it's interesting that a lot of viewers simply missed what was going on to the point that Jeff's sudden proposal to Britta in "Basic Story" really DID seem completely out of the blue and based on absolutely nothing. Yeah I'm one of these folks. I admittedly don't have a truly critical eye for television; Community is really the first show I've ever participated in analyses of. They probably did need more than thirteen episodes to explore this in more depth. I mean, I got that they were kinda re-exploring J/B a little, but it seemed to me that once Jeff admits (out loud, no less) that he only wants Britta when she's popular, that was going to be and should have been the end of it. I also noticed the small spot in App Dev, but again it seemed like a throwaway scene, not the start of Jeff and Britta being a thing again. Hmmm
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App Dev - yeah, I mean c'mon guys. It's just dinner. Shirley is manipulative and soooo good at it, with the guilt trips. But to the point, this whole thing really spirals out from Shirley being excluded from the dinner plans. It reminds me of a few years ago, trying to plan dinner/movie outings with several friends. Some singles, some couples. Maybe a few kids thrown in.... In any event it started becoming impossible to plan anything once you got more than 4-5 people involved. "I don't want to eat at 530" "well my wife and I can't do 630" "can we do the 7pm show?" "We can't get a babysitter until 7" "we'd rather hit a matinee" "I don't like that theatre" "I'm not driving to the Chili's on the other end of town" " we're really not into seeing that movie"...... And so forth and onward. It got to the point where I just made up my mind when and where I was going to go, and then told people they were welcome to join me......or not. I'm perfectly happy eating and/or going to a movie by myself. I'm with Jeff. We're not changing it. No more
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In Defence of Jeff Winger (Part 1) lunarblue21December 8 2014, 03:49:35 UTC
I struggle with that idea because in doing the series rewatch, I've discovered that while Jeff is very likeable, he does and displayed a lot of shitty behaviours and attitudes. Is he a good friend? A good man? A good person?
I will be the first person to admit that it took a while for Jeff to grow on me, especially in S1. I found him charming and handsome, but his selfishness, manipulative behaviour, arrogance and vanity was off-putting and annoying.
However, his selfishness especially grated on me and that ties into J/B because Jeff does everything with Britta in regards to her getting into his pants in S1 because it will validate himHe doesn’t really truly care about her or her heart, and that’s another reason why I can’t ever ship J/B at all, on top of the fact that it’s fundamentally shallow and that Britta treats Jeff awfully (I tend to compare J/B to the reviled Seddie ship of Nick’s ICarly, and it doesn’t help that Britta kinda reminds me of Sam looks-and-personality-wise) with condescension and lack of empathy (Home Ec
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In Defence of Jeff Winger (Part 2) lunarblue21December 8 2014, 03:49:55 UTC
And then throughout the rest of the series, Jeff begins making more of those personal sacrifices: in Statistics when he makes the sacrifice of returning to the group (the selfless choice) instead of going off with Slater, in Debate 109 when he flees the study room so as not to take advantage of Annie sexually, helping Pierce with Amber and not having sex with her twice (though he wanted to) in Basic Genealogy, giving up his priority registration win to Shirley in MW, and in English As Second Language when he throws his entire three-year plan off track by leaving the exam to go protect Annie from Chang the monster, and one could even argue that him slipping away gracefully from the dance in PTR was him making a selfless choice so as not to hurt either Britta or Slater with his non-decision
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RE: In Defence of Jeff Winger (Part 2)cgkm2099zDecember 8 2014, 22:13:57 UTC
when Jeff goes over there to put on that headset, he knows who will cause his “burst of human passion”I've been wondering about this. Because Jeff goes down the line before getting to Annie. Jeff must know that Shirley was right about how much he feels, otherwise he wouldn't think he was capable of opening the door. So, then why doesn't he look at Annie first? I could see one of two scenarios
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RE: In Defence of Jeff Winger (Part 2)lunarblue21December 8 2014, 22:32:33 UTC
Hmmm, good points.
However, my own rationale for this is right after Borchert utters his famous line, watch carefully the expression on Jeff's face. There's a sense that a lightbulb just went off in his head and he knows what to do, so that's my reasoning for postulating that Annie's personal sacrifice instigates another one from Jeff himself, because being open with how he feels is a personal sacrifice for Jeff.
Thing is, Jeff does stare in shock (and with a bit of longing) once the lights come on after the Milady/Milord exchange and he just. can't. pull. himself. away from looking at Annie (arguably another lightbulb moment) even though you can clearly see how freaked out he is by the sheer intensity it is that he feels for her
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RE: In Defence of Jeff Winger (Part 2)cgkm2099zDecember 9 2014, 02:42:31 UTC
I never thought of it as him testing himself. But I like that idea. I never noticed the deep breaths he was taking before. So how about this: Dan Harmon said that Britta and Jeff only love each other when it comes the fear of ending up alone, hence the marriage arrangement at the end of Basic Story. But when Annie gives her Edison speech, you can see the affect it has on Jeff. He felt something there, and he knew it. But he can't process it that fast, so when it looks like they're going to be trapped down there and can't save the school, he goes back to Britta for the reasons for the reasons Dan (and Abed) stated. But then Borchert reveals he founded Greendale, and Jeff finds the paperwork that provides a real opportunity to save the school. If the school can be saved, then the last five years aren't a waste, and them maybe, just maybe, he doesn't have to settle. Maybe there is something better. And maybe what he felt when Annie made her speech is the thing that's better. But he's never known what real love is and he's convinced
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In Defence of Jeff Winger (Part 3) lunarblue21December 8 2014, 03:50:50 UTC
But I think it all comes down to this - the very question of “Is man inherently evil or inherently good?” question that Debate 109 poses in relation to the question of is “Jeff a good person? A good friend? A good person?” because that question could apply to anyone in the Study Group.
Jeff isn’t an exception here since all of them are selfish, sinful people in each their own ways and I think that dividing line of good/evil is essential for understanding the character of Jeff since he alternately praises himself as “awesome” but then he calls himself a monsterIn all honesty, all people are mixtures of “good” and “evil” since humanity’s most accurate representation of the monster story that is our lives - and our favourite character’s lives - is that of Jekyll and Hyde and I feel like Jeff shows that a lot
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I will be the first person to admit that it took a while for Jeff to grow on me, especially in S1. I found him charming and handsome, but his selfishness, manipulative behaviour, arrogance and vanity was off-putting and annoying.
However, his selfishness especially grated on me and that ties into J/B because Jeff does everything with Britta in regards to her getting into his pants in S1 because it will validate himHe doesn’t really truly care about her or her heart, and that’s another reason why I can’t ever ship J/B at all, on top of the fact that it’s fundamentally shallow and that Britta treats Jeff awfully (I tend to compare J/B to the reviled Seddie ship of Nick’s ICarly, and it doesn’t help that Britta kinda reminds me of Sam looks-and-personality-wise) with condescension and lack of empathy (Home Ec ( ... )
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However, my own rationale for this is right after Borchert utters his famous line, watch carefully the expression on Jeff's face. There's a sense that a lightbulb just went off in his head and he knows what to do, so that's my reasoning for postulating that Annie's personal sacrifice instigates another one from Jeff himself, because being open with how he feels is a personal sacrifice for Jeff.
Thing is, Jeff does stare in shock (and with a bit of longing) once the lights come on after the Milady/Milord exchange and he just. can't. pull. himself. away from looking at Annie (arguably another lightbulb moment) even though you can clearly see how freaked out he is by the sheer intensity it is that he feels for her ( ... )
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Jeff isn’t an exception here since all of them are selfish, sinful people in each their own ways and I think that dividing line of good/evil is essential for understanding the character of Jeff since he alternately praises himself as “awesome” but then he calls himself a monsterIn all honesty, all people are mixtures of “good” and “evil” since humanity’s most accurate representation of the monster story that is our lives - and our favourite character’s lives - is that of Jekyll and Hyde and I feel like Jeff shows that a lot ( ... )
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