| "Studies in Modern Movement" | |
|---|---|
| Community episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 7 |
| Directed by | Tristram Shapeero |
| Written by | Adam Countee |
| Production code | 307 |
| Original air date | November 10, 2011 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Studies in Modern Movement" is the seventh episode of the third season of the American sitcom Community. It was originally broadcast on November 10, 2011, on NBC.
In the episode, the study group helps Annie move in with Troy and Abed. Annie is worried about living with Troy and Abed's "manchildren" antics. Meanwhile, Britta and Shirley lock horns over religion and morality, while Jeff is forced to spend the day with Dean Pelton.
The episode was written by Adam Countee and directed by Tristram Shapeero.
Annie (Alison Brie) is moving into Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed's (Danny Pudi) apartment. The rest of the study group are helping her move, except Jeff (Joel McHale), who is shopping but concocts an elaborate plan to convince Britta (Gillian Jacobs) he is ill. While packing at Annie's old apartment, Britta warns Annie that being roommates with Troy and Abed will not be easy, because the reasons she adores them will become the reasons she will despise them. Troy and Abed wear special T-shirts with a Twitter hashtag—#AnniesMove—for the occasion, and are live-tweeting the event.
Troy and Abed's childish antics, (such as using all of Annie's packing tape to tape Troy to the bathroom door) start to annoy Annie, but she tries to play along. Troy damages one of the apartment's electrical outlets, and Pierce (Chevy Chase) offers to fix it before her landlord comes. Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) is concerned that Annie's "cohabitation" with Troy and Abed will lead to her moral decay, and Britta slams her religious uptightness.
While shopping, Jeff runs into Dean Craig Pelton (Jim Rash). "Craig" knows that Jeff is avoiding helping Annie move from Troy and Abed's tweets, and blackmails Jeff into spending the day with him. Jeff reluctantly has lunch with him at a Mexican restaurant and joins him in a green screen karaoke session singing "Kiss from a Rose" in matching outfits. Jeff starts to enjoy himself singing, but the Dean then lets it slip that their accidental run-in, and day together, happened only because he read Jeff's Greendale e-mails, and Jeff becomes violently outraged at this invasion of his privacy.
Britta and Shirley ride in the same car on the way to Troy and Abed's place, and once again argue over religion and morality. Britta picks up a hitchhiker (Brendan Hunt) to prove that she is moral without being religious. The hitchhiker immediately begins talking about Jesus, to Shirley's delight and Britta's dismay. He and Shirley have a friendly chat until he claims to be Jesus himself. This upsets Shirley but delights Britta, who annoys Shirley by getting "Jesus" to endorse marijuana legalization. Eventually, the hitchhiker starts to sing about drinking human blood and the evils of race mixing, leading Shirley and Britta to throw him out of the car and reconcile with each other.
Meanwhile, attempting to fix the electrical outlet, Pierce damages the circuit and the wiring burns a line down the wall. Attempting to cover it with new paint, he makes a mess and gets dangerously high on paint fumes, hallucinating that he is playing piano while accompanied by hula dancers. He is rescued by the landlord.
Troy and Abed show Annie her new room—a blanket fort. Annie is uncomfortable with it, having been told the apartment has two bedrooms, but attempts to reconcile herself to it after enjoying a shadow puppet show Troy and Abed put on for her. But when she discovers that the apartment has a real second bedroom, which Troy and Abed have set aside as a "Dreamatorium" for imaginary experiences, she finally expresses her unhappiness at their childishness and decides not to move in with them.
Annie recovers Pierce, then returns to claim her stuff. Troy and Abed eventually compromise by giving their bedroom to Annie while moving into the blanket fort. Jeff arrives at the apartment and admits that he faked illness to get out of helping. The group forgives him, before revealing that they saw his rendition of "Kiss from a Rose," which was tweeted by Dean Pelton.
"Studies in Modern Movement" was written by Adam Countee, his third writing credit of the series. It was directed by Tristram Shapeero, his sixth directing credit.
The "Dreamatorium" in Troy and Abed's apartment closely resembles a Star Trek holodeck. [1] [2]
When he "runs into" Jeff at the mall, Dean Pelton says, "This is just like that Lake House movie... I can only assume, even I have limits." [1]
Troy and Abed's use of bubble wrap closely mirrors a scene with Chandler and Joey from the TV show Friends . Shirley also mentions the show, stating "I've seen enough episodes of Friends to know that cohabitation leads to sex, drugs, and something Parade magazine called 'Schwimmer fatigue.' " [3]
In its original American broadcast on November 10, 2011, "Studies in Modern Movement" was viewed by an estimated 3.49 million people, with a Nielsen rating/share of 1.5/4 in the 18–49 demographic. [4]
The episode received mixed reviews from critics.
Ethan Alter called "Modern Movement" one of Season 3's better episodes. [1] Leigh Raines of TV Fanatic gave it a 4.5/5 rating, saying: "It's not every week that a show has me laughing out loud, but 'Studies in Modern Movement' accomplished just that." [5] Kelsea Stahler of Hollywood.com said, "This episode wasn’t mind-blowing. It wasn’t out there. But it was rich with character. It felt like hanging out with your hilarious, messed up friends – but those that could really only exist on television – for a half-hour. And sometimes, that’s all you need." [2]
Alan Sepinwall of HitFix said, "I like seeing the relationships evolve in the way that they have, and I enjoyed the episode overall, but it ultimately felt a little lightweight." [6] The A.V. Club 's Emily VanDerWerff gave the episode a 'B', saying, "There are a lot of good ideas in 'Modern Movement,' but I don’t know that they ever really coalesce into anything more than a collection of stories..." [7]
"Asian Population Studies" is the twelfth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Community, and the 37th episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on NBC on January 20, 2011.
"A Fistful of Paintballs" is the twenty-third and penultimate episode of the second season of Community. It is part one of the two-part second-season finale, along with "For a Few Paintballs More", and is a spiritual successor to "Modern Warfare" from the first season. The episode originally premiered on May 5, 2011, on NBC.
"Anthropology 101" is the second season premiere of the American television series Community. It was originally broadcast on September 23, 2010 on NBC.
"Accounting for Lawyers" is the second episode of the second season of Community. It originally aired on September 30, 2010 on NBC. In the episode, Jeff meets up with an old friend and colleague from his law firm, Alan, a spineless unprincipled character. He temporarily abandons the group to join Alan and other former colleagues at an office party, which he is invited to by Alan who wants to use him to get promoted. The study group suspects that Alan was the one who got Jeff disbarred, and set out to find the truth at the party.
"Mixology Certification" is the tenth episode of the second season of Community. It was originally broadcast on December 2, 2010 on NBC.
"Intro to Political Science" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of Community. It was originally aired on February 24, 2011, on NBC.
"Critical Film Studies" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of Community. It was originally aired on March 24, 2011 on NBC.
"Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts" is the twenty-second episode of the second season of Community. It originally aired on April 28, 2011, on NBC.
"For a Few Paintballs More" is the twenty-fourth episode and part two of the two-part finale of the second season of Community. The episode originally aired on May 12, 2011, on NBC. The episode is a continuation of "A Fistful of Paintballs", and picks up from the middle of the paintball game that commenced in part one. The study group realize that the game was a scheme by school rivals City College to destroy Greendale's campus. They band together with other Greendale students to face the City College paintball players to try to save their campus and win the $100,000 prize money for the school.
"Remedial Chaos Theory" is the fourth episode of the third season of the American television series Community. The episode was written by Chris McKenna and directed by Jeff Melman. It originally aired on October 13, 2011 on NBC. It follows a community college study group at a housewarming party for members Troy and Abed. When Jeff throws a die to determine who will go to collect the pizza delivery from downstairs, seven different timelines unfold, showing each member of the group leaving to collect it depending on the outcome of the die—including the canonical timeline, in which Abed catches it before it lands. The episode was intended to be the third episode of the season, but was delayed by a week due to filming, editing and visual effects overrunning. As a result, "Competitive Ecology", due to be fourth, was aired third.
"Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps" is the fifth episode of the third season of the U.S. television series Community. It first aired on October 27, 2011 on NBC and is the series' 2011 Halloween episode.
"Documentary Filmmaking: Redux" is the eighth episode of the third season of the U.S. television series Community. It was originally broadcast on November 17, 2011 on NBC.
"Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism" is the ninth episode of the third season of the U.S. television sitcom Community. It originally aired on December 1, 2011, on NBC.
"Regional Holiday Music" is the tenth episode and mid-season finale of the third season of the American television series Community, and 59th overall episode of the series. It was originally broadcast on December 8, 2011 on NBC and is the final episode before the show went on hiatus during the 2011–12 midseason. The Christmas-themed episode is a musical featuring original songs performed by cast members. After Greendale's glee club members become incapacitated, the study group is asked to join. Despite their dislike of the club, each of them is lured into joining after their vulnerabilities are exploited.
"Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts" is the eleventh episode of the third season of the American television series Community. It originally aired on March 15, 2012 on NBC, with the series returning after a three-month hiatus. In the episode, Shirley's ex-husband Andre whom she has reconciled with proposes to her again. While planning her wedding, she also considers a business proposition from Pierce. The rest of the study group help Shirley plan the wedding, while Troy and Abed attempt to suppress their weirdness and act normal at the rehearsal to no avail.
"Contemporary Impressionists" is the twelfth episode of the third season of the American television series Community. It originally aired on March 22, 2012 on NBC.
"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 Finality" is the twenty-second and final episode of the third season of the American television series Community and the third season finale. It originally aired on May 17, 2012 on NBC. This was the last episode to air with series creator Dan Harmon as showrunner before he was fired, though Harmon would later return as showrunner for the fifth season.
"Herstory of Dance" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of the NBC sitcom Community, which originally aired on April 4, 2013.
