series rewatch discussion post: s01e23 - s02e01
Season 1, Episode 23 - Modern Warfare
Members of the study group discuss the sexual tension between Britta and Jeff. The campus turns into a war zone and friendships are tested when an early registration contest kicks off.
Season 1, Episode 24 - English as a Second Language
Greendale brings in a new Spanish teacher after a secret about Senor Chang is uncovered; Troy discovers he is skilled at plumbing.
Season 1, Episode 25 - Pascal's Triangle Revisited
Britta and Professor Slater fight for the affection of Jeff, while Troy is confused when Abed doesn't invite him to move into his dorm room.
Season 2, Episode 1 - Anthropology
Classes start again at Greendale Community College and the group prepares for their new Anthropology class and teacher, June Bauer. Jeff struggles with tensions with Britta and Annie after what happened at the Transfer Dance. Senor Chang enrolls as a student so that he can join the gang's study group.
Reminder: No bashing of other characters, ships or fans. Gifs, graphics, recs and other fan creations in relation to these episodes are encouraged in the comments. Be civil and respectful in all discussions and have fun!
Okay, so I have a lot to say about these episodes. Sorry. But it's the last bit of S1! It starts tying all of our knowledge of these characters together and it makes everything more cohesive or incoherent, as it may be, in retrospect. It's really long, guys...
A couple of things about Modern Warfare... First off, as a mod of this shipping comm, full disclosure, I've always held something against this episode for being so Jeff/Britta focused. But, having said that, it is vaguely irritating to me that they spent so long hanging a lantern on the fact that Jeff and Britta have minimal chemistry and then subsequently had them consummate their apparent sexual tension. Have them admit they just wanted to have sex because they're both attractive, sure, but don't cop to the lack of tension and then have them consummate the lack of sexual tension! It's not subverting tropes then, damnit! Was this an episode you enjoyed regardless of shipping? Did you enjoy the action movie homage/tropes? Personally, I ended up liking Jeff and Britta most after they had sex and were half-laughing, half-bantering with each other... So maybe there was something to the idea of them getting rid of their tension and ending the otherwise ceaseless bickering?
Three other things I noticed on rewatch? They wasted a ton of ammo by shooting unnecessarily (Jeff/Troy/Abed shooting the chess club), Britta wore really impractical shoes, and nobody ever reacts (with pain) to being shot. WHAT KIND OF PAINTBALLS WERE THEY USING? Also, Troy uses his phone AS A PHONE in the end tag. WHO'S BORN IN THE 80S NOW, TROY?!?* Oh, there was some discussion about Pierce's descent into villainy on Tumblr and while I think the motivation behind his character arc the writers and Dan Harmon not knowing what to do with him (same as with Chang, in my opinion) but the seeds were planted from the beginning of the season and made clear here: he desperately wants to fit in and be included but feels left out and abandoned and he's willing to betray people to satisfy his feelings. Your take on Pierce?
Coming off of Modern Warfare, English as a Second Language is a fairly Annie-centric episode (purposeful, you think?) although Troy and Chang get decent bits of development too. Is it just me or was the show better at balancing storylines/characters in S1 and S2? Anyway, I liked this episode a lot. There were jokes galore, there was keytar, there was character progress... Speaking of which, I understand (even if I don't condone) Annie's behaviour in this episode and, weirdly enough, Chang's. I feel like it was in character! How'd you react to Annie's underhanded manipulation? Chang's fakery? I felt like the group came down on her too hard, but it gave us the Disney Eyes scene so, you know, I'm not totally averse. I thought Jeff was a giant jerk but his reaction was also understandable and in character. Still, giant jerk.
It's interesting because Annie's background (substance use issues, breakdown, rehab, etc.) are taken into account by fandom a lot more than they are by her friends (thus, by the writers). I mention this because they all call her crazy/psycho which is really... Hurtful. Just my take. I also didn't love that she apologized to Jeff at the end. The whole group, yes, maybe, and I appreciate that Jeff was the one most angry but... Anyway. I've discussed this before. On a non-Annie note, I loved Troy's reasons for going to university (I won't lie, it's exactly what I got out of my degrees...) And I still don't 100% understand Abed's comments to Troy about the best part of his day. My impression is that he meant he didn't know what direction his day (or the episode) would go in... Your thoughts? I like that Troy's future is a through-line for the show, to be honest. It gives it a sense of continuity and history that is sometimes willfully messed with otherwise (Jeff's age, for instance). Oh, and did you notice their scores? Annie -95, Abed - 85, Shirley - 81, Jeff - 80, Britta - 79, Pierce - 70, and Troy - 68. Do you think that has any bearing on anything or were they mostly chosen at random?
Oh, Pascal's Triangle! What to say... Let's start at the beginning, literally. The Dean jumps out of the bush - excellent. Secondly, I don't understand what a Transfer Queen is or how it works, to this day. So, I secret-ship Britta and Abed and not-so-secret ship her with Duncan, but is it unethical if Duncan was once her free therapist who also admits to being largely incompetent? Hmm. Points to ponder. I adore that Chang tries to go Jeff's route by cheating. It feels a lot more satisfying to see Jeff shot down, though. Something about Chang being a shade too pathetic... Can anyone tell me what the rules were on their college/university campus? We were allowed to have alcohol in our dorms but certainly not a kegger and not in the hallways - plus, if you were caught drinking underage you got a warning (three, and you were kicked out). So it seems like Abed's kegger (though his age is unclear) would've been a no-go on multiple levels?
Now let's talk about the shippy stuff. 1) Slater (who was discussed at length a few weeks back) is back in a completely unceremonious way. 2) Jeff calls Britta guarded (Jeff who keeps his skin/hair care products in a vault). 3) Annie sells out Chang, dresses as a prof (which made no sense to me at the time but in light of this episode...), and then decides to leave with Vaughn. 4) Annie confides in Jeff. 5) Britta and Slater clearly try to compete for Jeff's attention. 6) Jeff shies away from their combined attention at the beginning of the dance. 7) Shirley ships Jeff/Britta. 8) Britta cops to sleeping with Jeff after Shirley taunts her into it. 9) The goodbye scene is the last we see of Vaughn (who I love!) which makes me sad. 10) Slater confronts Britta about having sex with Jeff after Duncan drunkenly lets it slip. 11) Britta's love declaration made me uncomfortable. 12) Slater's declaration created a lot second hand embarrassment for me. 13) Jeff non-answers and then sneaks out, blowing off both Britta and Slater. 14) Jeff blurts everything out to Annie in the quad. 15) The episode ends, the season ends, with Jeff and Annie kissing. Did I miss anything?
I totally get why, three seasons in (or is four?), the entire student body hates the Greendale 7. They really do make everything about them. Holy crap. For a show not about relationships, the entire thing is based around seven people developing relationships (friendship, primarily) with each other. And this episode, in particular, is completely and entirely unapologetically about relationships. Jeff/Britta, Jeff/Slater, Annie/Vaughn, Annie/Jeff, Troy/Abed, the Dean/Dalmatians... Sheesh. I really liked the episode, and not just from a shipping standpoint. Jeff/Annie, in the wake of Jeff/Britta, does subvert expectations. I absolutely did not see that coming. I assumed that she would be back, magically, next season, things with Vaughn having fallen apart. There are some great truth bombs dropped, mostly by Duncan, and Chang was on the money telling Britta that her lipstick looked better. And that kiss... There is so much to say about that kiss alone. Instead of trying, just hash it out in the comments, alright?
S2's opener, Anthropology, was not my favourite. Annie regresses, Jeff is a giant jerk, and I know it's practically sacrilege to not love Betty White (I don't mind her!) but she was a prof that should be arrested. Jeff and Britta's entire relationship in this episode makes me cringe with second-hand embarrassment. Their relationship doesn't change much from this episode to S5's finale. The group-wide implosion that ends up occurring isn't unexpected but wow, talk about getting things out there. Jeff from S1 and, yeah, early S2, wasn't someone I really wanted with Annie or Britta, to be honest. Do you think either would've made a functional (or happy?) couple that early on? I tend to think both Annie, Britta (and all of the characters, really) had growing to do but Jeff was the one who most commonly sacrificed other people's feelings for his own ends, I think. Is that something you noticed too or do you disagree?
In rewatching, Britta's inconsistent feminism jumps out, too. She tears into Annie for kissing Vaughn and then Jeff (and in fact, assumes Annie was the aggressor with Jeff) and then objects to being called a metaphorical doughnut. I think they streamlined Britta's character a lot in S2, and especially S3, but they dumbed her down to do it. It's unfortunate because Britta went from being one of my least favourite characters to one of my favourites. I know a lot of people have feelings about Britta and her characterization and her decisions - feel free to share them, just be respectful! What about the other characters? Shirley is pretty well ignored in S1 and the early days in S2 (and I would argue that her pregnancy storyline isn't even about her, but we'll talk about that later), do you think she experiences character growth over the course of S1? Abed? Pierce?
If you have any observations, any theories, ideas or just thoughts you want to share about S1 as a whole, this is the place to do it. Sorry for the super long discussion, guys... Have at!