Plot
 Greendale Community College is represented by two separate yet equally important types of people: the goofballs who run around stirring up trouble, and the eggheads that make a big deal out of it. These are their stories.
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| Jerry and another janitor are cleaning up the biology lab when the former makes a horrible discovery. A few hours later, Jeff, Annie, and Professor Kane arrive at what has now become a crime scene. It turns out the study group's biology project, a yam, has been squashed. Although upset at having been summoned to the lab for a minor incident, Kane decides to give the study group a passing grade. Annie refuses as she believes that the project would have received an "A" if it hadn't been sabotaged. Kane says that until proof is found, his decision stands. When Shirley, Abed, and Troy arrive at the scene, Annie enlists their help to find the culprit.
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| Troy and Abed start their investigation with Pierce as it was his turn to water the yam that night. They find him in the cafeteria taking bets on an arm wrestling contest between Leonard and Harry. After dispersing the elderly spectators, they corner Pierce. He admits he was unable to do his part for the project because the lab was locked when he got there. He suggests they go after Todd since has a motive. They find Todd working his job at the library and notice he has a suspicious hand injury. Todd claims he burned his hand in home economics class and that he too was unable to enter the locked lab. As proof, he presents a photo he took from outside the lab which shows their yam still intact.
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| Troy and Abed take the picture and have it analyzed by Britta who is unable to provide any useful information. Shirley takes a closer look at the clock in the photo and notices the photo was taken ten minutes after 8:00 P.M., confirming part of Todd's and Pierce's alibis. Abed figures that whoever did it must have had a key. Shirley suggests they check with the front office and look over the sign out log for the lab keys. When they get to the administration office, they find Neil in charge of the keys. After checking the records, he finds that Magnitude was the last one to sign for it. Troy and Abed track him down at the student lounge where Magnitude tells them it was inside his backpack which ended up being stolen.
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| They decide to set up a sting to see if they can find the thief. Their trap ends up catching Star-Burns in the act of taking the bait they laid out. In a makeshift interrogation room, Troy and Abed try to good cop/bad cop a confession out of him. Star-Burns realizes they have no authority over him and refuses to cooperate. Shirley steps in and tells them to check with the lab and see what the test results are since they aren't making any progress here. At the biology lab, the school's botanist tells them that the damage to the yam is consistent with someone having stepped on it. She reveals that had the yam survived, it would have gotten them an "A" as it was about to bloom.
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| The next day, Troy and Abed confer with Jeff and Annie about what their investigation has turned up so far. Jeff tells the duo to search Star-Burns' locker; if they can find leverage to use against him, they can force him to tell them what he knows. Annie objects, pointing out how unethical it is. Jeff counters that they don't have time to waste if they want to see justice done. Later, Troy and Abed convince a janitor to open the locker under the pretense that they heard a cat inside. After it's opened, biology lab equipment spills out. Star-Burns arrives, takes in the scene, and runs. Troy and Abed quickly follow in pursuit. They corner him in the hallway where he is pestering Quendra to help him evade capture.
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 Jeff and Annie prosecute the offenders. |
| Star-Burns agrees to name the real suspect as long as his pilfering of the biology lab is kept secret. He makes Troy and Abed pinky swear on it and then tells them it was Todd. Troy and Abed apprehend the suspect at his basket weaving class. He is brought to the biology classroom before Professor Kane where Jeff and Annie present their case against him. Before Todd can respond to the charges, they are interrupted by the dramatic appearance of his former CO Lieutenant Colonel Archwood. He states his credentials as an attorney and demands to know why his client is being harassed. To resolve the situation, the entire matter is brought before Dean Pelton in his office.
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| Archwood argues that all they have against Todd is the testimony of Star-Burns who has no alibi himself for the crime. Jeff replies that they cannot reveal what he was doing there because of a pinky swear. Pelton gives Jeff an ultimatum: reveal what Star-Burns was up to, or he'll fail the study group. Professor Kane steps in and asserts that he's the one who makes the decisions in his class. He upholds the pinky swear and states that both sides can argue their case to the class and let them decide their grades. Later, Jeff and Annie are working on the case in the study room when an angry Troy and Abed interrupt.
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| They inform them that Archwood threatened Star-Burns, and now their only witness has disappeared. A determined Annie still plans on trying the case despite Jeff's objections. The next day, Archwood is doing his best to portray Todd as a national hero at the trial. When it's Annie's turn to cross examine him, she uses the very virtues Archwood was extolling about Todd against him. She manipulates him by calling on his sense of duty and honor to come clean. He begins to crack under the pressure of her pleas and lets it slip that what happened was an accident. He dropped the yam because it was hot and burned his hand. The class is stunned by his admission as Annie performs a victory dance.
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| Jeff suddenly asks for a sidebar with Professor Kane. Inside Kane's office, Jeff offers a plea bargain and requests that the group and Todd be given a "C." He convinces Annie that Todd's confession wasn't actually a clear admission of guilt and that he doesn't want to see a possibly innocent man fail. Kane accepts his plea bargain, and they return to class. Before the professor is able to pass sentence, Jeff asks to deliver closing arguments. He theorizes that all the yams were victims and that someone had been boiling them, hence Todd's injury. He's proven correct when the other yams splatter easily after being dropped on the floor. Vicki's yam remains intact, however, which forces a confession from Neil. He sabotaged the other projects to lower the grade curve, so that his girlfriend Vicki could pass.
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| Later in Dean Pelton's office, Jeff and Annie along with Kane and Pelton are discussing the aftermath of the trial. As a result of his deception, Neil has lost his administrative duties as key master and is now being forced to retake biology in summer school. Annie is surprised that after all the procedures and politics, the case came down to basic biology. The celebration is cut short when Kane answers Dean Pelton's phone. After hanging up, a shocked Kane informs the others that Star-Burns was involved in a car accident. The incident caused the meth lab in the back of his trunk to explode, and he is now dead.
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End tag
| Troy and Abed are in their bunk bed talking. It is revealed that their bunk bed is in Group Study Room F when Shirley interrupts their conversation and asks why they aren't back in their apartment yet. Dean Pelton arrives with warm milk for the two guys and sings them to sleep with a creepy lullaby.
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Recurring themes
Continuity:
- Returning faculty: Marshall Kane returns in this episode making his third and final appearance of the season.
- Returning students: This episode features the return of a lot of Greendale students starting with Harry Jefferson, Leonard, Todd, Fat Neil, Magnitude, Star-Burns, Quendra, Garrett, and Vicky.
- Familiar face:
- Jerry the Janitor and Crazy Schmidt return in the opening sequence.
- One of the students Abed had cast as his Pierce in "The Community College Chronicles" returns. He is one of the many elderly students at Greendale betting on the arm wrestling competition between Harry and Leonard.
- School Supplies: Yams are grown by the Biology Class as a project.
- Winger Speech: Jeff uses one of his speeches to reveal the truth about the yams.
- Googly eyes: It's revealed that Neil and Vicki are currently in a relationship.
Running gags:
- Disney face: Annie uses her formidable guilt inducing powers on Todd to get him to confess.
- Catchphrase: Abed relates Magnitude's entire story back to him in order to for him to deliver his signature catchphrase "Pop! Pop!".
- I'm Batman!: The characters on the show took on roles familiar to the "Law & Order" franchise:
- Troy and Abed became the lead investigators in the same vein as Lenny Briscoe and Ed Green.
- Jeff and Annie became the prosecuting attorneys similar to Jack McCoy and Claire Kincaid.
- Shirley became an analogue to Lt. Anita Van Buren.
- Pierce was the typical informant character
- Britta was the lab tech.
- Pansexual imp: The Dean's behavior reveals his attraction to men in uniforms and even the word "uniform" itself.
- Double Entendre: Annie's text to get Jeff to the crime scene is hinted to be, "You're about to get screwed in the biology room".
- Nice outfit: The study group investigators wear clothing inspired by the characters they are representing from "Law & Order". Troy and Abed's wardrobe resemble the clothing worn by the detectives on the show and Jeff and Annie's outfits are similar to the outfits worn by the prosecuting attorneys. In place of the typical Awareness ribbon often worn by the detectives Abed had an "Inspector Spacetime" badge.
- Deanotation: Dean Pelton says, "Sweet Deans" after singing a lullabuy to Troy and Abed.
Pop culture references:
- TV Guide: Professor Kane refers to the show "Mama's Family"
Meta references:
- Homage:This episode was an homage to the long running NBC crime procedural "Law & Order".
- The name of the episode itself is an reference to "Law & Order" creator Dick Wolf as Lupine means wolf-like, and Urology is the study of male urine systems (dick).
- The opening title sequence was done in a similar way with the Community theme song re-orchestrated to mimic the sound of "Law & Order's" theme.
- The episode was shot, filmed and structured in a similar format as a typical L&O episode. The first half of the episode was the investigation while the last half dealt with the prosecution. It also has a typical "Law & Order" plot twist where the true cuprit is dramatically exposed and the episode ends with shocking revelation.
- The cop drama's signature sound effect of a banging gavel was used throughout the episode as were similar title cards indicating the time and date.
- Leslie Hendrix, who plays the medical examiner Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers on Law & Order, makes a brief cameo as the school botanist who examines the study group's yam.
- Résumé: Professor Kane uses the phrase "a man must have a code" when explaining why he is upholding the pinky swear deal with Star-Burns; this is a reference to his character Omar Little on HBO's "The Wire". Jeff also uses the phrase and earns Kane's respect.
- IRL: In 2010, online Community fandom, partly fueled by a suggestive tweet from Donald Glover himself, attempted to drum up support for him to play the part of Spider-Man in the then upcoming reboot movie. This is referenced with the Spider-Man tie he wears in this episode. It was also referenced previously in the Season Two episode "Anthropology 101" when Troy is seen wearing Spidey pajamas.
Gallery
Promotional video
Promotional photos
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Behind the scenes photos
Quotes
- “A 'passing grade'? Like a 'C'? Why don't I just get pregnant at a bus station?”— Annie
- “Sorry. My friend- he's a bad cop. I'm a good cop. You can trust me.”— Abed
- “Yeah... oh, good... okay, well-- Hey! I'm not falling for that! And you've got nothing on me! And I don't have to stay here because you're not cops!”— Star-Burns
- “Todd Jacobson, you have the right to do whatever you want. Nothing you say or do can be used against you by anyone, but we'd really like it if you came with us. Please and thank you.”— Troy recites Shirley's version of the Miranda warning.
- “And for your valor, you were awarded a Bronze Star. In fact, you have an absolutely glowing service record, don't you, Private?.”— Lieutenant Colonel Archwood
- “I do my best.”— Todd
- “You do more than that soldier. Certainly more than this witness who supposedly saw you kill the yam, a man who for all we know is a Holocaust denying, 911, pedophile.”— Lieutenant Colonel Archwood
Trivia
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Notes:
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| Season Three Episodes | ||
|---|---|---|
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1. "Biology 101" |
12. "Contemporary Impressionists" |
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| Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four • Season Five • Season Six | ||
