"Intro to Political Science"
◄   Season Two, Episode Seventeen  ►
Air date	February 24, 2010 on
Written by	Adam Countee
Directed by	Jay Chandrasekhar

“	You got to have Jeff, Jeff, JEFF!!!	”
–Jeff

Summary: Anticipating a visit from the Vice President of the United States, Dean Pelton holds an election for student body president. An idealistic Annie decides to run, but Jeff decides to run against her to spite her and show how stupid politics can be.

Contents 1 Plot 2 End tag 3 Recurring themes 3.1 Continuity: 3.2 Running gags: 3.3 Pop culture references: 3.4 Meta references: 4 Quotes 5 Comments

PlotEdit

Pierce relays to the study group his time at rehab where he met celebrities. After they officially welcome him back to the group, they decide to study but are unsure of how to proceed. The Dean walks into the study room and interrupts the awkward situation. He tells them that the Vice President is doing a tour of community colleges to promote education, and Greendale is his next stop. The Dean and the president of the student body are supposed to meet him. Since they don't currently have a student president, an election needs to be held before he arrives. Abed mentions this must be why the school has been under secret surveillance. Later in the cafeteria, the Dean has set up an impromptu election for class president.

Annie's enthusiasm for the election is dampened by Jeff's cynical attitude towards it. After he fails to help her hang up campaign flyers, Annie cuts him down with remark about his status as a lawyer. Abed is watching the selection process when Agent Robin Vohlers introduces herself. She begins interrogating him, intrigued that he was able to spot the undercover agents they planted at school. On stage, Annie is pushed through the preliminary round along with a few other students. She is shocked when Jeff nominates himself, charming the audience with his meaningless rhetoric. Over in the student lounge, Troy and Abed are shooting a closed circuit campus TV news show covering the election. Later, the stage for the opening debates is set up and Annie asks Jeff to quit since he's not taking it seriously.

Jeff, however, is intent on proving how much of a joke politics are. Meanwhile, Pierce is also on the dais taunting Vicki before being reminded by the Dean that all the microphones are on. The debate officially starts and Annie is the first candidate to present her ideological platform which Jeff counters with more insincere rhetoric. Out in the crowd, Agent Vohlers approaches Abed again with more questions and Troy notices the attraction between the two. Back on stage, Pierce uses his mic time as an opportunity to cruelly provoke Vicki into leaving. Having gotten his revenge for her not lending him a pencil, Pierce leaves as well. Annie tries to get the debate focus back on track by bringing up her stance on cleaning up the school's black mold problem.

Jeff twists Annie's words saying she believes Greendale to be dirty and drums up support from the audience by disagreeing with her. Annie then reduces her platform to one issue, the black mold,and makes it into a rhyming sound bite that wins over the crowd. Elsewhere, Troy and Abed take a break from their election coverage when Pavel shows up. He tells Abed that the Secret Service are trashing his dorm room. Arriving at the scene, Abed finds his dorm in disarray and confronts Robin on her true reasons for investigating him. She weakly denies any hidden agenda but offers him an apology of sorts for her actions and leaves. Back at the debate, Annie again tries to get Jeff to quit. She argues that his participation could cause the vote to split and give an unworthy candidate the presidency. After Jeff refuses she threatens that she won't hold back anymore and has a surprise for him.

As the debate starts up again, Star-Burns drops out not wanting to tarnish his reputation as a drug dealer. After Magnitude offers his view on the black mold issue, Annie then makes good on her threat and presents a special audio/video presentation. She plays a copy of Jeff's embarrassing 1997 audition tape for "The Real World" . Humiliated, Jeff runs off stage as the crowd laughs and Annie realizes she went too far. She finds him later in the storage room but Jeff stops her from apologizing admitting he deserved it. Troy interrupts and tells them that they are missing the debate. Jeff reminds him that he quit and is surprised to hear Annie say she dropped out as well. Troy replies he was referring to a captivating debate Leonard and Magnitude are having and leaves to watch the rest of it.

Jeff and Annie finish their conversation and she confesses she lost sight of the issues and became focused on winning. Jeff then suggests this all happened because they both cared what they thought of each other. In the middle of hugging out an apology, they are again interrupted this time by Pierce. He offers a poignant take on their conflict before revealing he had been stabbed in the face by Vicki with a pencil. Back at the election, the Dean is angered when the final votes show the winner of the election to be "South Park". Abed wraps up his and Troy's election coverage by mentioning how to create napalm from common household items. Over at the Vice-President's motorcade, Agent Vohlers gets wind of this statement. She advises the VP skip Greendale and go to City College due to the elevated threat level. She says she will look into the matter personally and slowly smiles.

End tagEdit

Abed is alone in his dorm room watching the movie "Kickpuncher". Outside in a van, Secret Service Agent Robin Vohlers is watching the film as well through a pair of binoculars. After the film ends, he talks into his lamp which is wired; he tells her he had fun and suggests they "see" each other again.

Recurring themesEdit

Continuity:Edit

• That just happened:
  • Pierce has returned from rehab following an overdose in "Early 21st Century Romanticism" plus his hospitalization in "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking".
  • Jeff states to Annie that he hid in the storage room because it was recently established that as a hiding place the men's room doesn't work. This is a reference to their restroom conversation in "Asian Population Studies".
• Returning students: Garrett, Star-Burns, Leonard, Pavel, and Magnitude return in this episode.
• First appearance: Vicki makes her debut in this episode.
• Googly eyes:
  • Jeff and Annie share another moment that is interrupted by Pierce.
  • Abed and Agent Vohlers, in their own stoic way, have an emotional moment when they realize they won't see each other anymore.
• Middle Eastern Magic 8 Ball: The news scroll at the bottom of the screen during Troy and Abed's election coverage hints at future plot points:
  • "No paintball this spring" claims Dean. and Dean suggests end of year picnic, implies "western theme". Greendale does play paintball again but the Dean tries, unsuccessfully, to tone it down.
  • Reports continue of mysterious "air vent monster". Explained in Cooperative Calligraphy.
• Previously: The news scroll references several previous episodes:
  • Chicken fingers shortage continues.
  • Professor Slater still missing. She hasn't been in an episode since the Season One finale.
  • Dr. Ian Duncan quits drinking again. He went sober in Asian Population Studies but fell off the wagon by Early 21st Century Romanticism.
  • BNL shows up in Pierce's election profile. The group's obsession with the band was briefly explored in Early 21st Century Romanticism.
• A nice gesture: Troy and Abed do their signature handshake when they learn they both voted for "South Park".
• Discontinuity:

  

  • It's never revealed how Annie learned about Jeff's "Real World" audition or where she obtained a tape of it.
  • When the winner is revealed, Dean Pelton angrily says that this type of thing happened 10 years ago which is why they abolished student government. However, the Community webisode series "The 5 As" contradicts this. It aired prior to the Pilot episode to promote the shows debut and a student called Brody Leitz is introduced as being the class president of Greendale who is shown presiding over a campus student government.
  • Annie is listed as being 19 in this episode. Previously she stated that she was born in December 1990 which would make her age in February 2011 in which this episode is set 20.

Running gags:Edit

• Raging against the machine: Britta goes off about the illusion of democracy but is mercifully interrupted by Jeff. She later interrupts the nomination process to spew more anti-government rhetoric.
• Nice outfit: Dean Pelton dresses up in his sister's Uncle Sam outfit.
• Rhyme time: Jeff says, "Bring it on, Ponce de León!" Annie responds, "I'm gonna Greg Muldunna!"
• Come sail away: Troy tears up when he finds out that Abed has his own side adventures.

Pop culture references:Edit

• Shout out:
  • Pierce tells an off color story about Tom Sizemore.
  • Dean Pelton tells the group that Vice President Joe Biden will visit the Greendale campus.
  • Pierce's election profile says that he followed The Barenaked Ladies on tour over the summer.
• TV Guide:
  • South Park wins the election for student body president.
  • Annie plays Jeff's audition tape for The Real World.

Meta references:Edit

• Parody: This episode mocks politics, particularly the election process which often becomes less about the important issues and more about trivial matters.
• Use your allusion: Jeff does a George Michaels impression singing a reworded version of the British singers hit song "Faith".
• Up against the wall: After welcoming Pierce back from rehab, the group awkwardly prepares to study when they are mercifully interrupted by Dean Pelton. Their reluctance to actually study pokes fun at the fact that the study group is rarely seen studying and is frequently interrupted, usually by the Dean.

QuotesEdit

“I'm sorry, Annie. I'm not the worker bee type. I'm more of a silverback gorilla with the claws of a lion, the teeth of a shark, and the quiet dignity of a tortoise.”— Jeff

“Face it, Annie. Politics are all about ego, popularity, and parlor tricks. Don't kid a lawyer.”— Jeff

“Well, if I see one, I will.”— Annie

“My name is Annie Edison and if elected I promise to make Greendale the signature community college of the entire western three quarters of the Greendale area.”— Annie

“This election's become a real horse race. According to our polls the campus is almost evenly divided. Now keep in mind the margin of error on this thing is about 98%.”— Troy

“Could be higher. We don't even know how to do margins of error. We talked to two people at a vending machine.”— Abed

“I actually withdraw my candidacy. I fear a political career will shine a negative light on my drug dealing. Thank you.”— Star-Burns

“Two men fighting for the same piece of earth, one recently born, one soon to die. A competition reflecting the pointlessness of life.”— Abed

“As the confetti gets swept away and we begin gearing up for next years election for GCTV I'm Abed Nadir saying. Did you know you can make napalm out common dish soap and cat food?”— Abed

“What!? Why would you say that?”— Troy

Season Two Episodes
1. "Anthropology 101" 2. "Accounting for Lawyers" 3. "The Psychology of Letting Go" 4. "Basic Rocket Science" 5. "Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples" 6. "Epidemiology" 7. "Aerodynamics of Gender" 8. "Cooperative Calligraphy" 9. "Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design" 10. "Mixology Certification" 11. "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" 12. "Asian Population Studies"	13. "Celebrity Pharmacology 212" 14. "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" 15. "Early 21st Century Romanticism" 16. "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" 17. "Intro to Political Science" 18. "Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy" 19. "Critical Film Studies" 20. "Competitive Wine Tasting" 21. "Paradigms of Human Memory" 22. "Applied Anthropology and Culinary Arts" 23. "A Fistful of Paintballs" 24. "For A Few Paintballs More"
Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four • Season Five

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