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"Advanced Introduction to Finality" is the thirteenth episode and the season finale of the fourth season of the NBC sitcom Community. It originally aired on May 9, 2013.
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In this episode, Jeff is set to graduate and expects things to go quietly. But when the darkest timeline breaks through, the evil counterparts try and make things messy.
Synopsis
Jeff meets with his old partner who is now running his own law firm. He offers Jeff a job, saying that the killer instinct is still inside him. Back on campus, the study group reveals they made a party in Jeff's honor because he is graduating. They suggest having a wedding-like party the next day. Jeff meets with Britta and reveals that he is conflicted about leaving Greendale. He then hatches a plan to bring out Abed's instability by leveraging his dillusions about multiple timelines. While planning the party, Jeff suggests rolling a die to determine who will bring soda. When he rolls the die it lands on the seam between tables, not landing on any number. When this happens, Evil Jeff appears in the Dean's office. He escapes and tries to ruin the fiesta by sabotaging Jeff's relations with the rest of the study group. He starts by insulting Annie, who then confronts Jeff in the cafeteria. Jeff goes after her, but mistakes Evil Annie for the real one, who then steals his phone under the guise of a friendly hug. Evil Jeff goes on to insult and "unvite" the rest of the group to his graduation ceremony. Jeff arrives at his ceremony and is surprised to find no one there until the Dean (disguised in wedding dress damsel drag) shows up crying and throws his diploma at him. Evil Annie arrives holding Jeff's phone and says that he has a message from his old partner and that he should return the phone call. When he decides to go after his friends instead, Evil Jeff shows up and threatens him with the paintball gun he used to send Abed to the darkest timeline. Meanwhile, Abed himself gets sent to the darkest timeline, where he meets Abed (who is no longer Evil) who gives him some paintball guns in order to shoot the doubles (the paintballs these guns fire have the ability to transport an individual between timelines). When Jeff arrives at Troy and Abed's apartment, he tries to explain his behavior, but nobody believes him until Abed shows up and convinces the others that Jeff is actually telling the truth. Meanwhile, the Evil Study Group (minus Evil Abed) arrive in the prime timeline and meet Evil Pierce who apparently faked his death, though he now has a metal unicycle leg and crutches. They discuss their plans for the study group until Evil Pierce and Britta accidentally shoot themselves and are sent back to the darkest timeline. The real study group then shows up and proceeds to eliminate their evil doppelgangers one by one. With only Evil Jeff left, Abed explains to Jeff that he was stressed about graduation because he thought that Greendale didn't change him; however, thanks to Abed, Jeff realizes that he now has friends and that made his life better. He manages to defeat Evil Jeff and send him back to his own reality. The scene then reverts to the moment that Jeff decided to throw the die (revealing that the events of the episode took place in his own mind), and he instead decides against tossing it. His graduation ceremony then takes place in the study room with the study group (sans Pierce), Dean Pelton, the Greendale Human Being, Magnitude, Quendra, Leonard, Garrett, Todd, Fat Neil, and Vicky. Jeff gives a most heartfelt speech about his time at Greendale and the love he has for his friends. During the ceremony, Pierce breaks in, announcing his intention to graduate as well, and a cake in the study room follows the reception. Jeff announces that he will not be taking the job with his old law firm, but will seek a job at a smaller firm close by so he can stop in on the group whenever he wants.
The end tag shows Evil Troy and Evil Abed, who introduce us to a parallel universe (timeline 5, where Pierce was chosen to get the pizza) and shows us that Britta and Troy have a baby named Chewbacca (An "African" name meaning "He who hunts bounties"). Evil Jeff appears, saying that the show Evil Troy and Evil Abed host is not watched by anybody and does not exist anymore (an obvious meta-reference to the actual show Community's own likely end), to which Evil Troy and Evil Abed shrug in agreement, but smile to the camera and sing their theme song anyway.
Continuity
- Jeff talks to his former work colleague about not trying cases other than "yams and sandwiches." This is a reference to both "Basic Lupine Urology" (episode 17 of season 3) where Jeff is in a mock trial over who destroyed the group's yam experiment, and "Introduction to Finality" where Jeff spoke for Shirley against Pierce in an another mock trial ran by the dean over who own's Shirley's sandwich shop.
- The study group's evil doppelgangers cross over and return from the Darkest Timeline. The timeline plot point was introduced in "Remedial Chaos Theory", episode 4 of the third season after the roll of a die to decide who would collect the delivered pizza.
- A continuity error is present in this episode. Greendale is listed in the closing scene right after Jeff's graduation as being "Est. 1974" yet episode 11 of season 4 "Basic Human Anatomy" had a student named Leonard who had been at Greendale since 1968.
Production
The season finale aired as the thirteenth episode, but was the eleventh episode produced.[1]
This is the second "Introduction to Finality" episode of the series, following season three's finale, "Introduction to Finality".
During Jeff's graduation ceremony, "SIX SEASONS AND A MOVIE" is seen written on the chalkboard as the first words of several sentences. The show's production code of #411 is seen in the upper right corner.
Reception
In its original broadcast the episode was viewed by 3.08 million.[2]
Gabrielle Moss of TV Fanatic was positive, saying, "this episode was an excellent tribute to the slow-burn character development of Jeff Winger."[3] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix was less favourable, stating, "The actual non-dream graduation ceremony was sweet, but nearly everything leading up to it was a mess."[4] Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club was negative and rated the episode a D, saying it was, "no longer a show that's capable of much beyond repeating elements it thinks the audience will like over and over again."[5]
References
- ^ Ganz, Megan (November 12, 2012). "Day one of shooting the finale". Twitter. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
- ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (May 10, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Big Bang Theory', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'American Idol', 'Vampire Diaries', 'Two and a Half Men', 'Wipeout', & 'Elementary' Adjusted Up; 'Glee' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
- ^ Moss, Gabrielle (May 9, 2013). "Community Review: Not Without My Study Group". TV Fanatic. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (May 9, 2013). "Season finale review: 'Community' - 'Advanced Introduction to Finality': The folly of evil". HitFix. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
- ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (May 9, 2013). ""Advanced Introduction to Finality" S4 / E13". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 9, 2013.