COMMUNITY: Intro to Knots Recap

It’s Christmas in April!

Annie is the first to arrive at Jeff’s place for Christmas, and she’s brought over decor to help the apartment seem more homey. Jeff, rightly so, is worried that Annie wants to play house with him, and now all of my fears might be coming true (and killing my inner ‘shipper).

Annie also brought a gift, which is against the rules, and soon after, everyone else arrives with gifts because they “couldn’t resist.”

There’s also good news and bad news with this party. Bad news: they failed their History paper. Good news: Annie invited Professor Cornwallis (Malcolm McDowell) to the party.

A very awkward silence later, the doorbell rings and now I’m scared beyond my normal expectations for what will happen next.

Prof. Cornwallis didn’t bring a gift, and then he worries if he was supposed to, before being ushered around the apartment by Jeff. Abed and Troy exchange one set of gifts (Troy’s best idea was a tank top from Die Hard) before Annie and Shirley lead Cornwallis around.

In the end, Jeff decided to tank his section of the paper, pasting the lyrics to “War What is Good For” instead of actually doing the paper. Jeff’s attempts at brownnosing are failing, and well, the C- has now turned into an F because Jeff’s big mouth ran away with him. That’s right, they had a C- minus until Annie couldn’t handle anything less than an A and decided to try to convince him to raise it.

While the group goes into Jeff’s room to discuss a plan to bring their grade up, Kevin ties Cornwallis to a chair to prove his worth to the group. This plan is going ever so well.

Jeff, being the former lawyer that he is, proves the point that the grade is relative. The group must be united in this job now or else they all risk failing, which is now a game of who can be the betrayer, like Brutus.

Cornwallis uses history to his advantage, trying to point out the awkward tensions at play. Of course, Abed leaves the room to get popcorn (he’s so a representation of fandom), and misses the first seeds of doubt. Cornwallis’ next tactic is to reveal that Annie is not the one whose valedictorian status is at risk because of the paper grade – Shirley, in fact, has the highest grades in the graduating class. Despite a flare up of disbelief and disappointment from Annie, the group remains united. Finally Cornwallis forces Jeff to reveal that tanked his section and the group has all the reason to turn against Jeff for that alone.

The knock at the door before the break was Dean Pelton and now he’s walked into the room to see the party. He missed Cornwallis, and somehow Cornwallis has been untied.

Jeff’s speech about the group dynamic is a powerful one, as usual, and that the reason for the betrayal is simple human needs. The group chooses to open presents after they get Cornwallis back into his seat (after they realize that Kevin doesn’t know how to tie a knot), and Cornwallis didn’t actually have plans after all, so he played along to avoid another lonely Christmas.

They group ends up with a C+ on the paper and open all their presents, which are all thoughtful and appropriate. As the group celebrates, Kevin steps out into the hall to call a Mysterious Someone and reports that the group hasn’t been expelled and that he’ll need to think of something else. Ah, the Changnesia plot thickens!

Pelton’s back with Christmas presents for everyone – kittens!

This week’s tag has Abed worrying about the Darkest Timeline, which involves a one-armed lawyer Jeff getting Annie released the Greendale Asylum on the grounds that she’s too pretty to be locked up. The judge apparently buys this argument. Annie checks with Jeff that he doesn’t mind the age difference (he doesn’t!) and then they kiss passionately before we snap back to this timeline’s Abed and the Christmas party.