Pilot | Episode 1.1
Summary – The characters are introduced and the study group forms. Jeff attempts to get with Britta by claiming to be a Spanish tutor, Britta invites Abed and Abed invites everyone else.
The Worst – Jeff tries to cheat his way through the whole semester but gets duped by Professor Duncan. Pierce fumbles his way through the lunch line.
Eye on Britta – Britta is cute, cool and too sophisticated to fall for Jeff’s ploy to get a date with her.
Spanish 101 | Episode 1.2
Summary – We are introduced to Senor Chang, the Spanish teacher (who’s knowledge will BITE YOUR FACE OFF!!!) The campus protests murders in Guatemala and Pierce sets himself on fire.
The Worst – Pierce’s ridiculous ideas for a classroom skit. Shirley and Annie for thinking a pinata is a good way to memorialize a man who was beaten to death.
Eye on Britta – Britta is the only member of the group solid enough to tell Jeff to stop being late to study sessions, and realistic enough to be annoyed at Jeff’s cavalier attitudes. Later, Britta offers some sincere and accurate insights into Pierce’s desires for family and friendship.
“Look, Jeff. You’re harmless enough to me because a life full of ups and downs has given me douche-ray vision. But those are good people in there. And they trust and respect you. And watching you exploit them kind of bums me out.” (Britta)
Introduction to Film | Episode 1.3
Summary – Jeff and the rest of the group enrolls in Professor Whitman’s accounting class, but find it difficult to Seize the Day. Abed’s father stands in the way of him studying film.
The Worst – Troy sneezes like a girl.
Eye on Britta – Britta acts foolish and distraught, but only because Abed manipulates her for the sake of his film. Later, Britta generously kisses Jeff to earn him an A from Whitman.
Social Psychology | Episode 1.4
Summary – Jeff and Shirley become closer because they both like to gossip about other people. Abed spoils Professor Duncan’s experiment by being patient in a waiting room. Britta meets Vaughn.
The Worst – Professor Duncan for conducting an unethical experiment on human subjects and then going berserk when it fails. Jeff and Shirley for cruelly circulating the poem Vaughn wrote for Britta – the “least tight thing that ever happened” to him.
Eye on Britta – Britta enjoys her relationship with Vaughn, but feels self-conscious about how it looks to others. Vaughn breaks up with her, and she correctly blames Jeff.
Advanced Criminal Law | Episode 1.5
Summary – Someone cheated on a Spanish test, and Chang threatens the whole class with a zero. Britta confesses. Jeff defends her at an absurd tribunal.
The Worst – Pierce fails to write an original school song for Greendale, then plagiarizes a pop song. Troy is uncomfortable with Abed. Annie throws a screaming tantrum at the prospect of failing the Spanish test.
Eye on Britta – The Spanish class throws paper wads at Britta when she stands up and says she made the crib sheet.
“You’re not very pretty, you have no boobs and you can’t make a basket toss to save your life. But you made a commitment. So pick up your pompoms, stuff your bra and get ready for the team bus to forget you at a Taco Bell because life is tough.” (Annie, to Pierce)
Football, Feminism and You | Episode 1.6
Summary – Troy ponders joining the Greendale football team. Annie urges him not to. Abed promises to lay low for an episode and delivers a (curiously time-elapsed) baby in the background. Pierce helps the dean design the Human Beings mascot.
The Worst – Troy becomes arrogant and insufferable when he joins the football field.
Eye on Britta – Britta irritates Shirley by not knowing how relate to other women. When Shirley scolds her, Britta admits that she’s never been able to relate well to other women. Shirley help Britta learn to be a good women’s bathroom companion.
Introduction to Statistics | Episode 1.7
Summary – Jeff switches his attentions from Britta to Professor Slater, who insists she doesn’t date students, but then relents. Annie sponsors an evening Spanish party for extra credit.
The Worst – Pierce, for getting stoned on Starburns’ drugs and acting reeeeallly weird. Shirley, for taking out her resentment against her unfaithful husband on Professor Slater’s car and office.
Eye on Britta – Britta doesn’t mind Jeff going after Professor Slater, but she takes action to make Annie’s party successful. Her squirrel costume is probably the worst.
“You’re dressed like a gladiator in a desk fort that you built during a bad trip. If life is just a series of ridiculous attempts to be alive, you’re a hero to everything that’s ever lived.” (Jeff, to Pierce)
Home Economics | Episode 1.8
Summary – Vaughn reappears, still sore about how the study group laughed at him. He sings a nasty song about Britta. Jeff is kicked out of his condo and living in his car. Annie advises Troy how to plan the ideal date. Shirley urges Annie to tell Troy how she feels.
The Worst – Jeff’s decline in self-esteem after he moves into Abed’s dorm room. Vaughn’s tantrum when Pierce defends Britta. Annie, for faking a burst appendix to draw Troy’s attention from the other girl.
Eye on Britta – Britta gives Jeff reasonable advice about how to cope with the loss of his condo. Abed urges Britta to get Jeff’s life back on track by sleeping with him. Britta says, “No” to that, instead burgling Jeff’s faucets from his old condo and urge him to install them in a new apartment.
Debate 109 | Episode 1.9
Summary – Annie and Jeff represent Greendale in a college debate. Troy discovers that Abed is making uncomfortably realistic films.
The Worst – Jeff’s half-hearted presentation on the first night of the debate.
Eye on Britta – Britta is trying to quit smoking and it makes her tense and edgy. She accepts Peirce’s offer of hypnosis and tries to make him feel competent, until she catches him trying to hypnotize her into bed.
Environmental Science | Episode 1.10
Summary – Jeff cozies up to Chang to get him to call off a surprise assignment in Spanish class. The episode climaxes in a triple win, with Shirley delivering a confident speech, Troy and Abed singing their rat song, and Chang dancing with his ex-wife.
The Worst – The dean, for printing 5,000 copies of a poster premised on changing the school’s name to “Envirodale.” Senor Chang, for his unreasonable overreactions. Troy, for his fear of rats. Shirley’s extreme fear of public speaking.
Eye on Britta – Sensing Chang’s craziness, Britta tries to mitigate the 6-page assignment and instead gets in increased to 20 pages. Later, Britta reads Jeff and knows he’s made a special arrangement with Chang.
“Speaking as one of the meek, as soon as I inherit the Earth, you a dead man!” (Shirley)
The Politics of Human Sexuality | Episode 1.11
Summary – Annie runs the campus STD fair. Troy resents Abed’s natural athletic prowess.
The Worst – Jeff’s long list of casual hookups, that he calls trying to get a date for the STD fair. The dean for printing “Greendale!” on the STD fair condoms. Troy’s competitiveness and sore-loser-hood.
Eye on Britta – Britta scorns Jeff’s uncool way of objectifying women – even when she learns that “Hot blond, Spanish class” is her. Britta and Shirley pull “a reverse Porky’s” to help Annie prepare for her task in the STD fair.
Comparative Religion | Episode 1.12
Summary – The dean promotes a non-denominational, secular, “Mr. winter” celebration instead of Christmas, which irks Shirley. The group discovers the diversity of their own beliefs. Strangely, The smart nerdy kid from The Breakfast Club has grown into a bully who picks a fight with Abed, prompting Jeff to step up like the guy “in My Bodyguard, but Abed was the kid from Meatballs.” They agree to fight. Shirley objects, but eventually joins the fight.
The Worst – Troy, for failing to not say “fight.” Shirley for piling the mom-guilt on Jeff for spoiling December 10th.
Eye on Britta – In one of the earliest displays of her penchant for psychology, Britta declares that “The real reason men fight is to release their “pent-up gayness” and works that theme for the rest of the episode. Britta also makes a genuine and accurate speech about how Shirley’s resentment against her estranged husband is causing her to dominate the group.
Investigative Journalism | Episode 1.13
Summary – Buddy, a Greendale student played by Jack Black, tries to force himself into the group in the role of “chubby, agile guy.” Nobody in the group is convinced that a chubby, agile guy is needed. Also, the dean recruits Jeff to edit the school newspaper – a task he takes very lightly.
The Worst – Buddy. He’s terrible. And he kicks Jeff in the face.
Eye on Britta – When Britta says that “Hangin’ out, havin’ fun, and crackin’ wise” could be her job instead of Jeff’s everyone laughs at the absurdity of the idea. This is one of the earliest signals of Britta’s downward shift.
Interpretive Dance | Episode 1.14
Summary – Troy and Britta are both secretly enrolled in dance class but too embarrassed to tell the group. Jeff’s affair with Professor Slater is going well, even after he displays how shallow he is.
The Worst – Britta goofs up her part in the tap dance routine until Troy bursts in and saves her with an impromptu jazz dance duet.
Eye on Britta – Britta sees an opportunity to grow spiritually by inviting the group to the dance recital on Friday. She messes up, but with Troy’s help, it turns out a success.
Romantic Expressionism | Episode 1.15
Summary – Annie becomes infatuated with Vaughn, and acts very, very young. Britta is cool with it, but Jeff objects because Vaughn is a “gateway douche bag” and will lead to Annie dating worse guys. Th rest of the group, along with Senor Chang, watch a “Kickpuncher” movie.
The Worst – Pierce’s failed efforts to be funny.
Eye on Britta – Britta teams up with Jeff to steer Annie away from Vaughn.
“You know what I don’t get? He never wears a shirt. He never wears shoes. Why hasn’t he died from lack of service?” (Jeff, about Vaughn)
Communication Studies | Episode 1.16
Summary – As Valentine’s Day approaches, Troy and Pierce send themselves candy to hide the fact that they have no dates. Britta and Jeff struggle with an imbalance in their relationship after Britta shared too much information. Abed coaches Jeff into a measured response. The result is one of the show’s greatest scenes.
The Worst – Chang, for making Troy and Pierce dress as women and attend the dance with him, and Troy and Pierce for doing it.
Eye on Britta – Britta shows up to study group an hour late and much the worse for a hard binge. She drunk-dialed Jeff and shared her honest feelings for him. Later, Britta dresses up really cute for the dance to make Jeff uncomfortable but then tells Slater that Jeff prefers her and graciously steps aside.
Physical Education | Episode 1.17
Summary – Jeff takes an easy-credit class in billiards, but discovers that Coach Bogner is a fanatic. Meanwhile, the group urges Abed make a move on “Jenny Adams.”
The Worst – Britta pronounces the word “bagel” funny. No one ever lets her forget it. Chang declares her, “The worst!”
Eye on Britta -- ”Baggles.”
Basic Genealogy | Episode 1.18
Summary – Pierce brings his step-daughter, Amber, to family day. Jeff figures out that she is soaking Pierce for money. He has to decide whether to expose Amber or allow Pierce to continue enjoying the delusion that Amber likes him.
The Worst – Pierce, for falling for Amber’s con act. Abed’s father, Gubi Nadir, for being grouchy.
Eye on Britta – Britta makes a show of being understanding about Troy’s grandmother’s odd ways. Troy says, “I want to believe you’re right, Britta, but you never quite are, are you?” It turns out Troy’s grandmother is genuinely crazy, and Britta gets a hard, humiliating switching for her trouble.
Beginning Pottery | Episode 1.19
Summary – Jeff, Annie, and Abed sign up for a pottery class. Shirley, Pierce, Troy, Britta and Starburns take sailing with Lee Majors. Shirley turns out to be a really good ship’s captain. Jeff gets super-competitive with another pottery student named Rich.
The Worst – Jeff, for caring too much that Rich can turn a better pot.
Eye on Britta – Britta plays a small role in this episode as a member of Shirley’s sailing crew. Nothing “The Worst” here.
“When I was born I got my umbilical cord wrapped around my neck, both arms and one of my ankles. Mom said there came a point where the doctors stopped delivering me and just started laughing. If I ever let being bad at something stop me, I wouldn’t even be here. That thing some men call failure, I call living.” (Pierce)
The Science of Illusion | Episode 1.20
Summary – It’s April 1st. Annie and Shirley team up to work on campus security, and compete to be the tough member of the buddy-cop team.
The Worst – Britta dumps a science lab cadaver out a window and leaves in lying on the quad. Or maybe Annie, for dosing herself with “self-inflicted friendly fire” of pepper spray.
Eye on Britta – The gang describes Britta as everything from “a buzzkill” to “a fun vampire.” To bust out of the rut, Britta tries to pull the best prank. It doesn’t go well. Eventually she has to confess to her bad prank and to being a buzzkill. “That’s who I am. That’s my role. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Cancer!”
“How do you think I feel? You have two kids and they stick you in the margins. I’m not done yet. I still got moves!” (Shirley)
Contemporary American Poultry | Episode 1.21
Summary – In a parody of “Goodfellas” the study group creates a syndicate to manage the cafeteria’s supply of chicken fingers. Starburns works the fryer and gives them to his friends, so the study group gets him fired and takes over the process. It works perfectly under Abed’s guidance until Jeff becomes jealous and ruins the scheme. Eventually, they all go back to being schnooks.
The Worst – Pierce tries to fetch “streets ahead.” Troy names his monkey “Annies’ Boobs.”
Eye on Britta – Britta goes along with the plot even though she is a vegan and doesn’t eat chicken.
“To victory. It feels unfamiliar. But it tastes like chicken.” (Jeff)
The Art of Discourse | Season 1.22
Summary – Pierce and Shirley clash; Pierce is kicked out and Shirley quits the group. Three teenagers taunt Jeff and Britta into incoherence. Pierce and Shirley humiliate the teens, rescue Jeff and Britta and restore order in the group.
The Worst – Abed smashes Pierce’s perfectly good guitar. Pierce pantses Shirley. Chang steals girl scout cookies. Jeff and Britta stand in the cafeteria going “Duh!” for 12 minutes straight.
Eye on Britta – The taunting teens immediately trip Britta’s trigger, but Jeff suffers worse. Britta conceives of the winning strategy for getting revenge on the teens, and in the climactic fight, Britta hold her own.
Modern Warfare | Episode 1.23
Summary – The first of Community’s epic paintball episodes. This one parodies the zombie apocalypse genre. Also Die Hard and Scarface. Everyone at Greendale goes mad to win the paintball game, believing if they win they’ll get priority registration and can choose the classes they want. The study group teams up to try and win. At one point in the saga, Britta and Jeff are alone in the study room.
The Worst – Pierce allies with Starburns, then turns on him when he sees a chance to get with Jeff. The dean, for instigating the game and then for recruiting Chang to win it for him.
Eye on Britta – Britta urges the group to give the prize, if any of them wins it, to Shirley. Also, she saves Jeff from the disco attack, saves him again from Chang, and then there’s that other thing.
English as a Second Language | Episode 1.24
Summary – Annie frets because the group may not take a class together next semester. She discovers that Chang isn’t a real teacher, so they won’t get credit for the course. We get the first glimpse of Troy’s special aptitude for plumbing, with several references to Good Will Hunting.
The Worst – Jeff and Chang’s keytar fight on the top of Jeff’s car. But mostly Annie, for ratting out Chang.
Eye on Britta – Britta goes along with the group, is disappointed with Annie, but also caring.
Pascal’s Triangle Revisited | Episode 1.25
Summary – It’s the end of the year. Britta has been nominated for queen of the end-of-the year dance, which the dean calls “the Tranny Dance” is honor of students who are transferring. Annie is going out with Vaughn, and Jeff and Slater are back at it.
The Worst – Troy makes himself sick eating a giant cookie. Britta weirdly assumes she won the contest when the dean was only names the contestants.
Eye on Britta – Britta gets jealous and gambles big on a painfully honest public declaration before the whole school. At least half the school wants Britta to win, including Professor Whitman.
“Jeff needs a girl who doesn’t just not wear underwear because Oprah told her it would spice things up. He needs a girl who doesn’t wear underwear because she hasn’t done laundry in three weeks!” (Britta, to Slater)
Anthropology 101 | Episode 2.1
Summary – It’s the first day of a new year, and Britta dreads coming back and facing the school after her humiliation at the end-of-the-year dance. But, surprisingly, a lot of student admire her for her courage and a wave of “Britta-mania” overtakes Greendale. Meanwhile, the Anthropology teacher is Betty White.
The Worst – Professor Bauer drinks her own urine. That’s bad! Abed stages a sudden wedding, with an “Eye-rish Singer.” Jeff gets caught for making out with Annie moments after Britta’s profession at the dance.
Eye on Britta – Britta enjoys “Britta-mania” but joins Jeff in their brief fling of unguarded love.
Accounting for Lawyers | Episode 2.2
Summary – Jeff’s old lawyer colleague Alan Conner shows up and tempts Jeff back into the lawyer frame of mind. The group follows Jeff to a lawyer party hoping to save him while Chang painfully tries to win a breakdancing contest for the group.
The Worst – The scene where Troy, Abed and Annie break into the lawyer’s office and run afoul of the janitor is hilarious. Annie chloroforms the janitor . . . twice.
Eye on Britta – Britta plays this episode straight.
OK, that was the worst idea ever. Can we please just run away now?”
The Psychology of Letting Go | Episode 2.3
Summary – Pierce’s mother dies. Annie and Britta team up to raise money for an oil spill, but their collaboration becomes a competition and then a fistfight. In the background, Abed delivers a baby.
The Worst – Jackie the Greendale health service nurse, for discussing Jeff’s cholesterol levels in the public waiting room in gross violation of HIPAA.
Eye on Britta – Britta is exactly as unreasonable as Annie. Britta adopts Annie’s “sexy schoolgirl” routine, and Annie responds by treating everyone angrily. They reconcile and finally agree that men, and not each other, are the real creeps.
Look, you guys make fun of me for not caring about religion. But at least I’m dedicated enough to not caring to let you have your own beliefs. Can’t Pierce have his?
Basic Rocket Science | Episode 2.4
Summary – The study group gets assigned to polish up an old space simulator. All but Abed get locked inside when the thing is towed away.
The Worst – Annie betrays Greendale by arranging to have the simulator plan foiled. The whole study group, for proposing the new school slogan, “E Pluribus Anus” and symbol. The dean, for parking the simulator in handicapped spaces to it would be towed.
Eye on Britta – Britta plays a straight role throughout the episode.
Messianic Myths & Ancient Peoples | Episode 2.5
Summary – This episode pits Abed against Shirley. Shirley asks Abed to make a YouTube video about Jesus, but Abed converts it into a performance art piece for the post- post-modern world. Shirley hates it. Meanwhile, Pierce hangs out with Leonard and his gang of rude oldsters.
The Worst – Abed, eventually, as his meta-performance becomes self-indulgent and stupid.
Eye on Britta – Britta tries and fails to relate with Pierce’s gang. Elsewise, she loves her some Abed and stays in the background.
“Every minute of our lives is a world premier, and my father has already bought the popcorn.”
Epidemiology | Episode 2.6
Summary – Greendale’s Halloween party becomes dark when people start turning into zombies. Rich from pottery class shows up to help, but the zombie epidemic takes over everybody but the dean. Troy survives long enough to lower the thermostat and save everyone. Troy? Thermostat? Air Conditioning? Get it?
The Worst – The dean, for catering the party with Cold War era Army Surplus emergency military rations. Or maybe Chang, for throwing an ice skate at a zombie that smashes through the glass panel that’s keep ALL the zombies away. Oh, and most definitely Shirley and change for doing it in the bathroom.
Eye on Britta – Britta’s T-Rex costume has paws, so she can’t hold food or do anything. Like everyone, she eventually succumbs to the zombie plague.
Aerodynamics of Gender | Episode 2.7
Summary – Troy and Jeff become mellow after discovering a trampoline hidden in a secret garden near campus. Pierce covets their secret and ruins it for them. Shirley, Annie and Britta take a women’s studies class that turns into an all-campus cat fight. Abed take women’s studies, and shows a knack for insulting women. This is the first occasion when the group touches their nose to signify, “Not my turn.” This becomes important in a later episode.
The Worst – Pierce ruins the trampoline, but then he breaks his legs. So I like it. Or maybe Jeff, for wearing Uggs.
Eye on Britta – Britta gets a little too much enjoyment out of Abed criticisms of other women students. She declares the cafeteria a “bitch-free zone,” then becomes a bit of a bitch herself. She takes it badly when Abed turns his critical eye on her, too.
“Tell me how to get this laid back. Or I’ll kill your families!”
Cooperative Calligraphy | Episode 2.8
Summary – One of the best-loved episodes. Annie’s purple pen with a gel grip goes missing and she demands nobody leave the study room until the pen is found. Abed sees the set-up for a bottle episode long before the bottle episode is declared. Accusations fly around the room until everybody is in their underwear and Pierce’s leg casts have been torn off. They never learn what happened to the pen. But we do.
The Worst – Annie. It’s just a pen. The used Q-tip in Britta’s purse is also pretty bad.
Eye on Britta – Britta shows her purse first after delivering her “Peek-a-rooney, forcey-worsey speech.” She says “There’s no such thing as a quick invasion of civil liberties,” and gets a round of groans from the group. Then she demands that the guilty person who stood there and watched her get Guantanamo-ed has to show their stuff, too. Later she fumbles a name drop, “Nice try, Mike Ty…son.”
Conspiracy Theories & Interior Design | Episode 2.9
Summary – Community takes it to the next level here. Inception-level. Troy and Abed make a blanket fort. Jeff and Annie investigate layers upon layers of deception. Officer Cackowski’s finest moment.
The Worst – The dean manages to give us one of the series’ best and most memorable lines while cringing in despair: “Would that this hoodie were a time hoodie!”
If there was a best, it would be Annie’s “blowin’ it off” routine, culminating in “blowin’ off talkin’ language: blee, bloo, blah, blah, blah, blee, bloo, bluh, bluhhhh!”
Eye on Britta – Britta appears in just one scene, where she is veeery chilled out.
‘Once it was obvious the dean had orchestrated everything, it was even more obvious the dean was too stupid to orchestrate anything.”
Mixology Certification | Episode 2.10
Summary – Troy turns 21, and the study group takes him out to a bar. In the bar is a guy who watched
Farscape! It is, as Abed says, “a really good show.” This episode delivers are ally good message, as Troy looks around the room and discovers that drinking culture doesn’t have much to give.
The Worst – Shirley copes badly when evidence of her old days keep turning up. Annie tries way to hard to fit the role of Caroline Decker -- the girl whose fake ID she’s using.
Eye on Britta -- Britta and Jeff argue excessively about which bar is acceptable and which is douche-y. It turns out Britta’s “The Red Door” is on “L Street,” and Jeff’s “L Street” has a red door. They’re arguing about the same bar. Duh-doy.
Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas | Episode 2.11
Summary – Abed’s fondness for Christmas changes everything into claymation. The study group goes on an adventure to discover the true meaning a Christmas. Each member falls away until only Abed and Pierce (as a teddy bear) are left to reach the North Pole.
The Worst – Poor Shirley gets made into a baby and then hauled away by a pterodactyl a couple minutes into the adventure. Jeff goes a moment later.
Eye on Britta – During the magic journey to discover the meaning of Christmas, Britta takes the form of a robot. But she gets ejected by Abed partway through for not having enough faith.
“It’s the crazy notion that the longest, coldest, darkest night of the year can also be the warmest and brightest.” (Annie) “Yeah, and when we all agree to support each other in that insanity, something eve crazier happens.” (Britta) “It becomes true.” (Annie)
Asian Population Studies | Episode 2.12
Summary – Chang demands the group decide about whether he’s in the group or not. Annie is having a fling with Rich and wants him to join the group. Troy and Pierce obsess over Shirley’s pregnancy.
The Worst – Rich, who flies down to the rain forest once a month to fix children’s cleft palates and teach then acoustic guitar. What could be worse than that?
Eye on Britta – Does Britta even talk in this episode? There is a one-second long scene where we see Britta nodding and clapping. But she doesn’t say anything meaningful until she corners Jeff and urges him to intervene on Shirley’s behalf. Oh, and she gives Fat Neil a peek in exchange for a couple of tickets to a show.
Celebrity Pharmacology | Episode 2.13
Summary – The study group puts on an anti-drug for kids. It doesn’t go well. Chang surprisingly come in and fixes the disaster.
The Worst – Pierce manipulates Annie with money, and get a bigger role in the play, which he botches badly.
Eye on Britta – Britta plays a leather-jacketed “cool cat” and performs well. When the group turns on Annie, Britta is the least judgmental or preaching.
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons | Episode 14
This episode is hidden because of Chang’s blackface. Pierce is the worst.
Early 21st Century Romanticism | Episode 2.15
Summary – Troy and Abed have a crush on the cute new librarian. They ask her to the Valentine’s Dance. Britta befriends a student named Page who she mistakenly thinks is a lesbian. Page isn’t a lesbian, but she thinks Britta is.
The Worst – Jeff, for showing a lack of appreciation for the most celebrated Canadian alt rock band of the mid-nineties. That selfish, jaded ass!
Eye on Britta – When Britta and Page discover their error, Britta offers a charitable philosophical conclusion, and Page tells her she is the worst.
Intermediate Documentary filmmaking | Episode 2.16
Summary – Pierce fakes a fatal illness to make the group feel sorry for him and then to mess with their minds.
The Worst – Pierce, for faking the illness. Troy, for freezing up when Levar Burton shows up.
Eye on Britta – Pierce tempts Britta with an signed blank check for $10,000. He knows Britta will be tempted to keep the money. Britta gives the money to the Red Cross, but admits to herself that if she could she’d have kept it. Levar Burton helps her realize that she is “a really generous person, but really stupid with her money.”
Intro to Political Science | Episode 2.17
Summary – Joe Biden is coming to Greendale and the campus has to elect a student government before the meeting. Annie runs for office sincerely. Jeff runs for the same office facetiously. Pierce runs just so he can taunt Vicki.
The Worst – Leonard (Ptttthhht!)
Eye on Britta – Britta’s declaration that “humankind need not be governed” falls flat.
Custody Law & Eastern European Diplomacy | Episode 2.18
Summary – Troy and Abed have a new friend named Lukka. They tell Britta to stay away from him, because they fear she will discover bad things about him. She almost immediately discovers something bad about Lukka: he is a vicious ethnic cleanser from Eastern Europe.
The Worst – The worst is probably Chang for the way to tries to fake being a responsible adult so he can claim parental rights to Shirley’s baby. At one point, he kidnaps two random kids from school, mistakenly supposing they are Shirley’s kids. When Jeff takes the kids home, Chang calls the police and gets Jeff arrested.
Eye on Britta – Britta discovers the truth about Lukka. He really is a mass murderer from Eastern Europe. But when she tells them, Troy and Abed don’t believe her and say, “You’re inhuman. You’re an unhuman person. You’re a monster.” A couple of hours later, when they’ve learned that everything Britta said was true, Troy and Abed berate Britta for not telling them about Lukka’s crimes sooner.
Critical film Studies | Episode 2.19
Summary – It’s Abed’s birthday. The group prepares an elaborate surprise party based on Pulp Fiction. Abed spoils it by dragging Jeff away to his own evening based on My Dinner with Andre. It is a disaster, with a tiny bit of redemption at the end.
The Worst – Abed, Chang and Troy. Abed’s sincerity is fake, and that is bad. Chang taunts Troy into spoiling Jeff’s gift to Abed, and Troy does what Chang tells him to.
Eye on Britta – Britta plays the role of Mia Wallace in the non-party. She grows increasingly desperate because she convinced the owner of the bar to keep it closed for their party, which drags on waiting for Abed and Jeff to arrive.
“I spent a week planning a party just to make you happy. And then I bailed on that party and ruined it, again just to make you happy. Then it turns out while I was wasting my time trying to make you happy, you were making yourself happy all over everyone else by doing yet another stupid movie spoof.”
Competitive Wine Tasting | Episode 2.20
Summary – Jeff, Chang and Pierce take a wine appreciation class. Britta and Troy take an acting class. Abed takes a course on “Who’s the Boss.” Annie and Shirley are in the background. Jeff rightly deduces that Pierce’s cute Chinese girlfriend is out for something.
The Worst – When the drama teachers asks for a painful memory, Troy makes up a lie about being molested by his uncle.
Eye on Britta – Britta sympathizes earnestly to Troy’s lie.
Paradigms of Human Memory | Episode 2.21
Summary – As the group finished its final assignment for anthropology – a diorama of themselves making a diorama – the reflect on things that happened during the year. But because this is Community and everything is a parody, the scenes they remember are all things that never happened. They conclude that was a great year, that it was a terrible year, and that the group is toxic.
The Worst – Jeff, for ditching the rest of the group by shouting out in a crowd, “These people are giving out free iPhones!”
Eye on Britta – Britta finds Annie’s pens from Episode 2.8. Britta and Jeff are the most positive about the events of the year.
Applied Anthropology & Culinary Arts | Episode 2.22
Summary – Shirley has her baby in the Anthropology classroom. Pierce pays $1,000 for Troy and Abed’s secret handshake and ruins it.
The Worst –Dean Magazine, which goes out of business after two issues and declares itself the “Worst Idea for a Magazine Ever.”
Eye on Britta – Britta is initially grossed out by Shirley’s delivery and she bails out saying “I’m the worst.’ Jeff reminds her, “There’s something in you that wants to take care of people so bad that you’ll do it until you puke. That’s what Shirley needs right now.” Then Britta pitches in and helps.
A Fistful of Paintballs | Episode 2.23
Summary – City College sneakily prompts Greendale into another paintball assassin game – this time for $100,000 cash. The theme is Spaghetti Western.
The Worst – Josh Holloway. Guns like that, and he still lost!
Eye on Britta – Britta rides with Shirley and Troy most of the episodes.
For a Few Paintballs More | Episode 2.24
Summary – The paintball game continues with a Star Wars theme. Troy becomes the leader of the Greendale faction, but Shirley is the ultimate survivor and hero. Also, Pierce, kind of.
The Worst – City College Dean Steven Spreck: “You haven’t seen how mean this dean can be…n.” Also, Jeff’s plan to charge straight at the City College stronghold was a pretty bad idea. Greendale would have lost without Shirley.
Eye on Britta – When someone suggests Greendale students band together to fight City College, Britta says, “But if we surrender our individuality to form a faceless regime, how are we any better than them?” Vicki retorts: “You’re the worst!” Later, Britta is witness to the carnage as Jeff’s lousy plan gets Vicki, Leonard, Quendra-with-a-Q and a lot of other Greendale students shot in heroic slow-motion. Britta teams up with Shirley and takes out the City College the machine gun.
Biology 101 | Episode 3.1
Summary – It’s the start of the third year. Dean Pelton resolves to be more normal, but 10 minutes in he’s ordering security to spray the school’s vents with monkey knock-out gas.
The Worst – Jeff becomes . . . agitated. Also covered with monkey gas. He devolves into a combination of the worst of 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining.
Eye on Britta – Britta buys a Chemistry book instead of a Biology book. She recommends a new show to Abed, which he likes. When the show ends after 6 episodes, Troy calls Britta human tennis elbow and the opposite of Batman. Then when Britta recommends Inspector Spacetime, Troy abuses her more until Abed declares it the best show he’s ever seen.
“I can’t believe Jeff attacked the study table with a fire axe and still only managed to be the second craziest person in the room.”
Geography of Global Conflicts | Episode 3.2
Summary – Annie gets involved in a Mock UN, which becomes Garrett’s finest hour. But Annie’s rivalry with fellow student Annie Kim drives her to extremes. Chang begins his career as campus security officer. Britta resolves to get more militant in her social activism and locks he4rself in a dog crate.
The Worst – Annie’s screaming fit when she thinks she’s going to lose to Mock UN.
Eye on Britta – When Britta learns that an old friend is in prison. “I haven’t been tear-gassed in so long. Maybe I haven’t finished raging against the machine!!” The results are some oddly emotional confrontations with Chang set to Lyonel Richie music.
Competitive Ecology | Episode 3.3
Summary – Todd joins the study group to work on a biology project. In short order he quits in disgust at the group’s bad behavior.
The Worst –Annie deserves worst for crawling under the sneeze guard at the salad bar and sticking her nose in the lettuce looking for beetles. Chang’s detective fantasy causes a fire in the cafeteria, which is pretty bad. But his delusion is so elaborate it is kind of brilliant. But the whole group is the worst for the way they conclude the episode by blaming Todd for their own selfishness. This is the only moment in the whole series where the group is truly evil.
Eye on Britta – Britta bungles repeated attempts at an obscene hand gesture. She sets Todd’s turtle on fire, but he shouldn’t have put it in the trash can.
“What is wrong with you people? Huh? I thought you were supposed to be friends. I thought you were supposed to love each other. Your love is weird. And toxic. And it destroys everything it touches.”
Remedial Chaos Theory | Episode 3.4
Summary – Considered by many to be the best episode in the Community canon, here’s the evening when the group time-loops through seven iterations of “Who goes downstairs to bring up the pizza?’
The Worst – Jeff was gullible enough to believe that “Single Malt Platinum Boobs and Billiards Club,” was a real place.
Eye on Britta – Depending on the roll of the die, Britta smokes pot in the bathroom, sings her famous “Pizza, pizza go in tummy” song, makes googly eyes at the other horny toads, consoles Troy for the way Jeff insults him, sings and dances to “Roxanne,” or falls in love with the creepy pizza delivery guy.
Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps | Episode 3.5
Summary – Britta suspects one of the study group is a homicidal maniac. She invites each person to tell a Halloween story as a means of exposing the dangerous one.
The Worst – Annie’s story, about a werewolf that eats a vampire, is probably the worst (best) story. Pierce’s story it the slain stupid worst.
Eye on Britta – Britta’s story about a killer with a hand-thingy isn’t very good. Also, she britta-ed the psych evaluations by putting them through the score-a-tron upside down.
Advanced Gay | Episode 3.6
Summary – Hawthorne Wipes suddenly becomes a gay fad. Pierce doesn’t know how to handle it. Jerry the plumber and Vice Dean Laybourne of the air conditioner school close in on Troy.
The Worst – Cornelius Hawthorne
Eye on Britta – Britta leans on Jeff about his daddy issues. She isn’t wrong. Jeff really does have daddy issues. But she isn’t quite right, either. She mistakes “Edible” for “Oedipal.” The minister at Pierce’s father’s funeral tells Britta she’s the worst.
Studies in Modern Movement | Episode 3.7
Summary – Annie moves in with Troy and Abed, thinking it will be endless fun. It doesn’t take long for her to get annoyed with their fun-at-all-costs approach to life.
The Worst – Pierce offers to fix Annie’s old apartment so she won’t lose her security deposit. He ends up high on paint fumes and . . . does more damage. But the worst is Troy and Abed, for being childish and insensitive to Annie’s needs for a fail share of the apartment.
Eye on Britta – Britta thinks Jeff is probably faking being sick to avoid helping Annie move. She calls and ask, “Where are you? The Gap or Banana Republic?” Jeff answers that he’s at the hospital and Britta believes him. In fact, he WAS at the Gap. Later, Britta and Shirley have opposite reactions to a strange hitchhiker.
Documentary filmmaking Redux | Episode 3.8
Summary – Dean Pelton takes on the task of filming a new advertisement for Greendale. He descends into madness, like Francis Ford Coppola did when making Apocalypse Now.
The Worst – Dean Pelton. For everything, but mostly for whatever he did to the ice cream machine.
Eye on Britta – There’s a scene in the commercial when Britta and Troy hug. They do it fine, but Dean Pelton forces them to do it over and over again until they are both weeping.
‘Jeff thinks he has it bad? As Jeff’s understudy, I have to wear my Jeff wig on top of my Chang hair and my bald cap on top of that. There’s no air getting through here. I’m literally dying.”
Foosball & Nocturnal Vigilantism | Episode 3.9
Summary – Jeff can’t tolerate the German students hogging the foosball table, and he enlists Shirley (who has a relevant, secret backstory here) to help him get back at them. Their competition ramps up until it bursts into anime. Meanwhile Annie breaks Abed’s Batman DVD and goes to extremes to protect Abed from finding out.
The Worst – Jeff cares way too much about the foosball contest with the Germans, and carries his grudge about Tinkletown way too long.
Eye on Britta – Britta is only in the opening scene, where her super-cheap cell phone explodes when she tries to take a picture.
“I wish zer vas a word to describe zeh pleasure I feel at viewing misfortune.”
“Don’t you get it, Jeff? They’re not evil people that are good at foosball. They’re good at foosball because they are evil. It’s an evil game that brings out the worst in us.”
Regional Holiday Music | Episode 3.10
Summary – The study group stands in for the Glee Club (again). They resist (because they hate Glee Club) but one by one (Abed > Troy > Pierce > Annie > Jeff > Shirley > Britta) are lured into it. There are obvious undertones of the body snatcher trope here.
The Worst – Britta’s performance of the Christmas song. But also Mr. Rad, because he cut the brake lines on the school bus and killed the glee club last year. Killing people is bad.
Eye on Britta – Britta’s awful performance of the Christmas song breaks the spell and frees everyone from the spell of glee. Mr. Rad calls her the worst, but for the first and only time the study group (and the audience) defends Britta and cheers for her.
Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts | Episode 3.11
Summary – Andre proposes to Shirley (again). Meanwhile, Shirley contemplates opening a sandwich shop on campus.
The Worst – Pierce’s atrocity with the soft serve ice cream machine.
Eye on Britta – Britta suggests that Shirley start a sandwich shop on campus. (It’s a good idea.) Later, Britta plans Shirley’s wedding, and she’s good at that, too. It turns out she comes from a long line of wives and mothers and has innate domestic skills.
Contemporary Impressionists | Episode 3.12
Summary – The study group gets hired to impersonate TV and fil;m stars.
The Worst – Abed runs up debt hiring actor look-a-likes. Jeff’s ego inflates like an apple until it explodes. (Do apples inflate?)
Eye on Britta – Britta rightly diagnoses the danger of Jeff’s ego hyperinflating. She plays weird Michael Jackson in the look-a-like party.
Digital Exploration of Interior Design | Episode 3.13
Summary – A Subway sandwich shop opens in the cafeteria where Shirley’s sandwiches ought to be. With the shop comes a “corpo-humanoid” guy, also named Subway. Jeff spends the whole episode trying to figure out who Kim is, and why she is mad at him. Meanwhile, Vice Dean Laybourne provokes Troy and Abed into a hostile confrontation that erupts into “war.”
The Worst – Pierce drinks ink. But the worst is Annie, who prompts Jeff to apologize to Kim when she thinks Kim is a dead girl, then gets really snotty when she learns Kim is a guy, or, as she puts it, “some weird, cloying, hyper-sensitive stalker with a girl’s name.”
Eye on Britta – Shirley urges Britta to cozy up to Subway and find out bad things about him. Britta refuses, but then falls for him because he wants to open a shelter for handicapped animals.
Pillows and Blankets | Episode 3.14
Summary – Using the Ken Burns documentary format, this episode recounts the war between Abed’s pillow fort and Troy’s blanket fort, which started in the previous episode. Shirley gets into the war on Troy’s side. The others play side roles suitable to their character.
The Worst – Troy and Abed, for causing it. Jeff is right when he says, “You’re children, acting like grown-ups. I mean, it’s fine. But just don’t pretend it’s anything but that.”
Eye on Britta – Britta acts as a photojournalist and “captures some of the war’s blurriest, most poorly framed moments.” She manages, by accident, to capture the climactic moment perfectly.
Origins of Vampire Mythology | Episode 3.15
Summary – Britta’s old boyfriend Blade returns with a traveling carnival. Everyone tries to keep her from reaching out to him. Shirley and Jeff go to the carnival and find out what Blade has that makes him irresistible.
The Worst – Britta’s weakness for bad guys. She’s down for Blade in this episode, and she falls for a scuzzy pizza delivery guy and a corpo-humanoid in other episodes.
Eye on Britta – Britta knows Blade is terrible but she can’t resist him. “Left unattended, I will end up doing him like a crossword, and I will regret it. So I need you to take my phone and don’t give it back until Monday. And I need to stay with you this weekend. Not just stay with you. I need to be on lockdown. You were a pill head, so think of Blade as Adderall, and handcuff me to the radiator like a mother-flipping carny-banging werewolf.”
Virtual Systems Analysis | Episode 3.16
Summary – Abed and Annie spend the day in the Dreamatorium, where Abed insists that his fantasies are true.
The Worst – The whole episode.
Eye on Britta – Britta goes to lunch with Troy.
Basic Lupine Urology | Episode 3.17
Summary – in a parody of CSI Law & Order (A Dick Wolf Production!), the study group investigates how their biology class yam got smashed. Twice in the episode, someone says “A man’s got to have a code,” which is a nod to Omar from The Wire, played by the same actor as the guy playing Biology professor Kane.
The Worst – Starburns for stealing backpacks and lab equipment, then getting himself (fake) killed. Todd for dropping the hot yam, then crying in class. Annie, for missing the fact that Todd dropped the yam because it was HOT. Why was it hot, Annie? Why?
Eye on Britta – Britta appears only in the scene where she turns the photograph of the biology lab into “Old West color.” When she offers to help further using her psych knowledge, everyone walks away.
Course Listing Unavailable | Episode 3.18
Summary – The study group copes with Starburns’ (fake) death. Chief of Security Chang activates his plan to take over the school. The study group (now called the Greendale Seven) gets expelled from Greendale for inciting a riot.
The Worst – Jeff’s outburst at the news that he’d have to attend summer session to replace the credits lost when professor Kane resigned. Garrett’s awful rendition of Ave Maria at Starburns’ memorial service.
Eye on Britta – Britta offers grief counseling to the others. Her technique involves visualize puppies catching on fire. Later, Troy tells Britta she’s not the worst – she’s the best.
“Starburns left me his ashes. He requested they be burnt. I don’t think he knows how ashes work.”
Curriculum Unavailable | Episode 3.19
Summary – Still expelled from Greendale, the group slowly becomes convinced by Abed that something strange happened at Greendale. An encounter with Dr. Heidi (John Hodgman) introduces the shocking notion that the group has been in a mental institution for three years, imagining everything.
The Worst – The class on “Advanced Breath Holding,” which is slightly worse than the class on “Ladders.”
Eye on Britta – Britta has a hangover. Then Britta tries to shadow a real psychiatrist. Then she’s high on peyote.
“If this were Comic-Con, I’d take a bullet for this kid. But here in the real world, trespassing is a crime.”
Digital Estate Planning | Episode 3.20
Summary – The study group turns into 8-bit computer graphics in order to play a game prepared by Pierce’s dead father, Cornelius. In the end, they choose friendship and forfeit the prize to Pierce’s half-brother, Gilbert.
The Worst –Annie and Shirley set the blacksmith on fire, then chop him repeatedly with an axe to stop him from suffering, and eventually kill almost his whole family. But the worst is Cornelius Hawthorne, for creating this bogus retro game and making Pierce fight his friends to get his own inheritance.
Eye on Britta – Britta motivates Pierce with an encouraging speech, then immediately kills him trying to give him a hug. Later, she makes a strength potion that kills whoever drinks it – which turns out to be a good thing because Gilbert takes it from them.
First Chang Dynasty | Episode 3.21
Summary – The study group rescues the dean from Chang’s clutches with a fast-paced, dramatic “elaborate heist.” Shirley works disguised as a chef; Jeff and Britta are a rock-and-roll magician and his assistant; Troy and Abed are plumbers (a al Mario); Annie acts as one of Chang’s teenaged guards. Pierce is supposed to stay in the getaway van, but he dresses as a swami and blows the plan.
The Worst – The school board, for going along with all of Chang’s excesses and absurdities, right up to the moment when he tries to blow up Greendale.
Eye on Britta – Britta hates cops . . . Britta is the one who infiltrates to the dean’s cell. He’s not even happy to see her because he wanted Jeff to come for him.
Introduction to Finality | Episode 3.22
Summary – Troy has gone to air conditioner repair school. Abed misses him. Evil Abed from the darkest timeline lures Britta into the Dreamatorium. Meanwhile, Shirley and Pierce wrangle in Greendale Court over who is the official owner of “Shirley’s Sandwiches.”
The Worst – Alan Conner from Jeff’s old law firm, Murray from the air conditioner school, and Evil Abed.
Eye on Britta – Britta tries to help Abed using her psych skills. But when she’s lured into the Dreamatorium by Evil Abed, he psychoanalyzes her. Something about a dinosaur costume later, she’s in no condition to continue.
‘The truth is, I’m lying when I say there’s no truth. The truth is . . . the pathetically, stupidly inconveniently obvious truth is, helping only ourselves is bad, and helping each other is good.”
History 101 | Episode 4.1
Summary – Life at Greendale is seen through the odd prism of Abed’s mind, with Fred Willard playing the role of Pierce. When History of Ice Cream is overbooked, the dean stages “The Hunger Deans” to see who gets into the class.
The Worst – The dean stretching out the phrase “Follow me tooooooo” as he walks literally from one end of the campus to the other. Pierce spending the whole episode trying to make a joke.
Eye on Britta – Britta makes Troy angry when she misunderstands the rules of fountain wishing established by Abed.
Paranormal Parentage | Episode 4.2
Summary – Pierce fakes being locked in his panic room to get the group to come to his house – just because he is pathetic and lonely. Britta taunt’s Jeff into discussing Pierce’s “daddy issues,” which are clearly Jeff’s own issues, too.
The Worst – The whole episode. The 4th season is recognized as the low point of the six-year run. This episode evokes a Scooby doo cartoon but doesn’t do much with it.
Eye on Britta – Britta’s Halloween costume is a ham. Not flattering. Britta gabs through the episode about her plans to therapize Pierce, but in the end she get deeper into Jeff’s head than Pierce’s.
Conventions of Space & Time | Episode 4.3
Summary – Abed, Troy, Britta, Annie and jeff go to an Inspector Spacetime convention. Abed is highjacked by another fan of the show, but ultimately rescued by Troy. Pierce and Shirley aren’t invited, but they follow and find their own adventure.
The Worst – Abed gets foolishly friendly with Toby; Troy is too jealous of Toby. Annie misbehaves outrageously.
Eye on Britta – Britta gives Troy support and encouragement and is totally cool throughout the whole stupid affair.
Alternative History of the German Invasion | Episode 4.4
Summary – The annoying German students move into the study room, and the group has to go to extreme efforts to hold their turf. Chang comes back in his “Changnesia Kevin” phase.
The Worst – The whole study group is the worst, first for being jerked around by the Germans, then for causing a campus protest (led by Vicki and Todd) for having the Germans banned.
Eye on Britta – Britta has little to say. Her biggest scene is when she puts on a dirndl and offers blutwurst to the Germans.
“The loveable misfits always win. And the bumbling Germans always lose.”
Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations | Episode 4.5
Summary – Jeff finally meets his estranged father, which Britta sees as evidence of her success as a therapist. The rest of the group goes to an awkward family thanksgiving at Shirley’s. Abed’s Shawshank homage goes nowhere.
The Worst – Jeff’s half-brother Willy, Jr.
Eye on Britta – Britta therapizes Jeff wisely and well. When he finds himself compelled to follow her advice and make a completely honest confession to his father, which she urged him to do, Jeff mutters, “Britta’s the worst.”
Advanced Documentary Filmmaking | Episode 4.6
Summary – Greendale takes Chang’s fake “Changnesia” seriously, making a documentary about it. Jeff doesn’t believe it: “Changnesia isn’t a disease. It’s a con. Are you seriously helping with this? Chang locked the dean in a dungeon. He tried to kill us.”
The Worst – The continuity editor, for inserting a piece of action from episode 4.7 in here without clarity or explanation. (It’s about 3 minutes into the episode, where Annie holds up a banner saying “Welcome Archie!”)
Eye on Britta – Britta tried to inject her psych theories into the conversation with the real psychiatrists. They don’t accept her. Britta leaves a video camera running and inadvertently captures evidence against Chang.
Economics of Marine Biology | Episode 4.7
Summary – The dean elicits the study group to help lure a rich kid to enroll in Greendale. Meanwhile, Troy and Shirley take a new class in P. E. education. (Yes: Physical Education Education.)
The Worst – The celebratory balloon drop. There are only about 10 balloons.
Eye on Britta – Britta refuses to pander to the rich kid, which is the right way to be.
“No one deserves to be mock-locked in a mock locker. Friends should help friends survive.”
Herstory of Dance | Episode 4.8
Summary – The dean throws a “Sadie Hawkins” Dance. Britta protests and tries to sponsor a “Sophie B. Hawkins“ dance to compete with it. Surprisingly, and thanks to Pierce, Britta’s dance is a success.
The Worst – Abed allows himself to be drawn into “the classic two-dates-in-one-night sitcom trope,” without considering the feelings of either girl. While being cruel to Kat and Jessica he meets Rachel.
Eye on Britta – Britta intended to dedicate her dance to Susan B. Anthony, but once the name Sadie B. Hawkins came out of her mouth she had to stick with it or admit she’d made a mistake. She organizes the dance except for the band, and Pierce’s money arranges that.
Intro to Felt Surrogacy | Episode 4.9
Summary – The study group are not talking to each other. The mood gets icy until the dean brings felt puppets to the study room and urges the gang to open up. Felt-puppet Shirley sings an “Up in a balloon” song, and felt-puppet everybody eats berries that make them tell horrible secrets about themselves.
The Worst – Annie let Professor Cornwallis rub her feet in exchange for the answers to a test. That is way worse that Britta’s horrible secret, which is that she’s never voted.
Eye on Britta – In the denouement, Annie’s borderline prostitution, Troy’s arson, and Jeff’s and Shirley’s child neglect are fondly forgotten, but nobody cuts Britta slack for failing to vote.
Jeff -- “I think we’re starting to go down.” Shirley – “You see? Prayer works.” Britta – “So does gravity, Shirley.” Shirley – “And you know who invented gravity, don’t you?”
Intro to Knots | Episode 4.10
Summary – The group tries to salvage a passing grade in History by inviting Professor Cornwallis to a Christmas party.
The Worst – Instead of doing his part in the group project, Jeff pasted the lyrics to a song in his section. Also Chang (I’m not calling him Kevin), for tying Professor Cornwallis down in a chair.
Eye on Britta – Jeff urges Britta to “get in there and jiggle something.”
“Empires fall. But we’re no empire. We’re just a bunch of flawed, selfish people. And that’s not our weakness. It’s our strength. The one thing that we can count on at any given moment is that the six of us are paying for a mistake made by one of us. And that means, at any given moment one of us is screwing up so badly that he or she is gonna forgive whoever screws up next.“
Basic Human Anatomy | Episode 4.11
Summary – Troy and Abed do a Freaky Friday body switch, so when Troy and Britta go on a date its really Abed and Britta.
The Worst – The gas leak year.
Eye on Britta – Britta get caught up in the body switch weirdness. She tries to therapize . . . whoever it is she sitting with.
Heroic Origins | Episode 4.12
Summary – Abed obsesses about the study group’s origin story. He ret-cons back several years, before Annie was cute and before Magnitude said “Pop. Pop.” It’s another poorly timed, awkward attempt at a high-concept, fourth season, gas leak year episode.
The Worst – Annie’s screaming fit when Troy wins senior class “Most likely to Succeed.” Troy’s fake keg flip injury. Pierce is only in the episode for 3 seconds and he uses it to fake a heart attack.
Eye on Britta – Britta’s flashback shows that people didn’t like her activist rhetoric then any more than they like it now. Also, she has a nose piercing and purple hair.
Advanced Introduction to Finality | Episode 4.13
Summary – Jeff is set to graduate early but regrets leaving Greendale. Evil Jeff and Evil Annie from the darkest timeline appear to compel him to take a sleazy lawyer job. The doppledeaner, or deanelganger also shows up, and then finally Evil Shirley, Evil Troy and Evil Britta. Paintball!
The Worst – Evil Pierce and Evil Britta both shoot themselves at the very beginning of the climactic conflict.
Eye on Britta – Britta stay in the background throughout.
“Nobody sleeps with Jeff! Not even me.” (Spoken by Good Annie as she kills Evil Annie.)
Repilot | Episode 5.1
Summary – As the fifth season begin, Jeff’s attempts to reboot his law career are failing. Alan Conner gives Jeff an chance to score a big payoff by exposing negligence at Greendale. In short order, the study group is brought back together as the Save Greendale Committee. Jeff has a moral quandary.
The Worst – Everybody has fallen since leaving Greendale. Annie is working in pharmaceutical sales. Britta tends bar. Abed is programming. Shirley’s husband Andre left again.
Eye on Britta – Britta renews her commitment to the psychology profession, despite repeated disapproval from Shirley and Annie.
“This was a four-year process. We went in one end as real people and out the other end as mixed-up cartoons.”
Introduction to Teaching | Episode 5.2
Summary – Jeff starts his new job as a teacher at Greendale. He meets Buzz Hickey a biology teacher played grouchily by tough-guy Mike from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. The other students take a class on Nicolas Cage.
The Worst – For once, someone besides Britta gets called “the Worst.” That’s what Jeff calls Annie when she insists that he take his teaching job seriously and prepare a lesson plan.
Eye on Britta – Britta is in the background until Annie discovers that minuses are made up. Then Britta leads a student riot demanding “Slightly Higher Grades.”
Basic Intergluteal Numismatics | Episode 5.3
Summary – The notorious “Ass-Crack Bandit” strikes, dropping quarters into the gap at the back of Greendale students’ jeans. Garrett is the first victim. Others (Troy, Vicki, Duncan) follow. The episode parodies a crime procedural (Law and Order, maybe?)
The Worst – The Dave Matthews Band.
Eye on Britta – In her only speaking moment, Britta offers a psychological profile of the ACB that is thorough and absolutely certainly right and/or wrong: “We know that he hates money, or loves it, or doesn’t care about money and hates butts, or loves them.”
Cooperative Polygraphy | Episode 5.4
Summary – Pierce is dead. A Mr. Stone arrives to the study room to investigate whether anyone in the study group murdered him. The investigation includes probing questions Pierce designed to turn the study group against each other. It works. Next Mr. Stone reads Pierce’s generous gifts to each member of the group.
The Worst – Chang. “Eeevreeewheeeere.”
Eye on Britta – Pierce leaves Britta a iPod Nano. (This fulfills the prophesy in episode 1.22 that predicted Britta would someday be the proud owner of one.)
Geothermal Escapism | Episode 5.5
Summary – Troy is leaving on the round-the-world sailing trip on Pierce’s yacht. To celebrate, Abed proclaims a schoolwide game of “Hot Lava.” Greendale takes to it like it took to paintball. The movie tropes for this episode come mainly from Mad Max beyond Thunderdome, with Shirley playing the Tina Turner role. Britta wins. During the goodbye scene, Troy tells Britta she’s “the best.”
The Worst – In the midst of the dramatic mayhem of the battle of Shirley Island, we hear someone cry out, “My name was Vicki. Tell my story!” which is touching and heroic. We hear someone else (Garrett) screaming, “These are my only pants. I can’t get them dirty!”
Eye on Britta – Britta encourages the group to be honest about how they’ll miss Troy. It any other setting, this would be welcome advice and a natural thing. But because its Britta talking, everybody hates it. As the game grow more and more outrageous, Britta hovers outside, questioning whether costumes and gods are really necessary. When Troy and Abed abandon Britta, Troy calls out over his shoulder, “Sorry Britta. Abed knows best. But I’ll always remember you as kind of slowing us down and complaining a lot!” During the climactic battle, Britta out duels Jeff, while trying to convince Abed to deal with his feelings.
I will force you two to grieve properly even if it kills us all!
Analysis of Cork-Based Networking | Episode 5.6
Summary – Troy is gone, Pierce is gone, and the premise of the study group is gone with them. From now on it is the “Save Greendale” Committee. Professors Hickey, Duncan and Chang fill the empty chairs. The episode focuses on Annie’s battle against red tape for a bulletin board and Britta’s campaign to get back at Abed for spoiling the plot of “Bloodlines of Conquest.”
The Worst – Chang. It was too soon for “Bear Down.”
Eye on Britta – Abed thinks faster than Britta in her first several attempts to spoil “Bloodlines of conquest,” but she eventually defeats him by recruiting the help of a girl Abed likes.
“You whored yourself out, kid. You wanted that board so bad that you made every board on campus worthless. And in doing so you made the school just a shade dirtier.”
Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality | Episode 5.7
Summary – In a failed attempt to get Professor Duncan with Britta, Jeff causes everyone to attempt a local theater performance. Echoes of “The Shining.”
The Worst – Childish and irresponsible Abed’s clash with grouchy Hickey is quite ugly. Both sides of it. It’s the most uncomfortable scene in the entire series.
Eye on Britta – Britta reunites with some of her activist friends from the old days. She learns that they’ve sold out more than her. Jeff hovers and decides he wasn’t to date Britta: “Fine. Yes. Something about everybody liking her turns me on. It’s a problem I have.” Duncan experiences a rare moment of principled gentlemanliness at just the moment Britta was vulnerable. So it works out as it should.
App Development & Condiments | Episode 5.8
Summary – The Meowmeowbeenz episode. Greendale is turned into a Hunger Games of popularity when a rating app is beta tested. In just over a week, Greendale succumbs to the principle that “Fives have lives, fours have chores, threes have fleas, twos have blues, and ones don’t get a rhyme because they’re garbage.”
The Worst – Everyone who goes along with it. Shirley is the worst of the worst. Only Jeff and Britta hold out, and even Jeff buys in when he starts thinking he can subvert it.
Eye on Britta – “I shouldn’t have to put mustard on my face for this to make sense!” Britta leads the successful revolution to overthrow Meowmeowbeenz, but then is the last to walk away from it.
“I’m a psych major. Words are my weapons.” “I’m a security guard. Weapons are my weapons.”
VCR Maintenance & Educational Publishing | Episode 5.9
Summary – Annie’s brother is visiting, and so is Abed’s girlfriend Rachel. Annie and Abed behave terribly, and that’s the last we see of Anthony (which is happy, because he’s weird) and Rachel (which is sad because she’s cool). The rest of the Save Greendale Committee wastes the episode trying to fence a stack of worthless textbooks.
The Worst – Annie’s lumpy brother, Anthony. (You shouldn’t have to ask!)
Eye on Britta – Britta get involved in the transfer of hot textbooks, but she gets outplayed by ruthless Shirley.
Advanced Advanced Dungeons & Dragons | Episode 5.10
Summary – In a return of Dungeons & Dragons based action, the group set off on a “contrived, paint-by-numbers adventure that’s designed to force an emotional bond” between Hickey and his son.
The Worst – Hickey and Hank. They’re both really, genuinely nasty.
Eye on Britta – Britta, aka Fibrosis the Ranger, goes with Team Hank and gets her face pushing into a puddle.
GI Jeff | Episode 5.11
Summary – Jeff drinks too much scotch and dreams he’s a character from Saturday morning cartoons.
The Worst – Cobra, of course. They’re the bad guys!
Eye on Britta – Britta’s GI Joe character is Buzzkill. She comes with a buzzsaw in place of her left hand. Buzzkill explains to cartoon Jeff how real Jeff’s despair about getting older has caused him (real Jeff) to hallucinate himself (as cartoon GI Joe Jeff). Cartoon Abed responds, “Imaginary Britta is right, and ONLY imaginary Britta.”
Basic Story | Episode 5.12
Summary – Everything seems to be just fine. I mean, there’s nothing wrong. So when an insurance appraiser comes to inspect the campus, the group doesn’t know how not to worry about everything being just fine. Abed partakes of a private delusion, but nobody else minds him.
The Worst – The school board. Those guys are always drunk and they supported Chang when he tried to blow up the school. They deserve at least one “worst.”
Eye on Britta – “I’m thinking I’m gonna transfer to City College, but I’m KNOWING I’m gonna be a bartender.” For a minute, Jeff and Britta decide to get married.
Basic Sandwich | Episode 5.13
Summary – After the school board sells Greendale to Subway for a Sandwich University, the SGC tries to save it again by discovering the hidden treasure left behind by eccentric millionaire computer genius Russell Borchert.
The Worst – Still the school board.
Eye on Britta – Britta and Jeff are still doing the getting married thing as the group closes in on the treasure. Upstairs, Ritchie from the school board calls Shirley and Hickey “the worst.” By the end, Britta and Jeff call off the wedding as happily as the agreed to it.
“We have to respect each other enough to let each other want what we want. No matter how transparently self-destructive or empty our desires may be.”
Ladders | Episode 6.1
Summary – At the beginning of the new year, the dean brings in a new management consultant, Francesca (Frankie) Dart. She’s capable and serious and the group resents her. Only Abed joins in helpfully.
The worst – The fake phone call routine the dean keeps putting on to avoid answering a question about whether Frankie is in charge. (She is.) Annie, for refusing to share the “secret committee pretzels” with Abed. Annie, Jeff and Britta altogether, for not accepting Frankie.
Eye on Britta – Britta is homeless and living in a tent on the Greendale lawn. Later, she works behind the counter at Shirley’s Sandwiches before turning the counter over to Todd so she can work in the secret saloon in the backroom into which Frankie will discover in the climax.
“There’s a lot of little things in real life that are just as cool as fake stuff. I learned that working for Frankie.”
Lawnmower Maintenance & Postnatal Care | Episode 6.2
Summary – Britta moves in with Annie and Abed. The dean buys a stupid virtual reality system and tries to stay in it while Frankie and Jeff try to sell it back. Elroy Patashnik, played by Keith David (King from Platoon), joins the cast.
The worst – Britta really is totally wrong here about her parents. They’re nice. And her mother was Cinderella (Rodgers and Hammerstein).
Eye on Britta -- Britta gets unreasonabler and unreasonabler, ending up making a desperate getaway from her nice parents and reasonable friends by stealing a passing kid’s Big Wheel and pedaling away on it because she couldn’t stand how they were “infantilizing her” by being nice. Because this is Community, she has a change of heart and they hug it out at the end.
Basic Crisis Room Decorum | Episode 6.3
Summary – City College plans to run an attack ad on TV. Annie calls an emergency meeting to plana response. Turns out, Greendale gave a degree to a dog.
The worst – What could be worse than getting catfished by a couple of Japanese teenagers? Maybe ripping your crotch seam or crapping your pants. So, Britta, evidently.
Eye on Britta – Jeff tells Britta to go and get some coffee. She goes with Elroy, talks about a favorite band, and then remembers about the coffee.
“I never hope. Hope is pouting in advance. Hope is faith’s richer, bitchier sister, Hope is the deformed, attic-bound incest monster offspring of entitlement and fear. My life results tripled the year I gave up hope and every game on my phone that has anything to do with farming.”
Queer Studies & Advanced Waxing | Episode 6.4
Summary – The school board invites the dean to join them on the school board, because they want some cover for their anti-gay sentiments after canceling a Pride Parade. Annie and Chang act in a stage production of The Karate Kid. Elroy and Abed fuss over a birds’ nest. Jeff and Frankie advise the dean. Britta tends bar. (The “Advanced Waxing” bit in the title references the floor-waxing scene in The Karate Kid.)
The worst – The director of the play. Nobody (not even Chang) deserves the kind of abuse the director gives Chang.
Eye on Britta – Britta gives Annie good advice about how to support Chang.
Laws of Robotics & Party Rights | Episode 6.5
Summary – A bunch of iPads on broomstick channeling prison inmates start attending Greendale. One of them goads Jeff. Meanwhile Britta and Annie tussle over boundaries in their shared apartment. Britta enlists Abed’s help by proposing her party as the subject of a movie. Abed can’t resist. But he insists that everyone “party like there’s no tomorrow.” That leads to trouble.
The worst – Prisoner Willy.
Eye on Britta – Britta is pretty clever in recruiting Abed to make a movie of her rager. Britta is pretty wrong about the meaning of the phrase, “hoist by his own petard” from Hamlet, but Jeff misquotes it to begin with.
Elroy: “Did someone use the word “black” and now you want me to give you the “All clear?” Please tell me that won’t be my role in this group. I have a brain the size of Jupiter. I’m nobody’s fourth Ghostbuster.”
Basic Email Security | Episode 6.6
Summary – A hacker threatens to expose personal emails of everyone in the school unless a controversial performance is cancelled. The episode is remarkable for the very extended round of mutual criticism slinging around the room after everyone reads everyone else’s private emails.
The Worst – Everyone but Abed, after they read each other’s emails. Maybe Garrett most of all.
Eye on Britta – Only Britta stands by principles and abstains from reading the salacious secrets of the lunch lady. Britta immediately jumps and turns away (as does Chang) as soon as Officer Cackowski arrives to investigate. Also, only Britta demands (on principle) that the study group support the performance of the comedian that she was planning to protest (on principle). After the uncomfortable scene where everyone accuses each other of mean email messaging, Britta gives a speech that makes the group cool again.
“We have to stop the people. Their freedom of speech depends on it!”
“No one’s free when they’re one of anything!”
Advanced Safety Features | Episode 6.7
Summary – Subway returns – this time as a guerilla marketer for Honda. The dean buys everything Honda makes. Britt has another quick fling with “Rick.”
The Worst – The dean is absurdly susceptible to marketing. Chang is bad at PowerPoint.
Eye on Britta – Britta stands up to the blandishments of Honda. She wants a relationship with Rick, but holds out against the corporate impulse until Rick gets arrested and hauled away.
“Do you not think Honda makes good products? (Rick) “Of course I do. That’s never been remotely in question. But why does that mean I like Avatar? (Britta) “Because you’re not a monster!” (Rick)
Intro to Recycled Cinema | Episode 6.8
Summary – Chang is suddenly successful and famous. He’s on TV commercials saying a stupid two-word catchphrase, and now Spielberg is thinking of using him for the color blue in the new Play-Doh movie. To the rest of America, it’s an inspiring story of how a plucky Asian man achieved success through hard work and perseverance. Nobody back at Greendale sees it that way. They try to capitalize by using unlicensed bits of Chang video from various film projects of Abed’s plus some cartoon “Yooba Dooba” monsters of Elroy’s (to be voiced by Garrett) to rush out a movie. It is not a good movie: kind of Star Wars and kind of Chinatown in Space.
The Worst – Everybody but Abed. He’s willing to make the movie to exploit Chang’s fame but he wants it to be a good movie. No one else cares if its good or not. Jeff may be the worst, because he fights to keep the worst scene in just because he’s in it.
Eye on Britta – Britta plays the character of Meridian. She’s no worse than the rest of the awful movie. At the end of the episode, she gets reference a wrong (She thinks it Pink Floyd, but it was “A Few Good Men”) and the room erupts with “Britta’s the worst.”
Grifting 101 | Episode 6.9
Summary – With homage to “the Sting,” the SGC enrolls in a class called Grifting 101, in which the professors sells students expensive briefcases, then tells the students to pass them back and forth. Jeffs tells the others they’re being grifted, which is obviously true. The SGC hatches a multi-layer, double- and triple-blind scheme that involves Britta luring the professor into a grift.
The Worst – Professor Roger DeSalvo, who calls himself ‘God’s paintbrush.”
Eye on Britta – Britta falls asleep watching The Sting. When she wakes up she asks, “Was Sting even in it? She goes along with rest of the group in taking the stupid class. But she’s the one who motivates Jeff into caring about what’s happening. Her speech to Jeff includes: “You don’t want to take this guy down? He’s even lazier than you. Doesn’t your species consider that a challenge? Shouldn’t you be having some kind of reverse pissing contest to determine who’s laziest?” Later she punches Roger DeSalvo in the face and makes him fall down the stairs and break his bones. Except not.
Basic RV Repair & Palmistry | Episode 6.10
Summary – The Save Greendale Committee sets off on a road trip to deliver a giant hand the dean stupidly bought to a collector. Elroy’s RV breaks down. The dean pouts, and Abed tries to link what happens with a flashback three weeks earlier that didn’t happen.
The Worst – The scriptwriter. Charging a cell phone would not cause the RV to run out of gas sooner.
Eye on Britta – Everybody had their cell phone plugged into a charger, sucking the same amount of energy from the battery. But Elroy singles out Britta as the most guilty one. In the distant future, people still aren’t nice to Britta.
Modern Espionage | Episode 6.11
Summary – Paintball returns, and Todd has really upped his game this year. Trouble is, Frankie forbids it, which makes the game just a bit more challenging for the SGC.
The Worst – Frankie is kind of terrible for wanting to ban paintball. Jeff is the worst, for shooting a handicapped guy with paint.
Eye on Britta – While unraveling the mystery of the unknown paintball assassin, Britta offers profoundly insightful nonsense until Elroy asks, “Why did they pair us together?” Later, Britta and Elroy skillfully take out the kitchen staff.
Wedding Videography | Episode 6.12
Summary – Garrett marries Stacy. Abed films as the study group gets ready, travels to the wedding, and fouls it up. When Garrett’s mother faints, Todd is there to catch her.
The Worst – Todd makes a bad wedding officiator. The whole study group is pretty awful. Jeff, especially, for exposing the Garret family scandal.
Eye on Britta – Spot-on impression of Garrett. A bit too free on the dance floor. The world’s most inappropriate Hitler analogy.
“It’s you against the world and you will not win. But you get to make your moves . . . not them.”
Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television | Episode 6.13
Summary – This final episode of the series considers ideas for what season seven could be like if there was a season seven, which there wasn’t. The SGC, or Nippledippers, sit around Britta’s bar exchanging ideas. Shirley is back to figure in some of the ideas.
The Worst – The worst idea is probably Jeff’s, because he imagines the “Sustain Greendale Committee” reconstituted with Leonard, Garrett, Vicki, Todd, Dave and a new guy named Scrunch. Jeff is the member of the group who has the hardest time coping with the end.
Eye on Britta – Britta’s pitch for season seven is a hard-hitting, issues-oriented, straight-shooting, drama. Frankie says, “I don’t even own a TV and I wouldn’t watch that.”
When every instance of being ‘the worst” is added up across all episodes, Jeff is the worst most often. I count him the worst 29 times – including the occasion when he attacked the study table with an ax and the time he ruined a boy’s bar mitzvah.
Annie, Britta, Pierce and Troy are the worst in the range of 16-19 times each, despite Troy and Pierce not appearing in all six seasons.
Several characters are the worst in their only episode. These include Annie’s brother, Anthony; Jeff’s half-brother Willy, Jr.; Willy the prisoner; and Buzz Hickey’s son, Hank. Abed’s father Gubi Nadir and Pierce’s father, Cornelius Hawthorne are both the worst in both of the two episodes in which they appear.
