An editor has nominated this article for deletion. You are welcome to participate in the deletion discussion, which will decide whether or not to retain it. |
"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.
| "Advanced Introduction to Finality" |
|---|
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's old partner, Mark, offers Jeff a partnership, claiming Jeff is still a great lawyer. Jeff says he’ll consider it.
In the study room the group reveals to Jeff the party they planned. Jeff applies for graduation, which causes him to agree to a small party. Later, Jeff meets with Britta and reveals he is conflicted about leaving Greendale including what it may do to Abed.
Back at Greendale, Jeff rolls a die to pick who brings soda to the party to bring out Abed’s delusions of timelines. The die doesn’t land on a number which Abed insists means nothing. After the die roll, Evil Jeff appears at Greendale. In order to push Jeff toward taking the new job, Evil Jeff sets out to alienate Jeff from the study group. He insults Annie. Annie later encounters Jeff and runs away upset.
Abed walks into Evil Jeff and recognizes him as a doppelganger. Abed is shot with a paintball gun and sent to the dean’s office in the darkest timeline. Abed then goes to “his” apartment and meets his counterpart who is no longer evil. Evil Abed gives his counterpart supplies to defeat the doppelgangers.
Jeff goes to apologize to Annie, but unknowingly meets Evil Annie, who accepts and steals his phone. Evil Jeff goes on to insult the rest of the group. Jeff arrives at his ceremony and is surprised to find no one there. Evil Annie arrives with Jeff's phone and says that he has a message from Mark and that he should return the call. When he decides to go after his friends instead, Evil Jeff shows up to shoot him, but Chang takes the paintball.
Jeff arrives at Troy and Abed's to explain what happened. Nobody believes him until Abed shows up and shoots a “warp paintball gun.” The Evil Study Group arrives in the prime timeline and discus their plans until the prime study group shows up. The prime group each eliminates their doppelgangers.
With only Evil Jeff left, Abed explains to Jeff these events are in his mind because he was anxious about his future. Abed tells Jeff he is not the same guy as four years ago, but a better one who has the group as his family. Jeff then defeats Evil Jeff sending him back to the darkest timeline. The episode then reverts to the moment that Jeff decided to throw the die. He decides against tossing it.
Jeff’s graduation ceremony then takes place with the group (sans Pierce). Jeff gives a heartfelt speech about his time at Greendale. Pierce breaks into the ceremony so he can graduate first. At a dinner in the study room, Jeff announces he will search for work at a small firm and not take Mark’s offer so he can stay close to the group.
In the tag, "Evil Troy and Abed In The Morning" check on Timeline 5 where Britta and Troy have a baby named Chewbacca (an "African" name meaning "He who hunts bounties").
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" (Season 3, Episode 17) where Jeff is in a mock trial over who destroyed the study group's yam experiment, and Introduction to Finality where Jeff spoke for Shirley against Pierce in an another mock trial ran by Dean Pelton 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 after the roll of a die to decide who would collect the delivered pizza.
- In the "darkest timeline" Chang still runs the school with the "Doppledeaner" still posing as Dean Pelton as seen in The First Chang Dynasty.
- When revealing to Jeff that the events of this episode after his die roll have taken place in his imagination, Abed asks him not to use logic because "we finally found a way to make paintball cool again." Paintball was previously featured in the episodes Modern Warfare, A Fistful of Paintballs and For a Few Paintballs More.
- Greendale is listed in the closing scene right after Jeff's graduation as being "Est. 1974" which conflicts with episode 11 of the season, "Basic Human Anatomy", where it is revealed that Leonard had been at Greendale since 1968.
Cultural references
- Jeff and Mark refer to each other as Tango and Cash, respectively.
- Evil Jeff teleports across timelines in a style similar to that used in The Terminator[1]
- Jeff stops a paintball bullet in mid-air like Neo does in The Matrix[2]
- Evil Abed tells Abed that The Cape has been running for at least three seasons. In reality, it was cancelled after its first.
- When Troy shoots evil Troy, the latter has enough time to say "almost.. ballin'" before he disappears. This is then followed by Troy saying "baller". In his music, Childish Gambino (Donald Glover, Troy's actor) constantly refers to being "baller".
Production
The season finale aired as the thirteenth episode, but was the eleventh episode produced.[3]
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.[4]
Eric Goldman of IGN rated the episode a "good" at 7.6, saying, "as far as being a fun, nostalgia-packed episode, that may be the very last one, it mostly worked."[5] Gabrielle Moss of TV Fanatic was positive, saying, "this episode was an excellent tribute to the slow-burn character development of Jeff Winger."[6]
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."[2] 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."[7]
References
- ^ Umstead, Ben (May 9, 2012). "Review: COMMUNITY S4E13, ADVANCED INTRODUCTION TO FINALITY (Or, Is It?)". Twitch Film. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
- ^ a b Sepinwall, Alan (May 9, 2013). "Season finale review: 'Community' - 'Advanced Introduction to Finality': The folly of evil". HitFix. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Goldman, Eric (May 9, 2013). "Community Review: Not Without My Study Group". IGN. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
- ^ Moss, Gabrielle (May 9, 2013). "Community Review: Not Without My Study Group". TV Fanatic. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
- ^ VanDerWerff, Todd (May 9, 2013). ""Advanced Introduction to Finality" S4 / E13". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 9, 2013.