Community: Season 1, Episode 13

1 - 13:

The group returns from their winter break, delighted to see each other. After the rest of the group has joyfully reunited, Jeff arrives and promises the group he has left behind his elitist attitude and has adopted a laid back attitude all about "having fun and cracking wise". When they finally sit back at their table, they see that a new person is sitting with them. Buddy (Jack Black) has been admiring their growth as friends from afar, and invites himself to join their group as well. Later, dean Pelton offers Jeff the position of editor for the school newspaper. Jeff turns it down at first until he learns that it is an automatic English credit, and the job doesn't require that much actual work from him. He also catches on quickly on how to play the system by sending his reporters out to "investigate" the sale of pizza and beer, and promoting Annie to ace reporter in order to deflect her attention from reporting him for abusing his title. Abed takes note of this, and compares Jeff's "character reboot" to Hawkeye Pierce for these antics, and begins building him a still like Hawkeye had. Later, after Spanish 102, Annie approaches Jeff with a hot news story. It seems that after a recent Toni Braxton concert was rescheduled, only black students were notified via anonymous text. Jeff commissions Annie to find out who sent it, who agrees since she knows it will help her overcome her unfavorable transcript. Meanwhile, Buddy poses a problem as he impulsively tries to dominate the attention of the group, and in an effort to prove his worth, accidentally kicks Jeff in the face. Jeff, who had originally chosen to leave the matter alone, now decides to have a secret group meeting with out Buddy, and manipulates the group into voting Buddy out. Annie soon finds out that it was the dean who had sent the text alert to all the African-American students, and vows to expose him for racial profiling. Pelton, realizing that such an accusation would cost him his job, then turns to Jeff, pleading with him to persuade Annie not to run the story, claiming that his text rates were beginning to increase and had to budget who received the message from him. Jeff casually, yet unsuccessfully, tries to persuade Annie to drop the story. They then see that Buddy is still at the table with the group, since no one has told him the bad news yet. Jeff, tries casually to ask Buddy to leave, but is fruitless in this endeavor as well, as Buddy stays in the room to antagonize them. Jeff, realizing that his mellow mentality is not effective, takes action and drags Buddy out of the room, then returns and strictly forbids Annie from running the dean Pelton story. Back in his office, Jeff claims that his attempt to reinvent himself was a failure, and is not suitable for Abed's comparing him to Hawkeye. Abed, realizing Jeff has never seen an episode of M*A*S*H, reassured him that the real Hawkeye Pierce had to make strict decisions too, having moments of gravity as well as levity. Annie comes in and actually thanks Jeff for his reaction, stating she never thought of how it would affect anyone aside from her, until she saw him get mad. Jeff realizes that Buddy simply loves the group as much as he does, allows him back into the group. Just as everyone else begins to accept him, the "cool study group" (Owen Wilson in an uncredited role, Star-Burns, and unnamed Japanese pop enthusiast) comes up and states that they thought it over and they accept Buddy too. Buddy explains that Jeff's group was his fallback, and runs gleefully off to the cool study group.