Abed Creates a Web of Destiny on COMMUNITY {SPOILERS}

This week’s episode of Community sees Abed attempting to create an origin story for the group by connecting their actions back in 2008, proving that they were destined to meet.

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD

With graduation looming, Abed has been in a particularly nostalgic, ruminative mood. Naturally this translates into a need to prove that the study group were destined to be friends. Using a comic book premise, Abed’s Web of Destiny sends us back in time to the 2008 versions of Jeff, Abed, Annie, Troy, Britta, and Shirley, and how their paths crossed leading up to their respective decisions to attend Greendale. (This is one of the episodes without Chevy Chase, but Pierce’s connection – and absence – are creatively handled.)

It’s a tumultuous ride with all the zigs and zags we’ve come to expect from Abed’s theories, but it comes together neatly in the end and gives us glimpses of these characters pre-Greendale that we’ve only heard about before. As a result of his research, Abed makes a surprising discovery that leads to a moment that’s sweet only in the way our unemotional friend can be sweet.

Here are a few highlights from “Heroic Origins”:

• See how Jeff impacted Shirley’s marriage.
• Witness Annie’s breakdown.
• Watch Troy and Abed’s first interaction.
• See Britta with purple hair.
• Witness the moment Magnitude discovered his signature phrase.
• Find out who Chang/Kevin has been working with on his evil plan.

Yes, you read that correctly, this is the episode where we find out who’s been on the other end of the phone when Chang made those mysterious calls. I was surprised, but not.

Narrative structures like this can be pretty weak, but Friends showed how to execute it well and believably in their fan-favorite flashback episodes. Add in the Community crew’s zealous attention to detail and love of Easter eggs, and you’ve got a winner. Fans should have a lot of fun dissecting the information Abed’s research divulges and creating their own Webs of Destiny.

Community‘s “Heroic Origins” airs Thursday, May 2 at 8/7c.