Community (2009–2015): Season 1, Episode 16 - Communication Studies - full transcript

Jeff sets out to fix his relationship with Britta after things get awkward with a drunken phone call. Meanwhile, Annie and Shirley make plans to humiliate Señor Chang in order to defend Troy and Pierce's dignity.

[###]

PELTON [OVER PA]:
It's Valentine's week,

when the Greendale Human Being
is the Cupid Being,

delivering your gift
to that special someone.

But remember, Cupid's face
is magic marker on nylon,

so love is not only blind but also
dizzy and a little belligerent.

I'm chaperoning tomorrow's dance.

You should come.
Maybe your study buds will go.

What's the blonde's name?
Bitter, Butter, Beetlejuice?

Britta. Yeah, she says Valentine's
Day ritualizes a connection

between affection and candy so girls
can learn the ropes of prostitution.



Translation, no date.

I'm gonna join you at that dance.

But as a novice boyfriend, could I
get a map of the minefield known as

women's Valentine expectations?

Every day of the year, I want
you to do what makes you happy.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna be
happy spending the night

with an insatiable
statistics professor.

That sounds
immeasurably probable.

Man. You can make any
subject sound seductive.

It's a good thing you don't
teach German history.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

MAN [ON RECORDING]:
Jeff, it's the Registrar's Office.

Seems you were wrong about paying
tuition with airline miles.

We're gonna need a check...



AUTOMATED FEMALE VOICE:
Message deleted.

BRITTA [SLURRING]:
Jeff Winger, I am calling you.

[BRITTA MOANS]

Oh, yeah.

You're probably, whatever.

So, what's up? Heh.

Oh, it's the Cupid Being.
SHIRLEY: Ooh!

Now it has arrows. That's safe.

You know, a lot of people
think that's Abed.

Gotcha.
Hey.

Oh! It's from that cook with the
long beard in the cafeteria.

I guess when he said,

[IN MENACING VOICE]
"I'm gonna get you,"

[IN NORMAL VOICE]
um, he meant chocolates.

A flower from Vaughn.
He's away on a vision quest.

And his note says, "For my flower,
to my flower, with a flower."

Sweetly confusing.

You got something, Abed?

Another muffin basket
from another actress

who wants to be in my next film.
Does that work?

Yep. Meryl Streep has two Oscars
because of her baking.

Oh, that's sarcasm
but I forgot to inflect.

[SARCASTICALLY] This sounds
way more like sarcasm.

Inflection is so interesting.

That big bag at the bottom.
Is that for me?

Anything in there for Troy?
Troy Barnes.

Barnes, comma, Troy?

Who cares about getting things?

It destroys the true meaning
of Valentine's Day.

The birth of St. Valentine's.
BRITTA: Oh, good.

Now it has arrows. That's safe.

Sorry I'm late.
ANNIE: It's okay.

Actually, you look very early.
Oh, God, I'm really late.

Yes, you are.
Yeah. See you later.

That's all right. We'll see you guys.

Can I get you something?
Water? Smelling salts?

An alibi for Cobain's suicide?

No, but you could help yourself
to a shorter forehead,

a non-Keebler nose,
and shutting up.

Hmm. That stings.
I mean, not the words.

The clouds of bourbon vapor
forming them.

Heh. A girlfriend from
my anarchist days was in town

and we drank. Everything.

Yeah. And then you said,
"I should call Jeff."

Yeah, because the first thing I do
when I'm having fun is think about...

BRITTA [ON RECORDING]:
Jeff Winger, I am calling you.

You're probably, whatever.

So, what's up?

The drunk dial.

So much subtext.
So much intrigue.

So much of what the kids
are calling BCI.

That's, uh,
Booty Call Implication.

[LAUGHING]

Oh...

What happened to Britta?
Justice.

Having spent the year denying her
attraction to me just to be alternative,

Britta called me at 3 a.m.
just to ask, "What's up?"

A drunk dial? Was it BCI?

Booty call with a capital B turned
on its side to look like a booty.

Mm. This can't be good.
It's no biggie.

We give each other crap
all the time.

Well, that's the point. What crap can
she give now that you hold the cards?

You shifted the balance like in a sitcom
when one character sees another one naked.

Is that really a sitcom staple?

[SARCASTICALLY] No. I have no idea what I'm talking about.
I'm Abed, I never watch TV.

[THE 88'S "AT LEAST
IT WAS HERE" PLAYING]

Now, we all know that in English, the
rooster says "cock-a-doodle-doo."

[IN DEEP VOICE]
In espa?ol, the gallo says:

[SPEAKING IN SPANISH]

What? I'm teaching.

[MOANS]

Aha! I knew you were holding back.

Oh! It's from the girl I'm dating.

Yeah, I met her in biology.

She was looking for geology
and misread the sign.

Yeah, I said, "We do not study
countries in here." Heh.

Yeah, she's...
She's dumb, but... But sweet.

Yeah, mine's from Danielle.
She's, uh... Uh...

A lovely lady
in my marketing class.

We're sleeping together.

They sound like very lucky ladies.

Yeah, they're not made up.

Beep-beep! Oh, my God,
what's going on? Beep-beep-beep!

My bull crap meter's going crazy.

Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!

[YELLING]

It's these presents
you've obviously sent yourselves

to make it look like
you have girlfriends.

That's ridiculous.

This is obviously your handwriting,
Mr. Tremor.

And yours is signed, "Love, Troy"?

I tell you, this is the most pathetic
thing I've ever seen in the classroom.

And that's including the time I
forgot to wear pants and underwear.

The time being 10 a.m.

Whoa. You shut your mouth, Winger.
All right? Don't change the subject.

Is that these two are lonely and sad
because women don't like them.

[CHANG AND CLASS LAUGHING]

CHANG [LAUGHING]:
Oh, my God.

Look at him over there,
cutting the gristle off his steak

as ruthlessly as he cut off
Troy and Pierce's dignity.

Ew! Now he's eating the gristle.

I'm so sick of Chang.
Always tearing people down,

making them feel horrible
about themselves.

He's like a miniature Don Rickles, except
he doesn't stop every 10 minutes to say:

"I'm just kidding, folks.
I only say these things because I love everybody."

Somebody needs to humiliate him
the way he humiliated our boys.

Mustache, get me a juice box.

Now.
ANNIE: And that somebody is us.

[###]

You can vomit onto this food
because it already smells like it.

Heh-heh. Yeah, totally.
Heh-heh-heh.

My law firm went on a retreat
to Disney World once,

and I got so drunk that I got into
a fight with animatronic Ben Franklin.

Why are you telling me this?

Well, the point is
that when I'm sober,

I don't secretly hate Ben Franklin
or even think about him,

so you drunk dialing me?

It's not like a big deal.
My God. You're pitying me now.

Well, you're acting really weird.
I'll talk to you in class, okay?

Just leave me alone till then.

[###]

Beep-beep-beep!

What is going on here?

Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!

My doody meter's going crazy.

Okay, cut, cut, cut.
Leo, I'm not feeling it.

I really need to believe that you're
holding an imaginary doody meter.

The problem is not me.
It's you and your stupid script.

Idiot.

That's the anger. Use it.

Wow.
One Papa John's commercial

and he thinks he's Christian Bale.

Look, uh, you were right.

Britta is totally weird around me.
It does feel like I saw her naked.

What does she look like?
Pretty white.

Awesome.

It's a resonant premise.
Tony even saw Angela naked

on the opening credits
of Who's the Boss?

And did Tony do
something to fix that?

I don't know. I could never
get past the opening credits.

But when Chandler
saw Rachel naked on Friends,

to even the score Rachel needed
to see Chandler's penis.

All right. I'll show Britta my penis.

But what if Freud's right
and it just makes her jealous?

Jeff, please don't waste my time.
I lose my Chang to Cub Scouts in 20 minutes.

So... So, what? To even the score,
I have to drunk dial her?

Isn't that absurdly simplistic?
Would it even work?

Yes, and maybe. Oh.

No room for error.
She'd have to believe it was real.

Have you ever acted drunk before?
Well, I acted sober every weekend

from seventh grade
through high school.

Okay. Well, acting drunk is hard,
but let's see what you got.

[SLURRING] No, it's not.
I can totally do it.

I'm fine. I can drive.
I can totally drive right now.

Give me my keys.
That's enough.

No, hold on a second.
All right.

[SOBBING] I don't care.

[IN NORMAL VOICE]
No, seriously, give me my keys.

Okay, that's a wrap, people.

All right. I want you to be at my
place at 4 so we can work on this.

Well, no, I can't do that.
Here's why.

Dumbest idea ever.

You're right. Let's use your idea because
that's going great for you so far.

Sarcasm.

Jeff, you know Britta's defining weakness.
She cuts and runs.

Do this half-assed and fail, she
may leave, then we all lose her.

That's not gonna happen.
Not on my watch.

That's a deal breaker. Saddle up.

Sorry I lost my cool.
Just quit smoking.

Kid's gonna be a star. He's a young
"the Asian guy from Lost."

Liking that butt.

Mom?

I'm kidding. I hope.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

Hey, Britta.

Hey...

[IN NEW YORK ACCENT]
is for horses. Heh.

[IN NORMAL VOICE]
Off to the ladies room.

What's wrong with her?

Well, for one thing, she's clearly
failing her improv class.

But she's acting weird, right?

Like insecure.
Does she always do that much "hoiting"?

Only to the ladies room.

She's the Babe Ruth of peeing.

And I keep telling her,
nobody's buying that candy bar.

Heh, heh. Well, I know we're
gonna see each other tomorrow,

but if you wanna
come over tonight...

I'd love to, but I have to...

help Abed with a, uh...

project. I better just head over
to his...

The dorm?
Yeah. That... Heh, heh, heh. I was...

Ugh.

Try it again.

Come on. You're a big guy.

Action.

Hey, Britta.
Your call got me thinking,

and thinking got me drinking.

Stop. That was terrible.

What?
Mm-mm.

You know, I can get drunk alone
if that's what helps people act.

Well, that's your problem, Jeff.
You've been acting your whole life. Okay?

Time to pass that act up
and find the actor playing you.

Oh, they are gonna love you
in California.

Do you like Britta?

Sure, who doesn't?
Over half the people that meet her.

They can be put off
by her vacuous mannequin face,

and her Jodie Foster severity.

But you're different.
Uh...

You know.
She's no barrel of monkeys.

She... She wants everyone to be
honest but she lies to herself.

She's seen the world
but doesn't get it.

She has more fights about stuff
that doesn't matter

than a YouTube comment section.

She's passionate, which I
find stupid but entertaining.

She's admirable.

Attractive?

Appealing.

It was only attraction at first

because she bothered to play
hard to get.

Well, the less we like ourselves, the
more we like people who don't like us.

That's why Britta drunk-dialed you
after you became available.

You're a smart kid, Abed.

You both share that dislike
of yourselves.

You're equally incomplete, that's why
you're equally obsessed with each other.

You're not so bright, are you, Abed?
I'm happy with Michelle.

Well, Peter Pan was happy with Wendy,
but then there was Tinker Bell.

Right. Tinker Bell, the patron saint
of high-maintenance women.

Hot, but sexually impossible, with thoughts
of suicide, and had trouble opening jars.

Slater is low maintenance.
Mm. The lowest.

Slater likes you how you are, expects nothing from you.
You're safe from change.

And passion.

Watch it.
Watch what?

A phony drunk-dial soaked in phony
pity that insults Britta even more?

Or a believable performance
informed by feeling?

You know, I am sure
you're a good director,

but you are a horrible
drinking buddy.

I mean, I can't feel things
with you studying me

like a beige praying mantis.

You're right.

I thought you never drank.
Scorsese drank with De Niro.

It's not for me.
It's for the audience.

[BOTH SPEAK IN POLISH]

[KARLA DEVITO'S
"WE ARE NOT ALONE" PLAYING]

I am a newton...

in a world of fantasy.

I'm high-functioning.

Hey.
Hey.

Bob-bed.

Have you ever seen anyone
more beautiful in your entire life?

"Black eyes."
"Doll's eyes."

Black Eyed Peas.
Green eggs and will. I. am.

[GROANS]

Where's my phone?

[IN DEEP HUSKY VOICE]
Maggie Gyllenhaal is exploding.

Whoa.

[LAUGHS]

[MOANS]

This...

is the greatest...

night of our lives.

And we...

will be so happy...

that we did this...

tomorrow.

All right, class, turn to page...
Whoa.

Looks like the law firm
of Seacrest and Slumdog

is taking the day off.
Heh, heh. Nice.

But there you are.

Every day.

Why?
Yeah, wouldn't you like to know?

Yes. I stay awake wondering
about your origins.

I'm sure you picked
weird sideburns

because your story
was already fascinating.

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

Yes?

Ooh. Another special delivery

from Troy and Pierce's
imaginary lovers?

[CHANG CHUCKLES
THEN SNORTS]

Wait a minute. Uhn.

That one's for me. Heh-heh-heh.

All right. Oh, yeah. Huh. Chh-chh.

Wow. It's from Princeton.

They want to make me
associate professor

of the Spanish Department?

They're telling me
I can name my price? Oh, my God.

At Princeton? Come on.

You two idiots really thought
I'd fall for this, huh?

This is your pathetic attempt
to punish me for humiliating you.

But we didn't do it.
Save it.

As punishment, because you two
obviously don't have any girlfriends,

escort me to the Valentine's Dance
wearing elegant ladies' pantsuits.

Ha-ha-ha. Yeah, right.

[MOCK-LAUGHS]

You'll do it or you fail my class.

You can't do that.
Have you met me?

I mean it.
Tonight, you are my bitches.

[###]

JEFF:
Holy crap.

Abed.

Abed?

[GRUNTING]

It's 3:00.

What happened?

The last thing I remember

is you were dancing
like that girl in the movie

Kids In Detention?
Breakfast Club?

Dear God.
What have you done to me?

Wait, did I call Britta?

Where's my phone?
Got it.

You made two outgoing calls.

One to Britta, one to your girlfriend.

I don't remember either of them.

Neither do I.

[###]

And I don't remember the name
of the girl in The Breakfast Club.

Mary.

Margaret.

Molly Ringworm?

You broke me.

I still can't believe I'm a size 14.

I know the 12 was a little tight
but I could have pulled it off.

You guys really going through
with this?

We have to. He'll fail us.

But we're gonna find out who wrote
that letter. We have leads.

Yeah. It was written on fake Princeton letterhead.
So whoever wrote it,

worked at Princeton,
ran out of stationary,

and didn't have time
to go to the store.

Um, you guys?
Uh-uh! Uh.

What?

Women's sizes run slimmer.

I'm sure you're a 12 everywhere
that it counts.

Well, I'll take every little victory
I can get right now.

Thanks.

Hmm. You look about ready
to marry Courtney Love.

[CHUCKLES]

That's the reverse of my zinger
from before.

Okay, please stop shouting, all right?
I feel like that person in the TV show.

Do you remember calling me
last night?

Yeah. Why?

Are we cool?
Oh, yeah.

Have a seat, Drunky Brewster.
Let's study.

Hey, balance restored, I guess.

Movie reference.

[DANCE MUSIC
PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]

Hey there.

Happy Valentine's Day.

I've been calling you.
Yeah, I know.

I figured I'd just let it go to voicemail
in case you had the wrong number again.

Elaborate?
Oh, you don't remember

calling me at 4 in the morning

and hanging up
when you realized I wasn't Britta?

Are you nervous?

Or have you now mistaken me
for someone named "Gulp."

Michelle.

Michelle, um,

I was trying to call Britain
to order you toffees.

Now that might sound dumb,

but I needed to open with it
to make the truth less ridiculous.

Two nights ago,
Britta drunk-dialed me,

and it embarrassed her
and made her sad,

and the only way for her
to get her power back

was for me to get believably drunk
and leave her

an equally
embarrassing message.

It sure seems like you and Britta
are friends

the way my mom's pool cleaner
was my uncle.

Well, it seems that way
when you look at it,

but it doesn't when you don't.

Have you had sex with her?
Not even a little.

I kissed her once
to get an A in Accounting.

Professor Whitman's class?

Oh, that actually makes sense.

What doesn't make sense is
that you did all this work

to put a smile on her face
but can't pick up ice cream

for Law and Order night
because it feels too marriage-y.

First of all, Chubby Hubby?

I mean, could you pick
a scarier flavor?

There's no
Luscious Lazy Boyfriend.

Look. I want to believe
you're on the up and up.

Let's talk about this later.
I need to chaperone something.

And gather my thoughts.

[DANCE MUSIC
PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]

There he is. Oh.

You know, I thought I'd be embarrassed.
Now I'm just scared.

I am seriously reconsidering how
much I want this language credit.

Remember what we said?

Never let him see us cry.

Right.

Okay, one, two...

Wait.
Keep your coats on.

We're the ones that sent
the letter to Chang.

What?

You work...
You work at Princeton?

We were mad at him
for humiliating you.

Well, nice fix, Tweedledum
and even Tweedlerdum.

Look, we're gonna tell Chang
the truth,

and we'll pay the price.

TROY:
Wait.

We can't make you do that.
No, he's right.

First we gotta get out of these
pantsuits then you can put them on.

Look, Pierce, this whole thing started
because you and I were ashamed

we didn't have ladies
that cared about us.

And the good news is
we obviously do.

The bad news is that it makes it our
manly duty to protect them tonight.

Oh!
That's nice

but we really can't let you do that.

No, he's right. He's right.

Step aside.
SHIRLEY: Oh.

Let's handle this like men.
Yeah.

Whoo. Ladies.

They're going to be okay, right?
CHANG: Get in my Mercedes.

Just look away, baby.

Just look away.

Whoa.
Looking for someone?

[###]

Yeah.

Slater.
Heh.

Very funny.

You know, when you called me last
night and invited me to the dance,

I was shocked.

And thrilled.

Are you okay?

Yeah.

No. No.

Look, I'm sorry.

Uh, I don't... I don't remember asking you to the dance.
I don't remember anything.

And now Slater knows about
all the drunk-dialing stuff,

and I'm in the doghouse.
And if she finds out about this, it's over.

So, again, I am sorry.
I am so, so sorry.

And you are messing with me
right now, aren't you?

I knew you didn't remember anything
from that phone call last night.

You got dressed up
just to see me sweat?

Oh, believe me. You're worth it.

Sorry. Just chaperoning.
Enjoy the dance.

Wait, Michelle.

Jeff, what's left to say?

Uh... l... I don't know.

I...
BRITTA: I do.

He said it last night.

[PHONE BEEPS]

JEFF [ON RECORDING]:
So look, I am really into Michelle.

And I don't wanna screw it up.
She's a perfect girlfriend.

And I want you to be
as happy as me

because you're, like, my favorite
friend, so... Ha-ha-ha.

I'm sorry.
Abed just made a turtle face.

In his defense,
Abed's turtle face is really funny.

Thanks, Britta.
Yeah, thanks.

Yeah.

That was the first 20 seconds
of a 40-minute message.

[WHISPERING] Very informative.

Happy Valentine's Day,
perfect boyfriend.

Yeah, that's me.

Steel worker. Stymie.
Serpent. Steamboat Willie. S...

Steven Seagal.

Marked for Death, Hard to Kill,
Above the Law, Out for Justice.

Man, I cannot wait to get out
of these ridiculous outfits.

Woof! I know, yeah.

What are you doing?
I'm parked over here.

Oh, uh, well... Uh...

Heh-heh.
Come on.

Um... What the hell is this?

We're going to get
frozen yogurt. Aah.

I'm not gay, man.
They close in seven minutes.

I could have driven you.

You said he hated fro-yo.

Just drive.

Slut!

[HORN HONKING]