Community: Season 1, Episode 4

1 - 4:

Originally avoiding walking with Shirley due to their lack of chemistry, Jeff soon bonds with her over their mutual distaste for Vaughn, the phony laid back hippie that has been flirting with Britta recently. Jeff notices that Britta is becoming close friends with Vaughn too, and therefore further appreciates scoffing at Vaughn with Shirley. Meanwhile Annie, hoping to improve her unfavorable transcript, asks for permission to be involved with Professor Duncan's students as they perform an experiment bent on proving "The Duncan Principle". He allows her and mentions that she needs to bring two test subjects. Annie turns to Troy and Abed, playing up the importance of their friendship to her, and so they agree to sign on. Later, in Duncan's lab, the professor specifies that their experiment is based on his theory that the more power lost by the ego, the more drastic the outburst of the subject when it has reached its breaking point. They will prove this by provoking the test subjects to frustration by constantly pretending that the test will have to be postponed by merely 5 more minutes. Duncan, Annie, and the rest of the students will be watching in from the next room via a video camera. As the next few hours pass, everyone eventually breaks down violently and storms out, something that Duncan mocks and makes light of to the amusement of his students. Finally, as only Abed and Troy are left, Troy breaks and exclaims out to Annie wondering why she would treat him this way, causing Annie to feel a deep tinge of guilt. Seeing that Abed is the only one left, Duncan instructs the class to pull in close, as Abed's tantrum will prove to be the most heated than the rest. Meanwhile, Jeff comes across Britta and Vaughn, so she later apologizes to Jeff for surprising him into knowing that they are dating. Jeff tries his best to act okay with it, and promises to try and befriend Vaughn. He tells Shirley about the situation, and she later tries to tempt Jeff into joking about him, as he tries his hardest to overlook Vaughn's characteristics, such as taking his shirt off all the time. Back at the experiment, Duncan and his pupils wearily study Abed as he sits nonchalantly in the other room for 26 hours. Realizing his entire thesis has been obliterated, Professor Duncan lashes out at his students and blames Annie for having "sabotaged" the project. Annie in turn yells at Abed to go home, angered by her loss of extra credit. All the while Britta has turned to Jeff as a confidante, stating that she fears Vaughn may be putting more stock into their relationship than she's prepared for, and shows him a poem he had written for her. Jeff secretly shares this with Shirley, who shares it with the rest of the group. The rest of the group all starts making fun of Vaughn, and passing around a copy of the poem. Vaughn sees this and breaks up with Britta, assuming that she was a part of it too. Shirley apologizes to Jeff, stating that she's had a reputation before for "stirring the pot", and that it is something she struggles to control. Annie asks Abed why he stayed behind for her experiment, instead of just storming off like the rest. He tells her that she said they were friends, and he didn't want to let her down. The next day Annie apologizes for scolding Abed by buying him the first three Indiana Jones movies.