Community's High Concept Episodes

 I've recently started watching Community (NetFlix in the U of K; check your own provider in other countries).

Anyway, although it starts out as a relatively simple, by-the-numbers sitcom about students at a community college, Community soon became best known for its High Concept Episodes; listed below. I have included some of my thoughts as well. Some are opinions and some are facts, but almost none are original.

(List made by Reddit User NitroRev)

Season 1

IMO the worst season. The show was still finding its footing, so it was safe and domestic most of the time. However, if you want to watch to understand the context but don't want to waste your time on the bad episodes, these are the best ones to watch (they include some opinions, but all possible spoilers originate from their descriptions on IMDb:

• E01 Pilot - Not a very good episode in itself, but it helps you to understand the context of the show and the relationships between the characters
• E02 Spanish 101 - Pierce and Jeff prepare a ridiculous presentation as part of an assignment. The B Plot (Shirley and Annie starting a protest) has some good jokes, but in general, isn't great
• E04 Social Psychology - Annie asks Troy and Abed to help participate in a scientific study. John Oliver has a breakdown and makes a weird reference to Mark Chapman
• E05 Advanced Criminal Law - Jeff gets to use his lawyer skills. The B plot (Annie asks Pierce to write a school song) is totally skippable
• E09 Debate 109 - Annie recruits Jeff to the debate team. The B plot (Pierce hypnotizes Britta to quit smoking) is relatively uninteresting but includes some fun slapstick which Chekhov's Guns into play in the culmination of the C plot, Abed predicting the future
• E10 Environmental Science - Skip the episode. Just watch the finale
• *E19 Beginner Pottery - Just an all-around funny episode made especially brilliant by guest star Tony Hale. Frequent references to Ghost and a boat sailing past a window are the cherry on the cake

E01 Pilot (debatebly The Breakfast Club) - Debate submitted, debate lost. Granted, I haven't actually seen The Breakfast Club, so some (most) of the references probably went over my head, but I don't think it's actually a direct parody.

Also, debatably the most famous part of TBC, the dancing, wasn't referenced until Communication Studies (S01E16), an episode otherwise not worth watching, so here's a link to the relevant bit (dancing at 0:38).

E21 Contemporary American Poultry (Mafia Movies) - This episode apparently pays homage to mafia movies, especially Goodfellas. Having never watched a single mafia movie myself, I can't really offer any insight or opinion on the subject, sorry.

*E23 Modern Warfare (Action Movies) - The first paintball episode. The basic plot summary: The entire campus turns into a warzone as the students engage in a game of paintball assassin to win the prize of [spoilers]. However, there are a couple of issues that I have:

• Why do the students not after being shot, just change their clothes so it looks like they haven't been shot?
• In regular paintball, everyone wears body armor. I appreciate that Greendale wouldn't care about safety, but surely individuals would (just in the main study group, at least Annie would have thought of that), so why does nobody even mention it?
• How did Greendale afford all the guns?
• [Spoiler Alert] In one scene, Jeff notices a paint splatter on his vest but is relieved to discover that it is only blood. Ignoring the insane logic behind that being a good thing, this means that at some point, Jeff sustained an injury without being shot. How?

Season 2

E04 Basic Rocket Science (Space Exploration movies ie Apollo 13) - Apparently this is a lot more of a direct parody of Apollo 13 rather than spoofing a genre, but I wouldn't know as I've never seen it. However, I've watched the episode several times now, and I noticed the following line by Jeff:

Jeff: Pierce, you're talking to an Atari cartridge!

Having some coding experience, I thought it might be fun to see what that code would look like. Therefore, you can see it here (code is in pseudo-code because a) It's clearer, especially to those unfamiliar with coding and b) I can't remember how to code in any actual coding languages). 

* E06 Epidemiology (Zombies) - It's a parody of a zombie outbreak, but it's not an imagined sequence. In theory, it could happen, although in practice it wouldn't. It contains my favourite movie trope, which is never a bad thing. Also, I figured out Shirley's costume straight away. It wouldn't even have occurred to me that she was Miss Piggy if Annie hadn't mentioned it.

BONUS: What happened to the cat? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it is ever seen again after this episode.

E08 Cooperative Calligraphy (Bottle Episodes) - One of my favourite episodes. Everyone spends the entire episode locked in a room looking for a pen. Three facts about this episode:

1. The whole reason for the existence of this episode (set entirely in one room and only featuring the main cast) is that most of the season's budget was used for Epidemiology
2. If you watch closely, you can see the pen thieve the pen early in the episode (0:41)
3. When Jeff talks to 'Gwynifer' on the phone, he is actually talking to Britta. If you look closer at his phone, you will see that it is locked when he makes the call.

E11 Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas (claymation Christmas specials) - I could talk about the final shot of the episode (not including the end card) in which the cast's reflections are their human selves, or why Abed assigns each of the study group their respective toys (Jeff-in-the-box; Brittabot etc.), or how even though this is the first time the cast sings in an episode they all knock it out of the park, but I have no idea where I was going with this so let's leave it there.

E14 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (Epic Fantasy) - I've never seen this episode because it was removed from Netflix. It's not like Speechless S2E5, which exists but Amazon Prime skips it if you just click Play Next every time; it was removed because of the use of blackface. Here endeth my comments.

E16 Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking (Mockumentary Shows ie The Office) - Pierce fakes being on his deathbed and bequeaths various gifts to the other study group members. Abed presents the episode as a 'fish in a barrel' documentary. A couple of things:

• This is the first episode where a main character does not appear, in this case Abed
• Despite being about Pierce's death, this episode does not actually include him faking his death (something which he does quite frequently)

E19 Critical Film Studies (Conversation Heavy movies ie Pulp Fiction/My Dinner with Andre) - I've never seen either of these movies so I don't know if either are directly parodied. I think that this is the only episode where Jeff breaks the fourth wall.

E21 Paradigms of Human Memory (Clip Shows) - Clip shows are usually a way of saving money by only having a tenuous thread of new material, and mostly reusing footage from other episodes. This clip show is unusual (and to the best of my knowledge unique) in that all the clips are new footage (not even deleted scenes from other episodes).

Because of this, you might assume that they had a huge budget for this episode. In actual fact, they were just filming on disused sets from other projects.

This episode is also the origin of the infamous phrase "Six seasons and a movie!"

You might incorrectly assume that Abed is dressed as the well-known superhero Batman (he's got a car and a hat). In actual fact, he is dressed as the far less well-known superhero, The Cape. The Cape was a TV series about a superhero, that lasted 10 weeks (not 3 as Jeff suggested). However, Community fans adopted the Six Seasons and a Movie motto and eventually, their dreams came true!

*E23 A Fistful of Paintballs (Spaghetti Western) - There're many things worth discussing in this episode, but one thing that isn't brought up as often as it should be, is the cards. With the exception of Pierce, every main character is introduced as the name of a playing card. 

This might strike you as odd, but it makes a lot more sense when you keep in mind what's happening in the flashback scenes (the study group are anonymously voting on whether or not to keep Pierce in the group - Black card = No; Red card = yes. The result must be unanimous)

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a shot of this without Jeff's hands in the way

Left to right, the cards submitted are: Abed (J♣), Jeff (K♠), Annie (A♥), Shirley (A♣), Troy (K♣), and Britta (Q♠). These are exactly the cards they are all announced as when the characters are introduced (although not in the same order).

*E24 For a Few Paintballs More (Star Wars) - This is probably the best paintball episode. If nothing else, it's got objectively more paint than any of the others. Also, multiple Star Wars references are hidden throughout. Did you notice this one?:

Peppermint Patty walks through the corridor flanked by paintball soldiers

No? How about now?

Darth Vader walks through the corridor flanked by stormtroopers

There's also, of course, Vicki's Leeroy Jenkins moment:

I wanted to include the clip but I can't track it down. 

Season 3

E01 Biology 101 - This is not technically a high-concept episode, but it's worth mentioning because after the complicated mess (in a good way) that was Season 2, the network gave the note that Season 3 should be more simple and domestic. Dan Harmon (Creator/Showrunner) responded by writing this cold open. After that, the network stopped bothering with notes.

E04 Remedial Chaos Theory (movies/shows with multiple timelines) - The best episode. I don't make the rules. This episode was actually the most expensive of the series to make, but probably not for the reason you think. The use of the song Roxanne by The Police used up most of the budget.

Something people also don't address (probably because they're distracted by the brilliant writing) is that this is technically a bottle episode because it only features the main cast and takes place entirely in one room (except for the redirect status response code at the start).

E05 Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps (The Simpson's Treehouse of Horrors) - I would argue that HFiSSS has more of a

The above sentence is a lesson in why you should finish sentences before closing a writing project. I have no idea what I was arguing.

This episode is the first use of Daybreak by Michael Higgins, in Abed's story. This song was pretty much the only song they could use throughout season three because of using Roxanne in Remedial Chaos Theory. Therefore they ended up using Daybreak A LOT, to the extent that it actually became a running joke and was used in subsequent seasons with bigger budgets as well.

E08 Documentary Filmmaking: Redux (behind-the-scenes documentaries ie Hearts of Darkness) - Abed makes his second documentary, this time about making a new advert for Greendale. Again, I haven't seen Hearts of Darkness, but from context, I assume that it's like Tropic Thunder, another movie I haven't seen.

E10 Regional Holiday Music (Glee/Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

E14 Pillows and Blankets (Ken Burn's History documentaries)

E16 Virtual Systems Analysis (Holodeck ie Star Trek) - Lots to talk about here, primarily based on the fact that the entire episode takes place during a single lunch break. Instead, I'm just going to point out two facts:

1. In almost the entire episode, Annie and Abed are the only characters (the other characters are just virtual manifestations controlled by either or both of them)

2. The end card, like several other episodes, is an episode of Troy and Abed in the Morning, Troy and Abed's imaginary morning talk show, guest featuring Annie. However, the other episodes are notable for one reason: They aren't filmed. Jeff, who appears in two of the previous three episodes of T&AitM, frequently complains about this fact, and in the remaining episode, Alex makes the same complaint. In this episode, however, the episode ends with an episode with two important differences: It's the first (but not the last) episode not filmed in the study room, and it's also the first episode that is filmed. We know this because at the end, (mild spoiler alert) Abed starts panicking and Troy holds up a technical difficulties sign and tells Garrett (offscreen) to stop filming.

This might not be a problem if it wasn't for a later episode (E19 Curriculum Unavailable) featuring only Annie with imaginary Troy and Abed where real Troy gets angry at Annie for the use of cameras.

E17 Basic Lupine Urology (investigation shows ie Law and Order) - i.e. Law and Order? It's pretty much a direct parody, including the theme song, the opening monologue, the DUN DUN and the fact that the episode is named after L&O producer Dick Wolf

E19 Curriculum Unavailable (Clip shows pt II with Shyamalan twist)

Brick joke resolution

E20 Digital Estate Planning (Role Playing Video Games ie Chrono Trigger)

E21 The First Chang Dynasty (Elaborate Heist movies ie Oceans 11)

Season 4

Controversial opinion: Season 4 is a good season. Especially, it's vastly superior to Season 1. It's far from flawless, but at least it tried.

E02 Paranormal Parentage (Haunted Houses ie Scooby-Doo)

E05 Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations (Prison films/shows ie Shawshank Redemption, Prison Break)

E06 Advanced Documentary Filmmaking (Mockumentary shows ie The Office)

E09 Intro to Felt Surrogacy (Puppet theater ie Muppets, Sesame Street) - This was trying to replicate what was achieved in Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas, but it failed because it didn't use a viable premise. AUC worked because it used the emotional strength of Abed's relationship with his mother causing his perception of reality to be altered, whereas ItFS just uses the premise of the gang using puppets to act out previous events. It doesn't help that the story itself isn't very engaging.

It's a fantastic concept for an episode of this show, but unfortunately, it wasn't executed properly.

E10 Intro to Knots (Alfred Hitchcock's Rope)

E11 Basic Human Anatomy (Body Switch ie Freaky Friday)

E12 Heroic Origins (Flash Backs ie Lost)

Season 5

Basic Intergluteal Numismatics (David Fincher-esque crime dramas ie Se7en, Zodiac)

Geothermal Escapism (Post-Apocalypse ie Water World)

App Development and Condiments (Dystopian Science Fiction ie Zardoz, Logan's Run, Brave New World)

VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing (Crime Dramas with betrayals ie Breaking Bad, BB creator Vince Gilligan is featured)

Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (Epic Fantasy ie Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones)

G.I. Jeff (G.I. Joe cartoon and toy commercials)

Easter Eggs

The show includes a lot of Easter Eggs, so this post follows that tradition and is filled with its own set of Easter Eggs. Some are Easter Eggs that only feature in this blog (including the one thing which appears in every single post); some are references to Community Easter Eggs; and some are just obscure Community references that I've snuck in.

Clues I'll give you for free:

Every star (*) before an episode title references a time when Pierce dies in that episode

There are two hidden numbers (four and seven) in this post but I cannot remember what they're referring to. If you can find them and figure it out, please comment below and tell me.

Easter eggs to include (delete this part):

Italicize letters in character-centric episodes to describe their intro:

Jeff - Kilroy

Abed - Hangman - yes

Troy - Bees

Britta - Heart with arrows (cupid?) 

Shirley - Cake

Annie - Clouds - yes

Pierce - 

Chang - Dragon

Dean - Car

Brick Joke

Green 3