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Community/Recap/S1/E19 Beginner Pottery


Jeff convinces Annie and Abed to enroll in a Pottery Class with him, but the plan for an easy A goes off the rails when Jeff becomes intensely envious of the talent of a fellow classmate. Meanwhile Pierce convinces the rest of the study group to join him in a week long sailing course taking place in the school parking lot.

The Community episode "Beginner Pottery" provides examples of:

  • The Ace: Introducing Rich -- a doctor who hasn't lost a patient in ten years and can make working bird fountains effortlessly in pottery class.
  • Always Someone Better: Jeff has some character growth with this realization.
  • An Aesop: Jeff learns he doesn't have to be awesome at everything.
  • Berserk Button:
    • The pottery professor has long since had it with parodies of that scene from Ghost in any permutation.
    • The sailing professor seems to have a similar hot button over the "king of the world" scene from Titanic.
  • Beyond the Impossible

Troy: Oh my god. Pierce is going to be the only person ever to drown in a parking lot. Twice.

  • Big No: After Pierce gets "lost at sea".
  • Completely Missing the Point: Jeff tells Abed not to do any more voiceovers. Abed seems to think that it's not because it's annoying, but that it's because voiceovers are a lame storytelling technique.
  • Country Matters: Subverted Trope with Pierce telling Shirley, after she leaves him to fend for himself in the sea (parking lot) that now he knows what the C in "Captain" stands for -- crabapple.
  • Determinator: Pierce, since birth. He got his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, both arms, and one ankle. The doctors even stopped delivering him. He's not going to let a little thing like drowning at sea in the middle of Colorado stop him.

Jeff: Good luck!
Pierce: Don't need it! Never had it!

Shirley: Damn the storm; we're going after Pierce! Jump the halyard. Starburns, you get down there and you man the iron jenny[1]; there's a man overboard! That's an order!
Pierce: I'm gonna sink!
Britta: I'm about to get the only 'A' I will ever get, and Pierce isn't even dying.
Pierce:{{[[[Genre Savvy]] bailing}}] Save me!
Britta: You don't have to do this.
Shirley: I know, but I'd rather be kind and get stepped on once in a while than be a hardass and turn my back on a friend. Hoist the mains.
They sail across the parking lot.

later

Instructor: You just steered your boat into a storm. Any last words?

Shirley: The sea may be cold and unforgiving, but I'm not. The ship may go down, but at least she'll go down with honor.

  • Stanford Prison Experiment: The sailing class becomes all too real when Pierce is abandoned to the high seas, while in the middle of the school's parking lot.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: The pottery professor and the sailing instructor hate Ghost and Titanic which they believe mock their respective professions.
  • Too Soon: In-universe example: The pottery teacher in "Basic Pottery" has banned the imitation of a scene from Ghost. He drives the point home by pointing to a poster of Patrick Swayze with an "X" over it. He then quietly tells the shocked students "I had it made before he died so it's not in bad taste."
  • Through the Eyes of Madness
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: The sailing course becomes a parody of a high seas adventure.
  • What Have We Done: Said by Troy when the group abandons Pierce in the parking lot.
  • Worthy Opponent: The sailing teacher says this word for word as Shirley successfully captains the boat.
  1. ↑ the truck on which the boat is mounted. There's no reason they would have learned the name of that equipment
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