial expressions and emotional truth. Abed can't keep the wild emotions of the group in check and they would eventually self-destruct. Also, if Abed is in charge, Annie/Jeff would not work out, because Annie has an attraction to dominant men and Jeff also loses his cool whenever he's not on top.
• Jeff being the leader is basically his canon position, and if you buy Abed as a master manipulator (which he has showcased numerous times) and you remember 'Contemporary American Poultry' Abed basically admitted that Jeff is a tool for Abed to help the group. Also, Jeff being especially dickish in the episode isn't a sign that Jeff is hurting the groups happiness (which...never really comes up again) but rather that in any other role but leader Jeff would drag his feet and become disgruntled (because he has an ego problem). The only timeline that Jeff really seems content is the one where he gets the pizza. And Abed manipulating Jeff into getting it (by grabbing the die) points out Abed's role as the Chess Master.
  • This idea actually makes a lot more sense to me than the idea of it being someone leaving the group. Not that I can't see the conclusions people draw, but this just scans so much better.

The reason Dean Spreck never reappeared in Seasons 5 and 6 was that his insane obsession with destroying Greendale ended up destroying him.

The last we saw of Spreck, he had basically gone full supervillain and was making plans to attack Greendale with a giant mecha-spider. That... seems a little outside the average college's budget. Most likely, Spreck ended up nearly bankrupting City College trying to build the thing, and if he didn't get arrested for his flagrant misuse of college funds, he certainly lost his job.

The events of "Epidemiology" took place in Abed's imagination (or at least the zombie outbreak).

• Someone actually did mass-roofie the entire party and the zombie outbreak is what Abed imagines actually happened. He only has Chang's voicemail to Troy as a reference and misinterpreted the sounds of what was heard. This is also why Troy dismisses the background sounds and only questions why Chang is sending the voicemail to him.

Characters

Jeff is a puppetmaster.

As shown in "Investigative Journalism", he can quiet his entire group with just a hand motion. He then manipulates them into voting Jack Black's character out of the group, and convinces Annie to drop her expose on the dean. In fact, maybe Jeff's over break Character Development is all a ruse to have his colleagues think he's truly changed while he still maintains complete control over the group.

• If he was feigning character development all along, then he wouldn't care about the study group enough to begin with. He also convinced the group to vote Jack Black in.
• I think we should also assume that Jeff cares for the group and isn't feigning character development because of what happened in Pillows And Blankets; Jeff actually went back to the Dean's office to get the friendship hats when he didn't need to. No one would have known if he'd just stood in the hallway for a convincing amount of time. He did it because he really cares about Troy and Abed.

Abed is a puppetmaster

Think about it. He seems utterly content in himself, and as so is willing to change himself to help the group. He even states that he understands everyone perfectly and as such is willing to change himself in order for them to understand them to help. Abed knows exactly what he's doing all the time.

• Abed also notes in "Contemporary American Poultry" that it's vital to Jeff's ego that he be in charge of the group — or, at least, believes himself to be in charge of the group.
  • This would make since considering Abed was the one who invited everyone except Britta and Jeff to the group.
• Dan Harmon is the puppet master, and Abed is Dan Harmon.

Britta is the Puppet Master or Reality Warper and just plays dumb.

• I was going to suggest this! She might be trying to Puppet Master Jeff's life. We also know the least about her and she is a known liar. I think an amazing twist would be if she ended up being someone Jeff's old law firm hired or Jeff's mother hired to make him a beter person. If they reveal this in the finale, I think it would be epic. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing in the pilot, like she was formulating a plan. She is the "Dark cloud that unites," them. Also, its a long shot, but in "Remedial Chaos Theory," Britta leaves the room in every single Timeline, except the last one, resulting in the Chaos. When she stays at the end and sings "Roxanne," the chaos is resolved in that Timeline.

Vaughn is the Greendale Human Being.

Think about it, he conveniently disappears right as the Greendale human being is out playing Cupid.

• Was the GHB in the final scene in the last episode of the series? Vaughn had already left to play pro hackeysack (or whatever it was) by then.
  • He was replaced by the loopy lesbian we saw in The Dean's Office. I mean, the Greendale Human Being wears a bag over its head. It could secretly be five different people.
    • Read Agatha Christie? Everyone did it.

Duncan's been faking being British the whole time.

Lorries don't have boots, they have trailers. And "eight, which is a british ten" just smacks of... "let me remind you of this and combine it with a very slightly backhanded compliment so that you think I'm hotter and aren't really sure why".

• I suppose it will depend on how well John Oliver can pull of an American accent, because I can definitely see them taking that route.
  • From watching his attempts on the Daily Show it's safe to say John can not pull off American.
  • On The Bugle, John flat-out admits he can't fake an American accent after attempting one.
  • As of "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas," it's not so much that he's faking being British - he's just spent most of his life in America, and doesn't actually have as much exposure to British culture as he pretends.

Abed is a troper.

Not even sure this is a guess...

• Just a troper? My guess is he created TV Tropes. Maybe....
  • Except he doesn't seem to be much of a 'Buffy' guy. I dunno.
  • He and Troy once agreed to stage a suicide pact in order to get Firefly back on the air. Given the general respect given to his works by those around this parish, it's perhaps fair to say that Abed at least knows and respects the works of Joss Whedon, even if he's not actually a fan.

Abed is God or a Reality Warper in the same sense as Haruhi Suzumiya.

Think about it. The reason nobody has powers is probably because Abed doesn't like those kinds of movies enough and values interesting situations more.

• In 'Messianic Myths and Ancient People', Abed's making a movie caused him to unconsciously tap into more of his own powers (again, like Haruhi). The difference being that in Abed's movie the camera is God and the filmmaker is Jesus, causing Abed to accidentally start turning himself into God to the point where he becomes aware of his own powers. He then realized that a Reality Warper making a movie about Recursive Reality will inevitably lead to a Reality-Breaking Paradox scenario. The whole 'my movie is crap, it can't be released' was actually and Indy Ploy to convince Shirley to destroy the movie and thus prevent The End of the World as We Know It.
• Abed did bring four people into the study group...
• Or Jeff is a Reality Warper/God - he admitted as much in Conspiracy Theories and... Apparently what he wants (as Suzumiya wants the guy) is to learn things without having to admit to himself that he's learning....

Jeff is God or a Reality Warper in the same sense as Haruhi Suzumiya.

• We have denied the signs for too long.

Annie has an NSFW nickname at Greendale.

• When Annie says they call her 'Irony-free Annie', Jeff laughs and says that's not what they call her. Possibly 'Iron-fanny Annie'?
• How many guys are hoping it's "Panty-free Annie"?
• I would have thought it was "Anal Annie."
• I was under the impression that she meant it was at her old school, so something like "Amphetamine Annie" (see "Little Annie Adderall" in the pilot), or that she was bluffing with her nickname. (Plenty of fictional characters say "That's why they call me X" in an attempt to start up the nickname without it sounding like they made it up themselves.)

Jeff is subconsciously in love with Annie

Given the dream sequence for the third season opener, this season might be him trying to get together with her.

• The events of season 3 thus far (10/10/11) seem to support this. Jeff is almost rabidly protective of her in "Geography of Global Conflict" and outright admits that playing a protective-big-brother role is his "safe" way of showing that he cares for her.
• In the musical opening of 3.01, he sings with Annie "we're going to sleep together", in his daydream of what he wants Greendale to be like this year.
• I think we can consider this as Confirmed after season 5's finale.

Abed is in love with Annie but knows he can't properly reciprocate as himself so he lets her go at the end of "For a Few Paintballs More".

• Librarian girl was the combination of Britta and Annie, and since Troy was going after Britta, process of elimination dictates Abed has a thing for Annie.
• Also, Abed's reason for letting her go might be because Leia's motivation for her actions in Return of the Jedi was a man, thus ruining her as a female role model, so Abed fears the same would happen to Annie.
• Although he might have 'let her go' at the end of Season Two, it's also possible to read "Virtual System Analysis" as containing some hints that Abed might be (still) carrying a torch; literally the first thing he does when given 'empathy' and having sealed away Abed because "no one needs him" is to assume the role of Jeff and start flirting with Annie, and the entire point of the "Hospital School" exercise turns out to have been Abed trying to give Annie what he thinks she wants — a magic moment with Jeff. Since all of his 'simulations' are revealed to be stemming at least in part from Abed's own insecurities, it's not hard to read this as Abed attempting to confirm to himself that the only way he'd ever be close to Annie in the way he wants is if he were someone else entirely.

Pierce is having a crisis of faith.

Sure, he was an obnoxious buffoon in season one, but in season two he's turned outright villainous; however, his outbursts are almost always somehow related to perceiving the others as ignoring him. It all stems from an intense, manic need to be remembered, the sort one might have if one is confronting one's own mortality. Either Pierce actually IS dying, though not as quickly as he claimed to be, or he's much more shaken up by his mother's rejection of their religion than he admits.

• Worth considering, his tumultuous relationship with his father probably left him especially close to his mother. When she tells him he's not immortal, even if he's not aware of it, it probably shakes him up.

Abed is an actual shaman.

in the episode Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas he was the only one to realize they were stop motion animated, and In Remedial Chaos Theory he was aware of the diverging time lines Signifying that he has powers of perception the rest of the cast does not, also while they are his friends Majority of the study group thinks that he's crazy and being apart from his/her village is a unfortunate necessity of being a shaman. Semi-confirmed by his interaction with evil Abed in the Dreamatorium and referring to the fact that "it is too dark and and inaccessible for them", them meaning the audience.

Abed knows that he is on a TV show.

• He doesn't compare TV Tropes to real life situations for lack of a better way to interact with the world. He does it because he knows that he is living in the one situation where they can helpfully be applied. Semi-confirmed in Contemporary Impressionists when he references "them"
  • This explains why he's the only one who Britta's psychological tests declared sane: believing he lives in a tv show means that he perceives his reality more accurately than any of the other characters. Hell, at the end of Documentary Filmmaking Redux, he even seems to be aware of the camera.
  • Abed has also commented on the type of episode that the study group is currently a part of. For example, he refers to "Cooperative Calligraphy" as a bottle episode.
    • Then again, TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Vocabulary . We all have "Bottle Episodes", like getting snowed in or having to finish a large group project in the library.
  • Abed asks Shirley if she wants to be in a spin off series with him, thinking they could open a hair salon.
  • He says that since the last episode was Abed-heavy, he would lay low for an episode.

Rich was number 1 on the Dean's "hot student/teacher list"

If Jeff is only number 2, and he's eternally the guy who one-ups Jeff, so...

Abed is somewhat aware of an eighth member of the study group.

That person is the viewer.

• Ever wondered why there's always a seat free next to Jeff? That's the viewer's chair.
  • And that's why nobody else can join the study group.

Annie's real name is Hannah.

• Shirey calls her Hannah Montana.
• Starburns calls her Hannah.
  • The joke there was that Starburns didn't know her name, and was just trying to get out of taking the exam. Her real name is almost certainly not Hannah.
  • The references could not only be that Alison Brie was on Hannah Montana, but that Hannah is Annie's full first name
• Annie is a nickname for Hannah.
• Hannah is hebrew.

Britta is short for Brittany

• Britta just didn't like the name so she uses Britta as a nickname.

Abed is a Space Master

Which is nothing at all like a Time Lord. But anyway, not only was he able to recognize the creation Alternate Timelines and Take A Seventh Option to avert them, he was also able to sense the disturbance in the timeline caused by Evil!Troy and Evil!Abed. He also communicated with Evil!Abed in the Dreamatorium, and was taken over by him in the season finale.

There is a bizarro study group.

The group consists of Rich (Doc Potterywood), Joey (white Abed), Page (the non-lesbian), Claire (Page's mousey friend), Magnitude, Leonard, & Vicki (yellow sweater, hat, girl). Chang will join their study group first.

• There do seem to be an awful lot of doppelgangers floating around...
• Or an Alternate Bizzaro study group. Vicki, Neil, Starburns, Luka, Page, Claire and Leonard.
• Annie Kim, while not in the group (either one that exists), is closely associated.
• Maybe Chang is an outsider to both study groups.

The whole show is an Alternate Universe version of Scrubs

• Jeff = Dr. Cox
  • No, Jeff is 40% Zach Braff
• Abed = J.D.
• Troy = Turk
• Annie = Elliot
• Pierce = Dr. Kelso
• Britta + Shirley = Carla
  • Or Shirley = Shirley/Laverne
• Senor Chang = The Janitor
• Greendale = Sacred Heart
• Starburns = Dr. Beardface
• The other many weird, wacky background characters of Community = The other many weird, wacky background characters of Scrubs

Or an Alternate Universe version of Star Trek: The Next Generation

• Dean = Picard
• Jeff = Riker
• Abed = Data
• Troy = Geordi
• Annie = Troi (irony!)
• Britta = Crusher
• Shirley = Guinan
• Pierce + Chang = Q

Pierce is Jeff's dad

Jeff's mother is one of Pierce's many ex-wives. Jeff doesn't know about this, but Pierce has realised at some point. This is why he is always so keen to bond with Jeff throughout the series. He almost reveals it in Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking, but Jeff's response is so negative that he keeps it quiet thereafter.

• ...holy shit this would totally work. I dunno how likely or plausible it is to happen, but it would make perfect sense and explain so much.
• It would put a bit of a odd angle on Jeff having sex with Pierce's step-daughter (sorry ex-step-daughter)
• Pierce at the end of Pilot: I like you Jeffrey. You remind me of myself at my age.
• Well, Jeff did say his dad was a conman, and a hallmark of conmen is fake/changed names/identities... So it's not impossible, at least.
• Or Pierce married Jeff's mother, impregnated her, then they divorced (probably before she realized she was pregnant), and then Jeff's mother met Jeff's "father", and they decided not to tell Jeff the man he knew as his dad wasn't because his real dad was a jerkass.

Jeff and Annie have slept together.

• Remember the Troy and Abed in the Morning that was at 3 o'clock in the morning? Jeff wakes up, groggy and stupefied. Annie wakes up, fully aware of what the boys are doing. How else did she know?
  • They're doing the show right outside of her bedroom.
• This might or might not be the case in season 3, but it seemed to me that it was occuring in early season 4. Jeff and Annie wore shared haloween costumes and were going to go on a ski trip together, that ended when she made up her fantasy of being married to Jeff after their ski trip fizzled. The fact that she took her fantasy too far might have been what ended their short term relationship.

Michelle Slater is the perfect girl Jeff describes in 409.

• Jeff walks out of the Tranny Dance at the end of Season 1. We know, thanks to S 2 E 01 that nothing else happened with Annie and that he didn't talk to Britta all summer, but what about Slater? A possibility: they got back together, his feelings grew, then he found out she had a kid. He "promised him [he]'d make it to a baseball game he had, but [he] bailed and never called again and now [he's] just exactly like [Jeff's] dad", resulting in Slater quitting Greendale and Jeff growing more defensive and resentful on Season 2.
  • Annie Kim could be another candidate for the perfect girl. She and Jeff had some tension when she first appeared, and their vitriol in the Season 4 Première could suggest they had some Noodle Incident at some point. On paper, she could be the perfect girl for Jeff as she's similar to Annie, but younger and there's no risk of ruining their friendship as there's none to begin with. Her being a very young mother could also have freaked him out.

Britta's deteriorating intelligence is a result of excessive drug use.

Boring, I know, for a Community WMG, but it makes logical sense. She's shown in "Remedial Chaos Theory" to escape Jeff's callous shutting down of her trying to sing "Roxanne" by heading to the bathroom to get high. Considering her status as the group's (hell, the school's) Butt-Monkey, it's not unreasonable to assume that she escapes from the constant comical abuse she suffers through drug use (not exclusive to just weed). As a result, her intelligence is gradually fading.

Britta's memory of her childhood is unreliable due to her drug use.

Britta already has a bad habit of downplaying or ignoring her own responsibility for the state of her life. Combine that with her tendancy to remember events just plain wrong (like her claim of winning multiple paintball competitions) and you get an explaination of why her life is such a mess despite coming from one of the most privledged backgrounds of the group. Looking back at some of the claims she made about her parents are easily explained due to her faulty memory due to drugs/alcohol and a desire to be the noble victim. Her parents didn't "let her cat run away for her tasting alcohol." Britta got drunk and in her inebreated state failed to close a door and her cat got out as a result. The big example of her childhood trauma (being molseted by a drifter in a dinosaur costume at her birthday party) either didn't happen at all or she simply remembers a costumed performer with limited visions accidentally placing his hands in a sensitive spot as a sexual assault.

Someone messes around with time travel, probably Troy and Abed, screwing up Jeff's timeline so that he grows to become Pierce. This makes sense because one of Jeff's biggest fears is growing to be more like Pierce, which is one of his motivations for being a better person. This could make it so his long lost father is Cornelius Hawthorne, and he killed him in Advanced Gay, making Britta incredibly correct in her deductions about Jeff's Oedipal complex. Pierce is hiding the fact that he knows everything about Jeff's life because he's lived it.

• At least he has a long life to look forward to, including Eartha Kitt.
• Although this makes him essentially the two biggest assholes combined, it also makes him the luckiest guy in the world. Who else gets to live through being apart of the Study group twice?

Jeff and Rick Castle are brothers

At very least, both of them were revealed to have an absentee father played by the same actor (James Brolin), and the Castle episode specified that he was a spy, hence his absence. His encounter with Jeff is just to find out how much Jeff knows and if his cover as William Winger is blown. Which also means that Willy isn't really Jeff's brother - he's another agent brought along to help support the cover story.

Britta Faked a College Degree to Get into the Peace Corps, which is why she had to go to Greendale

• Its also why she didn't want the therapist in "Curriculum Unavailable" to say why she had to come to Greendale.
  • This also means she's not so different from Jeff, and would put her in the position for even more scrutiny from the group. This is brilliant

Pierce is gay.

His two main ways of interacting with Jeff are A) insisting they are not so different, or at least like father and son, and B) insisting that Jeff is gay. Add to that the fact that the only one of his many wives we see is only in it for business, as is Pierce, along with his embracing of his gay fans, and you have yourself one hell of a possibly gay man.

• Pierce could be bi instead of gay, which would reconcile this theory with the Dirty Old Man behaviour he exhibits towards the study group's female members - Being as old and out of touch as he is, its possible he doesn't even know the term, and he just thinks "any attraction to the same gender" = "gay".

Buzz Hickey is Mike from Breaking Bad

Someone had to say it. Mike survived his shooting in Breaking Bad by being a badass and fled to Greendale Community College because that's the last place anyone would expect to look. He could even probably say he's been there for fifteen years and no one would notice if he hadn't.

Annie was the Ass-Crack Bandit

Or at least, the one who quartered Troy. When she first goes to Jeff & he expresses his lack of interest in helping, Annie gives him a Death Glare before leaving - the very next scene is Troy becoming the next victim, at which point Jeff agrees to help Annie. She actively took advantage of his Bully Hunter/Papa Wolf tendencies towards the Study Group to motivate Jeff into helping.

• It would not be the first time she put on an elaborate fantasy involving Jeff.
• Her final comments in the episode were "Or her" as the camera pans in on Annie.
• Most of the information about the suspect comes from her, especially the idea that it might be a teacher. What better way to distract from the truth.
• At every point an incident occured, she was not with Jeff or at least was out of sight.
• This is later backed up by her Suspiciously Specific Denial in the Season 6 finale in which she comments about barely remembering this. Only Jeff seams to notice.

Pierce was already dying of an unrelated cause at the time of his death

So he was in a hurry to fill the canisters of sperm, and unknowingly accelerated his already impending demise.

Pierce faked his death.

Even his Darkest Timeline counterpart faked his death. I wouldn't put it past Pierce to fake his death to get attention.

Pierce is the Ass-Crack Bandit.

Kinda related to the WMG above this one. It seems random for Pierce's death to be announced during the investigation. It could be a cover-up and he could still be alive.

The hologram of Pierce was actually his ghost.

As Abed pointed out in the season six premiere, nobody other than Jeff has ever seen it, and no one has ever seen the museum, either.

Everyone is the Ass-Crack Bandit.

There's evidence for several characters being the Bandit. Besides, Greendale has been described in the show itself as a sick place full of sick people.

Britta is going to make a good therapist.

She correctly identified that Pierce has Oedipal issues, and her "happy place" advice to Abed helped him successfully process a potentially traumatic life change. That's all literal Psychology 101 stuff, but it could indicate that Britta has good instincts for helping others and will get better with training and practice!

Jeff and Annie are alternate-universe versions of Calvin and Susie from Calvin and Hobbes.

A Brilliant, but Lazy Deadpan Snarker with hair that often sticks up, and a dark-haired academic overachiever. Also, Calvin's father was a patent attorney, so Jeff could have followed in his footsteps (either of his own volition or because his father pressured him to do so). Susie was pretty tightly-wound, worrying in first grade about not getting a master's degree and not getting in to a good college, so it seemed like it was almost inevitable that she'd end up having a breakdown in high school. Note that there's also a chemistry between the two almost from the start... The biggest difference is that in the Community universe, there's a ~10-year age difference between the two, as opposed to them being the same age in the comic strip.

Before leaving Greendale (not to mention his Uncertain Doom) Buzz Hickey had a bad falling out with the study group.

At the start of Season 6, Buzz Hickey is no longer a part of the Save Greendale Committee and no longer occupies half of Jeff's office. While it is perfectly normal if he decides to move on from Greendale (or finds himself, erm, otherwise indisposed), three clues hint that he might not have left on good terms:

• In Ladders, the gang doesn't mind when Frankie sits where Hickey sat the previous year while objecting to her taking Shirley's place. The general assumption is that this scene is a dig at that place's earliest occupant Pierce Hawthorne, but between the gang attending Pierce's funeral and his final bequeathings coming from a sincerely good place, how likely is it that they still hold a grudge against him one year after his death?
• In Intro to Recycled Cinema, while Abed talks about his script and mentions its co-author, he specifically goes out of his way to not call Hickey by his name.
• In Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television, while Shirley is featured in several pitches and Troy is mentioned in Abed's quasi-emotional speech, Hickey is only mentioned in passing by cloudcuckoolander Chang, marking the only time in Season 6 his name is said out loud (come to think of it, Ian Duncan isn't mentioned at all despite still working at Greendale if his nameplate in Ladders is any indication, raising similar questions).

Britta has depression.

In multiple episodes, Britta is mentioned to have a self-loathing issue and to hate herself. Combined with her escapist drug use and her constant status as the Butt-Monkey of the study group, it is not out of place to infer she might not be in a great mental state.

Elroy narrated the Pillows and Blankets" documentary

He'd recently invented some kind of film equipment that was being tested in the making of the documentary and since they needed a narrator and he was there, he was given the job.

John Winger from Stripes is Jeff's uncle

Aside from the surname being the same, there's definitely a certain amount of personality overlap there. Plus, John Winger was played by Bill Murray, who was Harmon's preferred choice to play Jeff's dad.

The Ass-Crack Bandit does not actually attend Greendale and so is someone we've never seen, not even as an extra

They're from the city of Greendale, Colorado.

Magnitude's popularity was engineered by the study group

It seems a little strange that Magnitude is so popular and respected just for saying "Pop Pop!" all the time, and that everyone is so protective of him. Perhaps a similar scenario to Neil took palace with Magnitude. He was unpopular and jilted by Jeff, leading him to create some kind of Zany Scheme to make Magnitude popular and "Pop Pop" trendy. After several years, the effects of this still haven't worn off, and Magnitude has no problem playing to the crowd.

Setting

The show is actually a series of fanfilms created by Abed that's very loosely based on Greendale and the study group.

Abed initially intended to keep it more down to earth and realistic, but eventually grew bored by that approach near the end of the second semester, so he started doing homages to his favorite TV and film genres. The real members of the study group are actually Abed's actors in Debate 109 making a meta cameo.

The whole show was actually created by Abed in the future.

He doesn't need to be a Reality Warper, he's already both One of Us and established as a filmmaker, and he just got Dan Harmon - whom he knows through his work on several Web Original projects, including the one Community was based on (which was shown within the series) - to run the show for him.

• Or Abed is just a fictionalized Dan Harmon, even though he says he's Jeff.

There is a real study group, and the Abed of that group is Dan Harmon. It makes sense. When the group found Abed's internet videos of them that sowed what he was, that was actually when they found out about the show Community.

• http://www.vulture.com/2011/09/community-dan-harmon-wired-aspergers-abed.html

Read this and it makes too much sense.

Each season is in the point of view of a different character.

The first season we saw through the eyes of Jeff, and the second season is seen through the eyes of Abed.

• Following this format, Season 3 could possibly be seen through Troy's eyes, with the exception of Remedial Chaos Theory. This would explain Britta being goofier, Abed being angsty, Jeff's hulk-like breakdown, the overall premises of Digital Estate Planning and the lack of using Pierce in Season 3, Troy (although he gets along with Pierce), was barely noticed by Pierce when he lived in the mansion with him, therefore Pierce wouldn't take on a central role in Troy's perception. Also, the large role the air-conditioning repair annex takes in Season 3.

The Dreamatorium actually works.

In "Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts" a variety of loud noises were emitted from it despite it being empty, And in virtual systems analysis Annie ran into one of the walls inside of it, meaning the Illusions it creates superseded her perception of reality.

The Dreamatorium actually works, but only if you believe it works.

Greendale really is an asylum

But the study group are not patients; they're the psychiatrists. That's why everything that happens is centred around them, and why no one else is allowed into their circle. Chang is either an intern or a psychiatrist in training.

• Then who's imagining it as a community college? Todd?

The entire show is a "Truman Show" Plot.

And Abed is the only one who's figured it out.

Impossible Crossover

'Pierce Hawthorne' is another alter-ego of Fletch.

He's breaking a story on the AC Repair Ancient Conspiracy. Or the feud between Greendale and City College. Or zombie food poisoning. Or dalmatian fetishism.

Abed is the son of Mary Alice Young and Rod Serling

It's obvious he is a viewpoint character able to perceive a reality outside of the show,a trait both his parents are famous for.

Community takes place in the future world of Catch-22.

Because, really, all their insanity fits together that way.

• So is Closing Time noncanon then?
• You know, I can easily picture a younger Leonard on Pianosa...

Jeff's father is the "Man from Tallahassee" from Lost.

Jeff mentions in "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" that his father was a con man. There is an upcoming guest star that might lend credibility to this...

Jeff's father is Private John Winger:

Gives a new perspective to Abed's episode 1 impression of Jeff as "like Bill Murray in any of his films..."

Senor Chang is The Man in Black and Professor Duncan is Jacob.

"I will find a loophole. Then I'll kill you."

Community takes place in the same Greendale as Better Off Dead

• Same name, of course, and same basic rules of reality seem to apply: cartoonish characters abound, occasional forays into claymation, and teachers can get away with teaching absolute nonsense and dating their students. As such, John Cusack will someday appear on Community, possibly as Lane Meyer.

Josh Halloway's character in Fistful of Paintballs is Sawyer from LOST

• He didn't have any identity outside Black Rider. Seeing as Sawyer would likely be a celebrity after what has happened to him and his past career, I don't think if would be too far a stretch to say he would be traveling incognito.

Greendale is the #1 choice of college for graduates/drop-outs of Flatpoint High.

• Adding to the guess, Flatpoint was Dean Pelton's first job in education, likely a counselor.

It really IS Abed in this T-Mobile commercial

It takes place post-Greendale, the girl is his future girlfriend/wife, and he seems to be much more well adjusted here as a result of his experiences with the Study Group.

• This would not work as that model of phone in the above commercial was introduced c. 2007-8. It is often clearly stated that the world of Community shares our time line. Also, Annie is shown in the episode "Early 21st Century Romanticism" using an Android phone that was introduced in 2010.

Pierce's religion is really an arm of SEELE.

In "The Psychology of Letting Go," he tells the anthro class that "When Buddha returns, we all take liquid form and merge into a shimmering ocean of knowledge—which, according to scripture, tastes like Hawaiian Punch." That's a pretty succinct description of the Instrumentality Project, spun to make it sound more appealing for social engineering purposes. The substitution of Hawaiian Punch for Tang is a cheap obfuscatory tactic by SEELE.

Joshua in "Aerodynamics of Gender" is Joshua

He's a philosophizing gardener in a secret Paradisical place. God made him take a vessel on Earth to spread new gospel lessons.

• O_o Joshua is a neo-nazi?

Evil!Troy and Evil!Abed's timeline is the show's Earth-2

The shout outs to Fringe in Geography of Global Conflict were foreshadowing, especially when Abed said he was concerned about alternate dimensions.

Community and The Big Bang Theory exist in the same world

We know that Senor Chang loves Paintball. We also know that his brother is a Rabbi. We know that the 4 guys from The Big Bang Theory lost a paintball match to a group of kids at a Bar Mitzvah. Or so they think. We don't know exactly where Greendale is, but then again, we don't know if Chang's brother even lived in the same city that Greendale is in. Maybe Rabbi Chang lives in Pasadena, and when he mentioned in passing that he was going to be involved with a Bar Mitzvah that would culminate in a paintball game, Chang made his way to Pasadena, where he secretly participated in the game, against Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Howard Wolowitz and Raj Koothrappali. He was so good at Paintball, by this point, that they didn't even know there was another adult playing, let alone that he was the reason they lost.

• Someone fic this.
• According to the {=DVD=} case character bios, Greendale is in Colorado (then again, the bios also imply that Riverside High School is in the Greendale school system [nested "then again": it could be named after someone like Franklin J. Riverside, instead of the town of Riverside, considering the North Hall/South Wall/English Memorial Spanish Center goings-on in Pillows vs. Blankets, or could just be one of multiple Greendale-located high schools]).
• Since the class they'll take together in Season 5 is Astronomy, Raj could guest as a Professor. As he's recently learnt to talk to women, he can freely flirt with Annie and Britta without being drunk.

Lukka (2x18) is a doll

A unknown organisation wanted to investigate Greendale so they hired the Dollhouse. Knowing that Greendale was a very strange college, they gave Victor an outlandish backstory and sent him in for the long haul (hence he's able to make friends with and date whoever he likes). After a while he was pulled out, hence he's not been seen since.

Annie is the granddaughter of Pete and Trudy Campbell

Per this Jezebel comment

Cornelius Hawthorne was Redigit, or related to him in some way.

Journey to the Center of Hawkthorne looks an awful lot like Terraria...

This show takes place before the events of Revolution

Of course, a number of the characters just might meet Sebastian Monroe and notice that he looks a lot like that guy from The Cape....

Community shares a universe with Breaking Bad!!

Related to the Buzz is Mike WMG above. And can you recall Abed or anyone else ever referencing Breaking Bad by name during the series?

• Yes. Starburns wanted to "get a Breaking Bad thing going" with Professor Kane in season three.
  • But that could have been after Walt's crimes came to light and the news associated that term with him. Does he actually refer to it as a show?
• In season three when the group are breaking up with their respective lab partners in order to parter up amongst themselves, Troy says that he needs to "catch up on breaking bad"

Jeff is actually Mike Ross!!

Jeff is actually Mike Ross from Suits. He changed his name and is laying low at community college in order to avoid dis-barment

• Avoid disbarment? Jeff has already been disbarred.

Abed is a SHIELD agent.

This Greendale is the same one as in the Neil Young concept album

At some stage Sun Green went back to using her real name Britta Perry.

The Darkest Timeline study group got their dimension traveling technology form Evil Morty.

In turn Evil Abed taught him how to dress like a villain.

Dean Craig Pelton is Stitches

After doing time in prison he reforms and becomes Dean of Greendale. His constant outfit changes are relics of his former life as a Super Villain side-kick. We never hear stitches real name in Sky High (2005).

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