"The Psychology of Letting Go"
◄   Season Two, Episode Three  ►
Air date	October 7, 2010 on
Written by	Hilary Winston
Directed by	Anthony Russo

“	I can't be the first person to tell you this, but the temple doesn't last forever. This is a Temple of Doom, and you know what? Like the real Temple of Doom, it represents the fact that all good things- be it people or movie franchises- eventually collapse into sagging, sloppy, rotten piles of hard-to-follow nonsense.	”
–Nurse Jackie

Summary:Pierce's religion convinces him that the spirit of his dead mother is captured in a cheap lava lamp, and Jeff has a crisis of faith when he learns he has high cholesterol. Meanwhile, Britta and Annie try to raise money for an oil spill.

Contents 1 Plot 2 End tag 3 Abed's background story 4 Recurring themes 4.1 Continuity: 4.2 Running gags: 4.3 Pop culture references: 4.4 Meta references: 5 Quotes 6 Promotional Images 7 Comments

PlotEdit

Shirley enters the study room and notices Annie and Britta working on a diorama together. It's the centerpiece for a fundraiser they are holding for a recent oil spill. Jeff arrives, having just gotten back from a medical check-up. It's then that a despondent Troy shows up and tells everyone that he found the dead body of Pierce's mom while trying to do the laundry at Pierce's mansion. The ladies comfort him as Pierce arrives seemingly unaffected. The others express concern over how he is handling his mother's death, but Pierce responds that she didn't actually die. According to his religion, it was merely her corporeal body that died. He further explains that her spirit is being stored inside an "energy pod" and that she will eventually be reborn into a new body.

On their way to the Anthropology classroom, the study group implores Jeff to talk to Pierce. Jeff tells them that they should just respect his religion and let him grieve in his own way. After entering the classroom, they meet up with Pierce and try to do as Jeff says. As they settle in, Professor Ian Duncan shows up and introduces himself as the new teacher for Anthropology, taking over from Professor Bauer who has been temporarily suspended. Chang enters the room, upsetting Duncan who had a restraining order placed on him after his physical assault on Duncan at last semester's Tranny Dance. Duncan reminds Chang that he must stay 25 feet away from him, or he'll be expelled. Later, Annie and Britta are on the quad trying to raise money for the oil spill. Britta is having a hard time of it while Annie is easily getting donations.

Meanwhile at the Greendale Student Health Center, Jeff meets up with Nurse Jackie to get his test results. When Jackie informs him of his high cholesterol level, Jeff doesn't take the news well. Later in the cafeteria, Shirley thanks Jeff for correcting everyone's attitude about Pierce's beliefs but get cuts off when Jeff rants about the inevitability of death. Shirley leaves to check in with Annie and Britta who are counting the money they've raised so far. Shirley drops passive aggressive hints about being excluded from the activity while Britta snidely mentions how Annie was flirting to get donations. Shirley stirs the pot by pointing out how Britta is upset at how little she raised in comparison to Annie. The two start to argue, and Britta angrily leaves.

In Anthropology class, Troy sees Pierce and is re-introduced to his mom. According to Pierce's religion, her spirit is now contained inside an Energon Pod which looks just like a lava lamp. Professor Duncan enters the class late and gets heckled by Chang. Duncan then uses the restraining order to his advantage. By walking towards him, Duncan forces Chang to leave the room lest he violate the 25 foot rule. Duncan starts class which leads to Pierce describing the ridiculous tenets of his faith. Jeff becomes annoyed by him and starts to make fun of his religion. Once class is over, Annie returns to the cafeteria to continue soliciting more charitable donations for the cause. She is shocked when Britta shows up dressed exactly like her.

Britta begins flirting with a student Annie was talking to and gets him to donate. They then begin to mock each other as an amused Shirley watches on. Duncan joins Jeff at his table and asks about his reaction towards Pierce in Anthropology class. Jeff complains that despite believing all his sacrifices to be healthy would pay off, it ultimately doesn't matter since he now has high cholesterol. Duncan excuses himself after he notices Chang enter the cafeteria. Using the restraining order as a "force field," he chases Chang off into the student lounge. He returns to finish his talk with Jeff and tells him that he was simply attempting to tear down Pierce's beliefs since his own are now in doubt. Jeff ignores the lesson Duncan was trying to impart and instead decides to redouble his efforts to destroy Pierce's faith.

The next day, Jeff, Troy, and Pierce head off to get ice cream before going to a Reformed Neo Buddhism mixer. They run into Annie and Britta on the quad, who are still raising money for the oil spill but barely talking to each other. Jeff sends Troy and Pierce ahead to his car and reveals to the girls that he's taking them to the county morgue to see the body of Pierce's mom. After he leaves, Annie volunteers to count the money in the donations plate. Britta insists on doing it instead, and the argument leads to a tug of war over the money. The struggle causes Annie to back into the oil can display which tips and sprays oil all over the quad. It hits Annie as well as a few bystanders, causing Britta to laugh at her. Furious, Annie scoops up some oil and throws it at Britta starting a fight between them.

While traveling inside Jeff's Lexus, Troy complains about the long drive and asks if they can play some music. Pierce looks over his CD wallet which he brought along and finds a disc with his mother's handwriting on it. He plays it, and it turns out to be a message from his mother. Back at school, Annie and Britta are engaged in an oil wrestling fight on the quad while a gathering of male students showers them with dollars, cheering them on. Meanwhile, Pierce's mother tells him that if he's listening to this, then she's dead, and she's not coming back despite what he believes. She adds that life's finality gives it meaning and is something to embrace, not deny. Jeff and Troy are moved by her last words, but Pierce considers it more crazy ramblings and tosses the CD out of the car. Jeff has a change of heart and decides to forgo his original plans.

On the campus quad, Britta and Annie's fight is over and the pair directs a few of the male students to help them clean up their mess. Britta admits that she was jealous of all the attention Annie was getting from the male students, and Annie admits she was flirting like Britta accused her of doing. They then deal with the actual issue between them: Jeff. Annie claims she only kissed him to be cool like Britta while Britta claims she only slept with him because she hates herself. The two hug it out as Jeff, Pierce, and Troy arrive eating ice cream. Duncan, who was there to witness the entire spectacle, is presented a restraining order by Chang against him that negates the previous restraining order he had on Chang. Duncan is impressed at his ingenuity, and Chang happily accepts his compliment. Ian then asks Chang to snap a photo of him with the oily coeds.

End tagEdit

Professor June Bauer is seen in Mimpousa, Congo. She is discussing the movie Inception with African tribesmen.

Abed's background storyEdit

Throughout the episode, Abed is involved in a side story visible in the background of several scenes of the main stories. In this story, a pregnant female student approaches Abed before the study group meeting, and from the gestures, it appears she believes that he is the father. After blowing her off to attend the study group meeting, Abed later has a confrontation with her and her boyfriend on the campus quad. The boyfriend tries to fight Abed, but Abed runs off. In Anthropology class, Abed is reading a pamphlet about expecting a baby. Later in the cafeteria, Abed, the pregnant girl, and her boyfriend are talking over the situation. Suddenly, the girl goes into labor, and the two men escort her outside of the building. They end up in the parking lot where Abed delivers the baby at the same time Britta and Annie are oil wrestling.

This hidden storyline is a probable callback to the Season One episode "The Politics of Human Sexuality", where at the STD fair, Abed announces over the PA system that the condoms are fake and requests everyone not to use them if they were going to have sex that night. At that moment, Jeff is being shown, but after the announcement, in the background behind Jeff, a couple is shown throwing away a condom. This was what led to the girl becoming pregnant. In fact, "Politics of Human Sexuality" initially aired on December 3, 2009 and "Letting Go" aired on October 7, 2010, which is a difference of 10 months.

Recurring themesEdit

Continuity:Edit

• Returning faculty: Professor Ian Duncan returns in this episode. Professor June Bauer makes a cameo in the episode's end tag.
• Returning students: Eric shows up as does Mark Millot.
• Familiar faces: Nurse Jackie returns in this episode to give Jeff some bad news.
• That just happened:
  • Duncan takes over Bauer's class because she attacked Jeff in the previous episode, "Anthropology 101".
  • Annie and Britta resolve a few of their issues after recent revelations.
• History lesson: Annie reveals to Shirley that she used to wear a backbrace.
• A Sweet ride: Jeff's Lexus makes its first appearance in Season Two in this episode. It's fully restored from the beating Ben Chang gave it with his keytar in the Season One episode "English as a Second Language".
• Previously:
  • Pierce mentioned his religion, the Reformed Neo Buddhism movement, in the Season One episode "Comparative Religion". Jeff brings up how they all learned to respect each others religion in that episode.
  • In the Season One finale Pascal's Triangle Revisited, Ben Chang assaulted Ian Duncan at the Tranny Dance after he had been suspended by Dean Pelton.
• This must be the place: Group Study Room F, Anthropology classroom, Cafeteria, student lounge, Greendale Student Health Center, and the site of the oil fight, the campus quad, all appear in this episode.

Running gags:Edit

• Awww!: Annie, Shirley, and Britta all "Awww!" when Troy tells them he discovered Pierce's mom's dead body.
• Fanservice: Britta and Annie get into a sordid oil wrestling fight.
• Biggest laugh of the night!: Duncan uses his "force field" to chase Chang across the cafeteria into the student lounge where he stumbles over the couch and runs into the vending machine.
• Nice outfit:
  • Britta dresses up like Annie wearing a tight cardigan and skirt.
  • Pierce wears a traditional uniform of his religion which is a teal nehru jacket along with matching pants.
• Made a bad impression: Britta mocks Annie by acting like a bimbo while soliciting donations.
• Annie's Boobs:
  • Annie raises her hand and Duncan calls on her by saying, "You, in the boobs."
  • Britta calls Annie out for the way she tends to stick out her chest while soliciting donations for the oil spill.
  • Annie scoops oil off her chest and throws it at Britta.

Pop culture references:Edit

• IMDB:
  • Abed mentions the 1989 movie The Abyss.
  • Nurse Jackie uncomplimentarily talks about the Temple of Doom.
  • Professor Bauer discusses Inception with African tribesmen in Congo.
• Product placement:
  • Jeff jokingly says that he has the AOL homepage bookmarked but he does mention two examples of the type of stories that tend to appear there.
  • Jeff mentions the Sharper Image Catalog when referring to the lava lamp Pierce believes is his mother.
  • Pierce mentions Hawaiian Punch.
  • Abed notes that Children's Tylenol is available in liquid form.
• Name that tune: Jacques Slade/Kustoo's song "Best of the Best" is the music Pierce's mom used to play herself out at the end of the recording she gave to Pierce.

Meta references:Edit

• Use your allusion:
  • Nurse Jackie mentions the Temple of Doom and how movie franchises get worse as the series goes on which marks the second reference to the "Indiana Jones" franchise.
  • When Pierce is asked for more details about his religion's beliefs, he says that once Buddha returns, humanity will dissolve and merge into a "shimmering ocean of knowledge". This is likely a reference to the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion and the movie The End of Evangelion which served as an alternative end to the series.
• Resume: The oil barrels had the Wilde Oil logo on them. This is a reference to the Fox TV series Running Wilde, where the main character is employed by his father's company, Wilde Oil. The show was from Executive Producers Joe and Anthony Russo who also served in the same position for Community in Seasons One Two, and Three. Another alumni of the series, Mel Rodriguez, would be cast as on Community as the head of campus security Sgt. Nunez.
• Current events:
  • Annie and Britta raise money to help the gulf recover from an oil spill. This is a reference to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Annie notes that she finds this tragedy easier to help with than Haiti, meaning the earthquake that struck the island earlier in the year.
  • Jeff mentions a smoking turtle which had made the news at the time.
• Up against the wall: Television critic Alan Sepinwall appears as a Greendale student alongside Eric and Mark Millot. His review of the episode was positive (shocker) and can be found here along with an account of his time as a Community extra.

QuotesEdit

“Pierce, you've found this CD which means...I'm dead. ”— Pierce's mom

“Vaporized.”— Pierce

“I'm not vaporized. I'm gone, Pierce...gone forever, and that's how I like it. Life is only worth a damn because it's short. It's designed to be consumed, used, spent, lived, felt. We're supposed to fill it with every mistake and miracle we can manage, and then we're supposed to let go. I can't force you to do that for yourself, Pierce, but you can't force me to stay...and if you unscrew the top of that stupid thing, you'll see it was made in China. I love you, son. Goodbye.”— Pierce's mom

“I don't see much difference between Pierce's religion and anybody else's.”— Jeff

“Well then you're not listening because his has lasers.”— Annie

“So, what is Anthropology? Seriously, does anyone know?”— Professor Duncan

“It is the single largest disaster in recorded history! It is worse than 50 Exxon Valdez spills!”— Britta, shouting unnecessarily

“You don't have to yell at us. Nobody is on the other side of this issue.”— Eric

“Bitter much?”— Annie

“Say 'Bitter much?' much?”— Britta

“Say 'Say "Bitter much?" much?' much?”— Annie

Promotional ImagesEdit

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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