Director: Adam Davidson — Writer: Briggs Hatton — Aired: 5/26/2015 —Season: Six — Number: 12 Summary: The committee attends Garrett's wedding while Abed films the event as a mockumentary.
In Jeff's law class, Abed is filming a special presentation Garrett put together which is revealed to be a surprise proposal to his girlfriend Stacy. When she unexpectedly accepts, the class celebrates while Abed films Jeff, concerned about his melancholy reaction. On the day of the wedding, Abed continues his documentation at his apartment. Britta and Annie invited the other Save Greendale Committee members and Dean Pelton over so they can all get ready together for the event. Frankie shows up first but the atmosphere is awkward until the boisterous arrival of the other committee members.
It's official, I'm getting laid!
Annie and Britta reveal they lied about when the ceremony was to start so that they'd all be ready in time. They ironically waste the extra time playing "Celebrity Garrett Marriage" impersonation game and end up being late for the wedding.
Do you Garrett, take Aubrey Plaza to be your wife? I doooooo!
The committee gets to the service just as Garrett and Stacy are exchanging their vows. However, their obnoxious arrival disrupts the festivities highlighted by Chang falling over a bush and then breaking the chair he sits on. This earns them all a stern reprimand from Garrett's mother at the wedding reception. The committee takes the criticism to heart and decides to be on their best behaviour. However, despite their intentions they still manage to make a spectacle of themselves.
Britta does this by dancing crazy, Elroy falls back on his old habit of overpraising white people, and Annie helps push the bride's wheel chair bound 90 year old Meemaw around on the dance floor. She mentions this to Frankie who points outs they have the same problem, their dragon is that they are both are too devoted to helping others. This leads to them joking about what a mess Jeff is and Frankie mentioning her concern in an interview about Annie wanting to help him.
Thing is, and this will sound racist, white people are very discouraged ...
Meanwhile, Jeff witnesses Garrett's brother and best man Bones being tossed out of the party by Chang due to having fallen off the wagon. He manages to convince Garrett's mom to let him deliver the best man toast in Bones' place. With the committee's help he puts together a speech based on information they've culled from all their mingling.
No, you're boisterous! Where's my brother!
After a bad speech by the maid of honour it's Jeff's turn to speak. He is confident he has the perfect toast and entertains everyone by sharing anecdotes about the attendees. Wanting to impress the guests further he decides to end his speech on a special note. Jeff invites both Garrett's Aunt Polly and Stacy's Meemaw to join him. Confusion ensues when Garrett and Stacy point to the same person. It soon dawns on everyone that they are in fact the same person revealing that the bride and groom are related. The crowd is stunned by the revelation as Garrett's mom faints and Elroy tries in vain to mollify the situation.
Now this is a man that knows how to marry his cousin!
Afterwards Garrett and Stacy privately discuss the matter while the guests also process the shocking news in hushed whispers. Each committee member starts blaming themselves for what happened causing an argument to break out. Britta claims her bad behaviour was caused by being part of the group hinting at the committee's toxicity. Garrett announces the reception is over prompting Chang to ask him what he and Stacy are going to do next. Garrett replies they consulted with a lawyer and learned it is legal in the state of Colorado to marry your cousin. However, they've decided to annul the marriage to spare their families any more embarrassment.
Britta, we're all the worst right now. Take a day off!
Over the objections of the other committee members, Chang grabs the microphone from Garrett. He gets Garrett and Stacy to admit their feelings for one another haven't changed despite the shocking development. Chang delivers a heartfelt plea for the newlyweds to not ignore their love just to please others. Garrett takes Chang's advice to heart and re-proposes to Stacy who agrees to be his legally incestuous wife. The festivities resume as the cake is cut and the bride and groom share a dance. The committee group hugs. Abed is still filming the event and chastises Annie for staring straight at the camera.
The writer of the episode, Briggs Hatton (listed in the end credits as played by Matt Gourley), is directly addressing the viewers in a Yahoo production office. Hatton tells having researched incest on the internet, showing an old article where it is stated that first cousins can have children without birth defects or genetic disease. Hatton frustratedly addresses the outdated state laws regarding this, using his affair with his cousin as an example. Hatton is shown pitching the topic in the Community writers' room, then saying that while he's not trying to influence anyone's opinion, there's still more to the issue than people are told. Hatton emphasizes the importance of the episode and wishes the viewers good night.
Recurring or debuting plot points in this episode:
Winger speech: Jeff gives the best man toast at Garrett's wedding, but it's actually Chang who delivers the Winger speech and moral of this episode.
Express tuition aisle: Jeff actually doesn't want his students to make efforts and openly drinks in class.
Mad skillz: Elroy breaks out his talent of overpraising white people along with showing off his impressive vocal skills when he improvises a song.
Previously:
Jeff uses the term "synergy" to describe the group's dynamic while Frankie suggests that "codependent" is a better word. In the Season Two episode "Accounting for Lawyers", Jeff accused the group of being codependent.
While defending Garrett and Stacey's relationship, Chang is heckled by a wedding attendee saying, "Let him finish," when nobody was attempting to interrupt. During Jeff's pro-Chang sales pitch in the Season Two episode Asian Population Studies, Chang interrupts by saying, "Let him finish," when nobody was protesting. When Britta interrupts Abed's speech about chaos at the end of the Season Three episode Remedial Chaos Theory, she snips "Let him finish," even though she is the one interrupting.
Shout out: The group impersonates celebrities in their mock ”Celebrity Garrett Marriage” game. Impersonations include the Dean as Jack Nicholson, Chang as Christian Slater and Britta as Aubrey Plaza. Annie puns on several celebrity names when brainstorming dragon names including "Jimmy Talon" (Jimmy Fallon), "Christian Scale" (Christian Bale), "Carson Scaly" (Carson Daly), "Jude Claw" (Jude Law), and "Arianna Puffington" (Arianna Huffington).
Use your allusion:
Abed asking Annie not to 'Jim the camera'. This is a reference to NBC's documentary-style sitcom "The Office" in which the character Jim Halpert was known for reacting to the events around him by making faces at the camera.
Dan Harmon's then-wife, Erin McGathy, plays Garrett's bride Stacy. They married in November 2014 but announced a divorce in October 2015, a few months after this episode aired.
Actor Matt Gourley appears playing the writer of this episode, Briggs Hatton, in the end tag. The joke being that "Hatton" claims he is appearing onscreen himself.
Homage:
The entire episode is shot in the style of a mockumentary.
The end tag is an homage to public service announcements at the end of Very Special Sitcom Episodes that deal with controversial social issues.
Abed and Annie film what they call "missing lover footage", a TV trope from shows like Twin Peaks where a kidnapped or murdered victim has been filmed being totally lovable and happy by her lover, and which is then viewed by the investigators when the tragic events have taken place.
Parody: The end tag shows a parodic version of the Community writers' room. Every writer is replaced by a stand-in and Dan Harmon is replaced by a somewhat similar looking man with receding hair. Harmon's preferred Ketel One vodka bottle is replaced by a cheap off-brand vodka. A Rick and Morty tinfoil ship is hovering over the writers desk and a mock version of a story circle is also shown, including supposed story beats for the season. These include:
"To save Greendale or not save Greendale, that is the ??"
Frequent background extra Long haired guy makes the last of 65 episode appearances. He's beside Garrett in class celebrating with champagne and is at the wedding.
All the writers, including Briggs Hatton, are played by actors resembling the actual writers. See Meta references above.
If Stacy and Garrett were actual first cousins, one of Stacy's parents would be siblings with one of Garrett's parents, something unlikely to remain a secret all the way until Jeff's speech. However if we instead assume Garrett and Stacy to be second cousins, this plot issue disappears. This is supported by the fact Stacy likely uses "Meemaw" to mean grandmother. If Polly is Garrett's Great Aunt then they really are second cousins.
This is the only episode of the series in which Abed does not appear onscreen. While Abed does play an active role filming the day's events, only his voice is heard in the episode.
Some scenes are impossible due to having Abed in two locations at the same time, both behind a camera.
Quotes[]
“No, this family is so screwed up, you thought you were two different families. Now that you know you're not, you can't wait to leave, and you want this guy to do what? Forget he's in love? For you? You want him to take one for this crappy team?”— Chang
"This is a man that knows how to marry his cousin!" - Elroy
“It's you against the world and you will not win. But you get to make your moves, not them.”— Chang
