Community/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Chang's Spanish knowledge. He often seems to be very interested in Spanish culture as a whole (meeting his wife through Salsa dancing, his nickname El Tigre, defending his job to his Rabbi brother, and the infamous I AM A SPANISH GENIUS outburst), yet he states in the season one finale that he only took the Spanish teaching job because it was the best option, and doesn't know Spanish at all (beyond phrases learned from Sesame Street).
    • Being very interested in something doesn't necessarily equal being very knowledgable in it or all aspects of it; I'm very interested in the music of Bach but wouldn't know how to play "Violin Concerto in A Minor" to save my life. Similarly, you don't need to know how to speak Spanish to learn how to salsa dance, or to find Latina women attractive. It's perhaps notable that most of Chang's expressions of interest in Spanish culture, such as his various costumes, tend to be rather stereotypically 'Spanish' or 'Mexican' (bull-fighters, sombreros, salsa-dancing, etc) -- the kind of things you don't necessarily need an in-depth immersion into the culture to really pick up on. Similarly, 'El Tigre' is a fairly simple Spanish phrase, not one you really need to know the language well to pick up or use. As for his argument with his brother / "SPANISH GENIUS" rant, who's going to be more defensive about their abilities and profession than someone who has absolutely no idea what they're doing and is determined to make sure no one else finds that out?
    • Also, he had to pick up on at least a bit of the language after teaching a Spanish class for a while.
  • Britta's views on homosexuality/homophobia really confuse me. In the episode with Paige, she's shown to be very accepting and forward, her bathroom conversation with Shirley shows she's very anti-gender roles, and she is always otherwise shown as the type of person who would be very pro-gay rights and anti-gender binary. So what the hell is with her whole "Fighting lets men let out their pent-up gayness" crap in "Comparative Religion"?
    • I think there's a few things to point out here: firstly, she might be framing it in gender-studies discourse but on some level Britta clearly enjoys the thought of watching guys fighting (or 'fighting') in the same way that straight guys might enjoy watching two girls make out; she's the only one banging on about it, after all. Now, this might be a rather limited and narrow way of looking at sexuality issues, but it's not necessarily homophobia.
      Secondly, if indeed it is, then to be fair it's not completely out-of-character -- Britta has frequently been shown throughout the series to be a bit of a Hypocrite when it comes to her politics and just a little bit of a Straw Feminist when it comes to gender issues; notice how both of the mentioned examples are 'pro-gay rights and anti-gender binaries' in so far as they pertain to women, not men. Open-mindedness towards one group does not necessarily equal open-mindedness to all groups; she clearly subscribes to certain Double Standards pertaining to men and women's various gender and sexuality issues (which, without wanting to provoke an argument, are not entirely absent from certain schools of feminist thought, but that's another debate). Less-than-admirable it may be, but this would hardly be the first time she's been found wanting in consistency or commitment regarding her political views, let's be honest.
      And finally, far from being examples of how accepting, open-minded and forward-thinking, I'd actually argue that those examples actually demonstrate her to be quite limited in her thinking, to at least some degree. Remember, she's friends with Paige not so much because she genuinely likes Paige -- the end of the episode shows that the two clearly don't actually like each other that much -- but because she gets off on the 'credibility' of having a lesbian friend. She's basically using Paige as a prop to show how progressive and politically correct she is (most of the episode involves her lording over Annie in this sense), and although Paige is hardly the nicest person and is doing the exact same thing to Britta, she entirely rightly calls Britta on this when Britta tries to weasel out of it. Similarly, far from showing her to be beyond gender binaries, the Wondrous Ladies' Room incident actually suggests (to me, anyway) that Britta's merely gotten herself limited to different binaries instead of the traditional ones; she's initially quite condescending and dismissive of the whole thing and ends up deeply offending Shirley when she insensitively and rudely suggests that she and her mother are 'robots' for wanting to receive a makeover, neither of which is tremendously open-minded of her, nor the attitude of someone 'beyond' gender binaries.
    • This isn't the only time Britta uses gay-baiting to antagonize Jeff. In "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" when she looses control during role-playing her first reaction is to undermine Jeff's Dad sexuality and eventually calls him Jeff Winger's Dumb Gay Dad. As above post points out Britta is shown to be at times a Hypocrite, more interested in the appearance of open-mindedness and neoliberal agenda than actual action and participating. In "Early 21st Century Romanticism" she had, or at least though she did, a lesbian friends. Not because Britta connected on a human level or even that she is sexually orientation neutral and just happen to find out, Britta's only purpose with this friendship is for the selfish reason to show off to Annie and everyone else how much better she is than them.
    • Honestly, that isn't that inconsistent. It's not terribly uncommon for gay people themselves to do that sort of baiting. For Britta, who is often shown to be trying to hard in general, feeling comfortable doing that seems plenty in character.
  • How is attending Greendale community college going to solve any of Jeff's problems? Wouldn't the fact that he faked his bachelor's degree nullify his J.D.? And how is getting an associate's degree going to fix that? Also, wouldn't the fact that he committed fraud mean that no respectable law firm would ever hire him again? And wouldn't that be a criminal offense?
    • Community seems to take place in a universe where every lawyer -- even a member of the Bar's boards --is an Amoral Attorney. In the pilot, Jeff refers to a "deal" with the state bar regarding his fraudulent Bachelor's that will allow him to regain his license if he can get a legitimate four-year degree. Later, when we finally get to meet his old colleagues, it's made perfectly clear that they'll happily take him back and that they're even proud that he bluffed the Bar for so long. His former boss even offers him consulting work in the meantime.
    • Presumably he reasons that having something is better than nothing, and Jeff -- considering he previously managed to talk himself into a job at a law-firm without having a legitimate degree whatsoever, and being the consummate bluff-artist we know him to be -- believes that he'd still be able to talk his way into something good with that.
      • It's stated that his Bachelor's, not his JD is fake early in the pilot; apparently he has a legitimate JD and presumably passed the state bar exam, but entered law school using false credentials.
      • Presumably the lack of a Bachelor's degree would still also affect the overall legitimacy of his degree and qualification to practice in the eyes of prospective employers and the law, though. So even if he did get his JD the lack of a valid Bachelor's degree would presumably invalidate it as well, at least until he managed to get a legitimate Bachelors degree. Hence, the JD -- while acquired, unlike the Bachelors degree -- would still not be entirely legitimate, otherwise they'd just let anyone wander into a law school without qualifications and start letting them practice law once they'd finished.
        • It's up to the school who to admit or not, and there are people without bachelor's degrees who get law degrees a fair amount in the Commonwealth (not sure about in the U.S.). If he completed the program, whether or not he should have been accepted at the time, the school can give their seal of approval to anyone they want (consider "honorary degrees", too).
          • I'm also not 100% on the US state of affairs, but if that's the case, well, it's likely that the school Jeff attended simply didn't want to give him their seal of approval. He wouldn't have needed to fake his bachelors degree in the first place if it was a school that he could legitimately attend without one (Jeff "Always Takes The Easy Route" Winger would definitely have taken that option if it was available to him, since convincingly faking an entire bachelor's degree isn't exactly easy, so we can safely assume it wasn't), and if everyone was okay with him earning the JD despite faking his bachelors, well, he wouldn't need to be in Greendale in the first place. Theoretically the school in question might be willing to award anyone they wish, but in practice to put it bluntly they'd have to be fucking idiots to reward Jeff for conning and taking advantage of them; that's just going to damage the integrity and reputation of the school and open the "hey, come and take advantage of us!" doors for any old con artist. So it's likely his JD has been revoked or withdrawn, at least until he actually qualifies for it fully. As for honorary degrees, in practice they're usually a nice bit of paper and some letters at the end of someone's name; generally an honorary degree won't get you taken very seriously if you try to actually practice in that field, since you haven't put in the study and hard work to get it (and they're also not going to give Jeff one for conning them either).
      • FWIW "Origins of Vampire Mythology" suggests that Jeff's JD is just as illegitimate as his bachelor's degree ("... and then I cheated on the LSAT...") thus further strengthening the assumption that it's also been revoked, until he re-qualifies at least.
    • I also just assumed that this was evidence of Jeff's silver tongue and Manipulative Bastard nature at work; it was the plea bargain he managed to make with the Bar Association to prevent complete ruin and jail time. In other words, Jeff's such a great Amoral Attorney that he can even pull the rug out from other attorneys.
    • On a related note, since when do community colleges offer four-year bachelor's degrees?
      • Some have begun to within the last decade. Jeff could just be gathering up cheap and easy elective credits though.
      • And this could also be chalked up to Dean Pelton trying to make Greendale "a real college." Probably the same reason GCC has dorms (before this show, I'd never heard of a community college that had dorms).
      • the four year bachelor degree thing was lampshaded in curriculum unavailable
  • Someone explain to me why Prof Slater broke up with Jeff? From what I could tell, he was working through his commitment issues, had shown her that Britta was a friend for now, and she turns around and dumps him the moment he actually appeared to be working towards being a good boyfriend? WTF!
    • She's a GDB.
    • She was never really shown to be that nice of a person anyways. It didn't seem that out of character for her to not really be into the relationship for the long haul.
      • Wasn't she bitching about Jeff not being in it for the long haul like 3 episodes earlier?
      • No- she was bitching about Jeff not calling it boyfriend and girlfriend. There actually is a big difference- pray you don't find out what it is someday.
      • Maybe she just got bored of him, I dunno, people break up. It didn't seem that out of character.
    • She mainly just existed to change up the show a little after the unrequited version of alpha couple Jeff-Britta and Beta-couple Troy-Annie got boring and predictable. After being a way for Britta to realize she has feelings for Jeff, and a distraction for when Annie loses interest in Troy, she no longer had any purpose other than being the girlfriend.
      • If you watch the DVD commentary, Dan Harmon makes it clear that they didn't mean to abruptly end the Slater-Jeff relationship, but they had already stunt-cast Katharine McPhee as a love interest for Jeff.
  • Isn't chang supposed to be married? a first season episode had Jeff help him get back together with his wife. Yet in the zombie episode stuff happened between him and Shirley
    • I imagine it just didn't work out with his wife.
    • Chang is a sonofabitch. Since when has he ever followed any morals besides his own personal twisted code?
      • This. He admitted that he propositioned Dr. Slater, but she "doesn't date married Asians that drive mopeds."
        • Chang is still married but his wife kicked him out after she found out about him and Shirley
    • In fairness, it was in the middle of a zombie attack. Normal rules don't apply.
  • How on earth did Annie get that tape of Jeff?
    • My theory on this is that she contacted Jeff's mom in an attempt to find his dad.
    • What tape?
    • This tape
  • Since Chang brought in his own equipment in last year's paintball game, why is his Tiger Gun locked away? Surely it would have been returned to him afterwards?
    • Where was the last time we saw the Tiger Gun? Jeff brought it to the Dean's office to re-enact the ending of Die Hard. The Dean just locked it up after Jeff left.
    • Annie got it from the ammo stash in Fistful of Paintballs and used it to confront Pierce. It continued to be used in For A Few Paintballs More.
  • What's going to happen to this show after the fourth season? Given that the entire premise revolves around a study group at a four year Community college, does that mean that it's pretty much predetermined that the fourth season will have to be the last?
    • Four seasons is still a lot. I would much prefer they end early and on a good note with people wanting more, than turning into some kind of Franchise Zombie
    • I think the "four years" thing was a self-imposed time limit by the show creators. This way they have a definite end, and it doesn't just peter out until the cast decide to leave.
    • Pierce has just revealed that he has been at Greendale 10 years before meeting the Study Group. If the show goes past four seasons and Pierce decides to stay, he could just as easily make friends with a new cast.
      • No.
    • In the event of the series continuing on after graduation, keep in mind that while the series is called "Community", this doesn't necessarily mean it has to be limited to the community college alone -- "Community" can mean lots of things, after all, and the show went off campus a few times last season. Alternatively, Pierce has been taking different courses for twelve years now -- who's to say that the other characters might not decide to hang around for a bit longer, or might not keep a foot in?
    • It's not as if the show is really about a community college anymore.
    • Well splitting the last two years into a season each gives 4 (for a total of 6 seasons which I'm sure they'd probably get if they last past 3), or even just the last year. That'd mean they'd be able to hit the magical 100 mark for Syndication as well.
    • Keep in mind that Pierce pretty much has no need to enroll in Greendale, but does anyway. This means that, even after the group graduates, they can still take classes in it.
  • Unless there was a time skip of a few weeks between "Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts" and "A Fistful of Paintballs", Shirley isn't taking any kind of maternity leave?
    • She is a headstrong woman of the 21st century who can wow a business class like nobody else can, there is nothing she can not do.
    • This is actually a case of fridge brilliance. Shirley gave birth during finals week, and the picnic was after finals week. So all she thought was going to happen was take a nice, short break from her new baby, leaving it with his father, and attend a relaxed, cowboy themed picnic. She had no clue it would turn insane, and when it did she repeatedly mentioned how much she wanted to go home.
  • How did Abed remember that Britta and Jeff hooked up in the episode with the zombies? Didn't they smash the Reset Button at the end by making everyone forget (and this impacted on the Chang/Shirley storyline)?
    • They probably erased only the memory of the zombies. So as far as they can remember it was just another boring costume party at the college.
    • Abed says explicitly that it's one of the only things he DOES remember from that night.
    • I discussed this one with a friend in real life, and came up with an acceptable solution (for my own personal canon at least). Abed runs on TV and film tropes, therefore on the night where nobody can remember anything Abed stores and files away a select few memories in his computer-like brain just in case a "clip show episode" type scenario comes up at a later date.
    • Britta and Jeff hooked up in the first paintball episode, not the zombie episode. Shirley and Chang hooked up in the zombie episode, and Chang left Troy a voice mail bragging about it. As for Britta and Jeff, Abed is just savvy enough to have observed their behavior together.
  • Can someone tell me where the 'Culinary Arts' in the 'Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts' comes from? Where did cooking come into the episode?
    • The "race kerfuffle" began during Greendale's World Food Festival.
      • Oh. The fact that we never even see any food threw me...
      • Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch. Maybe 'Applied Anthropology' wouldn't have been a funny enough name.
    • The way I took it was "Applied Anthropology and Applied Culinary Arts", as in, applied at high speed from across the cafetorium.
  • How come in "A Fistful of Paintballs" / "For a Few Paintballs More" the paintball war has the potential to force the closure of the school while in the earlier "Modern Warfare" a similarly, if not more, destructive paintball war was cleaned up with no apparent problem (or risk of closure) in a matter of hours? Okay, there's the $100,000 cash prize in the second example, which Dean Spreck wants to stop anyone from Greendale winning in order to prevent anyone using it to clean up the school (as is implied to happen at the end), but there wasn't such a prize in "Modern Warfare" and yet apparently there was no problem in cleaning up the school then. What's changed?
    • Just spitballing, but it could be that the Dean was able to keep the school open after "Modern Warfare" by making the argument who would plan for such a disaster. The authority and big contributors to the endowment were willing to go along with it. Then the same disaster happens again one year later. The Dean isn't going to be able to convince anyone this time around.
    • The most likely thing seems that clean up from the first paintball war pretty much drained any savings Greendale had and having to clean up a second war would bankrupt the school.
  • In "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking," how on Earth is it that Jeff is not arrested for savagely beating an old man 30 feet away from the front door of the hospital, who happens to be a patient at said hospital? It's not as if the study group were the only ones who saw that- several onlookers can be seen gathering in the background. Even more head-scratch-inducing is his being allowed to sleep 5 feet away from Pierce in his hospital room AFTER the smackdown.
    • No one likes Pierce. Hell, the nurses probably wanted to pay Jeff.
    • Considering the clear emotional distress that Jeff was going through coupled with the fact that Pierce was the direct cause of said distress, and considering that they essentially resolved the matter immediately afterward, presumably even if the appropriate authorities were called it was decided that no charges needed to be pressed. Presumably Pierce decided not to press charges. Plus, it's assault, certainly, but from what we see 'savage beating' is a bit of an overstatement of what happens; Jeff drags Pierce out of the car and roughs him up a bit on the ground before getting pulled off, it's not like he completely beat the crap out of Pierce or anything.
  • Why does Jeff still hate Pierce in the third season opener? You think he would get over it during the summer or something. It comes off as irrational as I find myself thinking Pierce is one of the more pleasant characters. Yes he comes off as racist but that's just one liners that don't really factor in overall. I do say he became crazy from isolation during season 2 which a few were his fault but the point is it sort of comes off as Pierce is a Designated Villain.
    • One: Jeff suffered the most of Pierce's actions. Two: Jeff's not exactly as forgiving as the others. It can be argued that, during the summer, he tried to cope with Pierce leaving, and ended up being glad he did. So, when he came back, he wasn't exactly too happy.
      • It's also repeatedly made clear -- as far back as the pilot, in fact -- that Jeff is secretly very afraid he'll end up like Pierce. Having Pierce around is therefore very uncomfortable for him.
        • Besides the previous stated distal causes for Jeff's behavior there is also a proximal cause for Jeff's strong reaction. The opening Imagination Spot is strongly suggested to have been kicked by Annie asking "What are we going to do without Pierce in the study group?". Jeff imagines an idealized version of Greendale. Potentially where their lives will be less crazy and weird, but they can be happy and have fun. The lines that have the biggest insight into Jeff's psyche come towards the end. First off "living forever". Jeff has had a tough time before dealing with his own mortality and Pierce is a constant reminder of growing old. The other one is "sleeping together" with Annie. He and Annie both acknowledge they have sexual tension, but due to multitude of factors haven't really approached it yet. One of those disagreements is over Pierce and his role in the group, with Annie being eternally optimistic and Jeff to put bluntly would be pessimistic. With Pierce gone that is one less thing, and likely a big one, to get distracted by and disagree over. This hope for a better Greendale experience comes crashing down in flames in less then a minute when Pierce abruptly shows up and ask to be back in the group. In summation: Cockblock.
    • Let's be fair; what Pierce did in "Intermediate Documentary Making" alone both went beyond being a Designated Villain -- although, as Annie and Jeff often do, you can go backwards and forwards as to how much at fault the others are about it -- and that by itself would be reason enough for Jeff to never want anything to do with Pierce ever again. He was obviously willing to let bygones be bygones thanks to Pierce's actions at the end of "A Few Paintballs More", but when Pierce rejected their overtures it's not hard to imagine that it wouldn't be too much effort for Jeff to shrug it off and end up on reflection being glad that Pierce did.
  • So Abed and Troy living together is no longer too much of a good thing (at the end of season 1 they decided not to live together)? I'm not against this happening and I know people change their minds but it seems like it suddenly happened out of nowhere. almost feels like it was just added into the script at the last minute.
    • Abed's reason for not wanting Troy as a roommate was that it might ruin the friendship. But then they spent another year as friends and came even closer, and even overcame liking the same girl. Abed figures if the girl couldn't break up their friendship, that living together won't either.
    • Also, in the first instance it was Abed's dorm, and thus his space. It's cool for Troy to come over and hang out, even staying with him for extended periods, but were he to officially move it it would get on his nerves. However, moving into a completely new apartment, it became their space and so easier to meet each other halfway. It's a very boring matter of semantics, but if you've ever tried to live with anybody else you'll understand.
  • How much money did Jeff spend at Abed's surprise party? He bought a custom-made wallet that said "badass mother -Curse Cut Short", paid for the entire meal at a fancy restaurant which included wine and squab, he booked the diner, had to pay for "damages" at said diner to the tune of $800, and bought Abed's other gift for a thousand bucks. Considering he's no longer a lawyer, that seems to be a pretty hefty blow to his bank account.
    • The diner was presumably free-- or close to free, since Brita worked there and managed clear the evening for them. I can't imagine the wallet costing very much, since it's an iconic item from an iconic film, therefore there must be tons of them available everywhere. (Almost like Fridge Brilliance: the wallet obviously was obviously a duplicate, which might have foreshadowed his gift to Abed...) For the rest, yeah, he probably spent a lot of money, but he's also seriously downsized his entire life by that point, so much as to move into a considerably cheaper apartment, so he probably has a little more money freed up than before. Still a blow, but not necessarily a fatal one.
    • As for the fancy restaurant meal, since Abed claimed he couldn't cover the bill as a pretext to get Jeff to return to the restaurant so that they could continue the party there with everyone else (although admittedly it's probably true that he couldn't afford it), it's possible that everyone else ended up chipping in to help cover the costs a bit in the spirit of the occasion. If nothing else, Pierce was there, and he could easily afford and be guilted / nagged / manipulated into coughing up at least part of the tab.
  • Speaking of Jeff's bank account, how exactly is he paying for.... well, anything? He's not a lawyer anymore, and while his consulting gig probably helps, that's only been a factor since "Accounting for Lawyers." While he probably does have some savings from when he was a lawyer, and has moved into a smaller and cheaper apartment, he really comes off as living beyond his means.
    • Lawyers like Jeff (presumably for rich clients, as he's hinted) make a lot of money. So does consulting for lawyers of rich clientele. Remember the group's visit to his former firm? The place clearly caters to some wealthy people, and seems to benefit greatly from it. Assuming Jeff's new apartment and utilities don't cost too much, and that he wasn't a completely wanton spender with his savings (although his Italian sink fixtures may say otherwise), he probably has enough money to coast for quite a bit. It helps that Greendale is apparently extremely cheap, with classes that seem to cost seventy dollars or less per semester.
  • Was anyone else surprised by the intensity of Jeff's protectiveness towards Annie in "Geography of Global Conflict?" While there's ample precedent for it, he seemed uncharacteristically intense about it. Sure, the decidedly Jeff/Annie direction Season 3 has been going is a partial explanation, but I was left feeling like I'd somehow skipped a few episodes, especially since she was on the verge of ending their friendship in "Biology 101."
    • I think it's a sign of Character Development as well; Jeff seems to be gradually awakening to how much he really needs being around these people (witness his complete meltdown in "Biology 101" when it looks like he's been kicked out of the group), and since Annie's the one he's closest to she's the one to whom and around he expresses this attachment more directly.
  • They sure have a lot of alcohol at those parties and dances. I mean, I know the students at Greendale seem to be, on average, older than the regular high school graduates, but I thought it was the policy of most schools not to serve drinks at school functions that weren't specifically for of-age students.
    • Is there actually alcohol at the dances, though? The only person who's ever consistently drunk at those things is Duncan, and being drunk is his natural state. Besides him, I can't think of an instance of people drinking alcohol at a Greendale function.
      • Have you even been watching the show? They had alcohol at a lot of the dances. That was a major plot point in "The Politics of Human Sexuality" ("That's why you don't serve booze at an STD fair!")
      • Firstly, yes, every episode, stop being snippy. I honestly forgot about Politics of Human Sexuality involving booze - I just remembered the breaking condoms being the major problem. However, for most of the other dances and social events, it's never explicitly stated that there's alcohol being served at them, so it can't be assumed, especially after Human Sexuality. There's a difference between people being DRUNK at school events and people SERVING ALCOHOL at school events.
  • Craig Pelton? I thought the Dean's name was Dean. When did that change? Or did I just mishear a joke in an earlier season?
    • I think his birth-name's always been Craig; 'Dean' is his official title as the administrative head of Greendale Community College; as well as a name it's an education title, usually used in higher education facilities. He does tend to over-use the Dean part, though, which might explain the confusion.
      • I was aware of the title of Dean, I just thought one of the earliest jokes was that his first name was also Dean, making him Dean Dean Pelton. Maybe I'm thinking of another show/movie altogether.
      • Ahhhh. I get ya now.
      • The confusion probably arises from the fact that "Dean Pelton" is the name of one of Dan Harmon's fellow alumni from his time at Channel 101. Harmon named the dean character after a person whose name actually was "Dean Pelton" for an inside joke/pun.
  • In "Remedial Chaos Theory", why was Shirley baking so much? Was she having relationship problems with Andre? It could be why she started drinking along with Pierce's death.
    • The episode seemed to imply that it was more that baking is her way of feeling needed and included by the group; she feels excluded by the "googly eyes" interactions everyone else (except Pierce) has and wants some way of getting their attention.
    • I thought it was an incredibly meta analysis of Shirley's character. She always had the shortest stick when it came to character development. So far she has been established as a religious middle aged mother who likes to bake. Its so stereotypical its painful. And even Jeff and Co. think so. I thought it came off as a promise to either build more character into Shirley, or at least stray away from being so damn homely all the time.
    • From the same episode--what the hell was with Britta trying to marry the pizza guy? This show is zany but that's just insane.
      • I posted in Wild Mass Guessing that Britta got high with the pizza guy, since he bugs out in stoned fashion as well when he hears Abed mention alternate timelines.
      • Or he could have been stoned already, and they both bonded over how stoned they were; everyone else makes a point of noting how weird he seemed.
      • Although she doesn't smoke up in the bathroom in this timeline, it's implied in the episode that Britta's already a bit high before getting to the party, so the drugs are probably affecting her abilities to reason a bit; the whole thing has 'something which seemed like an awesome idea at the time when drunk / high but when you've sobered up the truly disastrous implications make themselves apparent' written all over it. Plus, it's been established previously that Britta has truly terrible taste in men.
  • What was the point of the Dreamatorium, the big room Troy and Abed refused to part with in the latest episode? Kinda made them look like asses
    • That was kind of the point. To elaborate, Dan Harmon has previously stated he felt that the writers used Abed and his meta-knowledge and pop culture referencing to be the hero of the story. Harmon wanted to further explore the negative effects this would have for Abed interacting with people. Troy does a pretty good job summing up the situation saying that sometimes they just get caught up in their own world of make believe and don't take other peoples feeling into consideration. But when they realize there is a problem they do the right things in the end. So it is a cautionary tale, a reminder that even Abed and Troy with their popular aspects have problems just like the rest of the study group.
    • To add to the above, it's also a reminder that although we find Troy and Abed and their antics amusing and charming, that's because we only spend twenty-odd minutes a week with them at most, like Annie's only really spent a few hours a week hanging out with and studying with them at school and elsewhere. If you had to live with them, however, they could very easily become very insufferable very quickly; while the point is fairly made that Annie might indeed have to lighten up a bit to live with them, it's an equally valid point that Troy and Abed also have to moderate their immaturity and make accommodations themselves for her.
  • This is a minor thing, but in Regional Holiday Music, Annie mispronounces "Bubbe." It's with a soft U, not a hard one, for the record.
    • Although considering that the whole joke is that Troy mistakes "bubbe" for a certain part of the female anatomy, this one can probably be chalked up to Rule of Funny.
  • Minor thing but Abed and Troy already took Biology. In "Environmental Science", they're talking about their rat project. Did they just retake it, solely to be with the study group?
    • I'm pretty sure there is also a scene in season 1 where Annie is carrying around a biology text book. It is possible that all three took a different introductory biology course (e.g. Animal Biology, Ecology, or Evolution) than the one they are taking in third season.
  • One thing that has bugged me for a while during my extensive re-viewings of the show. Why, in Cooperative Calligraphy (the bottle episode), does Jeff say to Troy that "you just became my hero". For some reason, I simply cannot figure this out.
    • It's when he discovers that Troy carries nothing to school with him in his bag but a pillow/cushion (no pens, paper, textbooks, etc), presumably to either (a) make sitting down more comfy or, almost certainly more likely, (b) so that he can lie on it and get a quiet snooze in comfort during a particularly boring class or lecture. Jeff, for his part and given his own proclivities towards getting the best possible result for the minimum amount of effort, is expressing admiration for the fact that Troy is savvy enough to bring a pillow to sleep on and / or is quite possibly the one person at Greendale who apparently puts less effort into his studies than Jeff himself. Either that or, as is his usual state, he's just being incredibly sarcastic.
      • Oh, yeah, that makes sense to me. Thank you.
    • Pretty sure that's a pillow for sitting on when one has hemorrhoids... And considering that Troy was brave enough to let that be found out without much comment (Unlike Britta and Shirley), it makes sense that Jeff would have a huge boost in respect for Troy.
      • No, it's the first thing.
      • Plus, Troy's seen sitting perfectly normally on various surfaces throughout the episode without it or any complaint (which wouldn't be the case if he was a hemorrhoid sufferer), suggesting it's just an ordinary pillow (albeit one that looks like it's sunk in over time through heavy use). Plus, given what an exceptionally snide man Jeff can be, if that was the case he probably wouldn't let it go without at least one glib remark at least.
      • I think it has nothing to do with hemorrhoids, it's simply that Troy's backpack contains a solitary item that has no academic purpose whatever. I think Jeff's tone is a combination of admiration and disgust. Admiration that Troy has committed to the illusion of padding an otherwise empty backpack with an item having one of the best weight to bulk ratios, and disgust that Annie's paranoia has lead to a point where this fact is exposed.
  • The plotline of the study group being expelled. The show established that it is the Air-Conditioner repairing annex which holds all the real power in Greendale, and Vice Dean Laybourne swore to get Troy to join him, so why wouldn't he have stepped in to stop Troy from being expelled?
    • Perhaps this partially has to do with the fact that the annex likes to operate in shadow. Laybourne may be powerful, but he's no Magnificent Bastard, and seems unwilling to step into the limelight directly outside of 1 on 1 dealings. The other part of this might be because the school board might be slightly more powerful than Laybourne, and for him to ask that only Troy not be expelled would raise suspicions. Or, to make things simple, they couldn't afford to bring back John Goodman for that episode.
    • Laybourne didn't do anything because Troy getting expelled in fact plays right into Laybourne's hands; it potentially gives Laybourne leverage over Troy. "Want you and your friends to get back into Greendale? Well, remember that offer I made you about joining the AC Repair Annex...?"
  • Isn't there a camera in the Dean's office? That's how they got some footage in Pillows and Blankets. So why didn't anyone catch the Dean's imposter revealing himself during Course Listing Unavailable?
    • The most obvious people with access to a security camera recording would be campus security. Guess who has a vested interest in making sure the Dean's imposter is not revealed.
  • Season 1, they find out that the guy teaching their class has no credentials whatsoever (and haven't taken their final yet), but they still get a Spanish credit. Season 3, their teacher retires before the final and they get robbed of any credit? That just seems inconsistent.
    • In Season 1, they manage to get a replacement teacher in before the end of the year. Presumably they can't afford to hire one at such short notice in Season 3.
  • Why do Pierce's glasses always have a blue tinge to them?
    • They don't always. He also has a pair that have a yellowish-brownish tint.
    • As for why he's always wearing tinted glasses, it probably has something to do with light sensitivity; it's a common problem with older people as their eyes deteriorate. It's a way of underscoring that he's getting older. Also, if memory serves, I believe Chevy Chase wears similar glasses in real life so it's probably something that's transferred over from actor to character.
  • Was the "young Britta being molested by a man in a dinosaur costume" a later development? It seems weird that she'd dress up like a dinosaur in "Epidemology" and not really being mad at Troy in "Competitive Wine Tasting" for faking being molested?
    • Well, it seems to originate from this website which was set up as part of the show's initial promotion in 2009, so it's presumably been kicking around for a while. As for the contradictions, it's possible that Britta has recovered sufficiently to be able to wear a dinosaur costume and forgive Troy easily, or that she's doing so as part of an attempt to 'reclaim' and thus gain control over her past as opposed to letting it define her. Trauma also affects people in different ways, so it's possible that while she was affected by the incident it didn't extend to the dinosaur costume (most likely, it expressed itself in her rather distorted views of men as a gender instead). Alternatively, it's perhaps worth noting that in the same episode the crux of Evil!Abed's Hannibal Lecture to Britta is that she's completely and thoroughly average; it could be that she's distorting or over-exaggerating the incident in order to give herself something to make her seem 'special', hence why she is comfortable dressing as a dinosaur and is able to easily forgive Troy.
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