Plot
 I never lied to you. I showed you the right truth.
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| — Jeff |
| After graduating from Greendale, Jeff Winger was unsuccessful in his return to practicing law as a crusading attorney. He had to shut down his firm and was in the midst of having his office furniture repossessed. As this happened his old colleague Alan Connor arrived with a proposition. Alan told him he needed his help on a case involving one Marvin Humphries. He was graduate of Greendale Community College who designed a recently collapsed bridge. He is now suing the school for giving him a degree he wasn't qualified for. Alan asks Jeff to use his connections to obtain his clients records before it's destroyed. Alan convinces him to think about it by playing on Jeff's desperation and vanity. He also points out Greendale's culpability both with Humphries' actions and Jeff's own situation.
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| The following day, Jeff reluctantly returns to the Greendale campus but is unable to charm his way to the records. When he runs into Dean Craig Pelton he comes up with a new plan. He lies about forming a “Save Greendale Committee” to help the school during the bridge collapse scandal. Pelton happily allows him access to the school records which is now located in the the study room. After looking through the boxes there his search for the Humphries files is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Abed Nadir. He explains that the Dean told him about the committee, and he in turn alerted the rest of the study group. Right on cue, the rest of Jeff's friends arrive, and they immediately fall back into their old routine around the study table. Jeff has a change of heart and heads back to the Dean to warn him about Alan's lawsuit. He's infuriated when he finds the Dean shredding the very files he was looking for.
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| Jeff calls up Alan with a new plan intending to manipulate his old study group to sue the school. Jeff rejoins the group and explains that Greendale could be in jeopardy from Humphries. He tells them that students can sue schools by claiming that it ruined their life and suggests that to save Greendale, they need to think like the enemy. He encourages everyone to share how Greendale has damaged each of their lives. Annie admits that she's working for a pharmaceutical company instead of administering a hospital. Britta is working as a bartender as she has yet to find employment as a therapist. Abed didn't get far as a film director and is working as a programmer, hoping to create the next big social media app. Troy plans to sue Abed when his social media product becomes successful enough. Shirley reveals that she tried to expand her sandwich restaurant too soon and went out of business.
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| Additionally, she spent so much time with her business that Andre left her again, taking their sons with him. Jeff points out that these stories are exactly the kind of thing that students could use to make a claim against Greendale. He excuses himself again, this time to meet with Alan. Jeff explains his plan with the study group, but Alan assumes that he, not Jeff, will take on the five clients. Jeff quickly moves to correct this oversight and berates Alan's presumptive and entitled behavior, stating that the monster inside of him has returned. Back in the study room, the group admits that their lives are worse since arriving at Greendale. However, they all decide to re-enroll at Greendale rather than sue the school. Chang bursts out of a nearby stack of boxes and tells them that he is living at the school again after going to jail for his past crimes and being hired as a math teacher.
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| After he walks out, everybody expresses alarm at Greendale's poor judgement regarding Chang. Jeff again tries to subtly suggest they sue the school, but Alan bursts in and divulges Jeff's plan as revenge for stealing the study group as prospective clients. When the group members express shock at this revelation, Jeff goes around the table, summing up the negative path their lives have taken after Greendale and presents a document to sign a class action suit against the school. Disheartened, Troy laments that if Jeff hasn't changed from his amoral beginnings, then they all might as well sign. The rest of the group follows suit, putting Greendale's fate in Jeff's hands. As Jeff leaves, Abed suggests they burn the study table as a requiem for their time together.
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| Outside the library, Jeff is startled by a hologram of Pierce, who has been legally banned from the school for sexual harassment. As Jeff looks for clues to the sudden appearance, Pierce warns Jeff to continue to give Greendale a chance as a crappy place for crappy people to sort themselves out. Taking the advice to heart, Jeff goes to Dean Pelton and tells him how easy it was to convince the people who care most about the school that they should sue it. When Jeff tells Pelton that he needs to either do a better job as Dean or quit, Pelton invites him to help by joining the faculty at Greendale. Desperately needing the money, Jeff reluctantly agrees. Jeff finds the group in the parking lot about to burn the study table and tells them that if their lives are as crappy as they said, Greendale is a crappy place where they can get better. One by one, they decide they all have room to grow as people, and Greendale is the place to do it.
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End tag
| Abed plays a re-edited version of Jeff's lawyer commercial on his lap top. In the new edit, Abed inserts himself as the super hero and recasts Jeff as the super villain. The climax of a battle between the two super beings has "Super Abed" using his shrink ray vision to miniaturize "Super Jeff". "Super Abed" then swallows "Super Jeff" and expels him from his body using flatulence. As Abed laughs at his video he turns and sees Jeff is behind him and looks unamused.
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Recurring themes
Continuity
- And we're back!: This episode is a return on several levels. The study group returns for another year at Greendale along with Jeff who graduated last year. This also marks the return of creator Dan Harmon as show runner after having been fired and replaced in Season Four and writer Chris McKenna after a stint on the Fox sitcom The Mindy Project.
- Replay: Many scenes in this episode echo scenes from the Pilot.
- The outside crane shot of the campus quad at the start of the episode is the same shot used in the pilot.
- The indoor panning shot of the cafeteria at the start of the episode is the same shot used in the pilot.
- Dean Pelton's announcement.
- The reformation of the study group. Jeff creates a fake group and Abed ends up inviting the rest of the members.
- Jeff repeatedly leaves the study room to work out a secret plan behind the scenes.
- Instead of complimenting the group members to end an argument, Jeff tells them how bad their lives have become to get them to sue Greendale.
- Pierce claims that he has been banned from the school because some women can't take a compliment, a phrase he used when Annie objected to his phrase “crafty Jew brain.”
- Jeff's direction takes a major turn after an encounter with Pierce outside the library. According to Dan Harmon, this last point was a deliberate homage to the original pilot.
- Previously:
- Jeff notices that the once empty trophy case now has a trophy from his victory with Annie in Debate 109.
- The world peace scoreboard from Geography of Global Conflict is shown in the re-purposed study room.
- Chang, along with the study group, recounts his misdeeds in impersonating a teacher, working as a security guard, burning the school, taking over and attempting to burn down the school, faking amnesia to bring down Greendale from within.
- In "Virtual Systems Analysis", Abed imitates Troy and says he finds Clive Owen attractive. In this episode, Troy says he has a Clive Owen tumblr.
- Jeff finds a file labelled "Herpes, Water Fountains," which could refer to the incident in "Herstory of Dance", where the water fountains were confiscated by the CDC.
- Familiar faces: Chevy Chase returns for his final appearance as Pierce Hawthorne and Rob Corddry returns as Alan Connor.
- Googly Eyes: Jeff takes a moment to smile fondly at the trophy he and Annie won together.
- Returning students: Leonard and Garrett return.
- School supplies: The study table appears and is taken outside the library where it is set on fire.
- Middle Eastern Magic Eight ball: In the Season Two episode "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking", Pierce unintentionally foreshadowed his return in this episode. While pretending to be on his death bed he told Jeff he always imagined when he was dying he'd be a hologram and Jeff would be in bed.
- Winger speech: Jeff gives several Winger speeches of varying length and inspirational content. He cuts one short because Alan doesn't deserve the full speech.
- Express tuition aisle: Actually taken seriously in this episode: an improperly educated engineer built a bridge that ended up collapsing. His thesis? A Lego bridge that breaks apart when Jeff touches it.
Running gags
- Mancrush: Dean Pelton is happy to see Jeff return to Greendale musing that maybe Jeff returned to Greendale for him and then hugs him a little too tightly.
- Shut up, Leonard!: When Leonard teases Jeff for returning to Greendale...
- “Shut up, Leonard! I'm not really here! I'm just a figment of your creeping dementia!”
- Nice outfit: Jeff wears a super hero costume in a television commercial for his law firm. Abed later wears a super hero costume himself in a video he made which spoofs Jeff's commercial.
- Come Sail Away: Troy struggles to find a suitable reason for tearing up.
- Deanotation: Pelton says to Jeff his job isn't easy and that it's his whole "I-Dean-tity". He acknowledges the deanotation to reinforce how true it is.
- Take that, inspector!: Pelton mentions that one of the reasons why the Group Study Room F was closed after the Study group graduated was asbestos.
Pop culture references
- TV Guide:
- Shout out:
- Jeff calls one of the movers “Francis Ford Repo Man” when he critiques Jeff's TV commercial, a nod to famed director Francis Ford Coppola.
- Abed also mentions actor Zach Braff.
- Jeff accuses Alan of owning Eli Roth DVDs.
- Troy admits to having a Clive Owen Tumblr page.
- IMDb:
- In addition to his usual “Cash” nickname (from Tango & Cash) Alan calls Jeff Wing Blade a reference to “Sling Blade.”
- Abed doesn't think anybody else has his level of appreciation for Time Bandits.
Meta references
- IRL, Everyone's a critic: Troy expresses anger at Zach Braff for only doing 6 episodes of "Scrubs" in Season 9 of the show before leaving. This is a thinly veiled reference to Donald Glover departing Community and only appearing in 5 episodes of Season Five. Troy's outburst mimics the response some fans had to his own departure.
- Use your allusion:
- The title of the episode "Repilot" refers to a practice in the television industry where a concept episode of a potential TV show, called a "pilot", is created by a studio in order to sell it as a series to a network. The name suggests that this is a second pilot where a new premise and direction for the show will be presented.
- Troy's post graduation plan has been to sue Abed when he makes the next lucrative social media app, a clear reference to Facebook and The Social Network.
- Up against the wall:
- Abed objected that the phone number for Jeff's law practice (303-555-HERO) began with “555”, calling it derivative and fake. Phone numbers in TV shows and films almost always begin with 555 as no real phone numbers use the 555 prefix.
- Troy asks the others if they “feel weird about doing this without...” and pauses while looking at Pierce's vacant spot before finishing, “Magnitude?”
- Annie and Abed blame their odd behavior last year on a gas leak. Community creator Dan Harmon was fired after Season Three. Harmon was rehired for Season Five and the gas leak is a reference to the differences during its fourth season when Harmon was not running the show.
- Pierce shows up as a hologram because he has been banned by the school. Chevy Chase left the show near the end of the fourth season and was permanently banned from the set. Harmon devised the hologram scene so he could film Chase in another location without violating the terms of the ban.
Production
Episode premiere date and title
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Season On August 16, 2013, Dan Harmon tweeted a photo of the script covering up the Season premieres name. On October 18, Deadline reported that NBC would air "Community" starting on January 2, 2014 as a mid-season replacement. On November 4, the title was later revealed to be "Repiloting" by actress Gillian Jacobs on a podcast interview of "Bullseye with Jesse Thorn". Production for this episode used the title "The Notorious H.A.T." on its clapperboard. This follows the the theme of hat-based puns throughout Season Five's production titles. |
Chevy Chase cameo
| In an IGN interview with Community creator Dan Harmon, he talks about how the Chevy Chase/Pierce Hawthorne cameo came about and how they kept it under wraps:
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Harmon further discusses the mechanics of Chase's cameo in a TV Guide Interview. He states that part of Chase's exit agreement included him being banned from the set, so an alternative had to be devised in order to film the scene.
| “ | I started with that image in my head of a blue Obi-Wan ghost of Chevy Chase. Why would that happen? How is that possible? And then you realize that Pierce is a millionaire, and he has a history with the campus. So we thought, 'Maybe this is a way around this contract thing, the terms of his departure with the studio. Maybe we can get around that by shooting him separately in a goliath stage with Chevy-proof walls. | ” |
Production card
| This episode features the first use of the "Harmonious Claptrap" vanity card at the end of the episode. Originally, 14 rotating vanity cards with variations on the "A Dan Harmon/Russo Brothers" title were seen between Seasons 1-3. The new card features a statuette of creator Dan Harmon sitting on a couch with his fiancé Erin McGathy.
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Behind the scenes video
Gallery
Behind the scenes photo
Promotional clips
Keep it Down
Community - Season 5 Premiere Clip
Premiere Clip
Promotional photos
Episode screencaps
Quotes
- “After you and your friends left, it was closed for sentimental reasons. And asbestos reasons but it's clean as a whistle now.”— Dean Pelton
- “I can't stop thinking the school might be in trouble because of this bridge-collapsing guy.”— Jeff
- “He's the one making bad bridges, that's like me blaming owls for how much I suck at analogies.”— Britta
- “Relaxabrex doesn't make you give up on your dreams, that's a side effect. At least the drugs I sell don't get slurped out of my belly button.”— Annie
- “That's only on Tummy Tuesdays!”— Britta
- “They seriously rehired a teacher they fired for trying to burn down the school?”— Troy
- “After being rehired as a security guard after being fired for impersonating a teacher?”— Shirley
- “That's insane. And I'm Abed.”— Abed
- “If we sue Greendale, can I be a surprise witness? Wait, don't tell me.”— Troy
Trivia
- In this episode, we see Jeff writing with his right hand as Dean Pelton attends to his future class. However, as seen in all other episodes, Jeff is left-handed.
- This is the last episode to feature all seven members of The Study Group.
| In addition to removing Chevy Chase's name from the Paper fortune teller credit sequence, the final screen has also been altered from what it used to be in the first four seasons.
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| The pencil is now broken and taped together, as a possible reference to the pilot episode, and the glasses (presumably Pierce's) are gone.
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Sources
- TV Spoilers - Community - Episode 5.01 - 5.02 - Synopsis
- Gillian Jacobs interview
- Joel McHale and the Greendale gang return in first stills from Community Season Five
- Community: How the Season 5 Premiere Cameo Came to Be
- [Harmon Reveals How Community Pulled Off Chevy Chase Cameo.]
| Season Five Episodes | ||
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1. "Repilot" |
8. "App Development and Condiments" |
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| Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four • Season Five • Season Six | ||
