Community/Recap/S2/E01 Anthropology 101

"Welcome Students new and old to another fall semester at Greendale!" - Dean Pelton

School is back in session and the study group is ready for Anthropology 101. Unfortunately for them, the aftermath of the end of the previous semester is still lingering...

---

The Community episode "Anthropology 101" provides examples of:

• Actor Allusion: Troy's Spider-Man pajamas and Pierce's Batman comment are references to Glover wanting to try out for the role in the next movie.
• All Men Are Perverts: Central message of Twilight apparently is all men are monsters who crave young flesh.
• Armor-Piercing Slap: Annie
• Ax Crazy: An anthropology professor who drinks her own urine, drugs one student on the first day and tries to kill another on the second.
• Berserk Button: Prof. Bauer didn't like it when Jeff interrupted her class for his own reasons.

Bauer: Last time I let you speak I got what the Maku-Maku called "dirt-roaded".
Chang: Using it!

• Betty White: Wonderful as always.
• Big Damn Kiss: Britta and Jeff subvert this.
• The Cameo: DC Pierson, shows up while Abed brings the wedding people. He previously worked with Glover on Derrick Comedy
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Annie shows signs of this.
• Continuity Nod: The anthropology rap at the end.
• Development Gag: The George Clooney impersonator is a reference to a proposed season one script involving Britta dating a similar impersonator (said plot eventually evolved into "Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy").
• Establishing Character Moment: Prof. Bauer shooting Starburns with a blowgun.
• Eye Scream: The commentary jokes that Betty White kept going for Star-Burns's eyes with the dart.
• Female Feline, Male Mutt

Pierce: Troy thinks all dogs are boys and all cats are girls.
Troy: There's no way to disprove that! Have you ever seen a cat penis?

• Fourth Date Marriage: Abed attempts to invoke this trope.
• Funny Background Event: The anthropology class blackboard calls Dean Pelton a knuckle walker.
• Gollum Made Me Do It: Chang has an argument with himself "Gollum"-style over whether to either join or destroy the study group at the end of the episode.
• Hypocritical Humor: Upon learning that Troy has been posting every stupid thing he says to a Twitter feed, Pierce angrily points out that Troy himself says some pretty stupid things -- such as his belief that there are only boy dogs and girl cats. See Female Feline, Male Mutt.
• IKEA Weaponry: The professor uses the tools for the anthropology assignment to make a crossbow/strangling weapon.
• Just Friends: Resolution to the kiss in the first season finale.
• Large Ham: In-universe example. Much to Jeff's annoyance, Britta plays up being the rejected woman in public.

Jeff: Britta, I know you're excited to finally be popular with women, but don't get too high on your own drama.
Britta: HIGH on my OWN duh-RAMA?!

• Meta Guy: Discussed by Shirley.

Shirley: I don't understand, Abed. Is this you being "meta"?

• The Oner: The first two shots of the episode--the first scrolls right through a long constructed set of the group's individual bedrooms, while the second shows the Greendale campus. The former was actually cheated, though; seven consecutive bedrooms were too long for one stage, so it was split into two and the shots were digitally merged.
• Opening Shout-Out: In one shot Britta has a cootie-catcher.
• Refuge in Audacity: June, twice.
  • Sedating a student with a blow dart.
  • Later shooting Jeff with a crossbow and trying to strangle him.
• Right Now Montage: Of the various study group members and their morning routine
• Sadist Teacher: After Jeff gives speeches about his friends to the class twice rather than answering questions, the Anthropology teacher shoots at him with a crossbow before strangling him.
• Salt and Pepper: Pierce and Troy.
• Shipping Bed Death: In-universe--Abed seems to be trying to invoke this when he goads Jeff and Britta into getting engaged.
• Shirtless Scene: Jeff gets one during the opening scene montage.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: An odd example. Jeff begins acting this way to Britta so that the school stops hating him. Then they get into a bizarre competition of who can be the most nauseatingly romantic.
• Subject 101: Anthropology 101
• Take That:
  • Troy's Twitter account is one against Bleep My Dad Says.
  • One against Twilight, claiming its aesop to be All Men Are Perverts.
• This Is Reality: See What the Hell, Hero?.
• Truth-Telling Session
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Abed's response to Jeff when, after he sleeps with Britta and kisses Annie, he mocks Abed for not knowing the difference between reality and TV.

Abed: I can tell life from TV, Jeff. TV makes sense. It has logic, structure, rules. And likable leading men. In life, we have this. We have you.

• • Earlier, Annie also makes her feelings known, but less verbally.
  • And Troy gets one for secretly recording every stupid thing Pierce says to a Twitter feed called "Old White Guy Says" (which, although Pierce probably deserves it to some degree, is still something of a dick move).
  • Frankly, that whole scene is nothing but everyone calling everyone else out.
• You Fail Biology Forever: While the song is an Ear Worm there are two minor mistakes when the last 's' is dropped from Primates and Sapiens.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: While Jeff is already demonstrating guilt, Starburns' approval of his actions concerning Annie and Britta really seems to convince him he was in the wrong.