Community 3×4 – “Remedial Chaos Theory”

This recent episode of Community was not only the best of the season so far, but one of the best ever. I’ve already seen it several times. And because I’m me and can’t just watch a comedy show and laugh at it, and have to pick apart everything ever, I have a few things to say about the different members of the group.

“Remedial Chaos Theory” showed us several different character dynamics and relationships. We got to see how these people interact with each other one-on-one and how they all fit into the group as a whole. After seeing the characters in all six timelines, I came away with the feeling that Jeff is the most toxic member of the group, and the people who are most essential to a healthy, happy group dynamic are Abed and – surprisingly – Britta.

It’s not a stretch to see why Jeff would be the real villain of the piece (Alan Sepinwall talked about that idea here). In all but two of the timelines, he interrupted Britta’s “Roxanne” sing-along, but when he went to get the pizza, he came back to discover the whole gang enjoying a silly, uninhibited group number. Even aside from that, though, I noticed Jeff’s negative influence in other areas – he makes Troy feel bad about himself, insults Annie for wearing bubble gum lip gloss (he was right to be perturbed by the dad-talk, but it’s not like Annie knew they would be kissing later that evening, so why shouldn’t she wear her bubble-gum lip gloss), and turns Shirley’s baking into a “problem” that needs to be addressed. We also see Troy look to Jeff for advice about how to “handle” the fact that Annie has a gun, or Annie look to Jeff for advice about how to “handle” Pierce’s mean gift, and Jeff blow off both of those issues because he’s too cool for school. Annie also lets her crush on him affect her behavior. She rolls her eyes and snickers at Britta’s singing when Jeff shuts her down, but enjoys joining in on the song when Jeff isn’t around.

In a way, Jeff’s presence can be even more toxic than Pierce’s. Pierce is still unapologetic and rude (bringing up a tryst with Eartha Kitt in each timeline except for the one where the segue would have been most organic), but he showed a little growth in this episode. He felt guilty enough when Troy thanked him that he tried to take the gift back (prompting some of Troy’s best lines ever. (“Give it, Pierce! It feels FUN!” “You’re bad at gift-giving!” “I demand to be house-warmed!”) More importantly, in the real timeline, he threw away the present before Troy even saw it.

That brings me to Abed and Britta, the characters who struck me as being most essential to the group’s happiness. Obviously, the dark timeline where Troy got the pizza was the most upsetting (and hilarious), but if Troy hadn’t been in such a hurry to run out of the apartment and slam the door behind him, he wouldn’t have kick-started the Raiders boulder that got everyone in trouble. Abed’s absence affected the group in a more emotionally upsetting way, with three pairs of characters getting into fights. When Abed stops the die, he gives a moving speech about everyone in the group accepting each other’s flaws and virtues, prompting them all to feel good about themselves, and even encouraging Pierce to throw away the troll before Troy can even see the present.

As for Britta, some of her more ridiculous traits were on display in the latest episode – getting stoned, her “me so hungy” dance, getting engaged to the pizza guy who even Pierce thought was creepy, and thinking that a washaway blue streak in her hair made her dark. But in the Pierce timeline, she makes Troy feel better about himself, prompting him to tell her that she’s pretty cool. And her “Roxanne” sing-along gets them all off of their feet and dancing. Britta has been described as a buzzkill, a fun vampire, a pizza burn on the roof of the world’s mouth – and she is all of those things. But she starts the fun just as often as she ruins it.

Also, the dark timeline was one of the best things I’ve ever seen. “To Pierce. May he Rest in Pierce.” “Evil Troy and Evil AAAAbed!”