| "Advanced Criminal Law" | |
|---|---|
| Community episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 5 |
| Directed by | Joe Russo |
| Written by | Andrew Guest |
| Production code | 105 |
| Original air date | October 15, 2009 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Advanced Criminal Law" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Community . It aired in the United States on NBC on October 15, 2009. The episode follows Jeff (Joel McHale) attempting to help Britta (Gillian Jacobs) after she confesses to cheating on a Spanish test, as Pierce (Chevy Chase) helps Annie (Alison Brie) by composing a school song and Abed (Danny Pudi) attempts to convince Troy (Donald Glover) that he is an alien. It garnered 5.01 million viewers in its first broadcast and was met with mixed critical reception.
In Spanish class, Chang (Ken Jeong) announces that he has discovered a cheat sheet somebody used on a test, and all members of the class will score 0 on the test unless the cheater confesses within a day. In the study room, the group accuse each other of being the culprit but reach no conclusion. The following day, Britta confesses in class as the culprit. She is sent to a tribunal held at the swimming pool with the Dean (Jim Rash), Chang, and Dr. Duncan (John Oliver), with Jeff acting as her counsel. Britta initially recants her confession, but then confesses again. After consulting with Britta during a recess, Jeff asks to plead insanity for his client, arguing that she is crazy because she went out of her way to fail due to lack of self-confidence. The Dean and Duncan vote for Britta to receive no punishment so long as she attends weekly psychological evaluations by Duncan, who has been looking for ways to attempt to seduce Britta.
Annie is stressed over a composer she has hired to design a new school song for an unveiling of a statue of Luis Guzmán on the campus, so Pierce offers to write the song. He struggles to write, but says to Annie that things are going well. After eventually conceding that he exaggerated his previous musical experience, Annie delivers a motivational speech based on one her mother gave her about cheerleading. At the statue unveiling, Pierce performs the song he has written. The song is near-identical to the song "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, though Pierce seems unaware.
Troy has been telling Abed various obvious lies, including that he is Barack Obama's nephew. Abed believes him until Troy explains that he was joking. Abed finds this amusing and attempts making jokes. Later, Troy overhears Abed making a "transmission" in which he reports his interactions with Troy. Troy becomes increasingly suspicious of Abed. In a storage closet, Troy observes Abed on a video call, ostensibly contacting a member of his alien species. Annoyed, Troy tells Abed that he does not believe him to be an alien and says all of his effort was freaking him out, deciding that they will not try to mess with each other from now on.
In the end tag, Abed and Troy attempt to fit as many pencils as they can in each other's mouths.
The episode was originally scheduled to air earlier in season one. [1] Though posters of the Greendale Human Being are displayed in "Advanced Criminal Law", the character is not introduced until the following episode, "Football, Feminism and You". [2] The recurring character Leonard (Richard Erdman) debuts in this episode, eventually making 53 appearances across all six seasons of Community. [3]
Upon its first broadcast in the United States, an estimated 5.01 million viewers watched the episode. [4]
Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club rated the episode a C+, criticizing it as the weakest episode of the series at that point. She praised the main storyline with Britta for "deepening" the previously undeveloped character, also enjoying the swimming pool setting and the character Duncan. However, VanDerWerff disliked Troy and Abed's storyline and Chang's exaggerated eccentricity. [1] John Krakow of IGN reviewed the episode as 5.8 out of 10. Calling it "very flat and predictable", Krakow critiqued that the swimming pool setting "got old", the humor with Pierce's songwriting was repetitive and Troy and Abed's storyline had "no consequences". [5] He later described it as "rock bottom" for the first season. [6]
Paste 's Sean Gandert praised the episode for developing the community college setting and making it seem unique, enjoying Chase's acting, but commenting that Troy and Abed's storyline lacked a "payoff". [7] John Young of Entertainment Weekly found that the episode started "in a mild fog" but progressed to "a solid conclusion", praising the dialogue between Duncan and Chang, Abed making "his first deliberate joke" and Annie's motivational speech to Pierce. [8]
"Introduction to Film" is the third episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Community. It aired in the United States on NBC on October 1, 2009. The episode sees Jeff attempt to "seize the day" to pass a class, while Britta pays for Abed to take a filmmaking class, to his dad's annoyance. It received mixed critical reviews and garnered 5.86 million viewers upon its premiere.
"Spanish 101" is the second episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Community. It aired in the United States on NBC on September 24, 2009. The episode features Jeff and Pierce working on a Spanish project as Annie and Shirley organize a protest. Receiving 5.39 million viewers upon its premiere, the episode was met with mostly positive critical reception. The end tag—the first of the series—shows Troy and Abed performing a nonsense rap in Spanish, an early interaction between the pair which was praised by reviewers.
"Modern Warfare" is the twenty-third episode of the first season of Community and originally premiered on May 6, 2010, on NBC. In the episode, after the Dean announces the prize for a friendly game of paintball, Greendale sinks into a state of all-out paintball war, with every student battling for supremacy. During the chaos, Jeff's study group teams up in order to last longer in the game. Meanwhile, Jeff and Britta confront their unresolved sexual tension.
"Epidemiology" is the sixth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Community, and the 31st episode of the series overall. It originally premiered in the United States on NBC on October 28, 2010 as a special Halloween-themed episode. In the episode, the Dean throws a Halloween themed party on campus. During the party, a few of the partygoers become sick from eating a hazardous substance that the Dean mistook for taco meat bought at an army surplus store. The sickness causes those affected to turn into a violent, zombie-like state that can be passed on through bites. As the study group try to escape, the Dean locks the doors, trapping them inside with the infected.
"Social Psychology" is the fourth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Community. It aired in the United States on NBC on October 8, 2009. The episode shows Jeff bonding with Shirley through mockery of Britta's new romantic interest, Vaughn. Annie gets Abed to participate in a psychology experiment organized by Dr Ian Duncan. It received 4.87 million viewers in the United States and mixed critical reviews.
"Football, Feminism and You" is the sixth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Community. It aired in the United States on NBC on October 22, 2009. The episode centers on Troy and his career playing football at Greendale Community College, while the B storyline concerns Britta and her difficulty befriending other women. Pierce works with Dean Pelton to create the school's mascot. The episode was watched by 5.18 million viewers upon its premiere and received polarized reviews.
"Home Economics" is the eighth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Community. It aired in the United States on NBC on November 5, 2009. The episode revolves around Jeff's living situation now that he no longer has the money he earned as a big-shot lawyer and the emotional aftermath of Britta and Vaughn's breakup. It garnered 5.45 million viewers on its premiere and received positive critical reception.
"Debate 109" is the ninth episode of the first season of Community. It originally aired in the United States on NBC on November 12, 2009. In the episode, Jeff teams up with Annie to take on City College in a debate, while Pierce tries to help Britta quit smoking using hypnotherapy. Meanwhile, the study group attempts to figure out if Abed's student films are predicting their futures. The episode received mostly positive reviews, with many critics singling out Abed's subplot for praise.
"The Politics of Human Sexuality" is the eleventh episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Community. It originally aired in the United States on NBC on December 3, 2009.
"Romantic Expressionism" is the fifteenth episode of the first season of the U.S. television series Community. It was originally aired on February 4, 2010, on NBC.
"Communication Studies" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of the U.S. television sitcom Community. It originally aired on February 11, 2010, on NBC.
"Pascal's Triangle Revisited" is the twenty-fifth and final episode of the first season of Community. It originally aired in the United States on NBC on May 20, 2010. In the episode, the group gets ready to say goodbye for the summer at the end-of-year dance. Britta and Professor Slater compete over their affections for Jeff, while Annie considers leaving Greendale and Troy looks for a new place to live. The episode received generally positive reviews, with critics both praising and criticizing the final twist.
"The Psychology of Letting Go" is the third episode of the second season of Community. It was originally broadcast on October 7, 2010 on NBC.
"Early 21st Century Romanticism" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Community and the fortieth episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on NBC on February 10, 2011. The episode revolves around the study group's various Valentine's Day plans: Abed and Troy ask the same girl to the dance, Britta goes on a date with a lesbian, and Jeff is tricked into hosting a party.
"Digital Exploration of Interior Design" is the thirteenth episode of the third season of the American television series Community. It originally aired on March 29, 2012, on NBC. The episode was written by Chris McKenna and directed by Dan Eckman.
"Origins of Vampire Mythology" is the fifteenth episode of the third season of the American television series Community. It originally aired on April 12, 2012, on NBC. In the episode, Britta must resist the temptation to meet up with her ex-boyfriend Blade, and Jeff tries to figure out how Blade is able to attract women.
"Virtual Systems Analysis" is the sixteenth episode of the third season of the American television series Community. It originally aired on April 19, 2012, on NBC. In the episode, Annie and Abed spend time in their apartment's "Dreamatorium" simulating adventures together, but Abed turns it into a personal exploration of the group's dynamics.
"Introduction to Statistics" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Community, airing on NBC on October 29, 2009. Annie hosts a Dia de los Muertos party, the success of which depends on Jeff attending. At the party, Pierce gets high, causing trouble for the other characters. Jeff pursues their statistics professor, Professor Michelle Slater. Finally, Shirley is distressed due to her ex-husband's behavior.
"Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of Community, which originally aired on March 7, 2013 on NBC. Set at Thanksgiving, the episode shows Jeff meeting his father for the first time while other members of the group attend Shirley's Thanksgiving dinner with her family, in a parody of The Shawshank Redemption. The former storyline received mixed critical reception, whilst the latter was mostly criticized. The episode was watched by an estimated 3.29 million viewers upon its premiere.
"Paranormal Parentage" is the second episode of the fourth season of Community. The episode was written by Megan Ganz and directed by Tristram Shapeero. Though a Halloween-themed episode—the fourth for the series—it premiered on February 14, 2013 on NBC. It shows the group searching Pierce's mansion for the code to his panic room, after he locks himself in there. It makes homage to Scooby-Doo. The episode was watched by 2.76 million viewers on its premiere and met with mixed critical reception.
